To solve the curiosity about this commonly asked question, you might have to understand that there are over 2,000+ species of shrimps. It might even be a shower thought and you suddenly became curious. 💡
Whether you’re an owner of a shrimp aquarium or not, this question still remains:
Do shrimps eat poop?
According to avid forum users, shrimps don’t consume feces while other forum users were saying how their ghost/cherry shrimps were eating poop in the aquarium. Weird, right?
Before we get started, let me show you some statistics. Whether it’s a ghost shrimp or red cherry shrimp, the stats showing the number of times this question is asked speaks for itself. The Google trend tool doesn’t lie.
When you’re looking at the stats, the question “do shrimps poop” gets asked at least 100 times per month- but there are many other variables, which means that number could be even higher.
You might be wondering who’s really that curious when it comes to this type of question, right? Well, most of the questions asked usually come straight from the United States!
Feeling a little better? The Google trend chart shows that the United States is most curious when it comes to this unique shrimp question. I’m from the United States and even I was curious at one point.
Did you know? 💡 There’s a national shrimp day in the United States and it’s on May 10th.
Now to get back on topic- what runs through your mind when you’re watching a shrimp colony one day and you see a few shrimps nibbling on feces? You must be thinking that they’re eating poop, but really- what are they doing?
Let’s go a little further in-depth with this article so you will have a better understanding.
Cherry Shrimp, Ghost Shrimp, All Shrimps – Do They Eat Poop?
As you can see below, numerous posts have been made about shrimp eating poop. I even stumbled upon a funny question: “Do shrimp poop from their head?” This question definitely made me wonder and it slowly began to make sense to me.
Since there are over 2,000+ species of shrimp to explore, what’s the chance of stumbling upon one of those types of shrimp?
Did you know? 💡 Certain shrimps will act as a cleaner for fish? Remember that shrimp from “Finding Nemo?”
After exploring the forums and researching a little further, it appears that shrimps do not eat poop. But if you notice that yours do, then let’s continue on.
But, but- why is my shrimp eating poop?
While they are not like certain aquatic animals (catfish, corydoras), you might catch a shrimp nibbling on feces in an aquarium tank. Your mind still can’t grasp the reason why even when the answer is yes that shrimps do not eat poop.
During part of my research, there was a forum user asking for help because he noticed that his ghost shrimp was eating poop from his vivarium tank. Another user mentioned the same thing.
One of the members that knew the answer replied to the curious users that the reason why it seems like they’re eating poop is that they have mistaken it as food.
After nibbling on the feces, they’ll most likely come to the realization that it’s not consumable and the shrimp will eventually spit it back out.
Aquarium shrimps do not feed on feces. It seems like it because of confusion.
What do shrimps eat in a fish tank?
Now that I helped clear your mind, we can cross out your curiosity about shrimp eating poop. The next question that comes to mind is: what do they eat? With over 2,000+ species, I’ll cover the general idea of the topic.
First of all, if you didn’t know- shrimps are scavengers. Whether they are in your tank or in the wild, they will spend the majority of their time eating anything that has fallen to the bottom.
These shrimps will even try poop to see if it’s consumable. Unfortunately for them, it’s not.
Another way of describing a shrimp is an “opportunistic omnivore.” What does this mean? This means that they will eat almost anything on the water bed. This includes animals and plants and it doesn’t matter whether their food is alive or not. For example:
- Decaying matter – They will eat a dead fish if there’s ever one in the lake, ocean, aquarium, or anywhere that’s home to them. Dead plants? Sure, why not.
- Algae – No dead fish? No worries! Shrimps will spend their time eating algae if they find any.
- Living creatures – The topic of shrimp eating poop is bad enough, and now we’re talking about worms. Yes, shrimps will eat worms, clams, snails, crabs, and any other living creatures out there.
- Insects – Did they stumble upon a dead insect that drowned? That’s food for them too.
- Plant matter – They will also eat any plant matter.
What are the pros and cons of being a shrimp?
I never thought I’d be asking this question but what’s really the pros and cons of being a shrimp? I mean, what if you get turned into a shrimp with a spell by an evil witch? After all, their lives aren’t so difficult- or is it?
- Cons – Let’s start with the cons first to make your life a little more miserable if you ever imagine yourself as a shrimp. When you’re a shrimp, you get eaten by almost anything. Bigger animals will eat you, you can’t swim towards the current so it’ll take you wherever it wants, and you could probably end up on a human’s dinner plate one day. That’s the harsh reality and life of a shrimp. Ready for the pros?
- Pros – The best part about being a shrimp is that almost anything is dinner to them (besides poop, obviously). Remember the list I posted above? Well, there’s more to it since I listed a general idea of what shrimps eat. Their life is basically a buffet all-you-can-eat with free dine-in.
Did you know? 💡 Shrimps are brilliant swimmers! They can move quick in the water.
Even if their life is like a buffet, the fact that you’re on the bottom of the food chain balances out. Shrimps can have it both really good or really bad. What do you think?
From VivariumTips,
To give you a short, sweet, and simple answer to this response post. Shrimps do not consume feces. They will sometimes mistake it as food but will spit it back out. If you didn’t know, shrimps can live in different types of vivariums and there are many of them!
Did you know? 💡 There are two dry types of vivarium that people love and it’s paludarium and terrarium.
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