Fertilizer with shrimp?

sed03f

sed03f

a plant a fish
Jul 23, 2008
683
0
0
Florida
inverthobby.com
Real Name
Sarah
I heard that shrimp were very sensitive to fertilizer, so I havnt been adding any fertilizer to my planted tank.

I have put an underground ferilizer stick and they have done fine for a month now(my red cherry shrimp)

I was going to add the rest of the pack under my other plants, and wanted to make sure this was a safe thing to do.

Is there a liquid fertilizer safe to use with shrimp?
 
i use Flourish Excel from time to time at double the dose and also Flourish (reg) weekly with no ill effects. my CR population is exploding even with a green pea puffer prowling about . . .. lots of java moss to hide in
 
I've been using Flourish, Flourish Iron, Flourish Potassium, and Flourish Trace in my tanks for the past two years. From a trade about a month ago, I got a dozen cherry red shrimp and I know I have at least 4 that are still alive (i.e., I saw them this afternoon). I have never seen all 12, and surmise that the others might have perished from being outside in the cold for 2+ days without any insulation or heat. It is a long story, but essentially, the box was taken off my doorstep and left 50 to 100 yards away in a wetland preserve area of our HOA. After communicating on Saturday with the nice lady that sent me the shrimp, I found out that they had been delivered on Thursday and started piecing together what had happened (e.g., USPS box and newspaper in the wetland area when I took my dog out there Friday night). Saturday morning when I left the house I saw what looked like a water balloon sitting on the railing separating the wetland area from the community. Didn't end up getting to them until Saturday evening when I got back home. They were white as ghosts. Okay, that was the long version. Glad I can type pretty fast. Since the tank they are in is heavily planted, it is really hard to get an accurate count of how many survived, and some of them were rather small too. The 4 that I counted today were pretty big, one had a saddle, and 2 out of the 4 were colored up pretty good with the other 2 getting some color. I have been tracking packages like crazy since that incident.
 
OH, wow, dont worry, I never see all my shrimp at once. They are really really good at hiding. My first batch, I could only count about half the number at any given time. Its the same now, Only if there is a dead fish do I see their real numbers.

Once I found over 100 in my canister! The sad thing is that its the same sponge filter that I use to use on my powerhead! I use pantyhose, and its hard on the motor, but keeps my babies alive

The shrimp will become redder with time, and if you have a white substrate it might be why they arent as red. I once took 8 larger "clear" shrimp(they werent all clear, just not much red). I put them in another tank as feeders, because I didnt want large ones breeding if they were not all the way red. Well one month later, I was surprised that my Serpae tetras didnt eat them, but they had filled in almost all their color! I put them back in my tank, 5 out of 8 were still alive, big, healthy and red! I find they all get red if you let them get big enough. I have this one giant solid thick red one (thankfully shes always pregnant), She's bigger than everyone, but she wasnt all red until she reached her mondo size, she started out speckled, and the colors filled right in
 
OH, and no, my fertilizer sticks do not have any copper in them and are suppose to last for one year, they are about one dollar each, but only work for one plant at a time., Its called plant gro by nutrafin
 
I've dosed EI for years without any issues for Cherries, Amanos and Crystal reds. They breed, get berried and I have more than I started with in every case(well, not amanos, hard to get viable fry, but I do not lose them).

I use SeaChem or Tropica for traces and dose heavy without issues.
Given that I knowingly have been adding ferts and lots of them, they shrimp have bred and increased in numbers, Done this on several tanks now, as well as others, so it's not one lucky fluke.........I have to say this claim is false.

They do quite well like fish...........with fertilization.

Recall that folks that do not have plants or add fertilizers often kill fish and shrimp. So it's not the fertilizers alone that cause folks to say such things. Still, I see no risk involved as much as some claim otherwise, why are my shrimp breeding and fine if what folks say is true?

I'd like to hear an explanation.
You are welcomed to use any and all resources to support it.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
^ agree 100% - I also use Excel & ferts in multiple (2) tanks w/ asstd. inverts and can't associate any invert issues w/ their use.
 
I think I read that post of yours about the shrimp in the canister. I just cleaned out the canister that I have on the "shrimp" tank and there weren't any in it. I made sure I looked because I remembered your post about the 100+ in your canister and I believe your husband helping you to save them. The only thing I use the canister for is skim the surface. I have a fluval surface skimmer attached to the Fluval 105. All of my plants are in pots and I take the pots out every once in a while so that I can clean them out and flush out all the pooh. The rest of the tank has a bare glass bottom. Maybe that is why they aren't coloring up. However, the biggest one is pretty red with a saddle on it. I'll think about adding a little black gravel to the bottom of the tank. Right now, I am using the red/brown Flourite gravel in the plant pots.

Thread detour - What significance is a saddle on shrimp? I have read a couple of places where people refer to them, but have no idea what the significance is?
 
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