few questions on shrimp?

I'm thinking of getting rid of my so called algae eater and get shrimp. does shrimp clean better and how many should I get for a 55 gallon tank? I have sand instead of gravel is that ok? I was thinking on getting some yellow shrimp and some blue colored shrimp, will it be ok to mix them too?

 

Do you want the shrimp to eat the algae? I believe the only shrimp that do that are amano shrimp, which are green according to their diet.

 

what does the other shrimp do tho? thought they do the same.

 

Most shrimp are used as clean up crews. That means they eat left over food or decaying matter such as a dead fish or plant. Other shrimp, like the Amano, eat algae. I don't think very many shrimp eat algae. And some shrimp are there just for show. The Bamboo Shrimp is one of these shrimp. They look great but they don't really 'do' anything.

 

oh ok is it ok to mix species of shrimp?

 

Yes it is my friend has ghost,yellow,blue,amano,cherry, and bamboo all in her 75 gallon tank and they all get along fine but just make sure you are a lot of hiding places cuz they love to feel safe.

 

how many shrimp can u have in a 55 gallon tank?

 

Yes, you can mix some species of shrimp but not others. Well, technically you can but you don't want to because if they crossbreed the babies are fairly unattractive. Ghost shrimp, Amanos, Bamboo shrimp, and Red Cherry Shrimp can be kept together without cross breeding. However Red Cherry shrimp with Yellow Mellon shrimp or Blue Pearl shrimp will result in cross breeding. Yellow Melons and Blue Pearls can crossbreed too. You just gotta research the type of shrimp you want and then figure out if you can keep that shrimp with your others.

 

darn I was thinking of getting yellows and the blue color and the Amanos.

 

You could get Yellow Melons, Blue Tiger Shrimp, and Amanos. Blue Tigers are blue, just a different species so they won't cross breed.

 

oh ok cool are there any red shrimp that won't crossbreed two? or orange?

 

Hmm... Red shrimp wise you could try Crystal Red Shrimp. They won't cross breed. I'm not positive about orange shrimp though. Why not just get orange instead of yellow? Or yellow instead of orange?

 

I'm trying to make a colorful tank..lol but I will go with yellow tho.

 

LOL I can see that! It should look great. How are you planning this tank to look aquascape wise? Don't add any Ghost shrimp btw. They eat other shrimp at times. Yeah I'd definitely go with yellow. Much nicer IMO and they are more readily available. Actually one of our own members sells yellow snails. His name is Daac on the forum.

 

I was thinking of getting some Malaysian trumpet snails but not sure. I have a tank pic Ive been trying to upload a new pics I did today but my phone is being stupid..lol but pics will be up soon tomorrow.

 

Malaysian Trumpet Snails are GREAT. They stir up your substrate so you don't get any gas pockets under it which can turn out to be toxic. I have a bunch of them lol.