Aufwuchs ( can I say that here ) "Biofilm" anyone actually tried to increase the growing of it in your tanks???

[Magnum Man]

I've now accumulated many fish, that are predominately "biofilm" eaters... so, obviously it takes a bit of a mature tank, to acquire, but does anyone actually try to improve the conditions for it's growth??? I have a few oto's, A pleco, I'm starting some Cherry Shrimp & have many Hillstream Loaches, between several tanks, whose primary diet is Aufwuchs careful how you spell that I've come to love the Hillstreams, & there are some really unusual varieties that I'm on notification lists, if they come in, so I'm working on a bumper crop of Aufwuchs ( I just like saying it )

 

[Magnum Man]

I think it generally grows best with bright light, in highly oxygenated water, usually with high flow... not sure of any nutrients, & all the while still trying to keep the algae in control... I see there is a "food"

Amazon.com

not sure if it could be added to the water to seed surfaces, I expect what ever is in the Repashy, if it's actually Aufwuchs, is dead from processing???

 

[Aqua67]

I use Bacter AE to help jumpstart biofilm in my shrimp aquariums.

 

[Fishmanic]

I have a mature 5 gallon shrimp tank with lots of algae/biofilm on the glass and substrate. I recently added driftwood and India Almond leaves to eventually also contribute to biofilm. I also have java moss in the tank. The sponge filter also contributes to biofilm on its surface.

 

[Magnum Man]

@Aqua67 ... that sounds like what I was thinking... wondering if anyone ever tried "seeding" a 55 gallon tank with something like that??? & maybe the introduction of of small, live foods, Copods, Scuds etc.

there are quite a few larger fish in this tank, but if the organisms are small enough, to go un noticed by the bigger fish???

 

[MaloK]

I second the Glasgarten Bacter AE to boost Aufwuchs proliferation.

When a tank is established and there are lots of Aufwuchs consumers. There are good chances that the Aufwuchs will deplete at some point.

Growing Aufwuchs on rock and pieces of wood in a separate tank and switching the rocks back and forth to your "incubation chamber" to grow more Aufwuchs when it's cleaned.

A shallow container with a strong power head and light, with an excess of fertilizer in the water will grow Aufwuchs pretty fast...

(I think I like saying it too)

 

[Fishmanic]

I learned a new word today.
How to pronounce Aufwuchs (ala Elmer Fudd :)

 

[MaloK]

Bacter AE is a game changer. It takes about a week to kick-in. But now the shrimps are less interested in pellets and are grazing all around the tank. Also the babies have jumped growth in the last 2 weeks and the adults are showing beautiful colours and healthy shells.

I forgot to say, Copods and Scuds will be direct competition for food with your shrimps. If you have fishes that keep their population under control, it could be nice to have them though .

 

[Magnum Man]

I actually have more fish tanks than shrimp tanks, so I could only introduce micro fauna in the tanks that have Aufwuchs eating fish... in reading up on my gold nugget pleco, it sounds like they especially like micro fauna included with their bio film, which I think is what actually makes tank slime into Aufwuchs

 

[GaryE]

I have 3 Acestridium twig cats, and they will not touch anything but tank algae. I have them in a high flow 40 long with young lampeyes. At the end of the tank, I have a 24 hour spotlight with an led screw in bulb, and that end of the tank is umm, unattractive to those of us who aren't Acestridium cats. But the catfish love that corner and seem to be thriving.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

From SeriouslyFish:

Adopted German term meaning 'surface growth' used to describe the aggregate of plants, animals and detritus adhering to solid surfaces such as rocks or vegetation in aquatic environments.

However, Ingo Seidel in his books Back to Nature Guide to L-Catfish spends close to 3 pages explaining Aufwuchs and which fish feed on them. It is not so simple as sating bio-film. Vegetation is an integral part of Aufwuchs.

I also was curious about Bacter AE which I have never used in any of my tanks. I have 3 shrimp species- Red Cherry, Blue Dream and Amanos. My cherry shrimp colony came to me about 15 years ago and it is still thriving today. The blues are only with me for about 3 years and are also doing great. The Amanos inhabit most of my planted tanks except where they would be eaten by the fish.

I have bought my Amanos over the years in either 50 or 100 shrimp lots. I have not added any amanos in years but my tanks still have plenty of them. This amazes me as I know they need salty water to develop and I use 0 salt in my tanks except as a medication when needed.

So, basically without using much specifically for the shrimp, they seem to thrive in my tanks. I do feed foods for the shrimp- think Repashy Soilent Green, Hikari Algae wafers and mini-wafers and veggie sticks. Sometime I drop a piece of zucchini into the tanks. I am always amazed at how much an Amano can lift and carry away. They easily muscle the kensfish mini veggie sticks (and the meaty ones as well when they can). I break up the Hikari algae wafers and they can haul the smaller pieces of that as well.

So, as far as I am concerned I see no reason for me to even think about buying Bacter AE. I do not need it. However, I did research it a bit. What I found in the article linked below was it basically concluded that it was useful but they also had a warning, They said the suggested dosing was too high and they felt this was the cause of the shrimp deaths some have reported after using the product.
https://www.shrimplyexplained.com/2022/09/29/what-is-bacter-ae/

I find that two things keep my shrimp fed. The first is well planted tanks which get fertilizer and plenty of light. So there is a lot of natural food being created for them. The next is some of the foods I feed are good for the shrimp. This helps to insure they get more than enough to eat and it is the right kinds of food for them.

