Freshwater shrimp colonies for community tanks

I've been planning a community tank. I'm planning/hoping to have fish, snails, and shrimp. Fish and Snails are easy enough but Shrimp seems to need greater care in choosing their tankmates. I was hoping to have a colony of shrimp but at least with the common species of pet shrimp it appears that they're either small enough most pet fish species will eat them or need brackish water for breeding... so I thought I'd check if anyone in the community knows shrimp that I don't. Are there any species that would be fine breeding in a freshwater tank and would be fine living with fish up to say three inches in body length and generally good community fish? I hope I'm not being to general for good answers.

 

Depending on your fish there's cherry shrimp, ghost/Amano shrimp, mamboo shrimp, crystal shrimp, bees and tigers. What fish are you looking at?

 

Plopping on here for curiosity..

 

Depending on your fish there's cherry shrimp, ghost/Amano shrimp, mamboo shrimp, crystal shrimp, bees and tigers. What fish are you looking at?

The fish that prompted this thread is a Dwarf Gourami. I've been looking at getting a school of Fancy Guppies or Endlers, some tetras (likely Neons), and some Celestial Pearl Danios. I've also been considering Rasboras, Harlequin or Brilliant Rasboras, but I'm not sure how dangerous they'd be to shrimp.
I started my consideration of shrimp with Red Cherries, Ghosts, and Amano. The Amano are almost ideal, only issue with them is they need Brackish water to breed. I was just starting to look into Bamboo shrimp when I posted this... still looking into them. Crystal, Bees, and Tigers are the next three on my research list now.

 

Ghost shrimp. Hands down are awesome shrimp and are much bigger than cherry shrimp. Great cleaners too. Very active, quick, and are not fussy eaters.

Id choose them over cherries any day. Sorry

Some photos of mine








Mine are in with:

1 dwarf gourami
9 corydoras
6 java/khulI loaches
3 platies
1 farlowella twig catfish
9 zebra danios
Snails


Downside is theyre not as straightforward to breed as cherries are

 

Ghost shrimp. Hands down are awesome shrimp and are much bigger than cherry shrimp. Great cleaners too. Very active, quick, and are not fussy eaters.

Id choose them over cherries any day. Sorry

Some photos of mine
View attachment 628952View attachment 628953View attachment 628954View attachment 628955View attachment 628956


Mine are in with:

1 dwarf gourami
9 corydoras
6 java/khulI loaches
3 platies
1 farlowella twig catfish
9 zebra danios
Snails


Downside is theyre not as straightforward to breed as cherries are

Nice to hear from someone who's got experience with keeping Ghosts and a Dwarf Gourami. It does seem like they're top, if not close to, top of the list for freshwater breeding shrimp.

 

Nice to hear from someone who's got experience with keeping Ghosts and a Dwarf Gourami. It does seem like they're top, if not close to, top of the list for freshwater breeding shrimp.

Ive kept them with bettas, tetras, guppies, mollies, etc without an issue either.

As for my DG, the shrimp adults are no issue, he will eat shrimplets, as will any other creature in the tank including adult shrimp! So ive been advised with ghost shrimp to separate the berried female as shes close to dropping the shrimplets and then releasing her once theyre hatched as she will eat them too.

HOWEVER. If you have valuable snails that have babies, be warned ghosts may eat baby snails. Theyve wiped out my baby ramshorns lol

 

Ive kept them with bettas, tetras, guppies, mollies, etc without an issue either.

As for my DG, the shrimp adults are no issue, he will eat shrimplets, as will any other creature in the tank including adult shrimp! So ive been advised with ghost shrimp to separate the berried female as shes close to dropping the shrimplets and then releasing her once theyre hatched as she will eat them too.

HOWEVER. If you have valuable snails that have babies, be warned ghosts may eat baby snails. Theyve wiped out my baby ramshorns lol

I have tiny (~5mm) horned nerites, will they touch those?

 

Ive kept them with bettas, tetras, guppies, mollies, etc without an issue either.

As for my DG, the shrimp adults are no issue, he will eat shrimplets, as will any other creature in the tank including adult shrimp! So ive been advised with ghost shrimp to separate the berried female as shes close to dropping the shrimplets and then releasing her once theyre hatched as she will eat them too.

HOWEVER. If you have valuable snails that have babies, be warned ghosts may eat baby snails. Theyve wiped out my baby ramshorns lol

Good to know. I'm intending on keeping them with Nerite Snails but their eggs won't hatch in freshwater so I should be good there.

 

I have tiny (~5mm) horned nerites, will they touch those?

