Yamato Shrimp - Caridina japonica, and Aquatic Moss

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Yamato Shrimp, also known as Amano Shrimp, Algae shrimp, Japanese marsh shrimp, or Yamato numa-ebi in Japanese. The scientific name of this shrimp is Caridina japonica. The Yamato Shrimp has been popularised by the Japanese aquascaping guru, Takashi Amano, for keeping algae under control in the planted aquarium.

The Yamato Shrimp lives in the tropical and subtropical freshwaters of Japan, and grows to about 6cm/2". In it's natural habitat, the waters range from freshwater to slightly brackish. The larvae of the Yamato Shrimp is said to drift to the brackish water to complete it's metamorphosis into young adult before moving back to the freshwater rivers.

The diet of the Yamato Shrimp consists primarily of algae, hence it is most commonly kept in heavily planted aquaria as a natural form of algae control. However, if algae is scarce, it will turn it's attention to the other plants in the aquarium. This is usually not a problem in a large heavily planted aquaria where there are lots of excess 'greens' to feed these Yamato Shrimps. However, if you have a large quantity of Yamato Shrimps in a small nano tank, these shrimps will get hungry very fast if you don't constantly supplement their diet with algae wafers or spirulina-based foods. And if your tank contains aquatic moss, the Yamato Shrimps will soon turn their attention to the moss.

The above picture shows the damage done by just one Yamato Shrimp on the moss in a small 15 X 15 cm cube tank.

Well, the impact on the moss is not as destructive as that being done by the Siamese Algae Eater, but do take note of this when you have these Yamato Shrimps living in your moss tank.