# Algae eating efficiency, Amano vs Cherry Shrimp



## tiger15 (16 Aug 2019)

Amano is often described as the best algae eating shrimp, but how is it compared with Cherry shrimp.  Do Amano eat more variety of algae than cherry or the same and if so, there is no benefit to keep Amano with Cherry.


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## zozo (17 Aug 2019)

The comparance is difficult, both have the same diet and are omnivorous.. The difference likely is in its size, the Amano is big enough to take on and chew on gritty hair algae and the cherry will have difficulty with that.

But algae eating lifestock never is a remedy and will not prevent an algae outbreak if the parameters favour it.

Tho there are some examples to find about how effective the number of Amano shrimps is on algae infested tanks. 4 amano's didn't make much a difference 20 amano's in the same tank later and it was relative algae free in 14 days time. But i also feel like its bit of an advertizing stunt on Amano's.. I once had 15 of them in a 50 litre tank and still algae infested. Algae simply can grow faster than it is eaten, than control by other means is inevitable and once its in control shrimps do help, but don't solve.

The benefit of cherries is they breed and keep numbers intact on their own devices.. Amanos''s don't and you have to keep buying new ones.


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## Zeus. (17 Aug 2019)

Amanos IMO by purely observing them them in my 500l tank I have 50+ is they do seem to compete with each other for the algae too. When I drop and algae pellet in its like a swam off them in a feeding frenzy same when a blanch nettles, where as the RCS seem to be a little more we will take are time in a more cultured way.

Algae pellet







Nettles







These below are from 50l with RCS only and Nettle leaf


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## tiger15 (17 Aug 2019)

I have both Amano and Cherry housed in separate shrimp bowls. I can see my snails and bristlenose graze on GDA and leave clear paths on the glass, but I have never observed my shrimp actually consume algae except that  they are always busy chewing something.  I have never observed shrimp clean  gda or gsa off the glass

The reason I am asking is that in my Cherry shrimp bowl I have long silky algae (Spirogyra?) that Cherry shrimp don’t seem to touch, but in my Amano shrimp bowl, there is none.  But I have no idea if the difference Is due to different plant species and balancing.  I only have a few Amano shrimp but a lot more cherry because they self multiply.  I don’t want to throw in a Amano shrimp to the cherry shrimp bowl to test it out as the Amano is more aggressive and I read that Amano will eat baby Cherry in small confinement.  

So do Amano eat more type of algae than cherry including Spirogyra that cherry don’t touch?


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## Tim Harrison (17 Aug 2019)

I think that perhaps they feed on different species of algae and maybe in that respect complement one another. Just in case I usually keep both in the same tank...


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## tiger15 (12 Mar 2021)

According to this article, Amano is the most efficient algae eater.  Do you agree.









						Amano Shrimp - Detailed Guide: Care, Diet and Breeding - Shrimp and Snail Breeder
					

Caridina Japonica is extremely beneficial to any aquarium simply because they are the best algae eater. Their larger physical size (two inches) makes them able to eat algae that most other shrimp or small critters cannot. They are also very easy to care for but difficult to breed.




					aquariumbreeder.com
				




An experiment – Amano shrimp is the best green algae eater?!​Some time ago there was an experiment – who is the best green algae eater? Amano shrimps, fish and snails were left to graze on the tiles with green algae for a period of time before the tiles were removed and analyzed.

Regardless of how the grazing rate was expressed, the Amano shrimp was the most efficient grazer on the type of substrate offered in that experiment. When the grazing was expressed as the rate per animal, the Amano shrimp was 7-fold more efficient than the Red cherry shrimp but only 2.4-fold more efficient than the Siamese Algae Eater (SAE).

However, since the Amano shrimp is a relatively large shrimp, some of the difference is caused by the fact that a large animal, in general, consumes more food per time unit as compared to a much smaller animal such as the cherry shrimp. 

And so, if the grazing rate instead is expressed per gram animal, the Amano shrimp is only 1.8-fold more efficient than the cherry shrimp. For the SAE, it works the other way around as it is bigger than the Amano shrimp, so the difference in grazing pressure is 5.4-fold when expressed per gram animal.

And so, the study was very conclusive in the sense that the Amano shrimp removes much more algal biomass per time unit. The Amano shrimp is the best algal-eater among the candidates. It is the King.


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## Zeus. (12 Mar 2021)

tiger15 said:


> Amano is the most efficient algae eater. Do you agree.



Yes and No, Yes they do work hard and take care of hair algae, but hard to breed so population is limited,  but they are great at escaping when it suits them, found then in other rooms crawly on carpet or dead. RCS will multiply FOC quick if there are no predators in tank and don't take care of hair algae, but soon you can have hundred/thousands and small RCS can be great food source for some fish also.

I feel every planted tank benefits from a few Amanos and we shouldn't overlook the great benefits of the RCS as once they get established you never have to buy them again.

So if the Amano is the most efficient algae eater. The RCS is eats the most algae per cost IMO


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