What kinds of snails/shrimps should I get?

Hi!

I am looking to add some snails to my tank, something that will get along with shrimps.
I've recently seen a beautiful apple snail in a shop, but it wasn't for sale - Apple snails are illegal to be sold in the UK. I just can't get over how beautiful it was! It was so large and it was zooming so fast across the walls of the plant tank! It literally did like 5 laps of the massive tank in just a few minutes. I asked and they said it wasn't for sale, and it's illegal....They told us they'd give us a call if they have any nice snails....

I've done some research on mystery snails, zebra snails, rabbit snails e.t.c but can't really seem to find any nice ones for sale.

I also have some cherry shrimp but they seem miserable in my tank, does anyone know any shrimp that are maybe a bit larger? eg. ghost/amano shrimp.
Does anyone know any beautiful snails that are legal in the UK? and where to buy them?

Just about all snails except apple snails are legal. The apple snail ban is only because Pomacea insularum was found in a Spanish river so all species of apple snail were banned in the whole EU. We may have officially left but EU laws still stand until they are repealed.

Maidenhead Aquatics usually have a few different snail species if there's one near you (and it's open).

I have two nerites I purchased years ago from Ebay, though with the post being erratic at the moment, everything taking longer and deliveries only every other day here, it might be a bit risky at the moment.


I have red cherry shrimps, but years ago I had amanos. One advatage of cherries over amanos is that amanos can't breed in fresh water but cherries can. Apart from being bigger and less colourful, the amanos behaved the same was as the cherries.

essjay said:

Maidenhead Aquatics usually have a few different snail species if there's one near you (and it's open).

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Thanks for the reply!
The place I saw the apple snail was in fact maidenhead aquatics, I quite liked it there but as I said before they don't have any at the moment.
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll have a look online again and check the delivery times/ if they do collections.

Amano/Yamato shrimps are nice and they are bigger but they need salt water for their babies shrimp.
Cherry shrimps breed frequently. I even saw a bag of Cherry shrimps in the fish store where there are babies shrimps in it. They gave birth even during transportations.

Bamboo shrimps are the biggest but do take note on how to feed them well.
They are nice and very unique.

Some info for you.

Lajos_Detari said:

Amano/Yamato shrimps are nice and they are bigger but they need salt water for their babies shrimp.
Cherry shrimps breed frequently. I even saw a bag of Cherry shrimps in the fish store where there are babies shrimps in it. They gave birth even during transportations.
Bamboo shrimps are the biggest but do take note on how to feed them well.
They are nice and very unique.

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Thank you, the information is so helpful!
Wow, I've never heard of Bamboo shrimps, they sound cool, I'll be sure to do plenty of research.

Bamboo shrimps are fan feeders, you have to feed them carefully or they starve.

essjay said:

Bamboo shrimps are fan feeders, you have to feed them carefully or they starve.

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Thank you.
If I decide to get these shrimps I will be sure to do enough research and buy the necessary feed and other things they need.

Bamboo shrimp are a nice choice. I personally like cherry shrimp though. Why do you say yours are miserable in your tank?

PheonixKingZ said:

Bamboo shrimp are a nice choice. I personally like cherry shrimp though. Why do you say yours are miserable in your tank?

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To be honest I think it is only because I have one shrimp. I know, I'm sad too. Unfortunately I have gotten it from a not very responsible seller. We wanted to get more but the person who was selling gave us one and said 'take it or leave it'. I think it was the only shrimp he had. We really didn't want to leave it so we took it. I considered getting more but can't find any near me, and I would really like to try out some other shrimp so I'm considering moving it to a smaller aquarium, planting a few plants and let it live a nice peaceful life......I have read that they can live alone, I know they prefer groups, but the shrimp seems so lost in the tank, just hiding in the plants and thats it, I feed him a little, but he doesn't seem happy.

That's why I would like to add some other shrimps/snails to my tank.

I agree with Phoenix.
Cherry shrimps are beautiful.
Choose carefully those with better qualities when you buy them.
Get those with more solid and darker red if you are looking for red Cherry shrimps.

Lajos_Detari said:

I agree with Phoenix.
Cherry shrimps are beautiful.
Choose carefully those with better qualities when you buy them.
Get those with more solid and darker red if you are looking for red Cherry shrimps.

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Yes, they are beautiful. I was so excited for them, I even got black substrate because apparently it brings out the red colour in them...

Are there any shrimps that actually prefer harder water more than others do? I’m talking about 18-20dh?
I was just gonna get Japonica which is what I had in My last tank but MrsLurch loves the cherry and it’s all about keeping her happy in the hope of getting a larger tank in the future.

aqua.land said:

Yes, they are beautiful. I was so excited for them, I even got black substrate because apparently it brings out the red colour in them...

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Oh yes. Black substrate will really make the cherry shrimp pop.

aqua.land said:

Yes, they are beautiful. I was so excited for them, I even got black substrate because apparently it brings out the red colour in them...

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Yes, dark colour will bring out the best colour especially for red colour.
In the past, I tried out black substrate.
Then I switched to light colour of yellow/orange which I find the colour looked better.
Finally, I ended up with grey.

I find that lighter substrate looks better than black as they have a cleaner look.
Black looks like more dirty.

Anyway, it's up to individual preference.
I attached a photo of grey sand here.
But this is not my tank.

I personally use brown play sand. (You can see in my profile picture)

It hides the fishes poop, but it also looks very natural.