Ground cover over grown

[Sombat]

Greetings everyone. Hope all is well. I was hoping I could get some advice from the community. I planted my Fluval Flex 9 gallon for my shrimp with a ground cover plant from seeds. The seeds took off really well. I got great coverage in just a few weeks. However the plants have got way out of control. I have aqua scissors I could use but I’m too scared I would injure the shrimp hiding within. Also on that note I have not seen most of the shrimp. I am just assuming they are hiding. Does anyone in this community have any suggestions in getting the plants under control and if it’s normal for shrimp to stay hidden within the tall ground cover. Here are photos from three weeks of growth and current about a month later. 

[Gator]

Shrimp don't like a whole lot of light so they're probably hiding in the darkest place they can find. Shrimp also like algae and I don't see any in either photo so they may have passed away, I don't know.

What kind of plants are these and where did you get the seeds?

Gator

[Sombat]

I purchased from Amazon. Don’t know what plant these seeds were from. Item description was ground cover plants. These two photos are from the seller’s description. So I assumed it would not grow as tall as mine did. 

[Sombat]

You are probably right about the shrimp being  dead. I have not seen more than three lately. I did have about a dozen baby shrimp about a week ago. I fear those are lost as well. 

[Guppysnail]

I’m so glad you posted this. I almost bought some of this to try...

[Phantom240]

On 6/28/2021 at 1:16 PM, Guppysnail said:

I’m so glad you posted this. I almost bought some of this to try...

I've heard really mixed reviews about these types of seeds you find online, specifically a month or two after planting having massive die-off or being way taller than advertised. 

 

[Koi]

It looks like the seeds you bought were a mix of different plants. Just curious since I'm unsure, is your first picture with the grass like plants your latest photo or is it the second?

It's a little hard to tell from the picture but your second picture looks strikingly similar to glossostigma elatinoides. It's pretty common for glosso to be sold as seeds to use for dry start/carpeting.

For reference, this is what my glosso looks like.

As for maintenance, I don't really know an easy way to to trim quickly without getting any of your shrimp. Usually I'll either run my hand or shake my scissors across my carpet to scare off the shrimp before I cut it. Using a turkey baster to push water through the carpet works well too.

If you really want to be meticulous, before you remove the leaves you cut, I'd shake them around in the tank incase any fry are stuck/holding on to the cuttings. Or when you net up all the trimmed leaves , throw it in a jar of water to see if shrimp came along with it.

[Sombat]

The second photo was after three weeks after planting. The first photo was after about seven weeks after planting. 
 

I decided to remove the foreground by pulling the tall plants. It’s been about twelve weeks of growth. It was covering the stem plants. After removing, you can see the stem plants again. 

[Guppysnail]

Very nice you have good taste

[Remi de Groot]

Not sure about the steeds from Amazon, but heard a lot of stories about the ones sold on Ali Express or other Chinese cheap sites. Most of the plants in those seed packs aren't real aqua plants. So they are doing fine the first week, but die if they stay under water for to long. Which gives a lot of problems because of all the rotting materials.

For the cutting part. I've got a shrimp tank with Monte Carlo. Just be careful when cutting and move around with the scissor before actually making the cut and you will be fine. Most annoying thing I have Most of the time is the shrimps climbing on the scissor out of curiosity.