Few Questions About Amano/cherry Shrimp

[Tsi_User]

Our 30 gallon is beginning to have a small algae problem and I'd like to deal with it before it becomes a true pain. Other than black-outs, I was thinking about picking up some Amano or Cherry Shrimp to help with the algae. I have a few questions though:

How many would you suggest for a 30 gallon planted tank?

How much waste to they produce? (i'm assuming they don't pertain to the inch per gallon rule)

How much algae to they actually eat?

Would they go alright with the inhabitants in my signature?

And lastly, would you suggest Amano or Cherry shrimp? I'm leaning towards Cherry Shrimp becuase they have more coloring to them but I don't want to pick out a new inhabitant just because of their color.

 

[geo7x]

since no-one's replied i'll give it my best shot:


1. well, they dont add to the bio load much so how many were you looking at?

2. not much. and about the one inch per gallon thing not really no.

3. no idea havent kept them, but i think theyre worth the buy.

4. the are non-predatory, and i dont think any of your fish should touch them.

5. personal preference i think, if you like the colouration get them, i dont think theres much in it.

HTH

 

[three-fingers]

How many would you suggest for a 30 gallon planted tank?

How much waste to they produce? (i'm assuming they don't pertain to the inch per gallon rule)

How much algae to they actually eat?

Would they go alright with the inhabitants in my signature?

And lastly, would you suggest Amano or Cherry shrimp? I'm leaning towards Cherry Shrimp becuase they have more coloring to them but I don't want to pick out a new inhabitant just because of their color.

1.As much as you can afford really, just make sure theres enough hiding places for them and that you feed them enough. I'd go with 15-20.

2.As geo7x said, no very much. If you have enough of them they can make a difference, but it depends on the algae. I had two in a 3.5 gallon that eradicated the algea growing on the plants, but that was in a small tank.

3.They seem to always have food inside them, but i never actually evener saw mine poop, so they cant produce much waste at all.

4. Your fish shaould all be ok, as long as you have enough hiding spaces for when the fish moult. The khuli loaches could probably eat any baby cherry shrimp you might get, but only if the khuli loaches are big.

5. Whichever you want, amano shrimp are bigger and thats why i chose to get them, but cherry shrimp are the same otherwise, and cherry shrimp are the only ones you can breed without having to use marine water and phytoplankoton stuff.

 

[Tsi_User]

Thanks alot for the info guys, I'll be picking a bunch of them up in an hour or so

 

[three-fingers]

Cool, which ones did you go for?
Maybe you should get both?

 

[Tsi_User]

Cool, which ones did you go for?
Maybe you should get both?

lol you already read my mind, I got 5 Amanos, the fish don't seem to mind. One of the Loaches squirmed up to the smallest amano shrimp and he didn't seem interested.

Here's some pictures, they were added about an hour ago

Two of them in the bag, getting acclimated

One of them on the boogwood

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

[voo]

Just be careful as smaller shrimp can sometimes get sucked into the filter. If they go missing they might be there. Also, shrimp can jump sometimes (my pregnant one decided to jump 2m from the tank yesterday )
The shrimp shed their skin too, so dont be alarmed and think it's a dead one.

I dont think they are big algae eaters though. But keep us informed. I think cherry shrimp eat a wider variety of algae though. Mine like krill pellets. I used to feed shrimp pellets and they'd come snatch a whole pellet and run off with it!

 

[Tsi_User]

The 5 that we bought are all quite large, they actually investegated the inlet to the filter and didn't have any troubles getting away from it. They were actually eating some of the plant remains off of the inlet.

Also, the main plant that had algae on it has two shrimp on it cleaning it . I watched them for a while and learned that they clean leaves in a very deliberate way.

 

[Tsi_User]

Just as an update, within a couple days the 5 of them have gotten rid of almost all the visible algae .

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How many would you suggest for a 30 gallon planted tank?

How much waste to they produce? (i'm assuming they don't pertain to the inch per gallon rule)

How much algae to they actually eat?

