To shrimp or not to shrimp?

[Diab2005]

Just wondering if its worth adding some cherry shrimp to my new set up for cleaning purposes? Will adding shrimp reduce the amount of fish i can keep? Id only be adding them as a way of keeping the tank in better condition so if they won't have much impact I'll just leave them
Thanks

 

[vanalisa]

Shrimp produce little waste and help keep the tank clean so that may answer your question.

But I need to air my opinion here and feel obligated to do so.

To "only" add them to keep the tank clean is unfair.

I apologize in advance if I seem harsh and don't want to read too much into what you wrote; you may have been encouraged by someone, a salesperson perhaps, to get them for that reason---but shrimp (and snails) are not janitors and definitely don't replace us as far as maintaining the tank.

We are responsible for tank maintainence.

They are awesome in their own right and you will find that out if you get some.
Huge personality and intelligent creatures. I was surprised!

Before long you might even start a colony in their own tank...they are quite addictive

If you start a colony you will have to get them their own food ...algae wafers, yum.
Also, if you plan to breed egg-scattering fish in the tank the shrimp may reduce the number of eggs as they snack on them. Likewise, fish often hang around a female shrimp as she is releasing her shrimplets for the same reason.

Keep us posted!

 

[Diab2005]

Shrimp produce little waste and help keep the tank clean so that may answer your question.

But I need to air my opinion here and feel obligated to do so.

To "only" add them to keep the tank clean is unfair.

I apologize in advance if I seem harsh and don't want to read too much into what you wrote; you may have been encouraged by someone, a salesperson perhaps, to get them for that reason---but shrimp (and snails) are not janitors and definitely don't replace us as far as maintaining the tank.

We are responsible for tank maintainence.

They are awesome in their own right and you will find that out if you get some.
Huge personality and intelligent creatures. I was surprised!
View attachment 119891Before long you might even start a colony in their own tank...they are quite addictive
View attachment 119889
If you start a colony you will have to get them their own food ...algae wafers, yum.
Also, if you plan to breed egg-scattering fish in the tank the shrimp may reduce the number of eggs as they snack on them. Likewise, fish often hang around a female shrimp as she is releasing her shrimplets for the same reason.

Keep us posted!

Haha fair enough I mean they are never going to know that I'm using them as free domestic cleaners so I dont really see the harm lol. I know snails can vecome an issue in tanks, is the same not true for shrimp due to breeding? Will my honey gourami likely eat them?

 

[Essjay]

Honey gouramis may eat baby shrimps but not the adults. Even my pearl gouramis don't touch the adults.

 

[vanalisa]

Good point on the snail issue. They can and will get out of hand if you get certain types and/or over feed. They often hitch-hike on live plants and can reproduce on their own!

I was mainly thinking about single snails you would buy from a store like a Nerite or Mystery snail. They can help with tank maintenance but shouldn't be sold on the basis of just cleaning the tank

With Nerites it takes two and they lay eggs but they don't hatch in freshwater so not a problem although they leave white specks from unmatched eggs. Bothers some but I dont mind, they can be scraped off anyway.

Honestly not sure about Mystery snail breeding behavior, but I have small tanks and would get just one anyway..they can get really big.

Breeding shrimp may occur but cherry shrimp produce very small bioload. If they are breeding and there are fish in the tank
from my experience they will eat shrimplets. I don't have large fish so not sure about adults, but my nano fish leave them alone.

 

[W.R]

Dwarf shrimp are wonderful, I keep them with three honeys, they help clear out some of the left over food and the thing I love most, they keep plant leaves cleaner which are hard for me to clean myself, but and it's a big but, my honey gourami will try to eat any shrimp under half an inch, so provide plenty space to hide, they require clean oxygenated water, I add calcium so they can molt properly and like mentioned before they do need a little supplement food, if you get that down, for sure get some!

(I almost forgot but this is also something to keep in mind, some medications will harm shrimp, so I have a quarantine tank I move sick fish to, and learn all I can about medications and cures that do not harm shrimp, you don't want to accidentally wipe out your colony after all)