The African Filter Shrimp is very rare in the hobby. It is usually not sold in pet stores and is rarely available through importers. Just like their asian cousins, they filter tiny food particles out of the water as their main food. As with all filter feeding shrimp, these shrimp are also entirely wild-caught. This will deplete their numbers in the long run, especially if this shrimp becomes more popular in the future. I am hoping to get these animals soon and attempt to breed them also, so they can be widely available.
This shrimp should be kept in community tanks with small, peaceful fish and/or shrimp and sufficient current. This is preferable to a species tank as its tank mates produce the detritus necessary for the microorganisms in the filter to thrive and reproduce. The microorganisms, in turn, are carried by the current to the filter shrimp and filtered out of the water as food. This way, the filter shrimp does not need to be specifically fed. Targeted feeding might actually deteriorate water parameters and harm the tank inhabitants, as it's very hard to gauge how much this shrimp actually needs to be fed.
These shrimp should never be housed with fish that could hurt it, such as most cichlids, even if the fish is smaller than the shrimp or the same size. The African Filter Shrimp itself is totally harmless and is not even capable of hurting the smallest fry or other, smaller shrimp. Thus, it can be housed with all dwarf shrimp, regardless of size.
