Re: [AGA-Member] FYI on Amano Shrimp

["S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>]

thanks for allthe shrimp info.

RE starting up a new tank, instead of using water changes
to hold down nitrite levels, try using lots of plants,
especially fast growers. Consider, for example, floating
some water sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides) in the tank.
It's a fast grower and at the water surface it has access
to plenty of CO2 in the atmosphere so it can suck up a lot
of nitrogen from the water.

Once the other plants are grown and robust, you can remove
the water sprite if you like.

Fast growing stem plants (e.g., Hygrophila polysperma) and
Amazon swords (Echinodorus bleheri) work well too.

Scott H.
--- Kirsten Klinghammer <klingham@pacbell.net> wrote:

> As I mentioned in my first post to this list earlier this
> evening, I'm
> setting up a new planted tank, the first for many years. 
> I'd read that
> Amano shrimp are wonderful for eating algae, so I added a
> few of them a few
> days ago (I know that's early - only a week in - but I'm
> hoping they'll be
> okay; there are 8 in a 38 gallon tank).  The tank is just
> getting going, so
> I've been monitoring pH, nitrite, and ammonia levels
> regularly and have been
> doing some partial water changes to keep the ammonia
> levels in check. . . 


=====
Christel Kasselmann, 
author of the best current authoritative text on aquatic plants 
will be a featured speaker at 
The Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies 30th Annual Convention.
March 18-20, 2005 at the Marriott Hotel, Farmington, CT
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