# Augh Amano Shrimp



## fishfry (Apr 15, 2004)

The damn Amano shrimp are eating my plants again. They gobbled up my Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides within and hour of adding it to the tank, and now I woke up and they are devouring my Tonina sp. from Belem. :evil: 

Does anyone else have problems with them eating certain plants?


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I haven't had any trouble yet.... If they're out of algae in the tank perhaps you could try supplementing their food with some algae wafers or zuchinni, etc.


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## fishfry (Apr 15, 2004)

That is a good idea, I will go and get some wafers.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Never had problems with Amanos eating plants, but I always make sure to leave algae in the tank for them to feed on. I also feed extra food once or twice a week like: Algae wafers, shrimp pellets, spinach.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

I'm almost positive that they'll leave *healthy* vegetation alone. A while back, I got some erect moss and the Amano shrimp seemed to be devouring it mercilessly. At some point (before they ate every bit of it), they stopped. Then the new fronds grew out and the shrimp were keeping it very clean by picking away all traces of algae, but leaving the moss unharmed. Since then, I've had to move the shrimp into a different tank. I eventually had to move the moss in with them because it was getting tangled in algae. Those shrimp are now the only way I can keep it clean. So I'd have to guess that it's not the actual plant they're finding tasty, but maybe just the parts that are in poor health. Still, sometimes they'll start digging in before a plant has a chance to recover, and if that's the case, you might need to do something to protect the plant from the shrimp. You can try distracting them with Hikari Tropical Crab Cuisine. They'll always choose those pellets over anything else (although hair algae is a very close second with my guys). 

-Naomi


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## Robert B (May 25, 2004)

I have had problems with them eating my Tonina sp. Belem when it wasn't in very good condition right after a prunning but as soon as it started growing nice healthy growth again they would leave it alone.

Robert.


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## fishfry (Apr 15, 2004)

Thanks guys, I'll pick up some tropical crab cuisine. The tonina was new to my tank and just starting to grow, the weird thing was that they ate it all except for 1 stem which they didn't touch at all.


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## Rob G (Oct 19, 2004)

I feed them the tropical crab cuisine to which you refer, and I find it amazing that they seem to come out of nowhere from deep within stands of plants and are able to find the pellets within seconds. It's as if I were ringing a dinner bell. They must have a very good sense of smell (or whatever a shrimp's equivalent to our olfactory sense is).


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## JLudwig (Feb 16, 2004)

fishfry said:


> Tonina sp. from Belem. :evil:


Same plant same problem 

Jeff


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## nonamethefish (Feb 25, 2004)

Wait so these guys DO eat hair algae then?


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

nonamethefish said:


> Wait so these guys DO eat hair algae then?


They're the absolute best if you don't want to take chances with critters that might eventually get big, aggressive or develop a taste for plants. I've found, however, that mature female shrimp do a much better job at cleaning up algae than males and juveniles, especially when they're carrying eggs. Sometimes I'll collect thread/hair algae from my other tanks and toss it into the one with the Amano shrimp. Everybody's picking at it at first, but after about the first half hour, the males are off doing something else while the big, egg-laden females keep at it until the algae is all gone.

Amano shrimp are almost always sold while in the juvenile stage, but sometimes you can find some carrying eggs. You'll get the most bang for your buck with these, and you might also want to keep a few males.

-Naomi


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