# fairy shrimp green water test



## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

i culture fairy shrimp to feed my fish, and have often seen fairy shrimp absolutely decimate a nice green water culture. im talking less than half an inch of visibility to clear within a few days. im going to see if i can do this in a tank. i inoculated my malawa shrimp tank with green water(dont worry, it wont hurt them) and i started adding fairy shirmp. i just recently added a whole bunch of eggs as well.










we shall see how it goes!

fairy shrimp clean up crew lol


----------



## abc (May 18, 2004)

I'm curious too to see if the fairy shrimp clear up the green water. Never heard of them doing this, so thanks for posting and cataloguing your experience


----------



## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

with just a few, they wouldnt be able to clear it out, but i tossed several thousand eggs in there, so who knows. we shall see.

im also curious about how many will be able to avoid the filter.


----------



## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

never did clear out the green water. i didnt get nearly enough fairy shrimp to hatch out. i imagine if i did a big water change with RO i could get the eggs to hatch, but i dont want to risk shocking my shrimp, so i just moved a UV sterilizer on it. i dont think the green water will hurt the shrimp, but i have noticed that when i keep shrimp in green water, or without any lights on them, they have a tendency be a bit on the dull side. i think the filter was a bit too much for the fairy shrimp too. for this to work, i would probably have to grow them out in another tank and then move the adults over to the shrimp tank, since the adults are strong enough to avoid being blown around and sucked up by the filter.


----------



## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

Try using a willow branch. They will send roots into the water and suck up all the nutrients and kill the green water.


----------



## Bryanmc1988 (Apr 3, 2012)

Jeffww said:


> Try using a willow branch. They will send roots into the water and suck up all the nutrients and kill the green water.


if so wont that kill the other plants inside the tank also? as it drains all the nutrients from the tank...


----------



## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

It shouldn't kill all the other plants. It works similiary as EI beats algae: good plant growth = no algae.


----------



## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

im not worried about the green water, i was just trying to see if fairy shrimp could clear it up in a shrimp tank if you added enough. green water is incredibly easy to get rid of, there are plenty of techniques available. i was just seeing if i could add to that number. i imagine that plenty of shrimp enthusiasts wouldnt mind adding a whole bunch of fairy shrimp, since all they do is filter feed until they die, at which point they become shrimp food. it would be a nifty solution, what with the charming little fairy shrimp and all.

had i started the fairy shrimp in a tank without circulation, i probably would have been successful. im sure ill try again later, but for now i am focusing on breeding empire gudgeons.


----------



## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

It would probably work but you'd need an obscene number of them. I know some people that use brine shrimp to stop ich in sw tanks.


----------



## steven p (Jun 22, 2012)

I had a zero hatch rate of fairy shrimp until I poured some eggs in a tub of treated tap outside a couple summers ago. The tub was filled with water sprite, Ludwigia, flame moss which was quickly hair algae, dwarf water lettuce and some other plants that melted or I forgot. Circulation via air stone ran through a front window to the tub. 

They hit a quarter inch in a couple days and vanished.


----------

