Crayfish or shrimp?

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JakeSpell

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 18, 2013
Messages
27
Location
Charleston, SC
I have a 20 gallon planted tank that is almost cycled and slowly getting more plants as well as some driftwood and possibly a few rocks.

After reading up if love to have a blue crayfish or some type of shrimp. I'v heard that the crayfish are really fun to watch and develop a personality of their own but I'm afraid of them destroying all my plants and possibly escaping (though I could close the openings with screen)

What are y'all's thoughts?
 
I think a crayfish would be really cool...but yes it would probably destroy your plants...but you could probably do a dwarf orange crayfish or maybe even two and they shouldn't bother the plants as long as they are well fed
 
I have a 20 gallon planted tank that is almost cycled and slowly getting more plants as well as some driftwood and possibly a few rocks.

After reading up if love to have a blue crayfish or some type of shrimp. I'v heard that the crayfish are really fun to watch and develop a personality of their own but I'm afraid of them destroying all my plants and possibly escaping (though I could close the openings with screen)

What are y'all's thoughts?

Almost all crayfish will eat your plants. And they are very good at escaping too. Personally, I'd go with shrimp because then you know for sure that they won't eat your plants. However, even dwarf oranges will eat your plants when they can't find enough food so its a bit risky getting a cray in a planted tank IMO.
 
That's what I thought. Now I just need to decide what type of shrimp to get! I was thinking of getting ghost shrimp since they are cheep and seem to be fairly active from what I'v seen on YouTube.

Thanks for the input!
 
That's what I thought. Now I just need to decide what type of shrimp to get! I was thinking of getting ghost shrimp since they are cheep and seem to be fairly active from what I'v seen on YouTube.

Thanks for the input!

Do you want to breed them? I like red cherry shrimp because they are colorful, active, very easy to breed, and fun to watch.
 
I don't really want to bread them since I only have one tank and nowhere to put the fry and I don't want to overtures the tank.
 
You can breed the shrimp in that tank and the baby shrimp will be fine as long as there aren't many fish in there with them and if you spout fish in there with them just be sure to provide them with plenty of hiding places
 
I don't really want to bread them since I only have one tank and nowhere to put the fry and I don't want to overtures the tank.

The babies are really easy to take care of and can be kept in the same tank as long as the other fish aren't big enough to eat them. If the fish are big enough, then just provide plenty of lush plants/hiding spots. Crs and cbs are also great choices of shrimp of you don't mind spending some more money. But for lower maintenance, easy care, and low prices, red cherry shrimp and ghost shrimp are the best choices.
 
I'm not against breeding them but I want to have it mostly stocked with fish. Could I have both ghost and cherry red, or is that a bad idea?
 
I'm not against breeding them but I want to have it mostly stocked with fish. Could I have both ghost and cherry red, or is that a bad idea?

Having both is fine. But even if you don't try at all to breed shrimps, they always will have babies. Unless you have only 1 shrimp which would be quite boring.....
And you can always sell the babies to earn some easy money.
 
Ghost shrimp are a bit more aggressive and have been known to prey on the young dwarf Shrimp such as cherry shrimp...but you could always give it a go
 
Ghost shrimp are a bit more aggressive and have been known to prey on the young dwarf Shrimp such as cherry shrimp...but you could always give it a go

Really?? I never though of ghost shrimp as a bit aggressive and try to attack other shrimp. I've never had a problem with them being together.
 
Hmm I have just read of incidents and saw a video of some eating some yellow shrimp before
 
How much bio-load will that put on the tank? Its got 3 serpae tetras now and my next addition will be three more. This is only a 20 gallon and I would rather have several different types of fish over the different shrimp.
 
What about bamboo shrimp? What are they like?

Bamboo shrimp are pretty neat shrimp bigger than the usual freshwater shrimp...require a mature tank that's been setup for at least four to six months and they are filter feeders so they need a pretty good flow with enough little particle in the water for it to eat
 
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