I should say I am not much of an invert person. I only keep assassin snails to deal with the pest snails that keeping fry well fed will foster. I got amanos to help with managing algae in planted tanks. I got the red cherry because a good friend was a big shrimp and invert person. I got the blue shrimp because another friend needed to rehome them as well a few of her smaller fish. So I adopted them.

When it comes to plants I have long known I have a green thumb. But I had no idea I also had chitin pinky as well.

edited for typos

 

[Magnum Man]

@TwoTankAmin ... the article was pretty interesting, & still assumes it improves things... my tanks that have fish in are all bigger tanks, shrimp though, are in 10 gallon tanks...

I ordered some... I think I'm going to add it via shaker bottle with the dose, & tank water in the shaker, to eliminate the eating of concentrated undiluted product...

going further "down stream" once I have developed a good film of Aufwuchs on my surfaces... I would think if it's not maintaining, I have my tank overstocked of Aufwuchs eaters, & the suggestion of growing out of tank, & adding hard scape with a good coating of Aufwuchs on it, may be needed, or the need to move around a few fish...

@GaryE ... back when I had my football themed tank, I had 3 LED pin spotlights that I directed at areas I was trying to highlight, all of the lights were at least 2 feet from the tank, mounted above... I had them plugged into a switched powerstrip, so I could just turn them on, while the tank was being viewed... it was amazing how fast & thick the algae grew in the area lit by the spots... I didn't know it was going to do that to the extent it did, in as short a time, as they were on each day, but because they were pin spots, it was just making 4" circles of the green stuff...

 

[MaloK]

From SeriouslyFish:


However, Ingo Seidel in his books Back to Nature Guide to L-Catfish spends close to 3 pages explaining Aufwuchs and which fish feed on them. It is not so simple as sating bio-film. Vegetation is an integral part of Aufwuchs.

I also was curious about Bacter AE which I have never used in any of my tanks. I have 3 shrimp species- Red Cherry, Blue Dream and Amanos. My cherry shrimp colony came to me about 15 years ago and it is still thriving today. The blues are only with me for about 3 years and are also doing great. The Amanos inhabit most of my planted tanks except where they would be eaten by the fish.

I have bought my Amanos over the years in either 50 or 100 shrimp lots. I have not added any amanos in years but my tanks still have plenty of them. This amazes me as I know they need salty water to develop and I use 0 salt in my tanks except as a medication when needed.

So, basically without using much specifically for the shrimp, they seem to thrive in my tanks. I do feed foods for the shrimp- think Repashy Soilent Green, Hikari Algae wafers and mini-wafers and veggie sticks. Sometime I drop a piece of zucchini into the tanks. I am always amazed at how much an Amano can lift and carry away. They easily muscle the kensfish mini veggie sticks (and the meaty ones as well when they can). I break up the Hikari algae wafers and they can haul the smaller pieces of that as well.

So, as far as I am concerned I see no reason for me to even think about buying Bacter AE. I do not need it. However, I did research it a bit. What I found in the article linked below was it basically concluded that it was useful but they also had a warning, They said the suggested dosing was too high and they felt this was the cause of the shrimp deaths some have reported after using the product.
https://www.shrimplyexplained.com/2022/09/29/what-is-bacter-ae/

I find that two things keep my shrimp fed. the first is well planted tanks which get fertilizer and plenty of light. So there is a lot of natyral food being created for thm. The next is some of the foods I feed are good for the shrimp. This helps to insure they get more than enough to eat and it is the right kinds of food for thm.

I should say I am not much of an invert person. I only keep assassin snails to deal with the pest snails that keeping fry well fed will foster. I got amanos to help with managing algae in planted tanks. I got the red cherry because a good friend was a bit shriimp and invert person. I got the blue shrimp bbecause another friend neede to rehome them as well a few of her smaller fish. So I adopted them.

When it comes to plants I have long known I have a green thumb. But I had no idea I also had chitin pinky as well.

Thanks for the article, Good to know !

Since the dose is one little tiny scoop for every 120 litre of water, I guess it's pretty easy to overdose a small tank quite fast.

Also letting the product soak in tank water until it becomes jelly like before uses, prevents it to float.

 

[GaryE]

A lot of aufwuchs (what a great word!) feeders also pick the small organisms out of the algae. In some cases, that's the main thing they're after. That we can't really manage in our tanks. Imagine if we could get the stuff loaded with shrimplets and crustaceans.

I watched beautiful mollies feeding on walls of the stuff in a Yucatan cenote, and they were picking very methodically - grazing. They were eating aufwuchs, but they seemed to have their eyes on other things too. They weren't going like lawnmowers, but were hitting spots.

 

[MaloK]

Reading more on the subject, It seems that you need to establish the Aufwuchs tank before adding anything to it. and the number of Aufwuchs consumers hosted has to be very low.

An Aufwuchs production "only" tank is considered an advanced aquarium concept and requires careful monitoring and adjustments with minimal intervention.

This setup focuses solely on the microorganism community. And is basically unsuitable for most fish and invertebrates because they will cause depletion of your culture and also would not be a varied food source enough for them.

The ideal conditions are not very fish friendly too, Long photo period and surprisingly nearly no filtration is required. Daily water changes are an absolute necessity and constant scrubbing of the algae growing on the walls of the container is mandatory to promote growth at the right place.

But it's perfectly doable imo.