Shrimp
- Thread starter dstephen
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Maybe Amano Shrimp.
And if you wait a while and after the tank is stable and no issues for 3-6 months maybe try a Bamboo /shrimp or 2. Might need a little powerhead for extra good flow. Also they have some special needs for feeding so you will need to do some homework.
As for the CAE you might want to consider returning them. As the age to adulthood, they can get aggressive, suck on your fish when they go to sleep and harrass them in general. A wicked fish imho. They do not eat algae when they are not young anymore.
Horseface loach or Siamese Algae Eaters aka SAE are much better. Or even a group of Otocinclus. And then maybe adult Cherry Shrimp.
And if you wait a while and after the tank is stable and no issues for 3-6 months maybe try a Bamboo /shrimp or 2. Might need a little powerhead for extra good flow. Also they have some special needs for feeding so you will need to do some homework.
As for the CAE you might want to consider returning them. As the age to adulthood, they can get aggressive, suck on your fish when they go to sleep and harrass them in general. A wicked fish imho. They do not eat algae when they are not young anymore.
Horseface loach or Siamese Algae Eaters aka SAE are much better. Or even a group of Otocinclus. And then maybe adult Cherry Shrimp.
Last edited:
I had one or 2 a long tme ago and it was so MEAN!!!!!!! I think the one killed his companion even. Well in case your thought you might have been imagining it, you weren't - not a good community tank fish.
Look for a local hobbyist selling some healthy stock of bright Cherry Shrimp, Usually 1-1.50 per shrimp.
Look for a local hobbyist selling some healthy stock of bright Cherry Shrimp, Usually 1-1.50 per shrimp.
Bamboo shrimp are filter feeders, which means they need to capture fine food particles in their fans. Which means you need food flowing in the water, BUT they need clean water conditions. So it means you can target feed them with a turkey baster and clean the tank / pwc a couple hours later.
Other wise just make sure to crumble a little of the regular food when you feed so they have a better chance to capture food and do not starve.
One food I used was fry food, like Hikari First Bites, or you could purchase some baby dwarf shrimp food like Shirakura Chi Ebi and use that. Over time you can build a better colony of BB in your tank, by having plenty of media available for bb colonizing. If you have a really good flow say from an over powered filter blasing the water through you may not need a little nano power head.
Keeping them happy is having a place or 2 for them to grasp onto like a DW right in the flow area.
I have lower pH 6.6-7ish and just made sure to add calcium to my water because my KH was about 1, very low. They like a regular tropical tank set up with 3KH for tank stability.
Other wise just make sure to crumble a little of the regular food when you feed so they have a better chance to capture food and do not starve.
One food I used was fry food, like Hikari First Bites, or you could purchase some baby dwarf shrimp food like Shirakura Chi Ebi and use that. Over time you can build a better colony of BB in your tank, by having plenty of media available for bb colonizing. If you have a really good flow say from an over powered filter blasing the water through you may not need a little nano power head.
Keeping them happy is having a place or 2 for them to grasp onto like a DW right in the flow area.
I have lower pH 6.6-7ish and just made sure to add calcium to my water because my KH was about 1, very low. They like a regular tropical tank set up with 3KH for tank stability.
Naw, perhaps a little time consuming. Mainly you want to make sure they do not starve. Some people just throw them into the tank and never really think about them again, but they have some specific needs, and imho you need to feed them in a way they can be sure to be fed.
Being in a tank they can't just wander over to a new place to feed like in the wild, so we need to make sure they are taken care of. If you feed heavily already, as in an over feeder, you will probably not need to feed specially 2x per week, but change way more water.
If you can see them in time growing, and daily sitting in the flow filtering with their fans out then they are probably getting something from the water column. Maybe I worry too much,
But they love getting the fine particle food, then after a few hours you do a pwc, rinse the filter pad (only with treated water of course) which just captured a bunch of uneaten food.
Sometimes these guys will wander the floor of the tank to mop up some food on the way to another place to perch, but if they are wandering the floor of the tank mopping often you know they are needing food, because it is not a normal way for them to feed.
Frequently people who get these shrimp say that theirs only lived 3-6 months, and I believe often it is because they are not fed well and starve. If they die in a month or so, it could be from a tank whch may not be cycled or they were not well in the first place.
If you go and purchase one or a few, try not to get the very largest ones 4-5 inches are going to be the oldest adults. ~3" is a good size. But if you get a really large one just know that it is older and may not be as long lives in your tank.
They are a really fun shrimp to keep.
Here is a pic of one I got, a larger sized one when first purchased he was tan and very pale, this is just after his acclimation and being dropped in. An hour later he was the color of the bottom pic.
This is after being in the tank a couple months, he liked this spot as it had a narrow space making it a high floway, and his other spot on top of the DW in front of the inflow. See he looks bigger and stronger.
Being in a tank they can't just wander over to a new place to feed like in the wild, so we need to make sure they are taken care of. If you feed heavily already, as in an over feeder, you will probably not need to feed specially 2x per week, but change way more water.
If you can see them in time growing, and daily sitting in the flow filtering with their fans out then they are probably getting something from the water column. Maybe I worry too much,
But they love getting the fine particle food, then after a few hours you do a pwc, rinse the filter pad (only with treated water of course) which just captured a bunch of uneaten food.Sometimes these guys will wander the floor of the tank to mop up some food on the way to another place to perch, but if they are wandering the floor of the tank mopping often you know they are needing food, because it is not a normal way for them to feed.
Frequently people who get these shrimp say that theirs only lived 3-6 months, and I believe often it is because they are not fed well and starve. If they die in a month or so, it could be from a tank whch may not be cycled or they were not well in the first place.
If you go and purchase one or a few, try not to get the very largest ones 4-5 inches are going to be the oldest adults. ~3" is a good size. But if you get a really large one just know that it is older and may not be as long lives in your tank.
They are a really fun shrimp to keep.
Here is a pic of one I got, a larger sized one when first purchased he was tan and very pale, this is just after his acclimation and being dropped in. An hour later he was the color of the bottom pic.
This is after being in the tank a couple months, he liked this spot as it had a narrow space making it a high floway, and his other spot on top of the DW in front of the inflow. See he looks bigger and stronger.
Last edited:
