Convince me about shrimp!

[BlaiseinLondon]

In mitigation.... I am not in the least squeamish. Ex-nurse, can do blood and other bodily fluids! Happy to pick up spiders, snakes, worms etc. But I just can't get my head around shrimp. Why do so many fish keepers love them? They just give me the ick! And with all their weird wavy bits, how can you even tell if one is ill/injured? (I've been vegetarian forever, btw, in case that's somehow feeding - no pun intended - into it in some way.)

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I keep Amano shrimp for no other reason than that they're excellent caretakers. I have a heavily planted tank and they eat all the dead leaves, they finish the uneaten food and I never find a fish carcass so I assume they take care of that as well.

Another positive is that Amanos can't breed in freshwater, the larvae need brackish to develop to maturity. So the fish get a free snack when the females release their young which in my tank is quite regularly.

 

[Essjay]

I have Neocaridina shrimps (cherry shrimps) in my main tank, and a small tank with only yellow neos and small nerite snail.
The ones in the main tank are mixed colours; like CaptainBarnicles amanos they are there to fill a niche and provide something different from fish. It's fascinating finding the different colours that appear. The fish in this tank are small with cherry barbs being the largest and the shrimps cope well with my mix of fish.
The tank in the kitchen is too small for fish and bright yellow creatures constantly on the move provides interest in an otherwise functional room.


Besides, I like Neocaridina shrimp

 

[GaryE]

Every once in a while a shrimp worshipper will give me some to try to get me addicted. They just kind of live in the tank like a minor infestation of sea monkeys, and then they're eventually not there.

They're a reflection of our times, with the high rents and reduction of personal space that's come with our economic model. If you don't have much living space, you can keep them in tiny tanks and still have the enjoyment of an aquarium. They also breed easily and lend themselves to linebreeding projects to produce colour varieties.

Plus you look in your shrimp tank, and then look in the mirror, and you're always better looking. It gives you a boost, which doesn't always work when we compare ourselves to fish.

Beyond that, I dunno. Don't get me started on people who argue for keeping pest snails as pets...

 

[Uberhoust]

They are a lot of fun in a species tank, they have a lot of interesting behaviors, such as touching everything with their antennae. I mixed a number of varieties together and watched the population drift toward what I believe is their more natural form in just a few months. The other thing that I liked with the shrimp is that you tend to get other critters that are fun to watch like seed shrimp, daphnia, and hydra. Great for close up viewing but I wouldn't fill my larger tanks with them.

Unlike what I have heard others state I found caring for them more difficult than my bigger fish tanks, always had to mix water, and cleaning the tank much more difficult because they always end up getting sucked up during water changes. But if I had hard water I would likely setup a small tank with them again.

In the end I feel the "Ick" factor is understandable, from a personal perspective I can handle almost any critter, but I absolutely dislike grasshoppers. I can handle them but they do give me an Ick sensation.

Don't get me started on people who argue for keeping pest snails as pets...

Poke... Snails are great for a fish tank. They degrade the food waste for better use by the plants and provide food nibbles for your larger fish. They are also a great indicator if you feed too much or too little to your fish.

 

[anewbie]

I don't understand why you need to be convinced. Either you find them amusing or you don't. I have a group in a 10 gallon because they fit in a 10 gallon and i was bored. They self propagate mostly until they don't - do i think everyone should get them - not really - do i think everyone should avoid them not really. If you don't get them you might wonder if you missed something and if you do get them you might find them boring and a waste of space and money. Either way you aren't going to win so pick your poison.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I don't understand why you need to be convinced. Either you find them amusing or you don't. I have a group in a 10 gallon because they fit in a 10 gallon and i was bored. They self propagate mostly until they don't - do i think everyone should get them - not really - do i think everyone should avoid them not really. If you don't get them you might wonder if you missed something and if you do get them you might find them boring and a waste of space and money. Either way you aren't going to win so pick your poison.

I don't understand why you felt you had to contribute when you had nothing to contribute

 

[anewbie]

I don't understand why you felt you had to contribute when you had nothing to contribute

Well if i hadn't contributed then you wouldn't have my wisdom and now that you have my wisdom you know it wasn't worth having.

 

[ambrosia04]

They're cuties they just like \•~•/
Also whenever I get a sea/reef aquarium in the far future my top 1 add-ins are Cleaner shrimp, I just love how wanky and long their whiskers are :3

 

[Boundava]

When I had shrimp I found them fun, after the expense of course as they are pricey and the foods they push to the newbies worried about killing them are also pricey.

