# will rosy barbs eat Amano shrimp?



## MyraVan

I currently have 8 fish in a 20 Gal tank: 4 zebra danios, 2 rosy barbs, 2 hillstream loaches.

I would like to get some Amano shrimp, partly for their algae-eating abilities, partly because they are supposed to be really cute! The LFS has some. However I worry about the other fish eating them.The zebra danios and hillstream loaches certainly won't, but I'm not 100% sure about the rosy barbs. Does anyone have any experience with Amano shrimp, enough to guess whether they would be eaten or not?


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## maxpayne_lhp

Probably, young ones will be aten out quickly! But I have 4 adult ones and they are so big that no fish in my tank can harm them.


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## Cichlid Man

IME Tiger and rosey barbs will attack large ghost shrimps but because amano shrimps are a lot tougher then you should have no problems, however small ones will get attacked.


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## shev

yeah, amanos are "buffer" than ghost shrimp, but they may rip off legs or antennas from small amanos


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## MyraVan

The ones I saw in the shop were about 1 inch long. I guess that's too small for them to be safe with the rosy barbs. Oh, well. Maybe for the next tank!

Thanks for all your help, folks.


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## maxpayne_lhp

I used to have these guys as freshfood for some of my guys in the community tank. About 10% out of my order is big guys so some can survive until now  Looking these guys grabbing the tubifex worms is so fantastic. They get there nervously so, I need to place bunches of these worms in the shrmp's area sometimes to encourage them. I don't feed the fish with aminos any longer.


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## Bob2

MyraVan @ Wed Jan 19 said:


> I currently have 8 fish in a 20 Gal tank: 4 zebra danios, 2 rosy barbs, 2 hillstream loaches.
> 
> I would like to get some Amano shrimp, partly for their algae-eating abilities, partly because they are supposed to be really cute! The LFS has some. However I worry about the other fish eating them.The zebra danios and hillstream loaches certainly won't, but I'm not 100% sure about the rosy barbs. Does anyone have any experience with Amano shrimp, enough to guess whether they would be eaten or not?


To help with your problem with alage, you might try FLORIDA FLAG FISH...they are small, fairly colorful and do a good job esp on hair algae.


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## maxpayne_lhp

How many tupes of fresh water algea are there?


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## Cichlid Man

The only three that's ever grown in my tank are:
The dotty green stuff that is really difficult to scrape off the glass and grows in bright light, the brown stuff that comes off really easily by a scraper or a pleco and grows in more shadey areas, and the hair like algae that usually grows in water with very high neutrients.


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## Fish n chips

Molllys will do the job


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## Cichlid Man

It depends on what type of algae it is, mollys won't be able to tackle really coarse algae but plecos will.


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## Damon

Mollies are some of the best algae eaters out there. they eat brown, hair and black (yes I said bba.)
Established Green spot algae isn't eaten by plecos. Its to hard for them to remove from glass. Otos are some of the best algae eaters out there. The Florida Flag fish is good, but some strains won't eat anything but hair algae. They wouldn't touch my BBA. Amanos and cherry shrimp are excellent algae eaters also. Your barbs will eat small shrimp regardless of the species. Full grown Amanos should be O.K. You never know though.


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## Cichlid Man

Mollies may be able to eat certain types of algae that plecos can't, but plecos can cover a larger surface area of glass and are more efficient at eating the brown stuff than mollies.


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## maxpayne_lhp

lol Algea is surely a nuisance, but it's inportant!
Well, I srapt theses stuff out every week as the tank is close to the window. I use the srcaper and my old teeth brush, also. These guys are stubborn!
Hmm... about the free-float form of algea? My friend ran into that, that really clouds the tank!


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## MyraVan

I have two kinds of algae in my tank, brown (diatoms, really not algae) and short green stuff. Both are easily removed by scraping. The brown algae mainly grows on the plant leaves, and the geen stuff is mainly on the glass. The rosy barbs pick at the brown algae, but don't really take much off. I also have 2 hillstream loaches in the tank (it's unheated). They graze the green algae from the glass, and one of them also sits on the leaves and eats the brown algae, He (or she) is slowly cleaning up the leaves, faster than it forms, so the amount of brown algae in the tank is slowly decreasing. 

I think I mainly wanted the Amano shrimps because I thought they looked cooll. But they won't go in this tank. Maybe the next one!


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## Cichlid Man

I live in England too, and I know how harsh the winters get here, and keeping rosey barbs in cold water is like playing with fire, one day they will die if the tank gets too cold. Unless you live in a house that permantly has the heating on that is.


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## MyraVan

We do have our heating on all the time. The tank never gets below 19C. 

I now have a 5gal (5 American gallons, 20l) invert tank in my office, just set up this week. It now houses 2 snails, and when it has settled down I'll get some shrimp for it.


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## Cichlid Man

Sounds like it's going to be a nice tank, a lone paradise fish will make a nice addition.


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## MyraVan

Hmmmm, I don't think that a fish that gets to be 4" long would be a very good fish for a 5gal tank, especially since the apple snail (P. bridgesii) needs 2 gal on its own. (American gallons, that is...) 

I must admit that I did consider setting this tank up for fish of some kind instead of inverts (I think killifish would find it an ideal home). But I have a fish tank at home. I want to experiment with different kinds fo aquatic critters, so I thought that I could get some small inverts for this tank. Already I'm finding the apple snail quite fascinating. His mate, which is some kind of nerite, isn't nearltyas interesting. The apple snail comes partly out of his shell and waves his long antennae around, but the nerite stays pretty much completely in his shell, only putting his small dark antennae out. 

It's cool when they're stuck to the front galss and I can watch their mouths at work.


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## Fishfirst

I agree... a gourami would be a horrible choice


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## Cichlid Man

Or a betta?


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## MyraVan

I would like to get a betta sometime, as they are very beautiful fish. But I'm not sure a betta would be a very good companion for the apple snail. I've read some articles that suggest that they like to nip at snails, and to eat them if they can. And my apple snail has such wonderful, long antennae, I suspect they would look like a nice tasty treat. 

Strange as this may sound, I actually want to keep this tank fish-free. I want to experiment with as many different kinds of snails & shrimps that I can fit in the tank (so far I have two types of snails, and I'll get at least two types of shrimps), and I want them to have a stress-free life, where they don't have to worry about getting their legs or antennae ripped off by passing fish.


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## MyraVan

Ha! So much for wanting to keep my tiny tank fishless... I've discovered, in addition to my nice apple snail and nerite, a collection of tiny pond snails on the tank walls. Now I have a few larger pond snails in my big (20gal) tank, but I never see tiny babies on the wall. I think my piggy rosy barbs eat them all, keeping the population in check.

Is there some small fish I could add to my tiny (5gal) tank to eat baby snails and snail eggs, which won't bother the nice snails that I like? Would one guppy be ok (I don't want guppy babies)? Suggestions please...


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## Guest

a dwarf puffer would be perfect. you could fit one in that tank. it'd definetly keep the snail population down and it wouldn't grow to more than an inch.


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## Guest

however, im not sure if it'd go after the larger snails


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