Its possible. Id start with smaller ghost shrimp to allow the snails time to grow

 

Cherry shrimp will be eaten by most fish. Ghost or Amano Shrimp will work but neither will breed in a freshwater tank.

 

Cherry shrimp will be eaten by most fish. Ghost or Amano Shrimp will work but neither will breed in a freshwater tank.

Really? The articles I've found on Ghosts have lead me to believe that they will breed in freshwater but their young wouldn't survive without an isolation tank to mature in. Do you have a source for them not breeding in freshwater?

 

Really? The articles I've found on Ghosts have lead me to believe that they will breed in freshwater but their young wouldn't survive without an isolation tank to mature in. Do you have a source for them not breeding in freshwater?

Ive been advised by richie.p to separate and isolate shrimp before they drop shrimplets in order to keep ghost shrimp babies... no salt water needed or mentioned. Richie is a trusted expert with shrimp

 

Ive been advised by richie.p to separate and isolate shrimp before they drop shrimplets in order to keep ghost shrimp babies... no salt water needed or mentioned. Richie is a trusted expert with shrimp

Alright, thank you. I thought that was the case.

 

Ammano shrimp need brackish water to go through the larvae stage which is a complicated process for any breeder
Ghost shrimp! The berried female needs to be put in a separate tank and once the eggs hatch the mom taken out and young brought on through the larva stage and kept there until adult size , no salt needed with ghost
Edit grammar

 

Ammano shrimp need brackish water to go through the larvae stage which is a complicated process for any breeder
Ghost shrimp! The berried female needs to be put in a separate tank and once the eggs hatch the mom taken out and young brought on through the larva stage and kept there until adult size , not salt needed with ghost

Alright, thank you. Good to hear from the expert on the matter.

 

The best advice I can give is to start with the shrimp. Cherry shrimp as long as you have a big enough colony, say 100+ can go with anything up to the size of dwarf gourami. I did this, let the colony get huge and then added a betta and some endlers. They ate the babies now and then but the colony remained strong. Just feed the fish enough and they shouldn't actively hunt the shrimplets, though when they see them they will eat them. And keep java moss in there. Its a great place for the shrimp to graze and a safe haven for the shrimplets.

 

I've got a couple of different experiences with Cherry shrimp living with fish.

I have a tank with Endlers, ChilI Rasboras and Pygmy Cories - they eat alongside the shrimp, no issues at all with the breeding colony. The shrimp have lots of hides for when they're molting and for babies to hide in. If the fish are eating tiny shrimplets, it's certainly not enough to put a dent in the colony, and the fish never show any aggression towards the shrimp. The shrimp don't seem bothered at all by the fish in the tank, and display their natural shrimpy behaviour at all times.

I've also got a very aggressive betta... there are culls and clear/wild cherry shrimp in his tank... when the mood strikes, he attacks, kills and eats them. Other times, he looks at them and swims away (I guess he's moody). The shrimp in his tank also have hides, and are breeding, but the population doesn't seem to be booming like in the other tank I mentioned - for obvious reasons!

Also worth mentioning - I don't have CPDs, but have read many posts on this forum indicating that despite their small size, they are quite aggressive with cherry shrimp. So CPDs aren't a great option if you are trying to do a cherry shrimp colony.

Hope some of that helps!

 

I've got a couple of different experiences with Cherry shrimp living with fish.

I have a tank with Endlers, ChilI Rasboras and Pygmy Cories - they eat alongside the shrimp, no issues at all with the breeding colony. The shrimp have lots of hides for when they're molting and for babies to hide in. If the fish are eating tiny shrimplets, it's certainly not enough to put a dent in the colony, and the fish never show any aggression towards the shrimp. The shrimp don't seem bothered at all by the fish in the tank, and display their natural shrimpy behaviour at all times.

I've also got a very aggressive betta... there are culls and clear/wild cherry shrimp in his tank... when the mood strikes, he attacks, kills and eats them. Other times, he looks at them and swims away (I guess he's moody). The shrimp in his tank also have hides, and are breeding, but the population doesn't seem to be booming like in the other tank I mentioned - for obvious reasons!

Also worth mentioning - I don't have CPDs, but have read many posts on this forum indicating that despite their small size, they are quite aggressive with cherry shrimp. So CPDs aren't a great option if you are trying to do a cherry shrimp colony.

Hope some of that helps!

Thank you for your reply, I had thought the CPDs would get along well with Ghost Shrimp but hearing that I'll take another good look at them before trying to keep them together.

