Important information! Please read.

[Mustafa]

I have updated the article "How to keep dwarf shrimp -- An Introduction." I recommend re-reading it as I have added/changed some very important information, especially in the section about plants :

http://www.petshrimp.com/articles/keepingshrimp.html

Based on my experience, I no longer think that fast growing plants, such as Najas, Egeria, Hornwort etc. are optimal in a shrimp tank. Although they are great as nutrient exporters, they also outcompete and kill off most microorganisms (i.e. algae, bio-film, bacteria etc.) on which the shrimp feed.

I have found that such microorganisms are a very important part of dwarf shrimp diet and the lack of such organisms might explain many of the "mystery" shrimp keeping/breeding failures, especially when your water parameters seem in good shape and you're feeding enough.

[zapisto]

Hi mustafa,
i am conducing an experience with java moss , and found a lot what i think is freshwater copepod , they look like daphnia , but not swimming like daphnia ,
i will say that are walking (sort of) on the glass
anyway
i put few weeks ago fes cherry in this tank , 5g, and manage to see the cherry eat this little organism,

dont know what they are , but what i am sure is the cherry eating them.

[Mustafa]

They are most likely copepods, especially if they move in sudden "jerky" moves instead of a smooth "swim." I don't think that copepods form a significant part of their diets, though. Dwarf shrimp specialize mostly on microorganisms that can't walk or swim away (i.e. algae, diatoms, bacteria etc.). But besides those, java moss tends to have other microorganisms living in between its leaves, many of which are not visible to the human eye. The same applies to gravel and sponge filter surfaces...tons of microorganisms grow there if they are given a chance.

[Neonshrimp]

Hi Mustafa, thanks for revising the article. I just read it and I will be adding more java moss to my tanks

Thanks.

[zapisto]

Hi Mustafa, thanks for revising the article. I just read it and I will be adding more java moss to my tanks

Thanks.

i actually use only java moss or christmas moss.
i love the look they have when a colony of chery visit them

[YuccaPatrol]

My current experiment with a tank filled only with magnolia leaves confirms your findings, Mustafa.

Upon close observation, this tank has a much greater population of visible microorganisms on the glass(copepods) than any of my other tanks.

In one month, the juveniles I added have grown rapidly and have matured and begun to reproduce faster than shrimp in my other tanks. Especially interesting because I have only added food to this tank on a few occasions.

The magnolia leaves provide an excellent substrate and a lot of surface area for the microorganisms that the shrimp feed on.

I may actually stop feeding this tank entirely, as the shrimp seem to be doing great eating nothing but the living things growing in there.

I am also considering seeding the tanks with some pond water to increase the diversity of microorganisms beyond those that make it to my tanks on their own.

[Mustafa]

The pond water inocculation is probably a good idea. You just have to make sure that you don't introduce tiny insect larvae or other similar things that could grow up and dine on the shrimp. Your tank conditions are very close to the natural habitat conditions of many dwarf shrimp. They live among leaf litter in places where you can't even find plants most of the time. It's just leaf litter and microorganisms, including algae. Leaf litter is really a key ingredient in a successful dwarf shrimp tank.

[8x10]

I have java moss and christmas moss that has really taken over my tank. I thought all this nice moss was good for them. Is this another case of too much of a good thing? My shrimp do ok but don't thrive and I don't have nearly as many as I think I should at this stage based on the numbers some of you talk about. My tank never has much algae. I find that java and Christmas moss grow really fast too at least in my tank.

I just removed some. I still have quite a bit plus several java fern but I can now actually see my shrimp since I opened up some space. Should I be ruthless and remove more or will I just be taking away their food source? This is a cherry only tank plus some ramshead snails. I have the moss I removed in an isolation tank so I could put it back

[Neonshrimp]

Hi 8X10,

So how many shrimp do you have and what size tank do you keep them in? The moss should be slow growing in clean water conditions but if your moss is growing fast this might mean there is a problem with the water parameters. How have your shrimp been behaving, are they breeding and do you have young shrimp in the tank?

[8x10]

Java moss is not so slow growing .Here's a quote from another site and there were many more like this indicating how much it grows and how quickly:

A little bit goes a long way: the thinner this is spread over rocks and driftwood, the better it will root itself and the prettier and healthier it will look as it grows. But watch out! I used less than a sandwich-baggie full of moss in a 4ft 150 liter tank. In less than 4 months, the moss grew until it covered the entire substrate and two large pieces of driftwood with a dense carpet with a minimum thickness of 3 inches! The tank looked beautiful, and I gave away a lot of moss to family and friends in those four months. Before the year was up, I had to remove the driftwood (which I had not seen for a couple of months anyhow) just to keep some open swimming space in the tank. The tank was 40cm deep and lit with 65W of fluorescent light, 40W of which came from a "daylight" bulb. It was filtered with a piddly penguin bio-wheel 110, and I was shamefully negligent in my water changes. I added no fertilizer besides any fishfood missed by the fish and snails. Enjoy the plant, but be prepared to do a lot of pruning.

Just wondering how much I should leave in my tank? It can become so dense the shrimp can't even get through it

[badflash]

Slow growing is a relative term. Java moss is slow compared to say Riccia, Najas, Egeria, Hornwort which can choke a tank in a month or so.

In my experience, the shrimp will find their way through no matter how dense the java moss gets, but it is easy to pull out a bunch and put it in another tank, or sell it on ebay where there are always ready buyers.

[Mustafa]

Just wondering how much I should leave in my tank? It can become so dense the shrimp can't even get through it

The reason I advocate slow growing plants in my article is so that they can't outcompete algae and other microorganisms that are dependent on nutrients and/or light. You don't really need moss in your tank and a shrimp tank can have only algae as plants (which, by the way, perform the same job as higher plants when it comes to nutrient export). If your java moss has taken over your tank to such a degree that nothing else grows in there, then you obviously have too much moss. There is no guideline for how much moss should be in a given tank. No moss works, some moss works, a tank choked in moss is probably not all that optimal in the long run. You want to leave space (and nutrients!) for microalgae and biofilm to grow. Just use common sense.

And as badflash said, java moss is slow growing compared to plants that are considered fast growers. In the long run pretty much any plant can take over a give tank if the right conditions are given and there is no competition.

[IndianaSam]

Quick question Mustafa; do you keep all of your dwarf shrimp in tanks with leaf litter? If not, what species don't you keep with leaf litter?

Do you keep any other types of shrimp with leaf litter (such as ghost shrimp)?

Thanks,
Sam

[Mustafa]

Quick question Mustafa; do you keep all of your dwarf shrimp in tanks with leaf litter? If not, what species don't you keep with leaf litter?

Do you keep any other types of shrimp with leaf litter (such as ghost shrimp)?

Thanks,
Sam

Hi Sam,

I keep all of my dwarf shrimp species with leaf litter. I have put leaves in with palaemonid shrimp, such as Macrobrachium and Palaemonetes, before, but, although they take a bite or two sometimes, they generally don't eat it. Hence, I don't have any leaf litter in their tanks right now. It won't hurt, though, if you do decide to put leaves in with them.

[Maekellen]

How do you prepare the leaf litter to ensure the absence of fungus/molds though? I know you said to soak the leaves until they sink on their on before putting them in the tank, but do you boil them first?