Algae Control With Shrimp - 06/15/2006
I have a 20 gallon tank and a 5 gallon tank. I need something to help keep the algae level down (I clean regularly and put in algae fix on rare occasions because I hate putting in chemicals into the tank). For  the five gallon I'm thinking about just getting an algae eater like a Chinese or Siamese one,
<These animals get too big for a five gallon tank - go with smaller Caridina or Neocaridina species shrimp, or Otocinclus in this small system.>
but for the 20 gallon I want some shrimp maybe.  The only problem is that I have gotten some ghost shrimp before and they all disappeared. I believe my Golden Wonder Killies have eaten them  (I did see the killie attack at least one shrimp but the shrimp escaped).
<Healthy shrimp provided with enough cover should be, for the most part, safe with killies....  I wouldn't suggest tiny shrimp like "bee" shrimp or "cherry" shrimp in your case, though; perhaps Caridina japonica, "the" algae-eating ("Amano") shrimp would be a good choice, as these grow to be nearly two inches in length.>
I thought the shrimp were too big for the killies to eat, but is there possibly a larger type of shrimp that killies will not attack that will still eat algae?
<I wish there were a perfect answer, here; if your killies are adept at shrimp-hunting, small C. japonica may yet be food....  try to find large-ish individuals, if you can.>
I've looked online a bit, but can find nothing saying that the shrimp will or will not be attacked by larger fish.
<Will be....  if the fish are large enough and carnivorous enough to consume them.>
Thanks  -Amy
<Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Little Eaters of Algae
Hi!
<Hello!>
I have an Eclipse 6 aquarium.  I have had it for 6 weeks....it is finally done cycling....no ammonia an no more nitrites.  
<Wonderful.>
I have 4 platies and 1 Cory catfish.  Is it okay to purchase an algae eater....can you recommend something small?  
<I can, indeed.  But you'll find I'm extremely biased, here - getting into my favorite subject, an' all....  Your best bet all the way around is to look for freshwater algae eating shrimps.  These pleasant little creatures come in pint-sized packages packing a punch to pulverize your putrid algae problem - uh, sorry 'bout that....  Do try to find cherry shrimp or bumblebee shrimp, as these seem to stay the smallest and are avid attackers of algae.  You could easily keep half a dozen of either of these kind in your tank.  If you can't find those, next in line are 'the' algae shrimp, or Amano shrimp, the well-known Caridina japonica.  These get significantly larger, so you'd probably only want two or three in your tank.  If you're lucky, you might find 'rainbow' shrimp in as contaminants with the Amanos.  These have a slightly more prominent 'hump' in their back, though not much, and they have a few stripes running perpendicular to the stripe down their back (the Amanos lack these stripes, and the stripe running down their back is much narrower).  They also become neat colors as they age, blue-green or red-brown, and they stay smaller than the Amanos, too, though not as small as cherry shrimp or bumblebee shrimp.  And, failing shrimps altogether, you'd probably be safe to get a single Otocinclus catfish.  These tiny little guys do a number on algae, but aren't nearly as fun as shrimp (uh, in my obsessed mind, that is).>
I don't have much algae yet.  
<Good!!  Though you might have to feed your new algae-eating-critter on other veggie matter, too.>
I don't want to purchase a larger algae eater because of the size of the tank.  And the algae eater has to get along with catfish and platies.  Is the catfish good enough???  
<Corys don't eat algae much to speak of (they also like to be in groups of three or more, but in a small 6g tank, that's virtually impossible).  Whether you choose an Otocinclus or any of the abovementioned shrimps, you'll be absolutely fine, in terms of compatibility.>
Also, with a tank this  size.....should I do a water change about every 3 weeks....like a 25% water change?  
<Well, I'd do water changes closer to every week, but only on the order of 10-15%.  Less water, more often is usually the best bet.
Thanks!
<Any time!  -Sabrina, the shrimp-obsessed>

Diatoms, and the shrimp that eat them
Hello!
<Hi, Lemia!  Sabrina here, today, fighting the algae war with all you algae-hatin' folks>
I've been reading the many FAQ's and other info on your site concerning Diatoms.  Most of them seem to address this issue with regard to marine/saltwater aquaria (unless I am misunderstanding some of the abbreviations).  