Would they go alright with the inhabitants in my signature?

And lastly, would you suggest Amano or Cherry shrimp? I'm leaning towards Cherry Shrimp becuase they have more coloring to them but I don't want to pick out a new inhabitant just because of their color.

1.As much as you can afford really, just make sure theres enough hiding places for them and that you feed them enough. I'd go with 15-20.

2.As geo7x said, no very much. If you have enough of them they can make a difference, but it depends on the algae. I had two in a 3.5 gallon that eradicated the algea growing on the plants, but that was in a small tank.

3.They seem to always have food inside them, but i never actually evener saw mine poop, so they cant produce much waste at all.

4. Your fish shaould all be ok, as long as you have enough hiding spaces for when the fish moult. The khuli loaches could probably eat any baby cherry shrimp you might get, but only if the khuli loaches are big.

5. Whichever you want, amano shrimp are bigger and thats why i chose to get them, but cherry shrimp are the same otherwise, and cherry shrimp are the only ones you can breed without having to use marine water and phytoplankoton stuff.

I'm sorry, but i disagree with some of your info. I would say that 1 amano shrimp equals about the same as an albino or peppered cory bioload-wise, so unless this person has very little fish in their 30gal, 15-20 amano shrimp would overstock it.

The other problem with adding so many shrimp is that all shrimp shed their skin from time to time as they grow, and if you had 15-20 young amano shrimp in the tank, you would be picking out the shed skins on a weekly basis.
You need very few amano shrimp to do a decent job at cleaning algae- unless you have something like a 6ft tank covered in algae 15-20 shrimp is quite excessive for doing such a job.
The 3rd problem with so many shrimp is that amano shrimp are particually sensitive to water quality, and that by adding so many shrimp to a 30gal at once you are likely to upset the water quality which will make it very difficult for all 15-20 shrimp to acclimatise at once to the tank.

Amano shrimp will become egg laden from time to time in the tank if you look after them well, but they are very unlikely to successfully produce offspring as the baby shrimp need brackish conditions to survive properly.

Amano shrimp will not clean the tank glass (at least in my experience they don't), however they will clean most algae types off rough surfaces like plants (fake or real), tank ornments, substrate etc.

 

[Bloo]

I'm sorry, but i disagree with some of your info. I would say that 1 amano shrimp equals about the same as an albino or peppered cory bioload-wise, so unless this person has very little fish in their 30gal, 15-20 amano shrimp would overstock it.

The other problem with adding so many shrimp is that all shrimp shed their skin from time to time as they grow, and if you had 15-20 young amano shrimp in the tank, you would be picking out the shed skins on a weekly basis.
You need very few amano shrimp to do a decent job at cleaning algae- unless you have something like a 6ft tank covered in algae 15-20 shrimp is quite excessive for doing such a job.

I disagree. One Amano Shrimp definitely comes no where close in waste produce to that of a cory.
I can't remember what the suggested stocking rate is for Amano Shrimp, but I know that when I had 10 in my 19 gallon, that was considered very low and I could have easily doubled it - on top of my normal stock. This information/advice comes form the planted gurus - and not just the tanks where there are only plants and no fish type tanks.

Planted tanks especially (where Amano shrimps are traditionally most used) function best with a higher rate of these shrimp - obvious fully planted and not just one plant. They do an amazing job of breaking down waste and cleaning substrate - and yes, though they produce their own waste, my tanks have always been a lot cleaner when plenty of Amano Shrimp were present

 

[Dude]

[/quote]
I'm sorry, but i disagree with some of your info. I would say that 1 amano shrimp equals about the same as an albino or peppered cory bioload-wise, so unless this person has very little fish in their 30gal, 15-20 amano shrimp would overstock it.

The other problem with adding so many shrimp is that all shrimp shed their skin from time to time as they grow, and if you had 15-20 young amano shrimp in the tank, you would be picking out the shed skins on a weekly basis.
You need very few amano shrimp to do a decent job at cleaning algae- unless you have something like a 6ft tank covered in algae 15-20 shrimp is quite excessive for doing such a job.
The 3rd problem with so many shrimp is that amano shrimp are particually sensitive to water quality, and that by adding so many shrimp to a 30gal at once you are likely to upset the water quality which will make it very difficult for all 15-20 shrimp to acclimatise at once to the tank.

