Do Shrimp Count Toward Stocking Levels?

[Alex.]

Hello everyone.

I've recently set up my tank after completing a fishless cycle and was considering some shrimp as part of a clean up crew plus to add something extra to look at.

My question is, we talk about a "1 inch per gallon" rule of thumb, and I've got a 125 litre aquarium so roughly 30 gallons. That means although I can have a decent stocking level, I don't really want to massively reduce it just for a few shrimp. Do these guys count as an Inch or two per shrimp?

Many thanks!

 

[Cazgar]

Shrimp add very little to the bioload, as long as you're not over stocked with fish you'll be fine with having a few

 

[ParadiseGuerrero]

unless your having a huge amount of shrimp they don't normally count towards your stocking levels as they have a low bio load

 

[Alex.]

I got 5 cherry shrimp today, and I've seen at least 2 that have already been eaten...

How big do these usually get? The ones I was sent were very small, definitely under an inch, and I wondered whether the fish would simply see them as food.

The thing is, I can't really think of which fish will have eaten them?

My stocking is 6 neons - definitely not
5 sterbai corys - again can't see it
1 small l288 plec - he's very shy so can't see him coming out for them

My suspicion lies with my 2 dwarf gouramis. Again they're not big fish, but I can't see any of then the others doing it.

Anyone else had this experience in the past?

 

[CezzaXV]

My dwarf gourami is very inquisitive - he's always poking at my apple snails, but they go into their shells so he can't do any damage. Seen him occasionally go for smaller pest snails too though he usually spits them back out. Not difficult to believe he would go for smaller shrimp, so yours probably would too.

Have you checked inside your filter? Is it possible they got sucked up?