<Nope, no misunderstanding, you're right.>
I have a freshwater aquarium that is almost 4 months old.  Some of the specs are as follows:  46 gallon, Emperor 400 Bio-Wheel filter.  No live plants or rocks.  Water levels as follows:  Ph-7.0, Ammonia <.5 ppm, Nitrite=0, Nitrate=60 ppm (I will be doing a water change tomorrow). KH=5 dKH and GH=9 dGH.  
<Fish, yet?  Get that ammonia to zero.  And YIKES! at that nitrate reading!!  There's the cause of your problem (or at least part of it)!>
My problem is that over the past 2 months I 've been developing diatoms that just keep getting worse not better.  Before I confirmed they were diatoms I tried increasing the lighting,
<Increasing lighting will only help the algae grow....>
an algae eater (neither helped at all or made things worse)
<Depending on what fish you mean by this, it might not even recognize diatoms as food.>
and a chemical algaecide (only helped a little).  
<Yuck.  This should be kept as an absolute last resort.  Could be quite harmful to plants, should you ever choose to keep them.>
I have since confirmed through my local fish store that I definitely have diatoms.
<Kind of a brown, mucky, dust-looking stuff?>
They believe (as do I) that it is due to excess silicates in the tank.  
<Although silicates are likely a contributor to the problem, the extremely high nitrates are very much to blame, too.  Also high phosphates are definitely suspect.>
They recommended use of the Phosguard product by Seachem.  I began using the product a week ago with no noticeable improvement.  
<Cool stuff, really.  I've not had need of it in my freshwater aquaria, but it is helpful in my nano-reef when necessary.>
I purchased a silicate test kit and determined that the tank has 1.5 ppm of silicate.  My understanding is that for freshwater aquaria that level should be at .02 ppm.  I have tested my tap water, which is what I use for water changes and evaporation top offs and determined that it has over 2 ppm of silicates.  
<Yeah, probably a contributing factor, but you've got a lot going against you what with the super-duper high nitrates.  I'd like to know your phosphate levels, too, I bet they're high.>
As a result, I believe that continued use of the Phosguard will not remedy my diatom problem.  
<Correct.  You need to get to the source of it, cut off its nutrients.  Phosguard will help, though, in starting to control the problem.>
I have been reading up on diatom filters but from what I read, I'm just not sure if they are the correct solution.  I also saw on your website notes on Reverse Osmosis water?? Where would I be able to get that?? I also saw info on Deionization units/water??  
<Please start reading here:  http://www.wetwebmedia.com/rofaqs.htm  , then if you're still uncertain, read some of the gobs and gobs of related FAQs :)  I think you'll have more than you ever wanted to know.>
I am hoping you can expand on what some of these items are, what they'll do, how will they effect other factors in my aquarium, etc.  Also, if you can give me your feedback on what the best solution would be to remove the diatoms and manage the tank to prevent future breakouts I would be most appreciative.
<Ahh....  Now I start in....  First off, please do consider planting the aquarium.  Anacharis/elodea will help with sucking up some of the nutrients, as well as feed some fish.  You might want to plop some water lettuce in the top of the tank, to provide shade as well as to soak up nitrates.  Water sprite, Vallisneria, Amazon swords....  the list goes on and on.  But even more fun....  Bamboo shrimp.  Also called wood shrimp or Singapore shrimp, Atyopsis moluccensis are EXTREMELY adept at consuming diatomic algae.  When first starting out my 72g planted aquarium, I had major diatom issues while the tank was still extremely sparsely planted.  I grabbed some Amano shrimp (Caridina japonica) to try to help, but they weren't too adept at nailing the diatoms (though they did a number and a half on some green algae that was forming).  Just for kicks, I dropped in a wood shrimp.  The thing was a diatom lawnmower!  He truly left an obvious path behind him where he'd been grazing.  You could track him by the path in the stuff.  Just one single wood shrimp in a 72 gallon aquarium cleared up the diatoms in less than a week.  However, I will caution you - there is a drawback to this shrimp - once the diatoms are gone, you'll have to drop in food for him regularly, or he will starve.  These are filter feeding animals by nature, and will simply hold their 'fan-hands' open in the current in the wild to catch bits of food suspended in the water.  But our tanks are just too clean for that to happen; they really must have food that will break into particulate matter (I use Hikari sinking wafers/pellets) for them to 'shovel' into their mouths.  If ever your shrimp is 'fanning' in the current for long periods of time, this is likely indicative that he is starving to death.  From my experience, when well fed, they will only filter-feed when they are at rest.  One more drawback is that you can never, ever use copper in a tank containing invertebrates.  If interested in shrimp, you may also want to dose your tank with iodine weekly at a rate of one drop of Kent's iodine supplement (made for reef tanks) per ten gallons of water.  After I started doing this in my tanks, there was an extremely noticeable increase in health, activity, growth, and color in all of my shrimp species.  Wonderful animals, they are.>
Thank you in advance for your assistance and for your patience in reading my lengthy note.
