Anubius, Cryptocoryne, and Shrimp

Bradimus · Post by **Bradimus** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 7:58 am

What's the current word on keeping shrimp with Anubius and Cryptocoryne species? Any update on the possibility of these plants releasing toxins?

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:38 am

Still confilicting reports as far as I can tell. Some say that they have seen adverse effects (shrimp deaths) and others say that they have had no problems. Since I am not keeping any of these plants myself I can't really speak from experience. We'll just have to wait for more reports from hobbyists to come in to have a better picture.

PS: Good to see you again, Brad!

It's been a while...

alexperez · Post by **alexperez** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:11 am

I have some Crypts in my shrimp tank and see no adverse affect on the shrimp. My original population of 15 have increased and I always see baby shrimp. Just remeber, just cause I see no affects doesn't mean that their isn't one.

amber2461 · Post by **amber2461** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:41 am

Welcome back Brad, glad to see you here again.

bochr · Post by **bochr** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:59 pm

I've had breeding RCS together with Cryptocorynes for 6 months now without any problems.
And i have had Macrobrachium assamense together with Cryptocorynes for little over a month now, and they just started breeding.

Lotus · Post by **Lotus** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:21 pm

I've had shrimp in a tank heavily planted with crypts and a few anubias with no apparent problems (tank has been up for 6 months now).

patter · Post by **patter** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:42 am

In my shrimp tank I have Cryptocorynes and Java Moss - I don't see problems.
In other tank I have Cryptocorynes, Anubius and Ehinodorus (and some fishes) - again no problem
My shrimps are Red Cherry

Jackie · Post by **Jackie** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 5:02 pm

Plain "having" these plants in a shrimp tank will not cause any trouble, if this whole anubias/crypto thing is true. The plants must be harmed, so that they release their juices into the water. These juices re supposed to contain oxalates, that are harmful to shrimp.

I don't experiment on my shrimp so I can't tell if this is true, I'm hoping to talk to a well-known water-plant maniac about this in September. I'll let you know what he says about this whole oxalate thing.

Bradimus · Post by **Bradimus** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:39 pm

Jackie wrote: I'm hoping to talk to a well-known water-plant maniac about this in September. I'll let you know what he says about this whole oxalate thing.

Thanks.

Angel501 · Post by **Angel501** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 11:55 am

I'm a little late on this one, but I'll add in my 2 cents worth.

At work, I have a shrimp-only 12-gal nano tank heavily planted with only crypts & anubias, with duck weed floating on top for shade. My cherry shrimp seem to love it and breed like crazy. The 2 amanos in it are also fat and happy. Except for using Amquel, I try to not mess with the water parameters. The pH is 7.8 out of the tap but tends to be soft, so adding CO2 can be tricky.

I'd rather have lush easy-to-grow plants in my tanks rather than struggle with harder to grow ones, so these 2 plants seem to be working great for me and the shrimp. I haven't had to prune my plants or cut back any roots -- I'm wondering if "oxalates" are released into the water when these plants are simply pruned, without the roots being disturbed?

Jackie, if you're still following this thread and talked with your expert, I'd love to get more info on this. I certainly don't want to stress my shrimp out.

gr81 · Post by **gr81** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 12:47 pm

I also have RCS in tank with crypto and anubias. No problems.

BUT do you someone have CRS in tank with thies plants? They should be more sensitive to this oxalates.

demented_lullaby · Post by **demented_lullaby** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:11 pm

I have some of both in my small shrimp tank with 1 red cherry and 3 amanos. I haven't had the amanos for a long time but there's no problems with the red cherry.

I also have moss balls in the tank, oh boy do the shrimp love those. I'm pretty sure they eat them though as it's slowing becoming smaller and smaller lol.

soritan · Post by **soritan** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 4:28 pm

Wow, I had never heard of this. Here I thought that I had researched the whole shrimp matter at length before purchasing. My tank is up to its eyeballs in crypts and anbuiases. I had 7 in there until just this month, when I started to see deaths in there. I haven't found a cause, yet. I know one was killed by my female betta, but the others simply vanished. Hmmm.

Lotus · Post by **Lotus** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:02 pm

If your female betta killed one, I would guess she killed the others, unless they're hiding really well.

My tank has been up for about a year now with lots of crypts and anubias, and still no problems. I have well over 100 shrimp in there now, and have populated many other tanks with them, too.

gr81 · Post by **gr81** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:28 pm

Lotus wrote:If your female betta killed one, I would guess she killed the others, unless they're hiding really well.

My tank has been up for about a year now with lots of crypts and anubias, and still no problems. I have well over 100 shrimp in there now, and have populated many other tanks with them, too.

Have you there CRS aswell?

Soritan>> Bettas aren't really good companions for shrimps