Last Updated on June 11, 2024 by admins
Have you noticed an increased number of seed shrimp in the aquarium? Click and learn how to get rid of these pests.
Ostracoda Podocopida or as it is often called seed shrimp is a crustacean whose size varies from 0.1mm to 0.5cm. They are considered pests, and if found in your aquarium, they are likely to infect your aquatic world.
However, don’t panic, in this article, you will find all the information on how to get rid of seed shrimp in the aquarium. So, let’s get to the point!
Table of Contents
What Are Seed Shrimp?
The Seed Shrimp or Ostracoda Podocopida order is a type of small crustacean. They can be found in terrestrial, marine, and freshwater environments. In appearance, the members vary from 0.2 to 1 mm in body size, and most are round or egg-shaped.
Wondering where they got their name from? They look like seeds, which is why they are called seed shrimp.
This aquatic animal has a head, thorax, and shell that resemble a clam. However, there is one important segment between them and other crustaceans that distinguishes them. Namely, the Seed Shrimp has no divisions as it swims through water to find food using its antennae for swimming or feeding itself.
The Seed Shrimp is a frequent visitor to our aquariums, where it cleans all this algae and any other mess. Many rejoice in their appearance because it indicates that their tank and water conditions are healthy. However, as usual, this cannot be applied to everyone.
Where Do Seed Shrimp Come From?
There are various places where they can come from. These are most often aquatic plants or old gravel that you put in your aquarium. In addition, they are also injected into the tank when adding new fish, as they are quite small and can’t be spotted so easily.
Once added to an aquarium, their population expands very quickly, due to high levels of nutrients and available food sources.
How Does a Seed Shrimp Invasion in an Aquarium Occur?
Seed shrimps can produce highly resistant cysts to survive in any environment. This also applies to extreme temperature changes. Also, they can produce eggs that can develop into an embryo without being fertilized by sperm.
Accordingly, once they enter your tank, they begin reproducing on large scales. They will be inconspicuous at first, but will very quickly grow into an eye-catching population. Unfortunately, most aquarium owners manage to notice them only when they are infested enough to see them as pests.
Also, keep in mind that a small number of seed shrimps are not viewed as an infestation. This type of problem is very easy to solve. Namely, you can only make a slight adjustment to your feeding routine.
So, for example, you can feed your inhabitants only once a day and give them less than what they would typically eat at one time. This will cause the shrimp to fade off naturally.
How To Get Rid Of Seed Shrimp?
Many aquarium hobbyists refuse to use methods to remove them. Instead, they often decide to get rid of the tank completely and buy a new one without shrimp or their eggs. However, let’s start with the assumption that you are not one of them.
These are the three most popular methods of removing seed shrimp:
- Regular vacuuming,
- Adding Predator Fish,
- Seed Shrimp Traps.
Keep reading to find out more about each of them.
Regular vacuuming
It is very easy to get rid of seed shrimp in the aquarium; however, getting rid of seed shrimp eggs is the real challenge.
Regular vacuuming is one of the easiest and most effective ways to solve this problem. It will allow you to get rid of shrimp seeds and their eggs when they have nested in your aquarium corners or crevices.
It would be good to vacuum your aquarium every day until the seed shrimp are no longer visible.
Adding predator fish
This is another, much stronger approach to this problem. Adding predator fish like guppies is an excellent solution for seed shrimp infestation. Guppies are versatile freshwater fish that like to eat live food like larvae and adult seed shrimps.
Don’t forget that Guppies prefer to stay in groups, so put at least six of them in your fish tank. Also, many other fish like Melanotaenia Praecox, Melanotaenia Duboulayi, Bettas, and Cherry Barbs will be very happy to eat seed shrimps.
In addition, there is one more thing you need to pay attention to, make sure your current fish is compatible with predator fish before you get them.
Seed shrimp traps
If you’re tired of watching those pesky seed shrimps take over, you can simply set a trap in the bottom corner of your tank.
It will only be a short time before the seed shrimps enter the trap to eat the food. Once the shrimp enter they will not be able to get out because of the catching equipment. Once they get stuck inside, you have to take the trap out of the tank and then remove all the shrimp. This procedure should be repeated until they are completely removed from your aquarium.
Keep in mind that this method works primarily for adult shrimp, so it will not work for smaller ones. To get rid of smaller ones, vacuuming and adding predators to your aquarium will help.
To Wrap Things Up
If you notice that shrimp are accumulating in your aquarium, don’t panic. They will not destroy your aquarium plants (if they are not already decaying). They are actually a great source of food for predators in the tank.
Aquarium hobbyists most often consider them pests because they reproduce quickly and are not visually appealing. However, keep in mind that your fish consider them a real treat.
We hope you found this article on “seed shrimp in the aquarium” useful. If you have any questions, let us know in the section below.
Read more about How To Make Dechlorinated Water?