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RE: Amano Shrimp and Snail Eaters

> Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 21:36:57 -0800
> From: "Craig David" <whamajamma at earthlink_net>
> Subject: RE: Amano Shrimp and Snail Eaters
> 
> Soren 'Disky' Petersen wrote:>
> 
> I have a problem.In my 54 liter tank, I have 10 Amano Scrimps. And about 2
> million (MANY)
> snails.I would like to add some sort of fish, which would eat the snail but
> not the
> scrimps. Has anyone got experience with this? I was wondering if it was
> possible to add 1 or 2 loaches of the smallest kind. Without having to fear
> they will eat the scrimps.
> 
> Bob Kimball wrote:>
> 
> I put some Amano shrimp in with my clown loaches...the loaches won.  My four
> shrimp were gone after about a day :(
> 
> >From personal experience, I would guess that your shrimp died because due to
> unfavorable water conditions or transfer stress rather than succumbing to
> the loaches.   I have two clown loaches and three yo-yo loaches (botia
> lahachata) in a 45 gallon hex that have peacefully coexisted with about 20
> amano shrimp (yamato numaebi) for over six months.  While I can't verify
> that all twenty shrimp are alive, (they hide very well) at least 10 are
> visible most of the time during the daytime in a thick clump of rotala
> indica and at least three or four more "sleep" under a shady clump of java
> moss (vesiculara dubyana).
> 
> The shrimp were introduced over six months ago and aside from an occasional
> bump by the loaches in their relentless exploration for food (the shrimp
> "kick" out of the way very rapidly) they don't seem to bother them.  The
> loaches which range in size from 7 to 10 centimeters were introduced
> approximately a year and a half  ago in my tank and I did notice that they
> promptly curbed my snail population.
<snip>

I, too, added some amamo shrimp to my tank, and blamed the clown loaches when 
they disappeared the next day.

One of them 'miraculously' reappeared about 2 weeks later, but was acting a bit 
odd, swimming frantically about the tank non-stop for about a half hour, and 
then it disappeared forever.

At the time, my water quality was pretty horrible (I got the shrimp hoping to 
help clear up my algae investation).  Since then, through massive, bi-weeekly 
water changes combined with minimal feedings, I have my water quality under 
control (the algae is still a work in progress...).

Just last week I added some ghost shrimp as an experiment (they're cheaper!).  
Not only are they still around, but my loaches seem oblivious to them.  

My current hypothesis is that the amano shrimp were done in by bad water, or 
perhaps some mineral deficiency.

 - Anthony