I have a 125 g. planted tank and I was wondering what kinda plant fertilizer should I use to nourish my plants that does not contain copper. I'm using Kent's Iron & Potassium and Seachem's Flourish plant supplement at the moment. Right now I'm using less then half or the recommended dose twice a week cause I'm afraid the copper will kill my shrimp. But I also don’t want my plants to suffer from nutrient deficiency. The shrimp bug bit me hard!!! I never intended to dedicate my 125 g. tank to shrimp, I started off by getting 18 amanos and 20 ghost shrimps to help me combat algae in my tank cause the oto's and siamensis were having a hard time keeping the algae on check. In only 2 weeks the amanos cleaned house of all visible algae except the algae that grows on the plexi tank, but the otos keep that algae down to a minimum. I know that ghost shrimps are not much for keeping algae on check but I found that the ghosts are not shy at all and they help my amanos lose their shyness in only 3 days and getting them to the point that now my amanos will take food right out of my fishes mouths
Before I added my amanos I removed 16 tiger barbs, 8 clown loaches and 8 gold barbs, in order to make the tank safe for the amanos. I became so addicted to shrimps that I started hunting down different types of shrimps in my area. Now I have 26 amanos, 20 tiger shrimps, 20 bumblebees, 20 red cherry shrimps and 6 crystal reds. As for the ghost shrimps.. Well they have been dieing off slowly for some reason. The only fish I have left in the tank are 13 rummynoses, 8 Cardinal tetras, 5 siamensis, 2 kuli loaches and maybe 10-12 otos.
Wow sorry for the long ramble but any suggestions on the best fertilizer for my plants would be appreciated.
I honestly do not know what fertilizers to recommend to you since I am not using any. I do know that there are copper-free fertilizers out there, so do a search on Google.com and maybe you'll find something.
As for the ghost shrimp...what you might have are brackish/saltwater ghost shrimp, which do not last long in freshwater aquaria.
I will tell you your best bet is to buy certain ferts in chemical/powder form, etc and mix your own without copper. Many folks say they can add Seachem trace because the copper amount is so small, but I would rather starve my plants then hurt my shrimp. I add certain macro fert that don't list copper in them, and I don't trace at all. My plants do fine, if not reach their full reds. I find, though, that my shrimp and plants consume all my calcium carbonate and I have to add daily (my water is soft).
You might want to put a couple pieces of crushed coral in your tank to take care of the calcium. It will benefit the shrimp. As long as the PH does not get too high, your plants will do fine, too.
Mustafa
Piscesgirl wrote: I find, though, that my shrimp and plants consume all my calcium carbonate and I have to add daily (my water is soft).
I thought about the crushed coral -- but I thought that the calcium carbonate would be easier to control as my Tonina species (plant in case you aren't a planted tank person) doesn't like it very much. Still, even with a 1 degree of hardness, that isn't going up even with the calcium carbonate (I don't add much), the Tonina is showing some brown...boohooo
I am not a plant person per se, but could it be that it is so hard to keep Tonina under water because it is actually an amphibious plant that is not supposed to be constantly under water? Just wondering...
Thanks, but no..it is an aquatic plant..it just likes soft, acidic water. My Downoi, on the other hand (another exotic I'm very proud of) likes hard water. I'm just going for a happy medium here Of course, shrimp come first.
Actually my shrimp must be doing a lot of algae eating because I dont see any (except a bit from a moss ball that I dont think any aquatic animal cares to eat). And, yet, I rarely fert and have high light. It's a beatiful tank, in my opinion although it is more jungle than truly aquascaped. It's getting there, though.
More likely your jungle of plants have outcompeted the algae for resources so the algae don't grow. And the little that does grow does probably get eaten by the shrimp. The shrimp also love eating the micro-food that grows on the rotting leaf detritus among the plants.
How many Crystal Reds do you think you have now? How many Red Cherries? If you are feeding them, they must have multiplied like crazy.
At last count, I saw about 70 shrimp, but I didn't count which was which and there very well might be more. The Crystals seem to outproduce the Cherrys at the moment but I noticed some new baby Cherries yesterday. I gave three Cherries and three Crystals to a friend last week, which tore me all to pieces. I worry to death about my pets -- even my shrimp! I have a 20 gallon and a 10 gallon planted without any fish in them (just pest snails), so 'extra' shrimp can always go in those tanks.
At some point you'll have to start giving away some shrimp. Otherwise you'll have thousands of shrimp in dozens of tanks and they will keep growing in numbers until you spend all your salary on maintaining them.
It's interesting that the Crystal Reds are producing more young than the Red Cherries, since most people I know report the exact opposite.
Yes, I was surprised. My Cherries produced first, but the Crystals are outproducing them. Unfortunately, the feeding has resulted in too many snails and I'm removing handfuls a day for the last two days (malaysian trumpet snails). The Ramshorn aren't producing as fast. My bioload was so small with just the shrimp I needed to add potassium nitrate for the plants, but the snails are making a lot now. They are also making my Downoi come up with their digging. Out they go!
