Algae-Eating Critters
By Wendy Bedwell-Wilson
 Pond specialty retailers and contractors know that various pond fish nibble at string algae, but will crustaceans, such as shrimp and crayfish, take a bite out of algae, too? Experts said it was unlikely in a pond setting.
European crayfish might prove useful in algae control. | “For ponds, you’re not going to use algae-eating shrimp,” said Gary Jones, corporate and scientific affairs manager for Mars Fishcare in Chalfont, Pa. “They’re just not going to do the job you want. If you have a slight imbalance in an aquarium, the shrimp will do quite well, but not in a pond.”
Harro Hieronimus, editor of Redaktion Gartenteich, a pond magazine in Solingen, Germany, agreed. He said native crayfish might do the job though.
“In our degree of latitude the use of shrimp for algae control is impossible,” Hieronimus said. “A kind of natural control in not too small ponds, however, is the use of crayfish. The European crayfish (Astacus astacus) is endangered, but easily obtainable from hatcheries, so you could help in species protection and they will eat algae.”
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Algae-Eating Critters
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