# [Wet Thumb Forum]-staghorn algae and amano shrimp



## jdwyz (Jun 14, 2003)

i have some staghorn in one of my tanks.will amano shrimp eat this stuff? any fish that will touch it?

thanks


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## jdwyz (Jun 14, 2003)

i have some staghorn in one of my tanks.will amano shrimp eat this stuff? any fish that will touch it?

thanks


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2003)

Look at this info

http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles/algae.htm#staghorn

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Regards,
Jay Luto


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## jdwyz (Jun 14, 2003)

Thanks jay, but i have already seen this link and it really does not say if amano shrimp will eat staghorn.my sae sure wont touch it.


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2003)

jdwyz,

Some info from APD

_In my tank the staghorn was somewhat spotty and pretty easy to remove by hand. It seemed
to come off my driftwood with much effort. None of the fish that I have in the tank
seemed to touch it so hand removal was the only option. I have otos, a flying fox, and a
few mollies in my tank. The consensus on here and some other spots on the net seems to be that flag fish are the way to go. I am going to order some next week and we'll see what happens._

_I had a lot of this type of algae earlier this year, though mine wasn't quite the same size as yours (considerably smaller, rarely over 1-1/2"). I picked it off for what seemed like weeks and worked on my nutrient balance.
It eventually stopped returning._

_I had this algae a couple of years ago and it was a tough one. I tried everything, trimming back the affected parts, reduced lighting, reduced fertilizer etc.. It flourished and the plants didn't. I then tried, which felt wrong at the time, to feed the plants which would starve the algae by competing for the nutrients. I started to fertilize normally and took cuttings from my hygro and planted it throughout the tank. Several weeks later, after the hygro had really started to grow, the algae started to turn white, from the top of the tank first 
to the bottom later. In about 3 weeks the algae was gone and has never returned. I hope this might give you some clues on how your 
staghorn might be eliminated. BTW, no fish touched the algae and I had Oto's, SAE's and 
busynose._

Looking at people's replies there is not much out there on the market which can eat this type of algae. Proper nutrients balance and manual removal is way to go.

Good luck









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Regards,
Jay Luto


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## imported_Matt (Oct 29, 2003)

I agree with Jay that proper balance of nutreints is always the best cure for algae outbreaks. But, my SAE's ate the staghorn when they were very small. I can't find any of that algae anymore to see if the SAE's are still eating it or not. I have found that the older the SAE's get the lazier they get especially if they get regular fish foods. Just my two cents.


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

I do actually have a fish that helped A LOT with staghorn-- my dwarf gourami. It didn't help in the traditional "eating sense though. Due to lack of bubble nest material that he deemed worthy (he grew tired of riccia), he started to tear up all my staghorn and built bubble nests out of it!

_these results are not typical_


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