# Amano shrimp a not so good shrimp



## Snowflake311 (Apr 20, 2011)

I don't have problems with my amano eating plants. They do go crazy at feeding time that's for sure but it's one thing I like about them. They are fun to watch. I have 2 of them. 

Feed them more plant based food like spinach or something. Then they should be better about eating plants. nerite snails shrimp poop a lot just as much as a pleco I don't recommend them for small tanks. My rams horn snails are the best cleaners ever.


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## Rony11 (Jan 21, 2012)

I have 6 Amanos in a well planted tank with fish and CO2. Most of the time they pick at the substrate for food-did not see them touching leaves. But during feeding time they do go crazy. I feed them with Spirulina tablets, Tetra pro color (fish food), blanched spinach leaves, etc.


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## jeremyTR (Mar 21, 2012)

I have twenty something amano shrimp and I don't notice a single problem with them. They help keep the tank clean and keep algae away.

You should feed fresh veggies to them. Like spinach. Mine love it.

Sent from my HTC Evo 4G


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

i have never had my amanos eat or rip up plants. mine do get aggressive at feeding time. they will each take a whole piece and wonder off with it. because of that i put in one piece of food for each amano. 

honestly i have never heard of amanos ripping up plants, or eating leaves that are still alive. i have a few times seen them eating dead or decaying pieces of leaves, but like i said never live leaves. what else do you have in that tank?


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## Lee04 (Feb 11, 2012)

I've noticed a lot of holes in my plants as well, possibly due to my amanos. But my biggest concern is how aggressive they can be towards others. Today I noticed one of my amanos pick up a smaller live shrimp (rcs) and peck at it. They will be getting their own tank soon!


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

What type of food are you feeding the tank? Protein enriched foods may drive them a bit nuts.


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## fish rookie (Jul 9, 2012)

When you feed them veggie, do you boil them first? Thank you.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

I got rid of my Nerite because they "egged" all my driftwood. I agree with Snowflake I prefer Ramshorns also.

I've got 10 amano shrimp in a 40gl. that is planted with Crypts, Java Fern and Taiwan moss. I've tried various shrimp foods to supplement the Algae they eat. I've found Spirulina flakes to work well in reducing the food aggression as it tends to disperse better in the tank.

I'm not well versed on natural habitat of Amanos. I tend to think they don't coexist with the smaller shrimp or in areas with delicate plants. Of if so there are more plentiful and more desirable food sources.

I feel the more natural we make our tanks the less perceived problems we tend to have.


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## shinycard255 (Sep 15, 2011)

fish rookie said:


> When you feed them veggie, do you boil them first? Thank you.


Yup, boil veggies before giving it to them to soften it up. Zucchini, Cucumber, or Spinach will work blanched.

If blanching zucchini or cucumber, boil for 3 mins. If blanching spinach, it only needs no more than 30 seconds in the pot.

After boiling, let it cool down a bit first before putting it in the tank. If its zucchini or cucumber, I like to stick it on a fork and put it in the tank. I also leave cucumber or zucchini in the tank for 36-48 hours for them to feed off of

HTH


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

depening on the plant, it can be a tasty snack, they have to be hungry to prefer a plant though. mine will overturn small rocks to get at morsels underneath them


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

If you have aggressive amanos that are attacking other shrimp and tearing up plants, you don't have amanos.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

In fairness to the OP., aggressive behavior can be a very subjective observation. 

I'm a Dog Owner trainer, I get many calls about dog aggression that typical turn out to be normal dog behavior for the situation. 

My larger Amanos will challenge the smaller Amanos. They will try to hold their ground against the SAEs for food but usually retreat. I don't see that as anything other than normal behavior.


