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HELP !!!! Amano shrimp eating plants

O'Neil

O'Neil

Member
Joined
16 Jan 2012
Messages
314
Location
Newcastle upon Tyne
Hey Guys I've recently started a new tank and I've just hit my first hurdle, I came home today to fins that the Amano shrimp have completely decimated my Alternanthera Reinekii,
Is this normal?
Is there anything I can do to prevent this?
Will I have to change this plant for something else?
 
Very strange is it possible the plant was not doing well i have seen amano shrimp feeding on dying/suffering leaves of plants before.Cheers mark
 
The plants were very healthy they were Tropica 1-2 Grow plants

This is how they were
photo2bqx.jpg


This is them now
photo1owti.jpg


And these are the shrimp
photoqwp.jpg
 
Its the Tropica 1-2-Grow reineckii that i have too and the shrimp havent bothered it so not sure.

Did you make sure to wash off all the gel that the plants came in before planting?
Im wondering if thats what the shrimp are after?

...p.s. they do look like Amano 'multidentata'.
 
Yeah mate washed it all off was very careful in doing so, really took my time preparing and planting.

I'm glad that they look like Amanos otherwise Pets at Home would have a very irate customer they already sold me whitespot in the form of 4 Otos that completely decimated my 200 ktr tank.
 
No i have to say that I didnt mate.
Ive only had the tank set up 10 days now, but the Alternanthera is without doubt the fastest thing in there at the mo - even beating the Mattengrosse and the Hygrophilia!
The only thing it did at the start was that my loaches kept uprooting it, but constant replacing and it eventually seems to have taken hold.
 
Im not very knowledgable so not sure at all, and dont want to advise anything incase Im wrong, but I wonder if Alternanthera suffers like that in wrong water parameters?
Eg, too warm/cold, too soft/hard, wrong pH?

I have 25c temp, very hard water and 6.8pH (if it helps!?)
 
I'm a noob myself, I know bit's about everything but not an expert on any of it.

My water parameters are simlar to yours, temp 25c, PH 7.4 ( I know thats quite a big difference, Log scale an all that ) and my water is moderately hard.
I wonder if I should up the lighting, 48w is never going to be alot by any standard.
 
Possibly yeah, but I have less than 2wpg over mine so I wouldnt rush to throw more light on.
If the other plants are ping ok, then I would just wait.

If, as Nate says, the shrimp were actually only harvesting the already damaged leaves then the plants might just need a week to recover?
Good luck chum.
 
Aha been sitting watching them and it appears that tyhe plant is not doing well and when the Amanos are trying to feed off the biofilm, they are accidenatlly pulling the leaves off.

Didn't spot it sooner as it all collected behind the spray bar so wasn't floating around the tank.

Just need to work out why the plant is doing bad and put that right.

Thanks to all of you for your help.
 
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