Do I Have To Feed Amano Shimp?

hello there,
I have a 5 week old 10 gallon shrimp tank with 20 Amano shrimp. They have been in the tank for a week now and they have completely destroyed the hair and thread algae problem. 98% of all the algae is gone with very small amounts left on some leaves.
The 20 amanos are the only inhabitants and since most of the algae is gone, should I start feeding them? Someone said something about the shrimps eating biofilm?

Also would this 10 gallon carpeted tank with 20 Amanos be considered a lightly stocked tank? And can the nitrogen and phosphorus produced by the waste support all the carpeting dwarf baby tears? Because the ferts I’m dosing is ADA brighty K that only gives out potassium.

 

Yes, shrimp eat bio-film from the top of the tank. I would start feeding them boiled green vegetables.

In my opinion, that tank is still lightly stocked, with shrimp taking up the minimum space in tanks.

 

hello there,
I have a 5 week old 10 gallon shrimp tank with 20 Amano shrimp. They have been in the tank for a week now and they have completely destroyed the hair and thread algae problem. 98% of all the algae is gone with very small amounts left on some leaves.
The 20 amanos are the only inhabitants and since most of the algae is gone, should I start feeding them? Someone said something about the shrimps eating biofilm?

Also would this 10 gallon carpeted tank with 20 Amanos be considered a lightly stocked tank? And can the nitrogen and phosphorus produced by the waste support all the carpeting dwarf baby tears? Because the ferts I’m dosing is ADA brighty K that only gives out potassium.

HI Hydrosolic,

Boiled green vegetables are certainly a great option, especially because there is no other bioload they can consume. A blanched spinach e.g. is something they love. Depending on how big the spinach is, it could take them 2 days to finish it completely.

Shrimps certainly have a light bioload. In AQAdvisor e.g. if you input 1 shrimp, your stocking% goes up by just 1%.

 

Vitamin and mineral rich veggies (spinach, kale, zucchinni/courgette, bok choy, etc), and protein rich foods as well.

I wouldn't say you are super lightly stocked, a lot of people only recommend 1 amano per 2 gallons of water. However, I think part of that is based on the amount of algae and biofilm available rather than bioload. But I wouldn't add many more amanos.

 

can the nitrogen and phosphorus produced by the waste support all the carpeting dwarf baby tears? Because the ferts I’m dosing is ADA brighty K that only gives out potassium.

I would probably say no, or it depends. First, do you have co2 injection or using a co2 fert, and/or have lots of surface agitation? I think that would be more important before the ferts. If the plants don't have co2 to participate in photosynthesis, they won't be able to benefit efficiently from the nitrogen or phosphorus even if it's there. Personally, I tried carpeting dwarf tears without ferts and it didn't end well (though that could be a slew of other reasons too).

From what I've read and experienced though, the nitrogen and phosphorus produced by waste of livestock, especially in this lightly stocked tank, is not enough for plants. Especially carpeting plants which usually need high amounts of most things to grow lush. You might be able to get away with it if everything else is perfect (light schedule, water changes, fert dosing) but even then your plants will grow much slower than if you dosed more with iron, or like a flourish advance type fert.

 

I do. I only have one amano shrimp in my 5 gallon with about 25-30 red cherry shrimp and he is a pig. he's always running around looking for food. when I feed the shrimp he'll steal most of the food from the cherries and carry it off to eat by himself.

I feed my shrimp blanched, steamed or boiled vegetables like zucchini, spinach, cucumber, asparagus, broccoli, and peas. they also get bacter ae, sinking shrimp pellets, algae wafers, bee pollen, nori, spirulina brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, baby brine shrimp, daphnia, and indian almond leaves.

 

I can grow the HM baby tears on a soil substrate without dosing ferts, but without a heavy nutrient source, I think you'll struggle. But it's growing now with just the ADA K and shrimp poop?

 

My Amano eat most anything. But seem to like shrimp pellets or algae wafers. In the Cherry Shrimp section Richie has what seems to be a good method of feeding shrimp Kale. Go check it out.

 

HI Hydrosolic,

Boiled green vegetables are certainly a great option, especially because there is no other bioload they can consume. A blanched spinach e.g. is something they love. Depending on how big the spinach is, it could take them 2 days to finish it completely.

Shrimps certainly have a light bioload. In AQAdvisor e.g. if you input 1 shrimp, your stocking% goes up by just 1%.

Hey there,
Would you recommend feeding algae wafers/pellets or blanched veg?
Is there a benefit to feeding blanched veg over pellets? Does one produce more water pollution than other etc?
Also would the spinach pollute the water being in the tank for 2 days or is it not a problem.
Lastly how often would you feed them?

I would probably say no, or it depends. First, do you have co2 injection or using a co2 fert, and/or have lots of surface agitation? I think that would be more important before the ferts. If the plants don't have co2 to participate in photosynthesis, they won't be able to benefit efficiently from the nitrogen or phosphorus even if it's there. Personally, I tried carpeting dwarf tears without ferts and it didn't end well (though that could be a slew of other reasons too).

