What Do Shrimp Eat?

Being such a small creature, it would make sense that shrimp eat food smaller than they are. Fortunately, an abundance of food awaits shrimp in the wild or in a freshwater tank. Humans would not find what shrimp eat very appetizing; however, shrimping has been a profession since the 1500s, which means that humans have have consumed shrimp for over five hundred years. Shrimp are a hardy species that reproduce in mass quantities for the populations to survive as a long time food source for both humans and ocean creatures.

Shrimp are omnivores, which means that they will eat both plants and animals. A typical plant like food would be plankton and algae. They will also eat any dead or decaying plants or animals that float by them, which makes them useful in home aquariums, assuming the other fish in the tank won’t eat them.

Shrimp are a type of crustacean and sit at the bottom of the food chain. As such, they typically become dinner to every hungry ocean animal. Shrimp that live long enough to eat will choose pretty much anything smaller than they are to consume. 

Life of a Shrimp

Shrimp lives are very brief. They live only about a year, which would be enough time to return to spawning grounds after maturing in order to reproduce and begin the cycle again. One female shrimp can lay anywhere from 500,000 to 1,000,000 eggs. She is able to do this because the male shrimp attaches a spermatophore to her that allows for fertilization of the eggs. Once she releases the eggs, they float away. Some are eaten by predators, and others make it to maturation.

The larval stage comes first. This is the first 30 days of the egg's life. After this, the shrimp enters the juvenile stage. Since shrimp prefer brackish waters, the juvenile shrimp will make its way back to marshes where it will feed on the algae, plankton, dead plants and animals that happen by.

The ocean is filled with these tiny food particles that shrimp and other marine life need to survive. Once the shrimp matures a bit more, at about the four month point, it will then go back out to sea and head south to reach its spawning point to begin the cycle again. 

Shrimp for Aquarium Use

There are many different varieties of shrimp for use in aquariums.

• Some shrimp, such as the bumblebee shrimp, grow no larger than an inch. These may be considered feeder fish as they will be food for the larger fish in the tank.
• Other shrimp can act as filter feeders that perform the function of cleaning the aquarium tank of excess algae and tank debris created by the other tank inhabitants.
• Shrimp will even eat their own shed exoskeleton for additional calcium. They leave nothing to waste.

Depending on what function the shrimp will serve in the tank will determine which shrimp to buy and keep.

Shrimp vary in size from a few millimeters to twenty centimeters. The average size of a shrimp is between four and eight centimeters (about one to three inches). Different varieties of shrimp may have slightly different nutritional needs.

To keep shrimp as aquarium pets, it’s important to know several factors in order to keep them as long as possible considering their limited life span of one year:

• Diet - Know what they eat.
• Type of water - Some shrimp can be kept in freshwater, but many prefer brackish or saltwater for optimal growth.
• Water temperature - Warm temperatures make for ideal growing.

Shrimp destined for appetizers and dinner plates have many of the same nutritional and environmental needs, whether they are grown in shrimp farms or harvested from the ocean.