<And thank you for my patience in my lengthy reply!  (I'm shrimp obsessed ;D )
Lemia M.

Lookin' for Atyopsis - 09/10/2004
I saw three rather large shrimps (larger than the typical ghost shrimps) while browsing in a pet shop. 
<There are indeed quite a number of freshwater shrimp that grow larger than ghosties.... Even one carnivorous monster that'll reach nearly 20 inches....>
Unfortunately I did not purchase them. Now I would love to have three or four of those guys in my aquarium. The pet shop does not know when they will get another shipment. Know of someone who sell the type of shrimps mentioned on your website?
<I do, indeed. Frank Greco, of http://www.franksaquarium.com/freshwatershrimpfarm.htm , sells a number of freshwater inverts. You might send him an email regarding the particular species you're interested in and see about availability. Also, Toyin at Rehoboth Aquatics http://www.rehobothaquatics.com/index2.html carries a couple species of Atya (including my all-time favorite, Atya gabonensis). I got my own five A. gabonensis from him, about a year ago, and all are doing quite well today. Also, do be sure to check out your local stores - I've seen some very nice Atyopsis moluccensis at Petcos, and they're also carrying M. rosenbergii, the "blue prawn" (largest, most aggressive freshwater shrimp - and tasty, too!). Do beware of this blue prawn, as they WILL grow up and eat all their tankmates. Mom'n'pop fish stores are almost always willing to order what you want, as long as it's available - definitely check with any local stores around you to see what's available to them.>
Betty
<Wishing you well, -Sabrina> 

Caridina japonica and freshwater shrimp
Hi Robert,
I have some beard algae troubles in my tank and I want to ask you if there is any difference in purchasing C. japonica or any old freshwater shrimp?
<Yes... very different animals. A bit on both on our site: http://wetwebmedia.com/shrimpfw.htm
Bob Fenner>
Keith

Fish, Shrimp, and Thanks
Our fish would like to say thank you to the WetWebMedia crew. (tank you, tanks, tanka)
<To you and your fish - you're very welcome!  Please forgive the delay in response; I've been having computer issues, but it looks to be all sorted out now.>
We have had a lot of fun with our new freshwater tank and several learning experiences. Our first fish was a "Betta in a bowl"  purchased by my two eldest, they saved their allowance to do this and we ended up with two new family members, Blootie a Betta, and Pickles, an African frog. A few months later we knew we wanted an actual aquarium so we soon had Blootie and Pickles housed in a ten gallon with five neon tetras, several plants, free snails which appeared out of nowhere and every thing was fine; we do a 20% water change weekly and add some aquarium salt and dechlorinator.
<Sounds like great fun!  Please remember, when you add salt, only add enough to compensate for water you *remove*, not water that has evaporated, as salt does not evaporate.>
Our tank is held at 78F and we have several plants which we prune every two weeks, we run a Whisper filter with activated carbon, every other week we switch the carbon for Ammocarb, though I am not sure it does anything,
<Only the carbon is needed; test your water regularly for ammonia, with your water change/maintenance scheme, I doubt you see a trace of it.>
we have a shallow smooth gravel substrate. We feed a mixture of flakes, bloodworms, brine shrimp and a pea every night about an hour before lights out.
<Mmmmm, yummy!>
Our first problems started when we obtained two new fishes, Odie and Sink (Otocinclus).  The primary pea consumer was Blootie but after Sink and Odie arrived things changed. Sink metamorphosed into a new fish we called Stink. He chased everybody, the tetras, the frog, the Betta and especially Odie, Odie lived in perpetual fear, Stink would charge the full length of the aquarium to get him.
