shrimps & stocking levels

Gill Passman muttered darkly:
slylittlei wrote:
IDzine01 muttered darkly:

I have found shrimp to be light on the bioload. I consider ghost
shrimp as freebies. I add about 8 or so to a 10 gallon and didn't
observe any difference.

I would add something for the oto unless you're sure there is enough
to eat already. I have always had to supplement their diets, though
I don't know what others do.


The Oto's fine - I've had it for about 3 months now, & I'm sure
(s)he's grown by about a third in that time!
There's a *lot* of bogwood in the tank, some of it has been in my
tanks continuously for years, so there's plenty of algae around. I
periodically clean the front glass when I waterchange, but always
leave the back & sides well alone.
Once a week I put a spirulina tablet in for the Cory's benefit, but
so far the Oto's not shown any interest.
I've read elsewhere that Oto's can be a bit of an "all or nothing"
fish - they either thrive, or die within weeks...
Interesting what you say about ghost shrimp, I'm very tempted now -
might have to scope out my LFS this weekend...


My otos only eat what has grown naturally in the tank ie. algae. I've
never seen them touch any processed food including algae wafers. I
have seen them starve themselves to death if there is insufficient
algae. So, like you I only clean the front glass - everything else
gets left for the algae eaters

Gill

Yup, I've never worried about algae in the tank anyway (provided it's not
blue-green or swamping my plants that is) - it's all part of a natural
system.
My main tank used to be set up in a spot that caught indirect sunlight for a
few hours a day, & algae was a bit of a problem at times, but I eventually
wised up & relocated it to an alcove that gets no natural light at all -
since then everything has balanced itself out nicely!