Cuc Shrimp

[VictorMeldrew]

Hi all

i am looking to add some shrimp next week, How many different types do i have to chose from? Could you guys please leave a list and i will check them out or if you can post pics, even better I have a new set-up and its 100gl, how many could/should i buy?

Thanks to anyone who can help with this.

VM

 

[Crazy fishes]

Hi all

i am looking to add some shrimp next week, How many different types do i have to chose from? Could you guys please leave a list and i will check them out or if you can post pics, even better I have a new set-up and its 100gl, how many could/should i buy?

Thanks to anyone who can help with this.

VM

What type of setup do you have (or are aiming for)? Cleaner shrimps are really the most commonly used shrimps. They are great scavengers and are helpful in that they clean parasites (eg whitespot) from you fish. They can be a problem as they can steal food from corals, if coral food is used. Peppermint shrimp are natural predators of Aiptapsia and therefore remove it from your tank by eating it. Sexy shrimps are tiny and really only eat hair algae. If you use them to keep the hair algae at bay you need quite a few of them. Blood shrimp are like cleaner shrimp but don't really clean fish of parasites and cost at least twice as much. That is pretty much the basic shrimp species, of course you have more like the pistol shrimp which forms interesting relationships with watchman gobys etc.

Regards

 

[ben1987]

i have a cleaner and hes great. I read that shrimps where quite sensitive but mine is the oldest resident of my tank. Hes worried me a few times when ive come down to a molt. Hes molted three times now and eats anything. I would recomend them, although i have no experience with the others.

 

[GShorty1981]

Fire shrimp are the best,they do everything a cleaner does except steal food from corals and look better to.

However they will fight if in groups but do clean parasites off fish.

Don't keep them with pistol shrimp tho! (dont keep any inverts with pistol's,including mantis,they will kill them all)

 

[ALW]

Blood Shrimp

 

[xxBarneyxx]

my blood shrimp steals food from corals (and i think most shrimp will if they can). Mine also has never tried to clean a fish (they are not as inclined to do this as much as skunk shrimp).

Shrimp in general are not considered prt of the CUC.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, I'm not a big shrimp fan. About the only type of shrimp I'd add to my tank would be Peppermint shrimp. Always good to have aiptasia control. Peppermints also seem to be much more skittish and less likely to steal from corals

 

[GShorty1981]

Blood Shrimp

Yeh thats what i was calling a fireshrimp

 

[VictorMeldrew]

Thanks guys

That was a fantastic responce from you all after looking at pictures of them all i have decided to go for 2 cleaner shrimp with the possible addition of a blood shrimp later on. would this combo work?

Thanks again everyone, that was a great help
VM

 

[GShorty1981]

I know that Fire Shrimp/Blood Shrimp are very territorial and have to be kept in pairs or solo and not in same sex groups but i'm not sure how they would act towards a Cleaner.

 

[SkiFletch]

They're fine to mix. Really the only shrimp that are aggressive towards other shrimp/inverts are CBS (coral banded shrimp). It's not a good idea (IMO) to have shrimp with corals that need to be spot-fed (like sun corals) as the shrimp will learn this eventually and pick the food out of their mouths.