Food?

deepdiver · Post by **deepdiver** » Tue May 02, 2006 10:50 am

I plan on putting 15 red cherry shrimp in a heavily planted 15 gallon tank that has been up and running for 2 months now. There are 4 otocinclus' and 4 smallish (1 1/2") Siamese Algae Eaters in there. Would the shrimp or their potential offspring be food for either of those fish?

shrimpbaby · Post by **shrimpbaby** » Tue May 02, 2006 11:07 am

Otos and SAE's should be fine with your shrimp. Check out Mustafa's article on keeping dwarf shrimp.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Tue May 02, 2006 11:35 am

When small the TRUE SAE's are not much of a threat, but true SAE's are rare and flying foxes and chinese algae eaters will take small shrimp. SAE's have small wisker at the corners of their mouth. The black line goes all the way to the tip of the tail, and the line is serated, noot smooth.

The big problem with SAE's is that they GROW. Mine went from 1" to 4" in around 5 months and I had to find them a new home. Once they get big, they will take baby shrimp.

If your goal is keeping hair algae down, feed the SAE's almost nothing until the algae is all gone. They prefer fish food and won't touch the algae if they are not hungry.

Shrimp&Snails · Post by **Shrimp&Snails** » Tue May 02, 2006 4:15 pm

Aww i just transferred my otto to my hubby's tank cos my tiger is about to pop.

I was lead to believe ottos will eat shrimplets.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Tue May 02, 2006 6:03 pm

Ottos are definitely safe. I have them in a tank overrunwith babies. Their mouth is not equiped to eat baby shrimp. Fish with those modified sucker mouths are usually safe, like many plecos.

AnneRiceBowl · Post by **AnneRiceBowl** » Tue May 09, 2006 1:01 am

well, you tank is definately over stockeked. SAEs grow to 6" each. Otos to 2" each. So, you've got 32" of fish in a 15 gallon.

MuscaDomestica · Post by **MuscaDomestica** » Thu May 11, 2006 3:49 am

I don't know, I had a problem with SAes eating my shrimp when I first set up my tank, but that could be because it was too small.

Also at the store where I work we seem to be having the opposite problem, keep on getting in SAEs when we asked for Flying Foxes.

deepdiver · Post by **deepdiver** » Thu May 11, 2006 6:53 am

Well, I was plannind on putting them in my 15 gallon which i fertilize, but changed my mind and put then in my 10 gallon. My 10 has lots of plants and I don't add fert. I also use cold water and heat it before water changes to prevent extra copper in my water. My plan is to let the Cherry's multiply then put them in the 15 and see how they handle the fert and heated replacement water. So far I've seen two males and one large female at one time. They're really hard to see(lotsa hiding spots). Oh-I have 3 Oto cats and 1 SAE in that tank too.