Japonica Shrimp Eating Wood?

[SaMoNaMe2010]

Hiya.
I have two Japonica Shrimp, one of the main reasons I got them was because apparantly they are good at eating algae and I had quite alot of algae in my tank, they cleared it up overnight.
But i also have a massave bit of bogwood in my tank, do they eat wood, because at any rate sometings been excavating little hollows and tunnels?

Also could someone tell me about shedding? because i have only had them 2 days and I think it would be a usefull thing to know about.

Also, (and i promise this is the last also lol) yesterday, when i got them, there were out and about allover the tank, but now they tend to stay in the bog wood, and i only ever see one out at a time, is this normal?


Thanks for your help, if you give it lol

 

[drufly]

Not sure about eating bog wood but on the shedding they just slip outa the old skin and leave it where ever they molt. I have amano shrimp and they molt about every 2 weeks at the start but as they get older it slows down as they stop growing.

My amanos where the same (all over the tank) at the start but now they seem to stay on a fake mountain scape most of the time, only at feeding time i see them scatter about the place.

 

[nmonks]

One factor you're not considering is their social behaviour: all these Caridina and Neocaridina shrimps are gregarious. Think of them like schooling fish. You need at least six specimens to see them behave at all normally. In large groups -- and in the absence of big fish -- they should be extremely outgoing.

They don't eat wood, but they may well consume algae and fungus on decaying wood. Not all bogwood is of the same quality, and some varieties rot more quickly than others. This may explain why your wood seems to be eroding.

Cheers, Neale

 

[~T~]

Yep as Neale says they will be more outgoing in larger numbers with and with not aggressive fish. Mine are out and about 24/7 and go crazy speeding about the tank the second anything edible is added. I have nothing that remotely resembles a predator in the tank. The biggest fish is a mango pl*co and they have long since stopped regarding him as a threat and he now makes a good portable perch Do you have any wood eating pl*cos such as clowns or royals. They defo eat noticible chunks out of bogwood.

 

[SaMoNaMe2010]

No the only other stuff i have in there is a Banjo Catfish and two Pearl Gorami, but i have disovovered that one of the holes was just buried before, and the Japonicas have been digging, and the other one has defanetly been made by something, and i have seen one of the shrimp sitting in it.

Also just now i have seen the shrimp sitting on the bogwood, plucking at the wood and putting it into his mouth, like they do when the eat algae, and as far as i can see there is no algae in the wood.