Snail/Shrimp Bioload

[IHaveADogToo]

The guy at the pet store (I know, right) says he doesn't account for snails in community tank bioloads. I didn't ask him about shrimp. I know both shrimp and snails are generally low bioload contributors, but are they really so low they don't need to be accounted for when stocking a tank?

Or is it one of those things where it's like every 10 snails counts as 1 fish bioload-wise?

I know some of our members keep species-only shrimp tanks. How do you factor shrimp bioload?

 

[Colin_T]

Depends on how big the shrimp/ snails are, how many there are, and how much food they get.

If you have a couple of 4 inch long Macrobrachium or crayfish/ crawfish they are definitely going to add to bio-load especially if they are fed well each day. However, if you only have a couple of small cherry shrimp they aren't going to add to the bio-load.

Snails are the same, a couple of Ramshorn snails aren't going to add anything to the tank but 200 Ramshorn snails will.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

So quantity is when it becomes important, then? Is there some sort of standard for them? Like there is with the 1 inch of fish per gallon standard? I know that 1 inch of fish per gallon rule is flawed, but it's a commonly used standard none-the-less. Is there a similar standard with small inverts? Maybe like X number of shrimp per gallon, or X number of snails per gallon?

 

[Colin_T]

Quantity and size.

There is no rule of thumb for how many inch of shrimp is suitable for x litres of water. About the only way you could estimate it would be to try and make a fish out of the shrimp, visually, not actually. Basically if you could stick 4 or 5 cherry shrimp together they might be a similar size and mass to a golden barb so those 4 or 5 shrimp would produce a similar bio-load to 1 golden barb.

If you had a 4inch long crayfish then it is going to have the same bio-load as a 4 inch long angelfish or barb.

 

[NickAu]

I have over 200 Red Cherry shrimp and 10 Bumblebee Gobys in a 15 gallon 2 foot tank and its no problem, however I would not have 3 mystery snails like the one in the photo in the same tank.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

Omg that’s huge!