[tetra73]

Would it work? I have over 40+ 1 inches variety of Tetra fish. 5 Otos. 1 Chinese algae eater. I want to add some shrimp in the tank maybe to control some algae and to give a different look to the tank. I purchased couple of Red Cherry Shrimps from a seller here. Hmmm....they are less than 1 inch big and seriously doubt that they will survive. I already saw the remain of one of the shrimps.

 

[flip9]

You sure you didnt just see the moltings of a shrimp? Just make sure you give them plenty of hiding places.

Thumb rule with fish, if it fits in their mouth it will likely get eaten. I feed baby shrimp to my rainbows and GBR's daily and they only eat it if they can swallow it whole. Other wise the shrimp just teleports away.

 

[Abrium]

Any tetra larger than a neon will eat cherry red shrimp so if you have white or black skirt, serpae, or even x-ray those shrimp are dead. I have learned this the hard way.

 

[tetra73]

Any tetra larger than a neon will eat cherry red shrimp so if you have white or black skirt, serpae, or even x-ray those shrimp are dead. I have learned this the hard way.

Hehehe....I am trying to see where I can get some large shrimps. I fear that this isn't going to happen. Snails won't make it in my tank. Is very soft with 2 to 3 degree of kh. pH at 6 to 6.5. I really want "something" to live and feed on the substrate and helping out with the algae too.

 

[Abrium]

Honestly, ghost feeder shrimp get to be about an inch and a half long. They hold their own against 3" fish as adults. I know they aren't pretty but they are hardy and breed like crazy.

 

[chiefroastbeef]

Here is my ADA 18 gallon tank, with 21 small fishes, including ember tetra, cardinal tetra, golden pencilfish, and CPDs. I started with 30 or so cherries, now there are 100+, 3 months later. Babies are everywhere, especially in the moss fields. If you feed the fish well, and have a heavily planted tank, the cherry should be able to thrive without problems.

 

[ua hua]

This question gets asked more than any other on this forum and to give a quick and to the point answer, shrimp= food for fish. Even if the fish is as small as a neon it will pick on and pester a shrimp to death and then when it is dead it will try to eat the shrimp by trying to pick off pieces of the shrimp. Take a look at the ingredients of most of the fish food available on the market and almost all will list shrimp as one of the main ingredients. Thats not to say that if you have enough cover and hiding places that some shrimp will survive but why spend $1 plus for a shrimp that will either end up being food or have to live it's life in fear of being food. Shrimp are best kept in tanks by themselves or with the exception of otos or pygmy corys. And as far as ghost shrimp go yes they are cheap and hardy but as far as breeding goes they go through a larval stage and therefore breeding is not as easy as a red cherry shrimp.

 

[tetra73]

Honestly, ghost feeder shrimp get to be about an inch and a half long. They hold their own against 3" fish as adults. I know they aren't pretty but they are hardy and breed like crazy.

Let me put some thoughts into this. I don't endanger a specie knowing that they will die. My tank is extremely heavily planted, to the point that I have no room to plant my "extra" cabombas. Although the shrimp is small but I also have several schools of small tetras. They can swim and search for every nook for food. My LFS does not sell shrimps. Most online vendors charge $30 for 1 day shipping. 1$ Ghost shrimp isn't exactly coming out to a dollar. To make the purchase worth while, I have to order something like 30 of them. It is not cool to have all of them to become fish food....

 

[Bettatail]

Let me put some thoughts into this. I don't endanger a specie knowing that they will die. My tank is extremely heavily planted, to the point that I have no room to plant my "extra" cabombas. Although the shrimp is small but I also have several schools of small tetras. They can swim and search for every nook for food. My LFS does not sell shrimps. Most online vendors charge $30 for 1 day shipping. 1$ Ghost shrimp isn't exactly coming out to a dollar. To make the purchase worth while, I have to order something like 30 of them. It is not cool to have all of them to become fish food....

it is ok, if you have fish don't chase/hunt the adult cherry shrimps, the adult shrimps are safe. And get some dense java moss so baby shrimps can hide, or they are snack for any size of fish, oto is an exception.

 

[Abrium]

I'm not offering up the ghost shrimp because they could possibly die. I'm saying that they are larger are more agressive than cherries. A ghost shrimp will get right into a fishes face without fear and due to their size you will have a larger selection of fish to choose from.

 

[tetra73]

I'm not offering up the ghost shrimp because they could possibly die. I'm saying that they are larger are more agressive than cherries. A ghost shrimp will get right into a fishes face without fear and due to their size you will have a larger selection of fish to choose from.

How about Amano shrimps? One of the Sponsors are selling them with over an inch big? FYI, I think my 2 other Cherry Shrimps are surviving right now. They tend to stay at the right side of the tank since that section is populated by 2 large drift woods and 2 Amazon Swords.

 

[Abrium]

amanos are even better. They will even steal food from fish. I like my amanos. The best is bamboo. Those can get up to 5" and the fish don't even bother those. They are expensive though.

 

[Jericho199]

How about Amano shrimps? One of the Sponsors are selling them with over an inch big? FYI, I think my 2 other Cherry Shrimps are surviving right now. They tend to stay at the right side of the tank since that section is populated by 2 large drift woods and 2 Amazon Swords.

+1 on amanos. They're attractive, large enough not to be threatened by small fish, and fantastic algea/scavenger crew.

 

[tetra73]

Finally ordered some more 10+ Amano shrimps. These guys are bigger overall and they don't give a sh_t about the fish...LOL. Somehow, the presence of 10+ more Amano shrimps draws out my other smaller, timid Red Cherry Shrimps. Does anyone know how many of Amano shrimps I need to effectively control any major algae outbreak? I have 12 of them so far. 5 Ottos. 1 CAE (somewhat peaceful for now).