# Amano Family



## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

So the shrimp bug bit me, and I started getting the itch to research them, last month. I have been thinking about it since, and I started reading about Amano shrimp. So far, of the ten, or more sites I've read about them, only one mentioned that they need to be kept in groups of five or more.

If I got any, I would only keep two. That would keep me just under the general rule for bio-load in an aquarium. Do they need to be in larger groups to maintain a healthy life? If they do, then I will not get any. I have a betta, and I considered Amano shrimp, not only because of the awesome clean up crew they make, but also because growing to about the same size of an adult betta would keep them safe from becoming betta food.

If it is okay to keep only two of them, I would like to buy two adult ones, preferably a year old. Would it be okay to post a "want to buy" thread now, to buy in mid to late October?


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

Inverts typically have a much lower bioload. I can't see how 2 vs 10 would make a difference. Just remember, all shrimp are sensitive to nitrate. Amanos and Cherry's seem a little sturdier, but they are still shrimp. So if you're near your max bioload, I'd be concerned about that from the fish.

What's your nitrate typically at? Do you have to dose it?


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

It's a new tank. It is still giving me some troubles. If I get the shrimp, it will be around mid October. So my tank will have been up two, two and a half months by then. I will continue to try to keep ammonia, and nitrites at zero. Nitrates around 10 ppm.

I will raise kH to 4, maybe a little higher. I will get some sort of calcium additive, like eggshells or corals.

Tank will be kept at 77F. I do not plan on breeding them. The bio-load would be the two shrimp, 1 betta, and 1 Mystery Snail. At around 2 inches each, that brings me to about 8 inches, in a 10g tank, with about 9 and 1/2 gallon system.

It is a planted tank, and hopefully by then, it will be well on it's way to being heavily planted.


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

The inch per gallon has never made any sense to me. How would 6 inches of male guppies or even thin bettas compare to a 6 inch cichlid or a fat clown loach? They don't. Less mass, eating less protien, makes less waist. Plants make the equation even more broken. They provide even more filtration and break lines of site, making many smaller territories and hiding holes. I have several 10g tanks. One has an infestation if guppies and still support 6 amanos no problem. Another has an uncountable number of cherry shrimp. I've sold/given almost 200 one week and I didn't even feel I made a dent in their population. Both tanks are lightly planted and never register any nitrate.

You're likely fine to add shrimp once you know the tank is stable. If your nervous, add some frogsbit or better some water lettuce (if legal in your state). It'll suck the water clean of nutrients.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

So do they need to be in groups? Would keeping only a pair kill make them blue (depressed)?


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

I wouldn't think it would make them depressed. They're inverts. They basically have the brain of a cockroach... not really much of one at all.

Their nervous system is basically a series of segmented ganglia spear headed with a slightly more complex one that processes their head's sensing organs.

The reason for a group is more about fear response. If they sense other shrimp in the area, they'll be less fearful of the area and more likely to venture out. Basically... they'll hide less, and you'll actually get to see them with a group. With just 2, they'll likely just hide under some cover and eat what's hidden.

Just another FYI, amanos can't breed in freshwater, so even if you see a female berry up, you won't get any baby shrimp. The eggs hatch into a larval stage and die in freshwater.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Well that's still kind of sad, to make them live in fear >.>, lol.

Yeah, I read they need brackish water to hatch, but I am not going to try to breed them.


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## rhodydvm (Sep 9, 2014)

I have 6 Amano shrimp in 10 gal heavily planted mature tank. Also 2 Pygmy cories, 1 oto, 5 neon tetras and about 800 snails. Everyone very happy and healthy, all get along and water crystal clear I don't add calcium or any supplement just 30-50% WC per week. I think Amanos will spawn easily but juveniles require salt water at some phase of development so you can't actually breed ( or most people can't I guess). Mine are the coolest animals I own in 4 tanks, so much fun to watch and so active and they take care of plants - I have never had this great of growth except in Amano tank. Maybe other factors at play but I like to give them credit


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

I was already looking into buying them from LiveAquaria.com, but I'd have to buy seventy six shrimp to get free shipping, and paying over thirty dollars for a few shrimp makes me feel dizzy.

