Convince me about shrimp!

[GaryE]

I can't think of any aquarium resident I'd call gross or icky. Planaria, hydra, even most parasites are interesting, although the effect they have on my preferred aquarium life forms, fish, are awful. My problem is I place shrimp firmly in the 'things that are just there' category of aquarium residents. The aren't destructive like snails, and they don't sting fish like hydra, or eat them like dragon fly larvae. They are in the tank and are neither fish nor plants, and what's the use of that?

If I lived in a tiny apartment and could only have a tiny tank, I'd probably get tiny shrimp and enjoy them. They would be a 'settle for' creature, and maybe they'd be charming in a planted tank. I don't think they're too easy to keep. I do tend to dislike linebred creatures and prefer natural ones, just because learning about natural history is a big part of my hobby. Shrimp have been more linebred and messed around than guppies.

I have to correct what I said at the start. There are gross things in the hobby - balloon fish, blood parrots, long finned linebreds, simpson swordtails, glofish, flowerhorns, and I guess colour variety shrimp. They're things with broken natural histories, but with stories of humans changing them to create unnatural histories. I'd rather not keep such things, as much as others love them.

 

[Essjay]

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

I bought a group of mixed colours from an eBay seller in November 2023. In June 2024 I noticed some different colours, but they weren't muddy brown; they were sort of see through with dark speckles and short lines. Over the months I've seen yellow (which wasn't one of the original colours), pale with a greenish tinge, pale with a yellow-orange tinge, black, dark brown with a yellow stripe down the back and so on. More recently I moved my colony of red cherry shrimps into my main tank and bought yellow shrimps for the small tank; and any yellow shrimps which aren't pure yellow are moved into the main tank. As a result I now have quite a few darkish shrimps with bright yellow backs.

You can see photos of some of the different colours I've seen in this thread

Shrimps

In the middle of November last year I bought some mixed colour cherry shrimps on eBay. Since fish are the main focus of my main tank I am not worried about them all being brown eventually and the mixed colours were cheaper than the same number of a single colour. I paid for 10 and there were 11...

www.fishforums.net

Shrimps are the only creatures I have which have been messed about by humans.

 

[Magnum Man]

I have 4 tanks of various colors of neocardia shrimp, I had ammano shrimp in a tank for years, before they finally died out… I personally think small crustations are beneficial to the aquarium, and create interest in a fish tank… my current favorites are dwarf crays, a little more heavy duty than most aquarium shrimp, and perhaps a tad less icky than a shrimp to the OP…

most of us have things that don’t sit well with us @CaptainBarnicles … has long been the resident sucker mouth hater here… there is so much variety in the hobby, there is no need to keep anything you find icky…

if you were after the benefits, with out the in your face bright colors maybe ghost / glass shrimp would not draw your attention ???

 

[anewbie]

Shrimps are the only creatures I have which have been messed about by humans.

I have NEVER messed with my shrimps or perform toothpaste experiments with them !!!

 

[gimme30]

And with all their weird wavy bits, how can you even tell if one is ill/injured?

It's the wavy bits that make them interesting! And generally if they're ill or injured, you'll know. Cuz they'll also be dead. Unlike us they can't survive much blunt trauma.

 

[Back in the fold]

Not interested at all in shrimp . They do not belong in proper aquariums . Some time back some kid posted about his Betta attacking , dismembering and eating his prized shrimp and I was happy for the Betta .

 

[anewbie]

Not interested at all in shrimp . They do not belong in proper aquariums . Some time back some kid posted about his Betta attacking , dismembering and eating his prized shrimp and I was happy for the Betta .

What about an improper aquarium ?

 

[Back in the fold]

What about an improper aquarium ?

That’s the only place they should be . One with clown puke gravel and a Sponge Bob ornament , a cheap filter turning the water into class five rapids and a heater set to 90 .

 

[anewbie]

That’s the only place they should be . One with clown puke gravel and a Sponge Bob ornament , a cheap filter turning the water into class five rapids and a heater set to 90 .

You mean like this:

and full aquarium:

 

[Back in the fold]

That’s a nice aquarium if you’re into plants but that shrimp looks to me like a meal for one of your cichlids .

 

[anewbie]

That’s a nice aquarium if you’re into plants but that shrimp looks to me like a meal for one of your cichlids .

Naw there 10 or 20 or 30 of them i can never figure it out - they been there for years and years once one of my little cichild swam up to a large red one and it pop it one in the nose and she never approached another shrimp.

I make a lot of stuff up but that shrimp really did whack the fish pretty hard it was kind of funny watching it.

 

[MrsShrimp]

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.

I only wish this was true!

 

[MrsShrimp]

Just look at this incredible specimen and tell me it's ugly! When a bamboo shrimp filter feeds it's fascinating to watch his hairy feet scooping food into his mouth. Bamboo shrimp are awesome imo.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Here's a photo of one of my shrimples....she's at least 8 years old and is always carrying eggs every time I see her