[saganco]

I have two tanks I would like to add some shrimp to (to help the cleaning crew and entertain us all with their cute antics):
1) Livebearer tank: planted 55g with mollies, platies, rainbowfish, two burmese botias, and some MTS snails.
2) Mixed tank - 40g with a few of the above fish as well as rainbow shark (single guy), and a breeding pair of Central American cichlids (peaceful except when guarding fry). Right now it's very lightly planted, but there are upcoming plans to carpet the bottom and add some taller plants for looks as well (have to keep "some" unplanted area for mom cichlid to rearrange at spawning time though).

I would like to know IF shrimp would do ok in either/both tanks - and if so, is there anything in particular that I would need to do to help them do well? Also, which (if any) species would you recommend for each tank?

Thanks in advance!

 

[RESGuy]

The Live Bearer is the tank that the shrimp would survive in. I very much doubt they would survive in a tank with a shark and cichlids (no matter how peaceful they are ). I would recommend you add lots of plants and/or caves/hiding places, preferably moss like Java Moss I would recommend the Red Cherry Shrimp for this tank as they are cheap to replace (just in case) and they breed pretty easily so if you have enough hiding places for the shrimplets you will have a steady RCS population. The fish you mentioned in the first tank should leave the larger shrimp alone though I hope this helped!

 

[A Hill]

I have a feeling they won't really like it in either tanks. The fish will probably pick at them. The livebearer tank what rainbows are they? Maybe you can get away with some shrimp in there.

I would try ghost shrimp if anything, they're cheap and big!

-Andrew

 

[saganco]

The shrimp won't eat my malaysian trumpet snails will they!? I thought Ghost shrimp were smaller than Amanos? There are only two rainbowfish in the community tank, but loads of platies and mollies and small fry and teenagers of the parents! It's pretty heavily planted by my standards, but may be considered "half planted" by some that like more of a jungle look... So I just dunno!

 

[Solstice]

If you've got moss they'll do fine in the livebearer tank. I had cherries breeding like mad with neon and black tetras. No, they won't bother your snails at all.

 

[GDominy]

I see that you have burmese botias in your livebearer tank.. how large are they? Most botias will make a snack of any shrimp if they catch them during a molt.. so that may not work out too well.

 

[saganco]

After looking a bunch of pics on botias, I don't believe mine really are burmese (sold to me as such, but they are marked wrong). They look more like the polka dot, but not exactly. They are only 2" long (give or take a bit, hard to size thru the glass), and there are only two of them in the tank. I do not have moss, but have the plants covering about 2/3 - 3/4 of the tank bottom (various types and sizes of plants). Would they want something like a small clay pot?

What are the main differences in ghost shrimp and amanos - other than the higher price tag? Maybe ghosties would be ok in there instead?

 

[A Hill]

Would they want something like a small clay pot?

What are the main differences in ghost shrimp and amanos - other than the higher price tag? Maybe ghosties would be ok in there instead?

They are a different species of shrimp that's the difference! Amano is well known for eating algae (shrimp not person:icon_roll ) and Ghost shrimp are more scavengers. Ghosts also grow larger... much larger!

 

[saganco]

Ahhh, so ghosts don't DO algae huh? Well, I guess that helps me decide on which to get... I was hoping that I could "try" the tank out on ghosts just in case they don't work out... How big do ghosts get?

 

[weaselnoze]

1.5" max.

10 chars

 

[<Frawg>]

From personal experience (granted, long ago), ghost will eat algae. I have never had Amano so I cannot compare the two, but I had a 55g natural planted tank with no algae whatsoever. I never knew why till I started reading this forum.

Ghost Shrimp, as mentioned above, are scavengers. I had one take down a small fry that I had added. Plucked it while it was still alive (not a pretty sight).

Scott
Sanford, Maine

 

[weaselnoze]

most literature suggests that ghosts will eat algae ONLY at a last resort.

 

[saganco]

Yikes! I keep reading now (after I ordered 6 ghosts) that they snatch fry and eat them - boo hoo, I'm not going to like seeing my pretty molly and platy fry become shrimp snacks! But if they will keep my tank nice and relatively mulm and "gunk" free, I guess I can live with it. They may become dinner for the molly and platy parents though, so I guess it's a crap shoot! :icon_roll

 

[Cydric]

Yikes! I keep reading now (after I ordered 6 ghosts) that they snatch fry and eat them - boo hoo, I'm not going to like seeing my pretty molly and platy fry become shrimp snacks! But if they will keep my tank nice and relatively mulm and "gunk" free, I guess I can live with it. They may become dinner for the molly and platy parents though, so I guess it's a crap shoot! :icon_roll

Ghosts are really cheap so i'm sure you're not out too much money if they do get eaten. 6 ghosts should cost under a dollar but i've seen them 3 for a dollar, so maybe 2 dollars at the most.

 

[saganco]

Yeah, I wasn't boo-hoo'ing the loss of any shrimp as much as my cute little fry. So we shall see who survives and who doesn't. Guess I just like to be the one that does experiments. I'll let everyone know how it turns out for all the critters, great and small :icon_roll