flower shrimp and UV sterilizer? - Shrimp & other Invertebrates

leolucido · 01-30-2009, 05:30 PM

My LFS said that the UV sterilizer will starve my flower shrimp because the light will get rid of the free floating algae. Is this true? If so, can I substitute the diet with algae wafers or the juice from frozen bloodworms? But I really want to keep my water clean too.

2 flower shrimps, 3 ghost shrimps
60 gallon planted tank with CO2
Eheim 2

(I'm not listing my fish stock because they're all small sized and I thought it was insignificant)

BradH · 01-31-2009, 05:04 AM

You could probably get away with grounding up the algae wafers in to dust and doing it that way. I would ditch the UV though.

jpmtotoro · 02-08-2009, 10:55 AM

i agree with brad. your water should be clear enough without the UV. you shouldn't need to rely on UV for day-to-day operations. just something you pull out as an emergency solution. you are better off getting all your water parameters down pat, and enjoying your filter-feeding shrimp

leolucido · 02-26-2009, 03:32 PM

I wanted to follow up on this thread since my original post. I now have the 2 flower shrimps in my possesion for at least 30 days. You can imagine the worries I had the first 2 weeks. To date I have had both shrimps molt already. Both exhibit the same daily patterns which is hanging out on top of the valisneria leaves to catch the water flow. Occasionally, both would leave their perch and scavenge food in the substrate. I feed them with Hikari Algae wafers. I am not really sure if they get their diet from the wafers or from the free floating algae. Regardless, the UV is running 24/7 and the shrimps aren't just surviving. They are thriving!

Thanks for all the appreciated input.

starrystarstarr · 03-02-2009, 02:34 PM

what color are the shrimps? when they are really happy they turn a pinkish red.

tex627 · 03-02-2009, 05:24 PM

since you only have 2 shrimp you dont even need to feed it. maybe feed it once or twice a week. a great way to tell if shrimp are happy is to see if they ever stay in one place not moving for over 3 seconds. they should always be active and swimming around your tank 24/7. dont over feed, it will pollute your water. i only feed 1/4-1/2 of a algae wafer everyday to ~80 cherries. it takes them around 2 hours to finish.