Amano Shrimp

[Mr.Jingles]

I bought amano srhimp a while ago hoping they would rid my tank of hair algae. They didn't, but the hair algae went away by itself. Then I set up a 50 gallon planted and algae is consuming the plants. All the anubias are getting the short fuzzy looking algae, i think its beard algae or fur algae. I cut some more anubias out of the 30 with the shrimp and placed them in the 50 to see how they would do. They quickly became covered in algae. Then I put them back into the 30 and within 2 days, the shrimps had eaten all of the algae off of the anubias. They look good as new, except for the hole in the one leaf.
One thing I think contributed to this is that I dont feed the shrimp. They forage whatever they can. I just feed the fish. So they do their job when they are hungry.

so here are some hints to getting amano shrimp to do their job:

1) Dont feed them and make sure they dont get much fish food.
2) Provide them with algae in the tank. If there isnt any, then dont buy the shrimp.
3) Have alot of shrimp, otherwise it will be a slow job and the shrimp will have more crap to eat which will make it less prone to consume alot of algae.

so I reccamend amano shrimp as algae eaters, so long as they aren't fed anything but algae.

 

[Fishiebusiness]

Here, at 2 dollars each, enough amano shrimp for a 55G could cost a fortune. But if you can afford em, I do agree that you should get them.

 

[nvision]

$2 each in berkeley? that's cheap. where do you find them? i usually see them for $4 or more in other parts of the bay area...

 

[Fishiebusiness]

i get them for 2.50 at nippon aquarium in frisco.

 

[nvision]

hey i was just there yesterday! didn't see any.

but thanks!

 

[Fishiebusiness]

They usually have some in the first tanks in the aisle furthest tank to the left when you enter the first floor. Thats where they keep all the algae eaters like SAE's, otos, and amanos. I got 5 otos, maybe they'll have some amanos back in stock soon.

 

[Matak]

Mr. J: I didn't even know there was a food for shrimp How do shrimp affect your bio-load? Does a 1.5" shrimp = 1.5" of fish? How many shrimp would you recomend for a 30 Gallon tank? I have two Amanos that constantly eat but it is hard to tell just what it is they are eating.

BTW, love the lyrics. What type of music does that band play?

 

[DustinO7]

Finding a growing number of Christians on AC...

Not Fish related, (actually, I guess Jesus did have a rather interesting run in with some fish, and a few loaves of bread...) but Bravo!

 

[Mr.Jingles]

The band is Cross Movemet, which is Christian Rap. For those of you who aren't Christian and think that Rap is only for the thugs, dont start saying that Christian rap must be crap, cause its not.

On the note of Shrimp, I have 5 in my 30 and they cleaned about 15 leaves from two anubias plants rather quickly. If you feed your fish and the flakes reach the bottom, more likely than not, the shrimp will eat the food. They also eat poop sometimes, which I think is kinda funny, but I dont know how healthy it is. But anything that reaches the bottom is food for the shrimp. My shrimp got smart and they go to the surface and grab a flake when I feed the fish. Nevertheless, they dont get much in the way of food, so they ate the algae out of the 30.

I dont include shrimp into my bioload, but then again, I dont have a big bio load. I dont think they produce much waste, so I dont reccamend worrying about how many you have, unless you can't feed them.

 

[Plantbrains]

Shrimp work very well for most algae.
Try buying in bulk, eg 50 or 100 at a time for a much reduced rate.
I get them from 45-80 cents ea at these amounts.

Rap should obviously be a next step in Christian music. Nothing like soul music though, get those "chills" from that. My church is nature, that's where I go to be closer with the creator and marvel at the increbible complexity. Nature should be preserved as it's as much of the creator as it is ourselves.

Regards,
Tom Barr