How do amano shrimp affect your bio-load?

[el wadd]

I'm thinking of trying out some amano shrimp, and the guy at the LFS stated that they barely affect your bio-load. I find that hard to believe, and figured I'd throw it up here and see what came down.

Whats the stocking formula for these things? Is it the same ol' hotly debated "Gallon Per Inch" rule?

I currently have a crew of 10 mystery snails going, but am considering cutting back the workforce and importing some foreign talent so to speak. Does it affect my total tank load? I mean, do they take up a lot of the bio-load...Is it less than snails?

 

[ct-death]

Well, I'm not Amano Shrimp expert, but I can say that after having RCS and Ghost in a bare 10G tank that their bio-load is next to zero as a living thing can get!

I had 10 RCS and 6 Ghost Shrimp and once a week I would vac out and do a PWC (~40%). The resulting water was nearly clean. The small poops in the bucket I could barely use to cover the space of a dixie-cup bottom with.

(P.S. I also have a Betta in the tank!)

But the shrimp do poop little 'nuggets' that I would say are about the same size as a claw from a ghost srimp (ie. SMALL!) The more you feed the more they poop, and if you under feed I have noticed them re-eatting their poops...

As for bio-loads (and please throw that 'rule' out), I would be comfortable having 50-60 shrimp in my tank and not worry about it. I know others that keep about 100 per 10G for breeding, which is on the very heavy side obviously.

As for Amano's, not sure what the comparison would be exactly, but it would be very close to the same. Most are simply just larger versions of a Red Cherry Shrimp in this regard...

 

[mellowvision]

I can't say how they affect amonia production, but they create way more nuggets than the fish seem to... we're talking tons of poop bits... I don't feed mine at all, but they never stop eating or pooping. I've never seen mine eating poop though.

 

[jm1212]

you wouldnt want to put 40 in a 5 gallon tank, but i dont think they would impact the bioload that much

 

[el wadd]

goodbye snails, hello shrimp.

 

[nickmcmechan]

low bioload....but sensitive to water quality

 

[el wadd]

low bioload....but sensitive to water quality

water changes every other day....well, sometimes I skip a weekend.

 

[psariandras]

do the mystery snails give you any trobule with your plants?

 

[el wadd]

not one bit. they seem to leave them alone for the most part. I've seen them cleaning algae etc.. off the leaves, but thats about it.

 

[Becca3711]

Do snails and shrimps get along well? Im thinking of getting a couple amanos or cherry reds. Will they get along w/my betta too?