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## Shrimpaholic (Jul 7, 2012)

I have two Amano's in my shrimp tank and they do get aggressive at feeding time. Like other posters, I make sure they have their own little pieces so they can swim away with it. I have seen them ram my Cherries but never do any harm. I have a Bumble Bee shrimp that I have seen charge my Amano Shrimp during feeding time. He is fearless towards the Amanos. And Nerite eggs suck but you can always scrape them off.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

Lee04 said:


> I've noticed a lot of holes in my plants as well, possibly due to my amanos. But my biggest concern is how aggressive they can be towards others. Today I noticed one of my amanos pick up a smaller live shrimp (rcs) and peck at it. They will be getting their own tank soon!


are you sure those holes are from the amanos and not cased by a lack of nutrients?





i have video somewhere of my amano during feeding time. i'll try to upload it so the op can look and determine if theirs is acting the same or not.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

okay here we go.

this ones a little tamer
http://youtu.be/FmekMQf16Xg


this one is longer and less tame
http://youtu.be/T4R7mG-DBac

both of these videos are par for the course when feeding my amanos. in all honesty i should probably remove him from that tank, but i don't have anywhere else to put him


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Aquatic Delight - Thanks for posting the videos. To me I don't consider the Amanos aggressive. They don't completely run off the other shrimp, they don't harm the other shrimp,they don't run off with the food. Which would be how I would tend to define food aggression behavior.

Now are they bullies? LOL...O.K. I'll give to that. 

While we would all like our fish & inverts to co-exist peacefully that is more fantasy than reality. In pratical application I feel Sp. only tanks are the best or single sp. fish/ sing;e sp. inverts.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

that tank the amanos do not steal the food. but in my 29gal the 3 i have always grab a piece for themselves and then move to high ground with it.


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## jeremyTR (Mar 21, 2012)

Mine will definitely take off with food if they can. I find their behaviour to be funny to watch. They never cause harm to other shrimp

Sent from my HTC Evo 4G


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## Obakemono (Dec 23, 2011)

I have about 38 Amanos in my tank and when I had them in my shrimp only tank they did go crazy when food was in the tank, but the most aggressive I have seen them is picking up Cherry shrimp and throwing them aside so they can get to the food. Funny as hell to watch them. Now in my big tank they hang out on the dark side of my driftwood eating and some larger ones will come out at feeding time to gather leftovers.


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## PhilZ (Mar 5, 2012)

Yesterday i fed them cyclopeeze and algae wafers. The amanos went crazy and started running around trying to key on the location of the food. One of the amanos bumped into the otto cat and jumped on his back picking at him with his pinchers. The otto shock him off and the amano continued to search. 
And again spotted one amano making a hole in my leaf and eating the leaf. 

I feed cyclopeeze, algae wafers, shrimp pellets, zucchini, Spectrum flakes, hikari micro pellets and hikari shrimp cuisine. I mix it up everyday and some days the shrimp eat what falls to the ground. 

I have the amanos quarantined and going to trade for nerite snails.

In the tank I got 10 Rasborah Maculatus, 5 pygmy cory, 2 ottos, 12 RCS, 1 rilli, 1 rock shrimp, 2 cherry shrimp



Taken from a magazine. 

"A Danger to Plants?

Although Yamato Numa Ebi is very effective for controlling algae in an aquatic plant layout,it sometimes presents a problem. Because it is a herbivore,when it runs out of algae to eat,it occasionally starts eating aquatic plants. Echinodorus tenellus and Tonina tend to suffer from feeding damage more than other. Holes develop on the leaves of Echinodorus tenellus,and its growth slows down. Yamato Numa Ebi loves Tonina especially,and it quickly mows down all the plant's leaves. It also likes to nibble on new shoots of stem plants such as Hemianthus umbrosum and those of Bolbitis.

To avoid the feeding damage,we should not add too many shrimp to the aquarium. If you notice that the algae are gone and plants are getting nibbled on,the shrimp should be moved to another aquarium.

By keeping an adequate number of Yamato Numa Ebi in good health and in a controlled population level,we can control the growth of algae and promote the growth of beautiful aquatic plants."


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

I have zero problems with my amanos and they are 2+ inches big (5 in a 15 gallon).


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## Jdjd831 (Jul 5, 2012)

*Food*

The only time i notice my amanos showing any type of aggression is when i drop food in. I typically feed all my tank inhabitants NLS sinking pellets with occasional veggie treats. On more than one occasion i have seen one of my amanos in particular pull a pellet right out of the mouths of my cories. I think it's amusing really and consider it payback for all the blackworms i have to restock because my cories dig em up.


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