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Shrimp stuff and other comments
> Do shrimp like unheated freshwater tanks?
> Will shrimp disturb/snap at the fantails?
> Are there other goldfish-compatible algae eaters?
I've kept ghost shrimp for a number of years now and they make great
hair algae eaters. I've recently (several months ago) gotten some of the
"Amano" shrimp and they seem to be doing ok too. I would think that
either would end up being harrassed by gold fish though. A fish I have
that has turned out unexpectedly to be a good hair algae eater also is
the livebearer Ilyodon furcidens. I don't know if the other Ilyodons
would also work as well. These fish are a little bigger than the
livebearers most people are used to and more aggressive. They will eat
smaller fish, like baby livebearers, but seem ok with adults.
I've had ghost shrimp for quite a while. The only trouble I've ever
really had with them health wise is with new ones. I don't seem to have
any trouble after they are established, I haven't bought new ones in a
long time since mine do quite well reproducing in my tanks. Another
problem that may come up with them is if you have them with egg laying
fish that offer no parental care. I'm pretty sure they eat the eggs.
They don't seem to bother healthy live fish or fry, though if a fish is
on it's last legg laying on it's side at the bottom of the tank they
will sometimes start eating it and will definatly eat dead fish. The
last problem you may have, as I mentioned with gold fish, is most larger
fish will consider them a nice tasty snack, so they work best with small
non-aggressive fish
None of my tanks are heated, though I do live in Arizona so it doesn't
get to cold here anyway. Most of my tanks are in my fishroom which I
like to keep somewhat warmer than the rest of the house, about 82 or so
in the fishroom. I do have them in the living room too which I like to
keep cooler and they do just as well in the tanks there.
FWIW I have a couple comments that I wanted to add after reading some of
the recent posts. I don't use any additives in the gravel, or tank
water, don't use CO2, or filter or pretty much use anything but lights
and gravel. I do only moderate quantities of water changes (about once a
month realistically, roughly 50% of the water, though if I have time I
like doing more.) Most of my tanks are under shop lights. I use one cool
white and one bathroom/kitchen light. I have been on this list most of
the time for several years, and some of you know me. I don't often post
on here because it seems to mostly be a planted tank tech list, which is
fine for those that want to take that option with their tanks, but not
what I do and have no desire to do. So I usually just stay out of
things. I have plenty of plant growth and generally have more trouble
with too much plant growth in a tank than not enough. I do have somewhat
hard water and pretty high pH. I just wanted to mention all this because
there really are many ways to have a successful planted aquarium. I
think that the options a person uses can reflect what they want out of
the project also. I don't believe there really is any one right way to
do it and that people are smart enough to choose their own path with the
information offered. I do have a reasonable amount of experience with
aquariums. I got my first tank over 30 years ago and have 60 to 70 tanks
running at a time currently and 10 or so kiddie pools with fish and
plants in my yard. I also breed a number of different fish.
--
http://naturalaquariums.com