Amano shrimp
Caridina multidentata
easy careOverview
Amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata) are the hobby’s benchmark algae-eater, made famous by aquascaper Takashi Amano. Larger, faster and hungrier than cherry shrimp, a small group works tirelessly through hair algae, biofilm and leftover food. They’re translucent grey-green with a dotted line down each flank, hardy, long-lived and peaceful — an easy, genuinely useful invertebrate for planted tanks. Because they’re bigger and more robust than dwarf shrimp, they also cope better in community tanks where smaller shrimp would vanish, and a single group can serve for years as a low-maintenance algae crew.
Tank & water
A 38 litre (10 gallon) tank gives a group room to forage. Amanos are undemanding about exact parameters but insist on stability:
- A fully cycled tank — cycle first; they’re sensitive to ammonia and nitrite.
- No copper — copper in some fish medications and fertilisers is lethal to all shrimp. Read every label.
- A gentle or sponge filter — protects smaller shrimp; see our filter picks.
- Plants and cover — moss and easy plants give grazing surfaces and security.
Feeding
Amanos are omnivores that mostly graze algae and biofilm, but a mature tank rarely offers enough for a hungry group. Supplement a few times a week with quality shrimp food, algae wafers or blanched vegetables. Feed sparingly — they’re bold feeders that will out-compete slower tankmates, and excess food fouls water. If your Amanos ignore prepared food entirely, that’s a good sign there’s still plenty of algae for them to work through; hunger, not fussiness, is what drives them to the feeding dish.
Tankmates & breeding
Amano shrimp are peaceful and, at 4–5 cm, too large for most small fish to eat, so they mix well with community fish and other shrimp. Avoid large cichlids or anything that hunts inverts. Home breeding is effectively impossible without a brackish larval setup, so treat them as a permanent, non-breeding cleanup crew.
Compare them with hardy cherry shrimp and see the best shrimp tank to set a group up well.
Amano shrimp — frequently asked questions
Are Amano shrimp good algae eaters?
They're among the best in the hobby. Amano shrimp graze hair algae and biofilm relentlessly and are larger and hungrier than cherry shrimp, so a small group can keep a planted tank noticeably cleaner. They won't eat every algae type, but they earn their keep.
Will Amano shrimp breed in my tank?
No — this is the key catch. Amano shrimp release tiny larvae that need brackish (salt) water to survive and complete metamorphosis. In a normal freshwater tank the larvae die within days, so you cannot breed them at home without a dedicated brackish setup.
Do Amano shrimp need a heater?
Not usually — they're comfortable across a wide 18–27 °C range and suit unheated room-temperature tanks. Stable water matters far more than the exact temperature, so avoid sudden swings and never expose them to copper.
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