 

Whatever you decide to do having any fish in a shrimp tank is always going to be a lottery which Is being proved with all the responses above, and again ghost shrimp with cherry is not the best they will eat your young,

 

Whatever you decide to do having any fish in a shrimp tank is always going to be a lottery which Is being proved with all the responses above, and again ghost shrimp with cherry is not the best they will eat your young,

Oh, I believe there's been a miscommunication. I'm not intending on mixing species of shrimp. I intend to do more research on Celestial Pearl Danios after hearing about them being aggressive with Red Cherries but so far it looks like the thread is leaning toward Ghost Shrimp.
I get that there's very few definites when it comes to co-habitating shrimp and fish I'm just trying to push the odds of success as far in my favor as is possible with careful selection and planning.

 

Ok well there are other options if you want, ammanos won't breed but but are big enough to hold their own with most community fish and live up to 3 years, the other side are dwarf/pigmy cory would work with cherry shrimp, but I think your mind is set on cpd

 

Ok well there are other options if you want, ammanos won't breed but but are big enough to hold their own with most community fish and live up to 3 years, the other side are dwarf/pigmy cory would work with cherry shrimp, but I think your mind is set on cpd

My apologies if my intentions are hard to read. Danios are nice looking but they are by no means top of my list. Up until a few posts ago on this thread I was just under the impression they were good for keeping with shrimp. Top of the list for me are Fancy Guppies and Neon Tetras.
I must've missed that when I was looking into Amano Shrimp, I was under the impression they were short-lived like Ghosts. Knowing they live longer does make them more appealing even if they won't breed.

 

I keep cherry shrimp, ghost shrimp, and amono shrimp together in a community aquarium.

It can be done !!!
I am currently trying bee shrimp in the same setup alongside a dwarf cray.

The tank should be established and planted nicely.
I do not have a dwarf gourami but.. I do have two honey gouramies that seem to be fine with my shrimp.

Hope this helps.

 

IRT ghost shrimp breeding. My point was is that they will not breed successfully in the same tank. Not actually how it came out,My apologies for miscommunication. There is a good reference in wikI pages on Ghost shrimp if you would like a reference.

While on clarification subject, let spend a minute talking about ghost shrimp, on my years of shrimp keeping, I have only been able to keep them alive for 2-4 months, I contribute this fact to they are actually sold as a food source in a lot of LFS. In other words they are not the healthiest to start with.

IMO Amano’s make a far better starting shrimp they are very hardy and have a long ( in shrimp terms ) life span. As pointed out they can go with fish, but depending on the tank may spend a lot of time hiding, if they feel threatened.

There are a lot of opinions on keep fish and shrimp in the same tank, my vote is your taking a chance when you mix the two. I personally have Amano’s in with neons, CPD and thread fin rainbows. No issues. I tried putting RCS in the same tank they went into hiding and I never saw them again. Who got them or did they just die of stress from being hunted IDK. As far as I am concerned RCS and fish in the same tank is a receipt for disaster.

Good luck and hoping you have success.

 

I have bamboo and amano shrimp in my 90g with angelfish and BN plecos. The angels were interested in them at first, but now they just leave them alone and the shrimp are no longer hiding all the time. But neither will actually have young in freshwater, despite the fact that my female amanos are always berried.

I used to have a huge colony of red cherry shrimp in a heavily planted 46g with a pair of EB rams, but when I swapped the rams for a pair of angelfish, the angels had the whole colony decimated within 2 weeks. So it depends on how heavily the tank is decorated, the type of fish you choose. No fish except otocinclus is 100% shrimp safe, but the smaller types might leave the adults alone for the most part or a bad hunter might not get to all of them, especially with lots of hiding spaces.

Your best bet is to plant heavily with carpets and get them breeding and reproducing well before adding the fish.

 

IRT ghost shrimp breeding. My point was is that they will not breed successfully in the same tank. Not actually how it came out,My apologies for miscommunication. There is a good reference in wikI pages on Ghost shrimp if you would like a reference.

While on clarification subject, let spend a minute talking about ghost shrimp, on my years of shrimp keeping, I have only been able to keep them alive for 2-4 months, I contribute this fact to they are actually sold as a food source in a lot of LFS. In other words they are not the healthiest to start with.

IMO Amano’s make a far better starting shrimp they are very hardy and have a long ( in shrimp terms ) life span. As pointed out they can go with fish, but depending on the tank may spend a lot of time hiding, if they feel threatened.

There are a lot of opinions on keep fish and shrimp in the same tank, my vote is your taking a chance when you mix the two. I personally have Amano’s in with neons, CPD and thread fin rainbows. No issues. I tried putting RCS in the same tank they went into hiding and I never saw them again. Who got them or did they just die of stress from being hunted IDK. As far as I am concerned RCS and fish in the same tank is a receipt for disaster.

