Shrimp

[haleem8777]

HI
i am thinking of starting a shrimp tank , not for breeding . i have found some shrimp my local fish store sell i dont know how much to keep and which ones to keep so i need you suggestions too help me decide 
 
the shrimp are:
 
Orange Sunkist shrimp                                                           Blue velvet shrimp        
                                            
                                                 
Green shrimp                                                                            Tiger shrimp  
                                            
 
Red cherry shrimp                                                                    Bee shrimp  
                                     
  
 
 
i was thinking of keeping 5 or 4 of each as i cant decide which one not to keep  

what do you think
 
 
 

 

 

[the_lock_man]

Please research what the scientific names for these shrimp are. You may well find that some a colour morphs of the same species, and therefore will interbreed, leaving you with some very strange looking shrimp.

 

[Baccus]

As said above be very careful to get the shrimps scientific names before mixing and matching. Also Cherry shrimp neocarindia come in a wide range of colours now from red- orange- yellow- green- blue- brown- black and even rili pattern which for now are mainly in the yellows and reds. Any cherry shrimp no matter the colour will breed and produce usually less than desirable offspring.
Bee shrimp and Tiger shrimp can also cross breed and lovely crosses are being developed. The only trouble is that Crystal Red and  Crystal Black (again these will breed together) need very good water and cooler temps than the much hardier and forgiving Cherry shrimp. I think tiger shrimp might be in the same boat as the Crystals/ Bees.
 
If want to have multiple colours of shrimp your best bet is to divide your tank like people do for keeping multiple male fighters and keep each colour morph of cherry shrimp in their own compartment. But be warned cherry shrimp have a way of sneaking into other tanks be it hitchhiking on plants or equipment like nets or even climbing from one tank to another if they are close enough.
 
A fairly safe mix of shrimp would be one colour morph of neocaridina, one of the hardier caridina and then something like African filter shrimp and or amano shrimp. But getting the water requirements for such a mix will be more exacting with the filter feeders needing a section of fairly strong flow so they  can utlise their feeding baskets, then pH, gH and temp will also have to be considered.
 
If you get any shrimp I would always start with cherry shrimp they are the easiest and most forgiving of mistakes of any shrimp. Plus they breed readily and are pretty easy to  rehome when you have excess.