Red-nosed Shrimp

[Jer-]

Hi

I didnt know where i should post this but i thought that most planted ppl havve shrimp so i decided to have it here... Please Move this if u think it shud be somewhere else mods...

I have 3 Amano Shrimp and 3 Red-Nosed Shrimp. I love the Red-nosed and like it much more than the amanos cos they swim around the tank more... hovering about... whereas my amanos jus walk around... Plus they are much more cooler with their red noses...

anyway, the thing thats been bothering me is that they are actually eating my plants... Instead of standing on a leaf and picking algea off it, sometimes i see them grabbing onto the edge of a leaf and lowering their body right up against the edge of the leaf and cheawing on it... i cant see the chewing, but i can definately see their mouth parts moving. After they leave the leaf, i see a dent on the leaf edge...

this has been going on for a while and some of my plants have leaves much thinner than others, especially new java fern leaves...they seem to like that best.

Shud i be feeding the shrimp something? they dont seem to be as much interested in bloodworms as my amanos. shud i buy algea wafers and try that?

Thanks in advance.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

hi Jer! i too have red nosed shrimps and they swim around the tank a lot too !

If you tank is relatively algae free you should supplment your shrimps, it wont hurt to feed em a little because those kinds of shrimps basically eat all day, just make sure that what you feed them does not decompose and pollute the tank.

Im thinking that your red nosed shrimps are nibbling at the dying bits of the plant.

Flakes, algae wafers basicaclly anything will do, just dont feed them something that they cant finish.. might pollute the water

 

[Jer-]

Im thinking that your red nosed shrimps are nibbling at the dying bits of the plant.

They are really cool arnt they.

Believe me, they are chewing on Fresh new java fern leaves (i can tell cos the leaves still have that orangey growth on their tip), and Green healthy glosso leaves.

I have tried feeding them bloodworms and brine before... i used the long planting tweezers and put the food Right in front of em and they jus ignore it and wait for the cardinals to snatch them up.

Maybe i shud start growing some algea? BGA? maybe they like those best. haha

 

[kenneth_kpe]

hmmm just leave a piece of wafer somewhere where the cards cant reach em, usually they will find it if they are hungry

 

[thapsus]

Red nosed shrimps, Caridina gracilirostris do eat plants, mine did too when I still had them. And it's also normal for them to swim all the time. They differ quite much from other shrimps like red cherry or amano.

Here's one good page about them.
http/www.shrimpnow.com/modules.php?name=...iewarticle&id=3

 

[kenneth_kpe]

Hmm i didn't know that i guess if your aquarium is heavily planted you dont notice it when they nibble a bit...

i didn't read about them chewing on plants when i researched on em before sorry about that

 

[Jer-]

damn thats bad news... I love them shrimp. They are definately different.

I guess its back to the pet shop for them and more amanos. How boring.

 

[thapsus]

They are so small that it's not likely that they will eat all your plants. They just nibble a bit but if you have some fast growing plants like egeria densa that's tasty, you will not even notice it. Unles of course if you have like 50 shrimps.

 

[Jer-]

Ive only got 3 in my 29G, along with 3 Amanos.

I have quite slow growing plants, including Java Fern and Christmas moss., with fast growers such as glosso. (these are the plants affected). The moss seems to be the most delicious outta them all... as the strands of christmas "trees" are no longer in the shape of a tree but a... hmm... strand.

so yea now i have Chrismas moss that looks like java moss... mind u the christmass moss used to look great.