Good luck and hoping you have success.

Thank you for your clarification. Amano Shrimp are looking like a better and better choice. I heard one poster on the forum describe RCS as the Doritos of the freshwater world and from what I've heard so far I'm inclined to believe it.

 

I have bamboo and amano shrimp in my 90g with angelfish and BN plecos. The angels were interested in them at first, but now they just leave them alone and the shrimp are no longer hiding all the time. But neither will actually have young in freshwater, despite the fact that my female amanos are always berried.

I used to have a huge colony of red cherry shrimp in a heavily planted 46g with a pair of EB rams, but when I swapped the rams for a pair of angelfish, the angels had the whole colony decimated within 2 weeks. So it depends on how heavily the tank is decorated, the type of fish you choose. No fish except otocinclus is 100% shrimp safe, but the smaller types might leave the adults alone for the most part or a bad hunter might not get to all of them, especially with lots of hiding spaces.

Your best bet is to plant heavily with carpets and get them breeding and reproducing well before adding the fish.

Thanks, I had suspected that a carpeted tank would be a good idea for them. Still working out how exactly I want to carpet the tank. If you know a hearty carpeting plant that'd do well in warm water I'd greatly appreciate the suggestion.

 

Thanks, I had suspected that a carpeted tank would be a good idea for them. Still working out how exactly I want to carpet the tank. If you know a hearty carpeting plant that'd do well in warm water I'd greatly appreciate the suggestion.

I do! I had chain swords and stargrass in the 46g bow. Stargrass is not a traditional carpeting plant, it is a stem, but a quick weekly prune and replant the tops and it makes the prefect low tech carpet. My tanks are mostly 80°f and this tank is 26" deep just as an example. The stargrass starts to creep horizontally along the substrate

A pic of my 120 gallon with stargrass and an overgrown pic of the 46g bow post red cherry shrimp

 

I do! I had chain swords and stargrass in the 46g bow. Stargrass is not a traditional carpeting plant, it is a stem, but a quick weekly prune and replant the tops and it makes the prefect low tech carpet. My tanks are mostly 80°f and this tank is 26" deep just as an example. The stargrass starts to creep horizontally along the substrate

A pic of my 120 gallon with stargrass and an overgrown pic of the 46g bow post red cherry shrimp

That's really clever. I wouldn't have thought of using a fast growing stem plant for carpeting but it looks beautiful.

 

I do! I had chain swords and stargrass in the 46g bow. Stargrass is not a traditional carpeting plant, it is a stem, but a quick weekly prune and replant the tops and it makes the prefect low tech carpet. My tanks are mostly 80°f and this tank is 26" deep just as an example. The stargrass starts to creep horizontally along the substrate

A pic of my 120 gallon with stargrass and an overgrown pic of the 46g bow post red cherry shrimp

Hey, mind sharing some more detailed insights on keeping stargrass? I've got a thread here: Stargrass... as simple & hearty as it sounds? - Aquarium Plants 426685 about it. Seems not many people on the forum know anything about it.

 

The tank should be established and planted nicely.

How established and planted?

Mine is moderately planted. Working toward nicely to heavily. Tanks was stocked about 3 1/2 weeks ago - not established enough?

richie.p

 

Your tank need stability and to get that its best if you can run it for 3months before adding shrimp, plant cover is a bonus to them to aid in feeding biofilm that gets on the plant and their security to have young and moult it dosnt have to be heavily planted. You can add shrimp earlier but you run the higher risk of losses

 

Makes sense ...... aaaarrrrgggg .... I have the patience of a flea .....

 

Dont be to hard on yourself it's a easy mistake and you'll learn from it if you have problems

 

Haven't gotten them yet. But I want to click the order button.

 

How established and planted?

Mine is moderately planted. Working toward nicely to heavily. Tanks was stocked about 3 1/2 weeks ago - not established enough?

richie.p

I would say closer to 6 months with live stock.
Alot of Plants and drift wood increases surface area for the shrimp to hide in and biofilm to inhabit.

 

I looove amanos. I’m also about to try out various neocaridina.

I keep amanos with my occasionally rather aggressive male betta and no issues. I even saw him and a shrimp sharing his betta log.

Be careful about ghost shrimp and be selective where you get them from. Most stores’ ghosts are infected with horsehair worms. Long story short there have been multiple times where I wake up to a dead shrimp and a 6+ inch worm slithering around my tank. Eek.

 

Ghost shrimp all the way for me. They are hardy and great cleaners plus they are fun to watch. My fish just leave them alone