[gnome]

Giddygid, that's about the going rate. One place where I get my shrimp from sells them at like 3 for $5 or so. However, there are usually a good number of Malayan shrimp mixed in, which don't do as good a job at algae control. So unless you can tell them apart (which becomes pretty easy after a while) and ask that they let you pick the specific ones you want (which is never a problem), you may not know what you're getting. One time I asked them to bag three for me without knowing that about 50% of the shrimp in the container were Malayans. When I got home, I was distraught to find that I had two Malayan shrimp and one Amano. At least they don't have them labelled as "Caridina japonica" or "Amano shrimp" because that would be "false advertising."

Another place I go to has them priced at something like $10 for three, but they always quarantine their critters, and the Amano shrimp they sell are, on the average, bigger than what you'd get at most other shops. No contaminant species, either.

I'm not sure if you're surprised by the price being really high or low, but if you saw how well Amano shrimp (especially full-grown egg-laden females) work on thread & hair algae, you'd think that they're worth every penny and more. "Insane" would be cherry red shrimp being $4-$10 per shrimp or crystal reds being about $7 per, and these little guys are really too small to do much work, unless you break the bank and buy lots and lots of them. They're pretty, though. Amano shrimp are tough, too - I have one that must be close to four years old! I've had trouble keeping the smaller varieties (bumble bees, cherry reds, crystal reds, blues, tigers, rainbows, etc.) alive. Most of them are more expensive than Amanos, yet are able to do only a fraction of the work.

-Naomi

 

[gnome]

I had to move my Amano shrimp out of my 10-gallon planted tank and into my 5.5-gallon "stash" tank (which receives no nutrients) because the soft water here makes even low levels of fertilizer toxic and I had to raise my levels for the plants. So, unfortunately, the algae problems went from zero to bad in no time, but what I sometimes do is to collect all the hair/thread algae from this tank (and from others) and chuck it into the stash tank. As soon as I do this, the Amano shrimp attack the algae wads, and the seven of them (with a little help from two Malayans and an odd surviving zebra shrimp) manage to devour every bit of it in under four days. Mind you, this was algae that had been left to grow for months in the 10-gallon. The amounts that I collect after 2-3 weeks of neglect can be eaten in under 24 hours. It's really a shame that I can't keep these shrimp in the 10-gallon for on-site housekeeping. They're da bomb!

It sure would be nice to be able to buy them for $1 a pop. If I get the itch again, I may make a second attempt at raising the larvae. My females (5 of them) are always looking like they're going to BURST from carrying so many eggs!

-Naomi