# Amano shrimps eating plants



## Quagulator (May 4, 2015)

Do you have a video or a picture of the plants that are affected? I won't say they aren't eating your plants, but I've never heard of them eating plants... Anything is possible though, I had an amano attack / eat an injured cory cat once. Perhaps the plants are melting back and the amanos are taking advantage? I can't see them getting too far on healthy / actively growing plants.


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

kilnakorr said:


> Hi
> I recently started a dutch style planted tank. Everything was going great untill a few days ago when I added amano shrimps to the tank.
> These we're added to prevent algea since no signs of algea was present.
> However, the lack of food (i think) had them completely wipe out my Althernanthere Reineckii 'Mini and did some damage to Reineckii Rosanervig and Heteranthera Zosterifolia.
> ...


How recently did you start this tank, and where were the shrimp acquired? Your shrimp should be given supplemental food if it's a fairly unestablished tank, as there may not be enough bio-film and algae to sustain them.
I've never heard of shrimp eating healthy plants, but they will certainly clean up the unhealthy parts. I added a bunch of RCS to an established tank with some Staurogyne repens that had some melt and less than healthy leaves, they cleaned those plants up within hours.


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## Mike A. (Jan 6, 2018)

They tear up mine too in one tank. But that's because there's algae on it and the plants are somewhat compromised to begin with. So as they pull at the algae, it tears up the plant. 

The Amanos do a great job. A little too great sometimes. I had a nice full moss wall going. They cleaned off every last bit of algae that was building up on it in no time at all. But in the process pulled out about half of it from the mesh. ; )


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## kilnakorr (Jul 31, 2016)

Quagulator said:


> Do you have a video or a picture of the plants that are affected? I won't say they aren't eating your plants, but I've never heard of them eating plants... Anything is possible though, I had an amano attack / eat an injured cory cat once. Perhaps the plants are melting back and the amanos are taking advantage? I can't see them getting too far on healthy / actively growing plants.


No video but pictures after the feast:









These where in perfect health 10 hours earlier.

I have been dosing EI from day 1, and have seen zeo sign of any nutrient deficiency in any of my plants.

Bump:


mgeorges said:


> How recently did you start this tank, and where were the shrimp acquired? Your shrimp should be given supplemental food if it's a fairly unestablished tank, as there may not be enough bio-film and algae to sustain them.
> I've never heard of shrimp eating healthy plants, but they will certainly clean up the unhealthy parts. I added a bunch of RCS to an established tank with some Staurogyne repens that had some melt and less than healthy leaves, they cleaned those plants up within hours.


That's exactly what I think is the cause: new tank with very little food for the shrimps.

Tank was about 20 days old when shrimps were added. 60 shrimps added with no visible algae and probably very little biofilm.


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## madcrafted (Dec 23, 2017)

I guess it depends on the taste of said plants. If you ever seen a group of amanos devour a large stinging nettle leaf, you would know that they do in fact enjoy fresh greens. Nothing but a stem and veins in 12 hours time.


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## sugarlandftw (Feb 28, 2017)

This happened to me as well. Setup a new tank and moved my amanos over from my old tank a week later. The Althernanthere Reineckii 'Mini around the rock they have been hiding under is torn up exactly like yours. Plants were growing healthy for a week before the shrimp were put in. The Althernanthere Reineckii 'Mini on the other side of the tank is in perfect shape. They must have a taste for Althernanthere Reineckii 'Mini. 

I put some lightly boiled zucchini into the tank and they have been spending a lot of time on that instead of the Althernanthere Reineckii 'Mini. I would take them out but I don't have anywhere to put them.


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## TheBaconater (Jul 26, 2017)

Any chance the plants were tissue cultured? 


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## sugarlandftw (Feb 28, 2017)

TheBaconater said:


> Any chance the plants were tissue cultured?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yes.


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

Seems like Amano's took advantage of a plant during transition to submerged.


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## kilnakorr (Jul 31, 2016)

Just did a test. I added 6 new plants - middle to top of some 30 cm pots (new bought). Added the last night and this morning they only pieces of some leaves were left.
I've planted the rooted parts in another tank and planning to add these in a couple of weeks to test again.
For now every plant that the shrimps are eating has been removed and replaced with ither tyoes of plants.


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## TheBaconater (Jul 26, 2017)

sugarlandftw said:


> Yes.




I have had similar issues with some tissue cultured plants. Fish and shrimp go crazy over them and chew them down to the roots. I’ve always wondered if the culture media has some sort of nutrients in it that makes the plants more delicious. 


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## Surf (Jun 13, 2017)

> I have been dosing EI from day 1, and have seen zero sign of any nutrient deficiency in any of my plants.


Really? It took me 2 seconds to see one. Did you not notice the leaf veins in some of the plants are white? I haven't seen this myself but according to google it could be a sign of sulfur deficiency. What fertilizers are you dosing and how much? Also how big is the tank?

If it is a sulfur deficiency it could be easily resolved with a sulfate GH booster or by adding potassium sulfate.

I believe some of your plants are not getting enough of something (possibly sulfur) causing the leafs to die and the amanos move in to eat the dead leaves. I have had amanos in the past and they never ate living plants.


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## sugarlandftw (Feb 28, 2017)

TheBaconater said:


> I have had similar issues with some tissue cultured plants. Fish and shrimp go crazy over them and chew them down to the roots. I’ve always wondered if the culture media has some sort of nutrients in it that makes the plants more delicious.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Possible, who knows. The shrimp are leaving my plants alone now that some light algae has started to form on the rocks and I assume elsewhere. It is the new bigger leaves that they were going after on the AR mini. They were really working the same one or two plants over and over and eventually they started to get holes in the leaves. Not in the middle of the leaves but a lot of it was starting on the edge of the leaf and then working its way in. These shrimp were also in my first tank for quite a while so they are pretty large. 

I put another piece of zucchini in the tank and they kind of ignore it now whereas before they swarmed on it.


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## kilnakorr (Jul 31, 2016)

From more online search it seems it's quite common for amanos to eat reinickii plant species. I guess its a matter of food sources available too them


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## cl3537 (Jan 28, 2019)

kilnakorr said:


> Hi
> the lack of food (i think) had them completely wipe out my Althernanthere Reineckii 'Mini and did some damage to Reineckii Rosanervig and Heteranthera Zosterifolia.


It is not a well known fact, but experienced aquarists are aware of Amanos eating ARs irrespective of whether there are other source of food in the tank. You should either remove them or accept the damage they will do to those plants.


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## Frogbat1 (Apr 11, 2021)

kilnakorr said:


> Hi
> I recently started a dutch style planted tank. Everything was going great untill a few days ago when I added amano shrimps to the tank.
> These we're added to prevent algea since no signs of algea was present.
> However, the lack of food (i think) had them completely wipe out my Althernanthere Reineckii 'Mini and did some damage to Reineckii Rosanervig and Heteranthera Zosterifolia.
> ...


My shrimps eat plants all the time I only feed them every two days


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