Are There Any Shrimp Suitable For Freshwater?

[metweezer]

I had a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp when I had a SW Aquarium years ago and I loved him/her. Are there any FW shrimp out there that are easy to maintain? Any info would be appreciated. 

 

 

 

[TallTree01]

There are many freshwater varieties of shrimp. The two main ones you'll hear about are cherries and ghost shrimp but there are many other types too. Most shrimp are easy to care for and do not require much space. They can usually be fed with algae and pellets designed for shrimp.

 

[DeanoL83]

There are quite a few as mentioned. One good thing to know though is if you intend to keep them with fish or not. Shrimp are sometimes meals for fish so we would need to know what tank mates they are likely to have.

 

[Zikofski]

cherry shrimp are by far the easiest shrimp to look after i love them lovely bright red colour

 

[metweezer]

There are quite a few as mentioned. One good thing to know though is if you intend to keep them with fish or not. Shrimp are sometimes meals for fish so we would need to know what tank mates they are likely to have.

I want peaceful inhabitants in my tank. Tetras, Zebras, Cories, Rasboras, etc. I would hope that they would all get along.

 

[christylee]

I actually have four cherry shrimp in my tank with neon tetras, harlequin rasboras, cories, and bolivian rams. None of my fish care about the large cherry shrimp..but the babies. Forget it, those poor little babes are snacks in no time. The tetras are always the first to get em.

I would look into bamboo shrimp if ya want one. They're a bit larger. I've been trying to get my hands on one myself. I've also kept amano shrimp which were awesome. Bigger than cherry shrimp but lacking the bright colors, although they did turn a pretty clearish blue.

 

[Alasse]

I have red cherries in with goldfish, neons, ember tetras, dwarf gouramis, RTBS, tiger barbs, endlers & betta and they all breed up to good numbers in all the tanks. They are rabbits in shrimp clothing lol

 

[attibones]

I actually have four cherry shrimp in my tank with neon tetras, harlequin rasboras, cories, and bolivian rams. None of my fish care about the large cherry shrimp..but the babies. Forget it, those poor little babes are snacks in no time. The tetras are always the first to get em.

I would look into bamboo shrimp if ya want one. They're a bit larger. I've been trying to get my hands on one myself. I've also kept amano shrimp which were awesome. Bigger than cherry shrimp but lacking the bright colors, although they did turn a pretty clearish blue.

 
Bamboo shrimp are really cool shrimp! I had two and I absolutely loved them. They sadly did not do well during a move and I lost both of them. However, these fish do very well in a quiet community tank, but they absolutely must not be added to a new aquarium. I would say at least six months or older. Mine were doing very well in a tank a year old. I think that they stressed so badly (plus one of them had managed to climb into the filter where he got stuck for a few days before I could find him) that they just couldn't come back from it, not to mention my tap pH spiked the first few weeks I moved back in, so we were dealing with that, too.
 
Amano shrimp too work well for communities. They are large and fast so they can move out of the way pretty quickly. I don't think they typically breed in freshwater like nerite snails, but I could be wrong. I'm working on breeding a cherry shrimp colony right now. Many fish will eat the juvies. Ghost shrimp are fun and tend to have a great personality, but are frequently food as well. I managed to get a hold of crystal red shrimp which were beautiful (and expensive!!), but they turned into snacks. Bee shrimp are fun, had those for a while but they were also eaten.
 
Eventually I just decided to turn my twenty gallon into the shrimp tank, so now I have roughly 20 or so shrimp breeding up a storm for me. I love to watch these guys now that they and some snails are the only inhabitants. They're very lively. 

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Amanos are the ones that work best for me.  I had cherries for some time but was forever buying more as they kept dieing... but I still have all my amanos.