<WOW.  That does *not* sound like normal Oto behaviour!  Please check out the following links, perhaps you have something different....  First, on Otos: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/otocinclusart.htm  on SAEs (and non-SAEs): http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/saes.htm >
Stink actually latched on to Blootie a couple of times leaving a white mark which has now cleared up.
<Yikes....>
Stink may have been starving when he arrived but that passed, he turned into a very messy fish and was getting visibly fatter and  meaner.
<He's sounding an awful lot like a "Flying Fox" or "Chinese Algae Eater" at this point....  notoriously mean buggars.>
Pretty soon everybody started hanging out somewhere safe from the seriously deranged Stink and this caused problems, nobody was eating the pea, our water started to get cloudy and green algae started to grow on our floating plant. The tetras which previously tested every floating speck to see if it might be food, stopped doing that and spent their time up high, avoiding Sink. Blootie stayed at the top of the tank, ready to run, Stink couldn't eat all the food but he was determined to try. We finally decided Stink had to go and things are back to normal. Our water is clear again, nobody is chasing anyone and everyone seems happy. (We gave Stink to an unsuspecting local fish store, not telling them he was an insane fish.)  
<*Laugh!*>
I have been reading the freshwater links (I have actually been reading everything I can on your site as time allows) and my question has to do with adding a crustacean of some sort. We really do not want a repeat of the Stink trials and we really would like to add a shrimp or something. Given our current happy tank is there anything we could add that would probably be happy.
<Stick with shrimps of the genera Caridina and/or Neocaridina; these primarily algae-eating lovelies include "the" algae-eating (aka "Amano") shrimp (Caridina japonica), cherry shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata), bumblebee shrimp (Neocaridina sp.), red-fronted or "Rudolph" shrimp (er, I think a Neocaridina species....), red-tailed tiger shrimp (another Neocaridina), to name a few that are occasionally available in the US.  Ghost shrimp would be a safe addition, as well (and cheap, to boot - and commonly available).  Filter feeding shrimp, such as Singapore/bamboo/flower shrimp (Atyopsis moluccensis) are commonly available, and also perfectly safe to add to your tank; this last would probably be the most "fun", as they are large, diurnal, and uber-cool.  Stay away from "big-arm" shrimp of the genus Macrobrachium; these are nearly all carnivores that will prey upon your fish.  Same goes for crabs, they'll eat anything that holds still long enough - and some things that don't.>
I have read about the shrimps in the freshwater shrimp section
<Currently and unfortunately very lacking in information - I intend to rectify that with an article or two as soon as I dig up some time, I promise!>
but I am still not satisfied that I won't get it wrong.
<One important point - please dose the tank with iodine if you get shrimp.  This is easy and cheap.  Get a bottle of Kent Marine Iodine from your fish store (geared for saltwater tanks).  Ignore the directions on the bottle completely, as your freshwater shrimp have nowhere *near* the iodine needs of a saltwater tank - add only one drop of the iodine once every week (use a pipette or a medicine dropper from the pharmacy).  Doesn't sound like much, but it makes all the difference in the world.>
In addition to adding a shrimp to our ten gallon, we intend to get another ten gallon aquarium and move the frog (Pickles) in with two fire newts, for which my oldest boy is saving his pennies, is this going to work ?
<Oh, wow, I have absolutely no idea....  I'll pass this along to Gage for his input; hopefully he'll be able to help you on that one better than I can.>
Thank You
<You bet!  Wishing you and your critters well,  -Sabrina>

Japanese Swamp Shrimp (Caridina japonica) Compatibility - II
Hi Bob,
Many thanks for your advice. After dong some internet research, I very much like Opaline Gouramis. I've called several tropical fish stores in the Pasadena/greater LA area. None seem to have either Opaline Gouramis or Amano shrimp. Considering I'm in the second biggest city in the US, there have to be some good LFSs. Do you have any recommendations in this area? 
Thanks,
Catherine
<Mmm, I'd let my "fingers do the walking"... Try your search tools: with the string: tropical fish stores in Los Angeles, and call the folks nearer you re. Bob Fenner>