I purchased Niloc's Thrive liquid fertilizer for my planted tank and just noticed that it has copper in it. I was just getting ready to purchase a 1/2 dozen Amano shrimp, but am now concerned I'm going to kill them with this fertilizer.

Anybody out there use Thrive and also have shrimp? Or is this a no brainer and either I should not use Thrive or not get shrimp?

I'm using it with zero issues with my tigers. They are breeding like crazy.

First off copper is only bad for shrimp if the levels become too high, what is too high is highly debatable as with most things in the aquarium hobby.

Many people dose EI levels of micronutrients(usually from CSM+B) without any issues with shrimp. Thrive has about 1/5th the amount of copper than what is normally dosed via the EI method. As you can see it should be just fine.

Copper is actually a necessary micronutrient for shrimp, limiting all copper(not that it would be easy to do) would be a bad idea.

I'm using it and have three Amanos in my 16G tank. No issues at all.

Just make sure to follow dosing instructions(at least initially) just like any other fertilizer. Take it slow and if you are worried about it, dose less and build up to the full recommended dose for your tank.

So far I have heard great things about it and with no problems just more success! I cant wait to get myself a bottle just for the easy convenience of doing squirts! sucks I still have bags of dry ferts i need to get rid of first

Thanks everyone for the feedback, I'll continue with Thrive and buy the shrimp this evening. Glad it worked out that way because I love the Thrive and definitely want the shrimp too.

Shrimp in general can be difficult to keep. Make sure to keep up with tank maintenance and watch your parameters.