[Prev][Next][Index]

Re: Yamato-Numaebi (again ?)



Sorry for the late response.

Hardjono wrote:
> Just in case you have not seen the famous algae eating shrimp, Practical
> Fishkeeping (PFK) magazine has a close up picture of it in the Dec '95
> issue (p. 96). It's a pretty creature. Apparently there are quite a few
> UK stores have them. The article has a list of those stores. The retail
> price is 2.95 pounds ea. It's very effective in cleaning up algae from
> plants but not on the tank glass.

It's nice to hear that they managed to travel to UK.

> Has somebody (in UK or Japan) has first hand experience with this shrimp ?

Yes, I do.  In Japan, most algae cleaning agents for planted tanks usually
consist of those shrimps and otocinclus.  (And SAE's are hard to find
around where I live, while all the shops deal with those shrimps.)
I have no idea what people in UK think about the price 2.95 pounds ea.
The price around here is @150yen now. (used to be @200yen a while back)
Anyway, Yamato-Numaebi's are certainly good algae eaters, IMHO.
I personally love to hear from people who tried both SAE and those shrimps
what they think of both of them in comparison, and compatibility between
them.

Here's my review of Yamato-Numaebi:
(1)Algae-eating ability
   - I found they eat green stringy algae very well.
   - They do eat red algae, but I believe they don't like it very much.
   - As for cleaning up algae from the tank glass, other algae eaters such
     as sucker-mouth catfish (farlowella, otocinclus, etc) do far better job.
(2)Compatibility
   - Keeping with bigger fish (anything bigger than adult angel fish) should
     be avoided.
(3)Breeding
   - Hard.
     I often see some of them carrying eggs, without any special care.
     And once I had the eggs hatch in a shrimps-and-java-moss tank.
     The difficult part is feeding the plankton shrimps until they settle
     down on plants as tiny shrimps.  (I haven't done this, yet)
     They eat micro creatures which live in brackish water in natural habitat.
(4)Environment
   - pH 7.0 (should be 6.5-)
   - Temp 10-28C (should be -28C)
   - Lots of dissolved O2.
(5)Feeding
   - Nothing should be fed for them (especially when tankmates are fed).
     They are good scavengers, too.  And, prefer fish food to algae.
     By the way, I believe they can live on algae (or plants?) only.
     So, I would suggest no fish plant tank with yamato-numaebi for people
     who can enjoy it.

For people who tests other shrimps, I would like to suggest no feeding
in a plant tank with no fish.  And, please make sure to report the result.

 - Shinji from Kobe, Japan