Favorite Shrimp Species

[Shadowraven]

I see that a lot of folks here seem to like keeping shrimp in their tanks. I already know quite a bit about them, but I haven't kept many of them in the past. I'm looking to see what your experiences are with them.

I'm planning on adding some to my 55-gal when I get it set-up, but haven't decided much beyond that. This will be a community tank with the largest fish being a Ram Cichlid or a Pearl Gourami.

What are some of your favorites to keep?

 

[gkuzel]

I've only had expirience with bamboo shrimp, but I love the blueberry ones! They're really fun to watch eat algae wafers, they use their little hands. =] Make sure you don't have any fish that will make dinner out of them. I would stick with some live bearers.

 

[alLexX]

ive only ever kept ghost shrimp...but there really funny to watch.if you put shrimp in i suggest you test how your fish will react with ghost shrimp first,that way if they eat them,you dont lose $40 worth of shrimp.but be warned,ive seen my ghost shrimp eat snails(5-10 mm long snails)

 

[Big-j]

If you want a pretty shrimp with great personality and return value get red cherry shrimp of one of their blue and yellow color morphs, they are brilliantly colored and feed on algae and other debris, they also multiply readily in freshwater, a colony of 10 soon becomes a hundred in as little as a month or two, the fact that you can sell extras for a dollar or more apiece is pretty good too lol

 

[eco23]

If you want a pretty shrimp with great personality and return value get red cherry shrimp of one of their blue and yellow color morphs, they are brilliantly colored and feed on algae and other debris, they also multiply readily in freshwater, a colony of 10 soon becomes a hundred in as little as a month or two, the fact that you can sell extras for a dollar or more apiece is pretty good too lol

Is that true if it is not a shrimp only tank? I had heard they only multiply prolifically if there are no fish to eat the baby shrimp. I'm supposed to pick up 10 RCS on Wednesday, but I might cancel my order if my 10 are going to turn to 100 in a couple months.

 

[Big-j]

If there are fish they won't reproduce like that, depends on the number and how much your fish like shrimplets, I'd expect you to have an established and slow growing population it might increase by five or six maybe more but not up to a hundred lol

 

[eco23]

If there are fish they won't reproduce like that, depends on the number and how much your fish like shrimplets, I'd expect you to have an established and slow growing population it might increase by five or six maybe more but not up to a hundred lol

Thank God, lol. Thought I was gonna have to run out and buy cocktail and Old Bay in a couple months, haha.

 

[Big-j]

Lol well I haven't had that problem, and if you set up a paypal and get to shipping them you can make a fair bit of return lol

 

[eco23]

Sorry, not trying to hijack the thread... But since they have virtually no bioload (as I've heard), is there a such thing (reasonably speaking) as an over abundance in a 48 gallon? I'm planning on supplementing their diet with pellets, as well as the nice diatom outbreak I've got going on right now.

 

[Big-j]

Not really I had some people tell me on this site that they had up to 75 in a 2g , the only limit on these things is how much you feed em lol

 

[Shadowraven]

Ghost shrimp are good if you don't have any fish that like to snack on them. That is what I'm afraid of. Ram cichlids will be in the community and the ghosts may look like a perfect cocktail!

I know that shrimp can't usually produce many offspring with fish to nibble on them, but some will make it.

I've already done all the spreadsheet calculations needed to determine the number of fish and the total bioload. I've got a pretty good idea of what the stock will be, although it is at it's upper limit.

The fish in the 55-gal will probably be:

2 Blue Ram Cichilds 1M/1F
2 Pearl Gouramis 1M/1F
6 Zebra Danios
6 Pearl Danios
6 Neon Tetras
6 Glowlight Tetras
6 Head-and-Tail Light Tetras
5 Corydoras

It will have a long contact DIY filter with an approximate flow rate of 440g/hr with aquaponic filtration. Water uptake and return will be diffused to reduce strong currents.

RCS were what I was leaning towards. Any take on them or some other interesting shrimp. The blueberry shrimp are too small.

 

[alLexX]

if you have any fish that will eat ghost shrimp,rcs will have no chance.there smaller and easier to spot

 

[Big-j]

True but some fish won't go for them, by selectively breeding the shrimp to increase red coloring we sent an unintentional message to predators, after all in nature what physical signs portray poison? Bright coloration reds and yellows mostly, many predators will take clear ghost shrimp and leave rcs alone because they see that red coloration an instinctively "know" that's not good to eat, even if it really is, my betta annihilated any ghost shrimp I put in the tank, but he won't even go near the much smaller an more noticeable rcs

 

[alLexX]

oh yeah...hadnt thought of that

 

[eco23]

Any recommendations for numbers of RCS in Shadows 55 and my 48? I'm trying to help keep substrate free of excess food and (fake) plants clean. Also hope they'll help with my diatoms.

 

[Big-j]

The more you have the cleaner it'll be lol I started with three in my 10g and I'm gettin 17 more to jump start my colony, if you wanna go slow start with ten and you'll have an established breeding colony soon enough

 

[eco23]

I've just got neons, red eyes and danios in there now. Figuring they'll have a chance to multiply a bit. I am planning on getting a Bolivian Ram in a while, hopefully they won't chow down on the adults.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I would say 30-40 would be a good number to start with.

 

[eco23]

I would say 30-40 would be a good number to start with.

Wow. Ive never seen them in person...only the Amano. I must have thought they're a lot bigger than they actually are.

Also, does CC add calcium (I always thought it did)? I've got super soft water and I run CC to keep it buffered. I know the shrimp need calcium to molt.

Really not trying to steal the thread...sorry! Just thought it could be some help to all of us.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Well, CC is calcium based, so theoretically it would. I honestly don't quite know the answer though. I will say that someone recently suggested i use cuttlebone (for birds) in my 40 for my shrimp. I have about 30 in mine and I have counted 6 females plum full of eggs over the last couple days. I know I've seen people say they had upwards of 50 in a 10g. They don't get that big. Mine are all about an inch or less.