You said you don't add calcium, or other supplements. Do you use tap water?


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## rhodydvm (Sep 9, 2014)

I use tap water with seachem prime to dechlorinate


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## countryboy12484 (Jul 22, 2014)

Ill tell ya this a betta will still kill amano shrimp.. I put a few in with mine and they didnt last a week


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Even at two inches?

One thing I've been noticing with this betta, is what I see a lot of people posting when they talk about bettas they've had; that each betta does tend to have its own personality.

With the one I had before, I was able to keep several shrimp. Some were ghost shrimp. I can't remember what the others were, but they were also small. The first batch of ghost shrimp I had became lunch. I put them in shortly after I got them at Wal-mart. They were very small, but still large enough that I thought they were not going to fit in the betta's mouth(?). Nope. I was wrong. He ate two in a row.

I was sure he'd die from having eaten so much. He didn't die. Plus he kept eating the rest over the week. I didn't take the other shrimp out, because he caught the first two as they were swimming down to the bottom. I figured the others would run and hide, and he wouldn't find them. Then ran. They hid. He found them.

So I bought a second batch, but I placed them in another tank for a few weeks while they grew. Once I felt they were large enough THAT time that they couldn't possibly fit in the betta, I introduced one in the tank. The betta ignored it. So I introduced another two, and waited till evening. He never got near them, so I introduced the rest. He never bothered them, so then I ordered another kind of shrimp, and they were all safe.

The betta I have now is a bit more curious, and rambunctious. So your warning worries me now.

Were the amano shrimp your betta ate adult size, two inches long? If so, how on earth did he fit them in? If the shrimp were still young, I am planning on growing them out separately first, this time. Once they are two inches long, I will introduce them to Blue, my betta.


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## countryboy12484 (Jul 22, 2014)

Lets put it this way... The betta might not be able to swallow it whole.... But he can tear them apart


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## countryboy12484 (Jul 22, 2014)

And yes they were adults


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## countryboy12484 (Jul 22, 2014)

My betta was very aggressive, it might work for you. Each betta is different


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## countryboy12484 (Jul 22, 2014)

The one i had would even kill snails lol


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Tugg, how many shrimp should I put in at a time? I'd like to avoid mini cycles. I'll be taking the betta out, so that should help balance some out.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

I _really_ want Amano shrimp. I just can't bring myself to pay that much. They were on sale for $2.99, and I missed it. Now they're $3.99. That's not a big deal, but the shipping charge is. It's $34.99. That would bring the total of fifteen shrimp to $94.84.

It's nice that they guarantee you'll get them the next day, but paying a hundred bucks hurts.

I _really_ wish I had a local shop that had all the things I want. I only have Wal-mart with Ghost shrimp, and a shrimpless PetSmart. /sigh


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## countryboy12484 (Jul 22, 2014)

I could get you some and ship to you.... I think my local store has them for like $2


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

You can get them off AquaBid:

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwinverts&1410974410

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwinverts&1411080407

Though I imagine Arizona is still a bit hot right now. You may want to wait till its a little cooler.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

My shrimp just arrived! They are smaller than I hoped they'd be. The betta will be going out of the tank, and into his own bowl for a little while. Only until the shrimp grow out. I can't wait for them to be cleaning my tank!


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

You could always put shrimp in there own bowl and leave betta where he's happy also. Then you can make sure shrimp are healthy while they grow?


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

And they're in the aquarium! I followed Dr. Foster, and Dr. Smith's floating method of acclimation. The process took me over two hours, less than two and a half.

It didn't take long for the shrimp to start eating. I can see many of them with full stomachs, already. One concerned me, because it's stomach is empty. But it is stressed, since it just arrived a few hours ago, and it has only been in the tank about fifteen minutes. I'll just keep an eye out.

They are lively little things. i kept trying to count them, while in the bag, but I could only ever get up to ten. Then I'd lose count, because they're constantly darting about. Now in the aquarium, one is swimming all over the tank, very hurriedly. Some will dart about every few seconds. The rest seem to just gather in groups, until one of the darting ones charges in, and scatters the group.

@ PanDragon: I could. But the reason I got the shrimp is so they can help keep the tank clean. I want to do everything I reasonably can to keep my pets happy, but my main focus is the plants. So I have the shrimp to help keep healthier plants, and not the plants to help keep the inhabitants healthier.

@ Tugg: I will now be doing three water changes per week. Considering I only have a one month old syste, to give my shrimp the best chance, should I do all 30% water changes, two 30%, and one 10%, or two 10% and one 30%? I'm not comfortable with only doing 10% water changes all three times.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I understand you wanted to get them in there to help clean the dead stuff on the plants, I was just thinking abut what would happen if they died all a sudden or something. I don't know for sure if inverts can carry anything that can make your betta sick either. I heard it was doubtful, but I like to be safe and quarantine just incase, ya know?


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Yeah. I'm always afraid that not quarantining is eventually going to kill my tank. You think I'd know better.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I just hope your tank settles down soon and all its inhabitants get along happy and your shrimp survive to help clean up the plants and don't become food for the betta.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Well thank you very much, kind sir!

The parameters have been stable. What I thought was brown algae on the Cabomba, wasn't. Much of what I thought was brown algae in the rest of the tank, was decaying plant matter.

I keep reading that snails are very sensitive, and my Mystery is now twice the size it was when I purchased it, and very active.

The HC is growing back, the Alt. Reineckii are dark red, and the Cabomba, that I had originally cut in half, has grown, and has since been cut in half again. I think my tank is doing better than I thought it was. I just hope it keeps getting better.


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## countryboy12484 (Jul 22, 2014)

Good luck with the shrimp, if your like me it wount be long and youll be a shrimper for life... I started with amanos and ghost shrimp and now i have 3 shrimp tanks running and four more in the making


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

Yay! That is good to hear. My snails survived a lot, heck some even survived going through nuking my quarantine tank to get rid of some of the crap that was growing on the wood taking over everything. I still have goo growing on the wood but in manageable levels and not killing the plants. I think the snails came from eggs I missed when I cleaned some trimmings from main tank to put in at the start of quarantine. I found one 1/2 cm pond/bladder snail the day before yesterday that I took off and placed back in main tank, then I found another today I put in main tank. The snails/eggs survived hydrogen peroxide bath, drying, temp fluctuations, rinsing in chlorinated water, rubbing, peeling, and otherwise trying to remove all specs of snails or eggs from the plants. They even survived ammonia spikes to around 1ppm. I wonder if shrimp are more fragile than snails, since my snails don't seem to be that fragile so far.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Ahahahaha! It's horrible that the poor things went through so much, but it's awesome that they survived. Shrimp are sometimes described as the underwater cockroaches, but when it comes to survivability, I think the title should now go to the snails.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

Its possible it was just the eggs that went through all that and the toughest ones survived to hatch when water conditions stabilized kind of like how some bugs can survive severe droughts as eggs or inside cocoons of sorts where they are protected util some environmental triggers them to reactive and hatch out of the egg or whatever and start acting alive again.


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## mdcham (Nov 10, 2014)

I got 9 amano shrimp for my fishless planted 125 gallon high tech tank. I'm using EI fert dosing with nitrates in the 40ppm range, but the shrimp are slowly turning white and dying one by one. I think they really don't like that nitrate level. I dropped the nitrates to 10ppm but then my plants started to do poorly. It was a tough balance to maintain. Also, at 40ppm nitrates, my Mexican dwarf crayfish also died. The amanos and crayfish were all very healthy when I kept them in my quarantine nonplanted tank.


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