Amano shrimp will become egg laden from time to time in the tank if you look after them well, but they are very unlikely to successfully produce offspring as the baby shrimp need brackish conditions to survive properly.

Amano shrimp will not clean the tank glass (at least in my experience they don't), however they will clean most algae types off rough surfaces like plants (fake or real), tank ornments, substrate etc.
[/quote]

amano shrimp will eat the algea off the glass if they can grab a hold of it...
like my shrimps get on a high plant then eat from the glass

i have 2 in my 10 gal and they do an amaxing job.

dont forget to feed them shrimp pellets from time to time as algea isnt enough to give then a well balanced diet

mine are still alive after a year and a half

 

[Bloo]

dont forget to feed them shrimp pellets from time to time as algea isnt enough to give then a well balanced diet

I don't think this part is necessary at all. They are scavengers as well and will just live off leftovers and bits that make it to the bottom. They are incredibly opportunistic and will often wrestle food almost literally from a fish's mouth !

 

[Tsi_User]

dont forget to feed them shrimp pellets from time to time as algea isnt enough to give then a well balanced diet

I don't think this part is necessary at all. They are scavengers as well and will just live off leftovers and bits that make it to the bottom. They are incredibly opportunistic and will often wrestle food almost literally from a fish's mouth !

From what the LFS told me I don't need to put food in JUST for the Amano Shrimp. I have watched them eat pieces of flake food, sinking wafers and the sinking Loach food I have. Also, with the amount of chaos at feeding time i am positive that 95% of the shrimp food would be eaten by the other inhabitants before the shrimp could even get to it.

On another note, I've read that many prople don't see their shrimp for days at a time, but I manage to see at least 2 at all times, they're so cool

 

[three-fingers]

I'm sorry, but i disagree with some of your info. I would say that 1 amano shrimp equals about the same as an albino or peppered cory bioload-wise, so unless this person has very little fish in their 30gal, 15-20 amano shrimp would overstock it.

Its ok, your allowed to disagree . This place is for learning, and most of the information i gave i have learnt from here quite recently.

The other problem with adding so many shrimp is that all shrimp shed their skin from time to time as they grow, and if you had 15-20 young amano shrimp in the tank, you would be picking out the shed skins on a weekly basis.

They like to eat their skin quite often too, why let good calcium go to waste? Although i don't know if they only do that in water with very little calcium. Also even if they don't eat their skins, they will make up for in cleaning up all the other stuff in your tank.

You need very few amano shrimp to do a decent job at cleaning algae- unless you have something like a 6ft tank covered in algae 15-20 shrimp is quite excessive for doing such a job.

True, but many claws make light work . Having more shrimp does more good than bad, other than in extreme cases.

The 3rd problem with so many shrimp is that amano shrimp are particually sensitive to water quality, and that by adding so many shrimp to a 30gal at once you are likely to upset the water quality which will make it very difficult for all 15-20 shrimp to acclimatise at once to the tank.

True, i can vouch that shrimp are very sensitive to water quality, i use tap water in my main tank and i think it was the high nitrates in my tap water that killed them(i have soft and neutral tap water, but with nitrates of around 100 , I'm looking into ro). Before when i had them in the 3 gal, i was using spring water with no nitrates or anything bad.
But adding that many shrimp at once isnt really going to make much difference .

Amano shrimp will become egg laden from time to time in the tank if you look after them well, but they are very unlikely to successfully produce offspring as the baby shrimp need brackish conditions to survive properly

The baby shrimp(zoes) need marine conditions, as i have learnt from bloo's thread in the past .
Also, i never said that you can breed the amanos in that tank, i said the cherrys .

I dont mean to sound disrespectfull in any way, just defending my advice .
*phew* long post