Shrimp Or Snails?

[Kellene]

Hi! I have a 45 gallon tank. There are 3 platies, 3 swordtails, 3 mollies, and 2 Little cory catfish.
I was thinking about getting either a  couple Mystery Snails or some shrimp of some sort to clean up any uneaten food/waste off of the bottom. I don't have an algae problem (yet) . I have 7 live plants, too (anubias and watersprite.)
I've heard that snails only eat algae, and the produce a ton of waste. At the moment I'm considering ghost shrimp, although I've heard that they will eat newborn fry off the bottom if they find any.  Any further suggestions or advice? Thanks!

 

[SamB]

Cautionary word about ghost shrimp - some pet stores sell macrobrachium shrimp with their ghost shrimp accidentally. What's the difference? One is small and peaceful, while the other will grow grow grow and have a carnivorous appetite. I had some that ate a ton of my neons, I dont know if they would target any of your fish or not 

 

[silenthawk2x3]

I have shrimps and mystery snails. I have had ghost shrimp before, but thankfully not an experience such as the one above. I will say that I have not had as much luck with Ghost shrimp as I have had with cherry red shrimp. I have a ten gallon with a modest colony of cherry red shrimp, four full grown and OLD mystery snails and five platies. If you want to see your shrimps more often I suggest you go for a more colorful species. Ghost shrimp are also aggressive towards each other for whatever reason and the ten that I bought a few months ago are no more. I had kept them with my CRS, and I lost none of them, but I am more than sure that the ghost shrimp did each other in. Be warned, more than one mystery snail can turn into 200 mystery snails if you don't notice the eggs. Unlike other snails though one snail won't turn into thousands, you need two mystery snails to reproduce. :3

 

[Kellene]

 I will try and find some cherry reds, but the only shrimps around are ghost shrimp and bamboo shrimp 
Thank you so much for your help !

 

[The Taffy Apple]

The shrimp below in my signature was sold to me as a 'Ghost Shrimp', though through this forum I knew it was an Amano, so I wasn't too surprised to see the size she grew to. I couldn't keep ANY other type of shrimp that was smaller than her...which ended up costing me a fair few £'s !!!
I would go for Red Cherry to start....they will breed happily if water is kept correct and sufficient cover is provided for the little 'uns.
 
Terry.

 

[Kellene]

I have found out that a fish store a ways from my house just got some Cherry Red Shrimp about two weeks ago. I'm going to see if they have any left tonight. If they don't, they also have red crystal shrimp. Has anyone had any experience with those? If the fish store doesn't have any CRS, should I wait for more?
 
 Thanks again!

 

[Sickbound]

Get amano (Japanese algae) shrimp! They are great little tank cleaners, and are much cooler looking than ghost shrimp.

 

[silenthawk2x3]

Crystal red shrimp in my experience are much more expensive that red cherry shrimp, therefore I have never owned any. I am sure that they are very similar care wise and feeding. If they are more expensive at your LFS, (mine never carries any) I would wait if you don't want to spend extra on them for a very similar experience. 

 

[Kellene]

Yeah, I went to the pet store yesterday, they were completely out of Cherry Shrimp , but the had one really tiny Red Crystal for like 13 U.S. dollars. No thanks. I'm waiting for more Cherry reds, which come in Tuesday

Thank you for all your help and advice!

 

[silenthawk2x3]

Worth the wait I would say. You're welcome! Have fun and enjoy!

 

[ccjg028]

In my experience, whatever snail you get, avoid those really small ones pet stores have all over their tanks. God what a pest! While they help in eating some of the leftover food. it's annoying having to control their population every time i do a water change.
I'd stick to mystery and inca gold snails, ghost shrimp have always seemed to disappear in my tank. I wonder who could be to blame.