# Shrimp for Algae



## Peligrin (Feb 11, 2005)

I have a ten gallon tank in which I have four male guppies and an upside down catfish. If I were to get shrimp to handle my algae, which is all over everything, including the walls of the tank, what kind would I get (ghost or amano shrimp) and how many? Are there any other freshwater shrimp that would be aggressive with algae?

Leigh


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

I vote neither. A dozen cherry shrimp will have the same effect and will breed in your tank unlike the amano which need brackish setups to breed. Cherries breed like rabbits and go for good money on aquabid. A buddy sells a dozen almost every week for good money.


----------



## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

ghost shrimp don't eat algae. or.... they just really suck at it.


----------



## Peligrin (Feb 11, 2005)

Simpte @ Sat Mar 26 said:


> A dozen cherry shrimp will have the same effect


So they'll take care of my algae problem? Which would be better: The cherry shrimp or a small pleco (as far as algae management and bioload)? I've been looking for a butterfly pleco, but no one in my area has been able to find one. That's why I'm looking into shrimp. I've had a couple of otos and a CAE (not at the same time), but none of them lasted very long.  



Simpte @ Sat Mar 26 said:


> Cherries breed like rabbits


If I didn't want to have to deal with selling the babies, would my guppies eat them?



shev @Sat Mar 26 said:


> ghost shrimp don't eat algae. or.... they just really suck at it.


LOL!


----------



## Prez (Jan 25, 2005)

I have a 6gal and I have 3 amano's in it. They have done a very good job at cleaning the algae off the fake plants and gravel in the tank.

I also have a betta, 3 white clouds and a gold nugget pleco (she doesn't do a good job with algae).


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Cherries won't overrun your tank, but they will keep a good sized population. They will eat leftover food, algae and rotting organic materials and their bio-load is minimal. Amanos are good but they don't reproduce well.


----------



## Peligrin (Feb 11, 2005)

Are they easy to avoid sucking into the hose when you vacuum the gravel?

:shock:


----------



## garfieldnfish (Jan 18, 2005)

Depending on how many fish you have in the 10 gal, I would doubt you have room left for a small pleco since all plecos poop a lot. Forget the ghost shrimp, I had some and all they did was fight the fish over the fish food. Amano are supposed to be good in algae control but like stated they will not reproduce in freshwater so you will have to replace them as they die and I don't think shrimp livespans are all that long. I would also vote for the cherry shrimp. Your fish will eat shrimp off spring and but if you are running low you could safe a few and put them into a grow out container.


----------



## Guest (Apr 7, 2005)

u sure ghost shrimp dont eat algae? i always thought they did :shock:


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Ghost shrimp will eat algae, but not as much as Amanos or Cherry Reds.


----------



## garfieldnfish (Jan 18, 2005)

They will eat algae but only if there is nothing else. So they are not very effective unless you can keep an entire army in there.


----------



## Tanuke (Jan 23, 2005)

Agree. I have a tank full of ghosts and the algae got so bad in there i had to scoop it all out--and dump it in the red cherry and bumblebee shrimp tanks, both tanks completely disposed of the algae within about a week. They also keep the sides of their tanks algae free and will clean off algae on plants without harming the plants--they are so small they won't bend plant leaves. I routinely dump algae riddles plants taken out of the tanks with fish into the shrimp tanks for a week, and then take the plants out all cleared of algae, put them back into the fish tanks. The Amanos are still working on their ball of algae I gave them about 2 months ago (but there aren't as many of them in the tank as red cherries). The Red Cherries actually seem to include algae in their regular diet whereas the Amanos will neglect the algae for other food. Also, the red cherries show up better in planted tanks whereas the Amanos tend to blend into their environment.


----------

