Shrimp and Bioload

[tigershark]

Do shrimp count as part of the bio load? I have heard they do not or that they dont produce as much waste as fish. Is this true? If I kept 6 shrimp (5 pepp, 1 cleaner) in a 5 gal tank for 3 to 4 weeks would the ammonia levels get very high? Are shrimp less sensitive to ammonia than fish?

 

[mlm]

Usually inverts do not add to the bioload of a tank. Any invert is more sensitive to ammonia than any fish.

 

[saltyrich]

Why do you want 6 shrimp in a 5 gallon? Put them in your 60 hex! The contribute little to the bioload. Usually inverts consume scrap food, algae, and waste produced by other inverts and fish. Thus, they are not calculated in bioload.

 

[saltyrich]

Sorry. I meant 60 gallon plexi, not hex. Misread!

 

[tigershark]

Well I'm having a little problem with the 60, I dont think it fully cycled so Im going to make sure it does completely with a couple raw shrimp and I need to put the live shrimp somewhere for now. I thought inverts were more sensitvie to ammonia than fish but I lost my 3 clowns, either to 0.25 ammonia present in the H20 or they were not very healthy fish, I am not sure. But none of my shrimp died so I dont know. Can you use the pre cooked cocktail shrimp to cycle, I didnt see any raw shrimp at safeway last nite.