From what I've read and experienced though, the nitrogen and phosphorus produced by waste of livestock, especially in this lightly stocked tank, is not enough for plants. Especially carpeting plants which usually need high amounts of most things to grow lush. You might be able to get away with it if everything else is perfect (light schedule, water changes, fert dosing) but even then your plants will grow much slower than if you dosed more with iron, or like a flourish advance type fert.

Hi! Thanks for the reply,
Yes I run co2 at 3bps, high lighting, lots and lots of surface agitation and I use ADA aquasoil.
From what I have learnt the ADA ferts are meant to be used with their aquasoil as the ferts only dose trace elements and Potassium, while the aquasoil releases the rest of the macros missing: nitrogen and phosphate. However the aquasoil will be depleted of these macros after a while.
I heard about Thrive, an all in one fertiliser. It has great reviews and has Nitrogen, phosphate that my tank will be lacking after the substrate is depleted and only depend on the shrimp’s waste which is a very small amount. Do you have any experience with thrive and is there other fertilisers you recommend?
Also does the carpeting dwarf baby tears require the extra iron? And if I end up using thrive, which is quite concentrated compared to other ferts, would the excess nutrients cause algae?

I can grow the HM baby tears on a soil substrate without dosing ferts, but without a heavy nutrient source, I think you'll struggle. But it's growing now with just the ADA K and shrimp poop?

Yes it’s growing as the ADA K supplies K while the ADA aquasoil was meant to be used alongside ADA K, supplies N and P.
The N and P sources are from the shrimp and aquasoil, however the ADA aquasoil is known to run out of nutrients (especially N) with high lighting after a short while. And after that the only source of N and P is from the shrimp which is a very small amount.
The only stable source of nutrients I have is K from the ferts, and trace elements from the ferts.
I am thinking of getting a better fert which doesn’t reply on fish waste and is for lightly stocked tanks. Any suggestions?

 

Hey there,
Would you recommend feeding algae wafers/pellets or blanched veg?
Is there a benefit to feeding blanched veg over pellets? Does one produce more water pollution than other etc?
Also would the spinach pollute the water being in the tank for 2 days or is it not a problem.
Lastly how often would you feed them?

Do both! Blanched vegetables usually have better vitamin and mineral content than just algae wafers alone unless you buy one of the (usually spendier) more comprehensive shrimp foods. Calcium is the major one, but there are others as well. And pellets and wafers usually have more protein which shrimp also need.
Spinach will most likely pollute water in 2 days, but I wouldn't leave any food (fresh, wafer/frozen, etc) in there that long as they will basically all start to rot.
I'd start by feeding them every couple days until they start eating all of their food within a few hours and increase frequency as needed.

 

Do both! Blanched vegetables usually have better vitamin and mineral content than just algae wafers alone unless you buy one of the (usually spendier) more comprehensive shrimp foods. Calcium is the major one, but there are others as well. And pellets and wafers usually have more protein which shrimp also need.
Spinach will most likely pollute water in 2 days, but I wouldn't leave any food (fresh, wafer/frozen, etc) in there that long as they will basically all start to rot.
I'd start by feeding them every couple days until they start eating all of their food within a few hours and increase frequency as needed.

alright! Thanks for helping out

 

Yes it’s growing as the ADA K supplies K while the ADA aquasoil was meant to be used alongside ADA K, supplies N and P.
The N and P sources are from the shrimp and aquasoil, however the ADA aquasoil is known to run out of nutrients (especially N) with high lighting after a short while. And after that the only source of N and P is from the shrimp which is a very small amount.
The only stable source of nutrients I have is K from the ferts, and trace elements from the ferts.
I am thinking of getting a better fert which doesn’t reply on fish waste and is for lightly stocked tanks. Any suggestions?

Oh ok, you have the soil too. I just recharge my soil with root tabs, but I didn't know if ADA is the same as potting soil for that. I used pretty high lighting for my HM carpet and was too much maintenance for me, so I didn't have it for long.

I'm just starting with ferts, but I hear Thrive has all the goodies. They make different formulas for different setups like one for shrimp, one for higher bioload tanks, low tech, etc.
Thrive All In One Liquid Fertilizer

 

Oh ok, you have the soil too. I just recharge my soil with root tabs, but I didn't know if ADA is the same as potting soil for that. I used pretty high lighting for my HM carpet and was too much maintenance for me, so I didn't have it for long.

I'm just starting with ferts, but I hear Thrive has all the goodies. They make different formulas for different setups like one for shrimp, one for higher bioload tanks, low tech, etc.
Thrive All In One Liquid Fertilizer

Hello! Thanks for the response,
I have problems with thrive as Nilocg and Amazon doesn’t ship internationally to where I am, so thrive isn’t an option now



On ADA’s website it states:

Nitrogen is the most demanded nutrient amongst all the nutrients essential for plant growth...... ADA nitrogen to be used in an aquarium more than one year old or with extremely fewer fish to the amount of plants.

