Red_Rose

I have considered getting an amano shrimp for my guppies 10 gal but I don't know much about them. I had looked them up on the internet and each site tells me something different about them so I don't know what to believe.

To those who have them, can you give me some information on them before I buy one like what type of foods they eat, etc.? Two of my main concerns about them are: 1. Will they eat live plants and 2. Are they compatible tank mates for guppies?

Thank you.

p.s. My tank is an El Natural if that's of any importance.

clifford

You'll probably get a lot of different (and even contradictory) anecdotal advice, but part of that has to do with the different wild populations and collection areas.

I had a 29 gallon guppy tank set up in a prior residence that also had some amano shrimp, which happily bred under "normal" guppy conditions. (relatively hard water and a little salt-- definitely not brackish water as many say is necessary to breed amanos).

Having liked them so much previously, I picked up a half dozen or so when I moved to Seattle, and they all died within a week or so.

I'm guessing they were either already on the way out or there was something in the tank that just didn't agree with them.

Typically I'd say amanos are quite hardy, relatively long-lived for aquarium shrimp, and easy to care for. Mine ate whatever they found in the tank, algae and guppy-flake-leftovers.

I do currently have Cherry shrimp (and yellow shrimp of the same species), and would recommend them as well. They are a little smaller than the amanos, but have some great coloration, and will readily breed in most planted tanks. (more shrimp = more to watch)

Best of luck,

Cliff

Ebichua

He pretty much covered it. Amanos are pretty versatile with water parameters. I don't keep mine with a little salt, though they can handle some just fine. Pure FW is just as good and they grow to be pretty big. They'll breed in FW, but eggs that hatch won't survive more than 8 days if they are not transferred to brackish.
Nothing else much to say about them... They don't eat plants. Fantastic algae eaters, interesting little buggers and as long as your guppies leave leftovers, you don't have to target feed em.

Have fun

Red_Rose

This has been very helpful. Thank you.

After reading the posts, I do have a few more questions to ask.

1. Do shrimp dig? The last thing I would want if for them to dig up the substrate and make things muddy in the tank.

2. How many should I get? I just want to get one but I don't know if they are like schooling fish and need to be with others of their kind. Also, there will be five male guppies as well as two snails in that tank so I don't want the bio-load to be too much for the tank even though NPT's tend to handle it rather well.

3. Will they hurt snails? I have a Zebra nerite and an Ivory apple snail and I don't know if shrimp will harm them.

Again, I'm very new to shrimp so I'm if these questions sound stupid.

Tsi_User

1) They dont dig, or at least none of my 8 have.

2) This is ultimately up to you, with 5 guppies and a couple snails youhave a good amount of room to play with. If I were stocking the tank I'd get at least three. I have been told by quite a few people that shrimps dont have as heavy of a bio load (or poo) as fish do. For example, I have a Beta with around 20 cherry shrimp in a 5 gallon and everyone's happy.

3) They shouldn't hurt the snails.

CrownMan

I have about 15 Amanos, at least 75 Cherries, 10 endlers, many malaysian trumpet snails, and 5 albino corys in a 30Long with a lot of java moss and other plants and everyone gets along fine. Plants are growing well and the cherry population has grown from 10 to more than 75 in less than a year. GH of 120ppm, KH of 80ppm Water parameters.

The amanos regularly cruise the tank but like to hang out on the HOB sponge filter intake tubes.

Mike

ZooTycoonMaster

1. Not that I know of. They'll sift through the substrate no more than a couple millimeters to look for food...lol.

2. 2-3 for a 10 gallon should be fine.

3. No, there's no way a shrimp could possibly harm a snail. Unless it was a mutant shrimp with huge claws and...

milalic

2-3 shrimp on a ten gallon will not do much to help clean it and battle some of the algae types.
I say at least 8 of them in a 10 gallon. They will not add much to your tank bioload.

overboard

The only fish that my Amanos harass are pygmy cories, because they have learned that the cories will run away if the shrimp jump on their heads. The shrimp always get the first pieces of food, but they carry them around jealously and the other fish eat all the rest of the smaller bits in the meantime. Amanos remind me of the seagulls in "Finding Nemo".

Lionsfan

Good call.