Freshwater Shrimp for Aquarium

In this photo, there are several species of popular freshwater aquarium dwarf shrimp.    



I have had yellow shrimp and red cherry shrimp in my own aquariums.  They are no more than one inch long at full adult size.  Cute little scavengers that clean up the tanks nicely.   They usually eat the algae growing on the aquatic plants and decorations, and they would eat any leftover fish food at the bottom of the tank.

Every good small fish community tank should have some of them.   Bigger fish might eat them as snack.    Small fish might still eat the baby shrimp, but it is a good population control measure for the shrimp, as well as good nutritious snack for the fish.

Blue Tiger shrimp is another new species introduced to the American aquarium hobby at around 2007.    Beautiful blue shrimp.

There is also Emerald Green Shrimp.

I have had ghost shrimp, yellow shrimp, and red cherry shrimp. However, I have given away all of my yellow and ghost shrimp, and now all I have is red cherry shrimp. Red Cherry Shrimp are my favorite. Also they breed relatively quickly and are worth a descent amount, so I have made a little bit of money from selling the shrimp. Freshwater shrimp are very interesting to me, however, they are relatively expensive compared to how much I first thought they would be when I was looking into them.

(08-23-2013, 03:26 AM)cpwebsite Wrote: I have had ghost shrimp, yellow shrimp, and red cherry shrimp. However, I have given away all of my yellow and ghost shrimp, and now all I have is red cherry shrimp. Red Cherry Shrimp are my favorite. Also they breed relatively quickly and are worth a descent amount, so I have made a little bit of money from selling the shrimp. Freshwater shrimp are very interesting to me, however, they are relatively expensive compared to how much I first thought they would be when I was looking into them.

They are not expensive at all.

Most of them are actually very cheap except for maybe Blue Tiger shrimp and high grade crystal red shrimp.  
Ghost shrimp are going for only 25~50 cents each at most places.    I have bought a dozen red cherry shrimp for $15 shipped.   As for yellow shrimp, I have bought 13 of them for $30 shipped.    Not expensive at all, consider how easy they will breed into hundreds within months.    Some aquarium fish can cost more than $30 for just one.

It is also extremely easy to breed these shrimp.
I have a 10 gallon yellow shrimp only tank. All it has is a Hydro Sponge I (sponge filter), a 50w heater, and a large chunk of java moss.   I feed them Omega One shrimp pellets.  It only took 3~4 months for 13 of them turn into more than 150.

I never would have thought to keep pet shrimp. They are so cute! The closest things I've ever had to shrimp would be, I guess, Sea Monkeys. Are they easy/difficult to keep clean? Or is it about the same as keeping your fish tank clean?

Do you run into any issues with them becoming deformed from inbreeding as with guppies?

(09-11-2013, 06:08 PM)ohiotom76 Wrote: I never would have thought to keep pet shrimp. They are so cute! The closest things I've ever had to shrimp would be, I guess, Sea Monkeys. Are they easy/difficult to keep clean? Or is it about the same as keeping your fish tank clean?

Do you run into any issues with them becoming deformed from inbreeding as with guppies?

Freshwater shrimp are easy to keep if you know how to keep fish.  

The basic need of shrimp are quite similar to the aquarium fish.   You need a big enough fish tank.  Minimal recommended tank size is 5 gallon.  You need a filter (sponge filter is recommended for shrimp tanks since they will not suck in anything).  You need a heater.  Most of these shrimp are native to tropical area.  They need around 76F water temperature.    

The fish tank needs to be cycled before adding the shrimp just like how you would handle fish.   For more information on aquarium nitrogen cycle, check out this article.

All these shrimp are scavengers.  They eat leftover fish food at the bottom, and some of them also eat a little algae.  Sinking fish food is preferred since they are bottom feeders.  Do not overfeed.   Once a day is enough and don't leave more food than they can finish in 30 to 60 minutes since they are bottom feeders.   (To feed the fish, don't leave more food than they can finish in 30 seconds to 1 minute).  

Tank maintenance is also the same as if you have a tank of fish.   Weekly partial water change of 30~50% is required to keep nitrate down in a cycled aquarium.    

For most of these shrimp, they like hiding places.  Fine leaf plants such as java moss is perfect for them.    

Do not house them with fish, because they will become fish food.

This is interesting. I honestly didn't know that there were other varieties of shrimp with different colors. i didn't know that they could be made as pets. I have never seen any colored shrimp in any of the pet shops here in my country. Aside from this, I never knew that there were fresh water shrimp! The blue one is really beautiful and so are the green and yellow ones. I wish I find some here in the future. I would love to take care of some. I promise I won't eat them though my favorite dishes are usually shrimp based

Thank you for all the information. I had no idea the you needed to put a sponge in there to prevent the tank from sucking them in. We had this issue with our guppies when we tried to move them over to a tank someone gave us. Obviously we didn't know what we were doing and there was no manual, lol.

Not to be creepy, but are these the same variety we typically see in the grocery store as well? Not that I would eat my pets, but I was just curious as I've never raised shrimp before.