Help with my yamato shrimp

**gan_john** · 19th Feb 2011, 19:18

I recently bought a few yamato shrimps from C328 to address my hair algae problem. Its been 2 weeks and my shrimps do not seem to have any interest in the algae. All are surviving well (i think). They spend most of the day hiding behind the wood. They will dart out to steal the food i feed to the fish. I cant starve them without starving the rest of the inhabitants as well. What can i do?

Anyone with such a problem?

**icefire** · 19th Feb 2011, 19:54

same problem for me.. hence traded away the yamatos as i deem them too gangsterly for my other shrimps... the way they just go and wack the food is just too scary...

**gan_john** · 19th Feb 2011, 20:03

That bad huh....But there are also many posts that swear by these algae eating creatures. Did I buy the wrong species ? Are there more prolific hair algae eaters around ?

**leonard6july** · 19th Feb 2011, 21:11

Use fish food that floates. This way the shrimp cannot get to them and don't over feed because the left over food sinks to the bottom and rots making the algae problem worse.
The first time I used them to get rid of what I thought was hair algae, turned out to be cladophora....... shrimp don't eat this type of algae.

**gan_john** · 19th Feb 2011, 21:17

From this photo, can one tell if it is hair algae or the dreaded cladophora ?

Please note that shrimp did not go there on its own. I was chasing it onto the moss hoping that it will tart eating. It walked off after the photo was taken.

**leonard6july** · 19th Feb 2011, 21:31

difficult to tell. When you scoop it out with a brush, if it is slimy its probably hair algae. If it is like threads of green wool, i.e. you can see the individual strings, I think iot cladophora.

**gan_john** · 20th Feb 2011, 09:00

i am quite sure its hair algae from the pictures on the internet. Maybe its time to put these buggers up for adoption....

**alvinchan80** · 20th Feb 2011, 11:48

Originally Posted by leonard6july

difficult to tell. When you scoop it out with a brush, if it is slimy its probably hair algae. If it is like threads of green wool, i.e. you can see the individual strings, I think iot cladophora.

I think you are a little wrong about hair algae & clado..

Hair algae are thread hairlike algae while clado are hairlike but they are branchy..

Correct me if I am wrong because I have both before in my previous tank..

**bluebubbles** · 20th Feb 2011, 23:24

Originally Posted by gan_john

I recently bought a few yamato shrimps from C328 to address my hair algae problem. Its been 2 weeks and my shrimps do not seem to have any interest in the algae. All are surviving well (i think). They spend most of the day hiding behind the wood. They will dart out to steal the food i feed to the fish. I cant starve them without starving the rest of the inhabitants as well. What can i do?

Anyone with such a problem?

Hair algae can only be taken off manually. There are two ways I did with hair algae. extract them manually when they gets messy or leave them in the tank in one designated area and they will crumple up. The crumpled algae will suck away nutrients to prevent other algae from growing and eventually you have only one patch of algae growing into a "balls" - like a cotton candy. Once it gets too big, you can take it out. Sometime you might be reluctant because it looks like a moss ball when you roll them up. Someone did mention that moss balls also serve to reduce hair algae by take away the nutrients element to prevent hair algae from forming in the tank. Give it a try and see how things turned out.

**Jimmy** · 21st Feb 2011, 08:53

Originally Posted by leonard6july

Use fish food that floates. This way the shrimp cannot get to them and don't over feed because the left over food sinks to the bottom and rots making the algae problem worse.
The first time I used them to get rid of what I thought was hair algae, turned out to be cladophora....... shrimp don't eat this type of algae.

not necessary. my yamatos learn how to go to the surface for the food when the fishes are excited when food is dropped into the tank, hahaha... but i don't have much problem with them stealing the food as the quantity is minimum compare to what my fishes are eating and also my algae problem is under controlled.

**leonard6july** · 21st Feb 2011, 10:19

Originally Posted by alvinchan80

I think you are a little wrong about hair algae & clado..

Hair algae are thread hairlike algae while clado are hairlike but they are branchy..

Correct me if I am wrong because I have both before in my previous tank..

You're probably right about the branchy-ness of clado, I just took a sample out of my tank for closer examination. The point I was trying to make is that caldo strands are thicker than thread algae and this is one of the reasons amano shrimp do not eat them.

**leonard6july** · 21st Feb 2011, 10:21

Originally Posted by Jimmy

not necessary. my yamatos learn how to go to the surface for the food when the fishes are excited when food is dropped into the tank, hahaha... but i don't have much problem with them stealing the food as the quantity is minimum compare to what my fishes are eating and also my algae problem is under controlled.

That's amazing behavior, must be quite a sight to see shrimp do that; mine tend to stay on the bottom of the tank.

**gan_john** · 21st Feb 2011, 11:47

Thanks bkuebubbles, my algae problem is not that bad yet. Its localised only on the java moss. A couple of strands here and there and i thought adding yamatos could control its spread. Apparently, not.

Amazing how fast the yamatos adapt. Mine have leanrt how to pick food on the surface.....damn.