Amano Shrimp still #1 in my book

[Totenkampf]

My CO2 setup died not too long ago and I have been working too much to set it up again. Since I stupidly didnt adjust my lighting schedule *boom goes the algae*. Mostly hair and a great deal of what i guess is called staghorn...that was a new one for me. This stuff went nuts. I added more oticinclus, a group of 5 SAE, black mollies, ruby barbs...nothing! They just couldnt keep up. I added 9 true Amano shrimp (caridina multidentata, not those silly 'algae eating shrimp' that some stores are passing off as amanos) and they vanished. I had had filter problems as well so I assumed the water wasnt right for them. Apparently it wasnt cuz they all seemed to have molted and then hid out in the heavily stocked tank for a couple weeks. Then after two weeks I started to see the staghorn disappearing. i finally flicked the lights on early one day and see that 7 have made it, it took them 5 days to clean up a heavily algaefied 75 gallon after they became active again. the females come out in the light but the males are shy, my congo tetra looks to big to them i suppose but doesnt bother them unless they are flicking around. i imagine the two that i lost may have flicked out one night. i got mine from HAW and a GHAC member, I still highly recommmend them over they more trendy solutions.

On a side note, I have never been a fan of flourish excel. i assumed it was snakewater like all the other fizz tabs and liquid additives from the past. it is great for a plant dip or as a fungicide but i never even considered it as an alternative to co2 injection. i have been using it religiously for 10 days now and it has arrested the algae growth, my stem plants and vals are going nuts. i dont get pearling at the dosages on the bottle and i dont think that i will stay with just excel fertilization, but it is a great stopgap and i will likely keep adding some at lower intervals once the co2 is online again.

[mnemenoi]

I love Amano's they do a great job and are terrific in planted tanks. +1 on the Excel, it really does do what they say

[eklikewhoa]

A single amano is awesome... anymore than that they become a problem.

[Raul]

+1 on EXCEL, I also was dealing with all the algae after tinkering with my planted refuge and the inconsistent CO2, but I started dosing EXCEL plus the pressurized CO2 at the same time and it has got rid of all my staghorn, BBA and hair algae. During the night the death algae converts into food for the CRS I sneak up during the night with a flash light and I just see the shrimp nibbling the death algae from the leaves and every morning I see less algae.

[digitallinh]

A single amano is awesome... anymore than that they become a problem.

How come? I bought 8 of these guys recently, and they're easily some of my favorite shrimp. They seem much smarter than most shrimps, very deliberate, and they swim/hop around. I have to rescue some weekly from my canister, but otherwise they're fine.

Problem as in they run out of food?

Got mine from fishland, best prices I've seen around 1.99 ea (for the real one)

Also, metricide 14 is a MUCH cheaper alternative to excel that I've been using for the last year. You can get a big jug (the excel jug is 75 dollars?) of the stuff from many medical supply stores online for 20 bucks with shipping. Definitely worth looking into if you plan on using this longterm.

[digitallinh]

Also, you will not experience pearling with excel, but it doesn't mean its not working. The numbers people throw around is that excel is about 60% as effective as pressurized co2, which means you should dose around 50% less ferts, 50% less light, and expect the plants to grow half as fast.

another note, metricide 14 is about 1.5 x excel

[Raul]

Also, you will not experience pearling with excel, but it doesn't mean its not working. The numbers people throw around is that excel is about 60% as effective as pressurized co2, which means you should dose around 50% less ferts, 50% less light, and expect the plants to grow half as fast.

another note, metricide 14 is about 1.5 x excel

so with excel for the daily dosage is 5ml for every 50gal, so with metricide it will be aounrd 3ml for 50 gal ?

[digitallinh]

Right, a lot of planted tankers suggest 1.5 dose of excel anyway, so I just do a normal dose of metricide. 1ml per 10. And more on water changes (wc co2 fluctuation, does wonders for bba)

Keep in mind that the half life of glut is 12 hrs, meaning it will degrade very quickly, thus the requirement to dose daily -- assuming this is your primary means of carbon.

[eklikewhoa]

Most stores sell female only which get large! Also they get accustomed to feeding and will steal food and in some cases go after smaller shrimp.

[Totenkampf]

i can live with big females in this tank, unless they go after CPDs. My main problem will be supplementing their food in the next two days. Thats not really a problem since I often have a clip of kale or something in the tank. i find it amusing to read some of the stocking levels that get thrown around, i even saw 1/3 gallons...i can imagine 25 in this tank. 1/15 gallons may be more realistic cuz they are troopers. +1 to them having more persoanlity linh, fishland was the one place i didnt make it to. Are they pretty big for 2 bucks? HAW had huge ones, the females are around 2.25" and that is worth 5 bucks to me. a big female will stare down a ram no sweat lol.

nice tip on metricide, do you use it along with pressurized CO2? does it have aldehyde in it as well as the organic carbon?

[R_sustaita]

i havent tried either one, but i think i shall try exel. this time i have not suffered from algae attacks. thank god i do not get direct sun light but i do leave the light on for more than 8hrs. the growth of my mini swords ir prett much none but my moss is growing really slowly. so i shall try exel.

[MURRAY]

Ammanno Shrimp are back in Stock @ Houston Aquarium Warehouse

[digitallinh]

I actually went with the 1 per 3 gallon, but my tanks are pretty heavily planted so you rarely see them.

The one's at Fishland were mixed as far as size.

As for the excel, I have 2 tanks now, one with pressurized, one without, and I use it on both. I don't really see a worst case scenario using it on a co2 tank. If you have some algae, it kills it, if you don't the plants will probably utilize the excel (I'm not 100% certain plants would actually use it when co2 is abundant), but still if you go with metricide, its cheap so who cares.

on my jug it says 2.6% glut
97.4% inert, so probably no on the aldehyde. I failed organic chemistry when I was in school so... I don't know what aldehyde even is! Do you mean half of the glutaraldehyde compound? IF so yes.

[Totenkampf]

lol, well i didnt know what glut was, i thought it was a typo! yes, the aldehyde is what makes it a super good plant dip and what will keep fungus from growing in your dry fertilizer mix. from wiki:

A polymerized isomer of glutaraldehyde known as polycycloglutaracetal is a fertilizer for aquatic plants^{[citation needed]}. It is claimed that it provides a bioavailable source of carbon for higher plants that is not available to algae. Though not marketed as such due to federal^[where?] regulations, the biocidal effect of glutaraldehyde kills most algae at concentrations of 0.5–5.0 ppm.^[vague] These levels are not harmful to most aquatic fauna and flora. Adverse reactions have been observed by some aquarists at these concentrations in some aquatic mosses, liverworts, and vascular plants.

[Totenkampf]

oh and are you feeding that many shrimp supplimental foods? what do they seem to favor?