# Amanos and ground cover plants



## Nat N (21 Feb 2012)

I have been trying to plant glosso and rununculus in a tanks with Amanos. All attempts failed. The critters would destroy the planting very quickly (within three days to a week). They pull the plants out to eat or just eat all the leaves and the plant just gives up... I do want to keep the dritters and I want the glosso in that tank as well! Any ideas how to avoid this? Perhaps giving the shrimps some extra food?


----------



## Alastair (22 Feb 2012)

I've never heard of the pulling it up, and I keep amanos in my tank with heaps of glosso. Do you have other plants in their too? I know my amanos love small algae tabs at night so maybe try that just whilst your glosso establishes 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Antipofish (22 Feb 2012)

Perhaps the glosso needs to be well established before adding the shrimp ?  Just a thought.  If you have another tank you can move them into and then give the glosso a few weeks to get a hold it may be worth a try.  If not, chuck the amano's my way mate   I got a home for them


----------



## Emyr (22 Feb 2012)

Amano shrimp are very disruptive and should only really be added when a tank is established and the plants have taken root after about 1-2 weeks. So I would take them out and put them in another tank for a while and that should sort it, once the roots have taken hold they shouldnt cause any damage. If the amano shrimp are eating the plants then you probably dont have enough algae in the tank for them to munch on so I would recommend feeding them more with, as Alastair said, algae wafers or tabs.


----------



## Nat N (25 Feb 2012)

Hi all,



> I've never heard of the pulling it up, and I keep amanos in my tank with heaps of glosso. Do you have other plants in their too? I know my amanos love small algae tabs at night so maybe try that just whilst your glosso establishes


Yes, I have plenty of other plants which they do not touch and they have their “veggie” portions every day in the form of varied algae tablets/sticks, etc. They do not touch hairgrass or Saggitaria but I actually saw them joining each other to pull a bit of Glosso out and than share it! 


> If not, chuck the amano's my way mate  I got a home for them


The problem is – I do love the little critters!   



> Perhaps the glosso needs to be well established before adding the shrimp ?





> Amano shrimp are very disruptive and should only really be added when a tank is established and the plants have taken root after about 1-2 weeks. So I would take them out and put them in another tank for a while and that should sort it, once the roots have taken hold they shouldnt cause any damage.



Yes, I might have to set up a temporary tank to move them there until glosso establishes. The problem is that the tank is reasonably planted and there are so many nooks for them to hide, it may take me a lifetime to catch them all.

Now, I have an idea – would be interested to know what you think:
What if I use a fish breeding trap to cover the glosso just like a garden cloche? If I use the one which is made from transparent plastic, this would be easy to anchor with a couple of small rocks. The light will not be prohibitively restricted either. The only proble I see is the water flow – the trap’s “holes” are probably insufficient to create good water circulation around the plants... I will probably have to go there daily as many times as I can just to lift the trap for a few seconds to allow fresh water in.
So, what do you think?


----------



## Emyr (1 Mar 2012)

How many amanos are in there roughly? That is true, once shrimps have established and breed in tanks its nearly impossible to remove them. 

Not a bad idea. A bit wackie. I would give it a go. I cant see any major issues except the co2, nutrients and fresh water getting or rather, not getting to the plant. I would try it for a bit and monitor it.


----------



## Nat N (3 Mar 2012)

Hi Emyr,

Well, I ordered some Ranunculus, waiting for it to arrive. Yes, this is my concers as well - water (and subsequent nutrients) flow. I will have to lift the "cloche" for a minut or two as often as I can (will not be very often, unfortunately, with the full time job). I will report the results!


----------

