Shrimps like to eat phytoplankton. Phytoplankton is a tiny creature that consists of a lot of microscopic organisms. It includes thousands of microscopic species like bacteria (cyanobacteria), some unicellular plants, and protists.
Do Shrimp Eat Phytoplankton? Yes, shrimps eat phytoplankton. It is an excellent additive in your shrimp food intake, and it is the best source for their development and nourishment. This type of food is more attractive for your shrimps and increases the appetite in them. Their growth rate becomes faster with the help of phytoplankton in their nutritional diet.
Contents
- 1 Do Shrimp Eat Phytoplankton?
Do Shrimp Eat Phytoplankton?
Phytoplankton is a two-word combination, Phyto (plant) and plankton (made to wander or drift). These are present both in the fresh water and marine water environment.
However, ponds have a plentiful variety of phytoplankton. They play a beneficial role in shrimp species and the water quality.
Shrimps can move several miles away offshore so that their eggs can be fertilized and sinks toward the water depth.
They pass out the different larval stages and become adult shrimp. They move toward the ocean bottom, tidal area, or the pond depth, and the aquarium bottom they grow to act as a scavenger to find their food from different sources.
Factors involve that affect the phytoplankton energy source
Many species of phytoplankton can grow in all types of water. Their growth rate depends upon many factors that influence it. It includes wind, the temperature of the environment, and the predator nature and salinity.
If the conditions are favorable, they grow at a rapid rate. This process is also known as a phytoplankton bloom. Phytoplankton depends on the light intensity.
Biofloc system is becoming their dominating system when light intensity goes higher. It is beneficial for the farmed shade pond system and the aquarium phytoplankton system.
Shrimps growth also affects by the ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate utilization by the phytoplankton. Phosphate produces by the shrimp diet concentration of these components is high affects health and water quality.
Why phytoplankton is necessary for shrimps?
It contains an imperative role in the aquatic food web, the primary producer that provides a good food source for the water organisms. Primary consumers such as the fishes and shrimps prefer to eat these types of phytoplankton.
Shading is crucial for the larval stage of young shrimp postlarvae growth. If the color of pond water not maintains, add the artificial shade that develops the pond shading.
These are also primary autotrophic producers that produce the food by the photosynthesis activity. That is good for the aquatic eco-systems, their primitive productivity, and the food chain. The young shrimp postlarvae stock in the pond and the aquarium the phytoplankton is an excellent live food source.
Some phytoplankton species are also a good source of nutrition for the shrimp. There are species includes are the Spirulina species, Skeletonema sp, and Isochrysis. These are important during the early larval stages of the shrimp. It is also a good source of food for the shrimp larvae nutrition requirement.
Some phytoplankton species contain high anti-oxidant values like the astaxanthin that good for all stages of shrimp growth. Phytoplankton is crucial for the water quality to increase the level of pond quality. In the shrimp’s early days, the green water produces by some of these species, good for their health because this quality maintains for a longer time.
How shrimps can eat the phytoplankton?
Shrimp can eat varieties of objects that are good for their health. Their nutritional diet and kind of food depend upon their growth rate and the environment where they live.
The shrimp can live both in the wild and the farmed environment. Shrimps are opportunistic omnivores that can eat both plant and animal both from either living or dead, which they get and capture easily and ingest.
Wild young shrimps
Wild shrimps species swim toward the water depth and search for wide varieties of food. Young shrimps are unable to move toward the shallow water and float on the water surface.
They have difficulty in locomotion, only do the little movement. They need the easiest way to search the food like algae and plankton.
Farmed and aquarium young shrimp
These farmed species have a different way to get food than the wild young shrimps. A farmed and aquarium shrimp depends on the algae diet, and to obtain food from the plants grow in the aquarium bottom adds a variety of diet for them.
Wild Adult shrimp
Adult shrimp are scavengers; they sink on the shallow ocean to find a nutritious diet such as organic matter.
The nutritional diet also for shrimp depends on the factor related to the shrimp location and the diet presence. In the ocean, wild adult shrimp eat the plant matter, organic diet, crabs, and the dead decaying matter.
Farmed and aquarium adult shrimp
Farmed and aquarium adult shrimp also find the food in the same way as the wild adult shrimp, but their sources are limited, and the habitat does not have all the different food sources. Red rili shrimps like to eat this and it is good for them.
The harmful effect of phytoplankton in shrimps
With the beneficial effect of phytoplankton, it also contains harmful features.
Phytoplankton blooms
If you do not appropriately manage the phytoplankton growth, it also causes harmful effects. If the bloom formation increases with time, it can cause the depletion of oxygen at night.
This reduction of the oxygen level affects the aquatic species may lead to the death of living organisms such as fish, shrimps and also affect the water quality it also deteriorates. Bacterial and fungal growth can also increase with the demand for phytoplankton blooms and oxygen level consumption.
Diel pH shift
Phytoplankton respiration consumes oxygen and releases co2, which also affects the ph of water; it decreases and affects the water quality.
How to stop the growth of phytoplankton?
For the best shrimp growth, and to moderate the healthy life of your shrimp. You have to take some measures to overcome the problems.
You can manage the phytoplankton by the excessive water exchange rule. Based on management aspects and phytoplankton density and the water locality exchange less than 20% daily.
Water exchange also is done by the biofloc system and the tidal regime. The tidal zone is favorable for the larger pond. You can manage the phytoplankton mass by observing the water location, where the water quantity is low, beneficial for aqua farmers. You can handle it by the use of algaecides.
Beneficial effects of phytoplankton on shrimps
Phytoplankton is a good source of oxygen dissemination. During the daytime produces a high amount of oxygen, which diffuses from the atmosphere to the pond system.
Phytoplankton depends on management efficiency because it has both positive and negative aspects. Proper management naturally gives the shrimp productivity maintains the water quality in their ponds limits the plankton bloom and microbial growth.
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