Although my aquarium is only 5 weeks old, is it considered ‘’extremely fewer fish to the amount of plants?’’ And lightly stocked with 20 amano shrimp in a 10 gallon??
Would the excess nitrogen likely cause an algae outbreak?



The website also states:

Supplying phosphate to aquarium is a double-edged sword,
phosphate can trigger algal blooms once it is supplied even slightly more than the amount needed by plants. That is why all the lineups of the new Green Brighty Series are phosphate-free. The phosphate in water will always run out. Phosphate is leached out of fish droppings or unconsumed fish food, the aquatic plants will promptly take it up through their leaves and this will prevent algae growth. Keeping the phosphate level as low as possible is a key to maintaining beautiful planted aquarium.

Is there truth to this since people dose thrive and other highly concentrated ferts with phosphates and have no issue with algae.
And also phosphate is a macro nutrients (NPK) it does not need to be supplied with ferts at all!? With only 20 amanos that is producing the only source of phosphate is this possible?


Lastly would extra iron be necessary for HM baby tears in high lighting tank? I know it’s vital for many plants especially red stem plants.
And would too much iron cause algae?

So sorry for asking so many questions.
Thanks!

 

I think in a lightly stocked tank, you'd want to add all the stuff. But a lighter dosage because of the shrimp. I use Profito Easy Life for my heavier stocked 120g, but it also lacks phosphates and nitrates because my tank produces enough already. To be honest, I knew I had nitrates and phosphates and why I decided not to dose it. It has made a big difference for my stem plants, I'll say that. I really just look for deficiencies and dose if I have to. I only dose my 120 gallon FYI.

Like I said, I'm not a fertilizer pro at all, but since your baby tears are currently growing well, I'd try supplementing with root tabs when nutrients run out and plant growth dwindles. Use what you have and watch for any deficiencies. You might not see them.

I'll tag richie.p, he would know about dosing with the shrimp.

 

First you have a 5 week old tank with 20 ammano that's way to early to put shrimp in you should have left it at least 2 months so it was fully cycled and stable, feeding advise given by JtheFishMan @Carmon79 JessicaSwanlake midnaangelcraze is all you need on the food front, as for the tank your over complicating things Ada is the only thing you need it will look after everything, Nilocg is available in the uk, all shrimp tanks I've seen with c°2 run at 1bp 3seconds as far as I'm concerned not needed. Pause for a second and take a look at a couple of my tanks. substrait
Flora Base Pro I've never put one fert tablet never used c°2 and every 2 1/2 years replace some substrait and that's all you need, I supply my lfs with cut off regular because the grow so fast, I never get water problems, keep it simple, if you feel you have to use ferts use ADA but introduce slowly

 

Hi! Thanks for the reply,
Yes I run co2 at 3bps, high lighting, lots and lots of surface agitation and I use ADA aquasoil.
From what I have learnt the ADA ferts are meant to be used with their aquasoil as the ferts only dose trace elements and Potassium, while the aquasoil releases the rest of the macros missing: nitrogen and phosphate. However the aquasoil will be depleted of these macros after a while.
I heard about Thrive, an all in one fertiliser. It has great reviews and has Nitrogen, phosphate that my tank will be lacking after the substrate is depleted and only depend on the shrimp’s waste which is a very small amount. Do you have any experience with thrive and is there other fertilisers you recommend?
Also does the carpeting dwarf baby tears require the extra iron? And if I end up using thrive, which is quite concentrated compared to other ferts, would the excess nutrients cause algae?

When it comes to co2 and surface agitation, you want to use one or the other- or use them at separate times, never the same time. Surface agitation causes the co2 (and other gases) to escape from your water and allows oxygen to enter into the water. Meaning, surface agitation while your co2 is on is counterproductive. I've heard many people who have co2 run during their day schedule and then when the co2 turns off, they have an air pump run at night, that way their systems aren't working against each other. They get the benefit of co2 enriched water during the day when their plants need to photosynthesize, and then get the benefit of oxygenated water from the air pump at night. Personally, I tend to believe the water will be naturally oxygenated by your healthy plants so I don't usually run a lot of surface agitation.

I'll be honest, I don't know all the inner details of the ferts you listed. I can only speak to what has worked for me. I have monte carlo that's carpeting pretty well so far, hygrophila difformis, amazon swords, and vallisneria americana. I run my lights for 6 hrs a day and dose with seachem iron daily, while dosing seachem flourish and seachem advance (alternating) every 3 days. I don't have much surface agitation, but do have good water flow around the plants. I placed a number of root tabs in the area my plants are growing. This is the combination I've arrived at that grows my plants healthy and grows minimal to no algae (after much trial and much ERROR). One policy I've instituted is any plant or shoot that starts to look like algae is growing on it, I clip. I think this has helped a lot to stop algae before it even has a chance to grow.