After trying a few different varieties in the neo and cardinia I just stopped. I never had luck with any amazing propagation.

I have kept bamboo shrimp with success in the past, but not vampire...go figure.

Amano in my experience are bomb-proof, lol.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Aquarium shrimp are like cigars or opera music: Some people get the attraction; others don't. Whichever category you're in, it's fine. Personally I enjoy them; they're something different from the fish and all those snails that @GaryE loves ever so much. Viewers of my tanks often find them rather exotic, and I tend to agree. But if they're not your cup of tea, no problem. Use the space with something you enjoy.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I have Neocaridina shrimps (cherry shrimps) in my main tank, and a small tank with only yellow neos and small nerite snail.
The ones in the main tank are mixed colours; like CaptainBarnicles amanos they are there to fill a niche and provide something different from fish. It's fascinating finding the different colours that appear.

That actually sounds fun. Question: How long can all those mixed colors cohabitate and interbreed before the population turns into a uniform muddy brown?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I never wanted shrimp I could not eat with a bit of cocktails sauce. And then I became friends with Rachel O. aka Inverts by msjnkzd.

She got tired of hearing me say shrimp were food for my fish and and I got tired of ticking her off when I did. So, when the current fish in my 5.5 planted tank died, I got some red cherry Neos. More fish which did not eat them went into the tank and ultimate,ly they too were lost. I was going to take he tank down when I realized there were a lot of shrimp in it.

Fast forward and friend on the other coast needed to close down some of her smaller tanks and needed to adopt out some small fish and her Blue Dream Neos. I agreed to help her out. They went in a heavily planted 15 gal. with a few amanos, and a few dither fish. Today the dithers are white clouds. Also a small albino BN went in as well.

Over time the shrimp multiplied and I began to sell them one a month at my fish club's regular auction. But the reproduced faster than I was selling 24-30 each month. So when a well planted 29 gal Q tank was finished doing Q, it became a permanent tank. So I dropped about 15 =20 of the blue shrimp into it. It has a a few CPDs and recently some Neon tetras bred in Israel. It also has a young albino BN.

I tried counting all the blue shrimp in that tank at feeding time recently and stopped when I hit 100 I have already sold about 30 chrimp fromthat tank.

I have had amanos in a few of my planted tanks for going back to about 2005 or 06. I got them as imports for really great prices. However, all good things also tend to have a bad side. With amanos it is that they will eat meat as they are omnivores. This means they will eat fish eggs and even fry if they can. They will eat various fish floods including flake.

I had that 15 gal. above years before with a lot of plants and U had a pair of BN in it. I also had a bunch of amanos. I would wee the pelcos spawn, and the eggs in the cave, Then I would spot a few babies out and about. And then suddenly there were no babies. This repeated itself a few times and figured out it had to be the amano shrimp eating the fry as the parents do not do that. I did not mind as I already had too many BN.

So aside from finding the shrimp can be fun to watch at time, they also cover the cost oc my almost 50 mile round trip to the meeting as well as anything I might buy at the auction. I recently started to donate another 30% of the auction proceeds to the club on top of their regular 20% cut.

So, eeven though I never panned to breed shrimp, I just sort of fell into it. Considering my hobby costs overall, I am not getting rich from shimp. However, I am also having the same thing happen with assassin snails which I got to hand a pest snail problem, Assassins sell as well as the Neos.

 

[BlaiseinLondon]

Every once in a while a shrimp worshipper will give me some to try to get me addicted. They just kind of live in the tank like a minor infestation of sea monkeys, and then they're eventually not there.

They're a reflection of our times, with the high rents and reduction of personal space that's come with our economic model. If you don't have much living space, you can keep them in tiny tanks and still have the enjoyment of an aquarium. They also breed easily and lend themselves to linebreeding projects to produce colour varieties.

Plus you look in your shrimp tank, and then look in the mirror, and you're always better looking. It gives you a boost, which doesn't always work when we compare ourselves to fish.

Beyond that, I dunno. Don't get me started on people who argue for keeping pest snails as pets...

Brilliant - absolutely brilliant!

 

[BlaiseinLondon]

Aquarium shrimp are like cigars or opera music: Some people get the attraction; others don't. Whichever category you're in, it's fine. Personally I enjoy them; they're something different from the fish and all those snails that @GaryE loves ever so much. Viewers of my tanks often find them rather exotic, and I tend to agree. But if they're not your cup of tea, no problem. Use the space with something you enjoy.

Funnily enough I do like snails - they don't give me the ick at all