Red Cherry Shrimp...a Good Investment?

[Clear_waterPro]

Hey guys, first time on this site... should be interesting.

So basically, i have a 20 gallon tank with a some kinda filter, i think its a rena something... all i know is that it uses rena crystals. I don't have a heater but my thermometer say the tank is always around 74 degrees Fahrenheit (is that too hot for the fish i keep- read on). Anyway, i have 3 zebra danios and 6 white cloud minnows (i know the zebra danio number isn't ideal being a schooling fish and all but right before i bought the minnows 2 zebras died and i havn't replaced them since ) they're all very healthy, no diseases... etc, one of the zebra danios did beocme ill earlier in the year and developed a bent spine, with two blackish/red marking on either sides of it's body, he's pretty scrawny but he has become much healthier and his spine has straightened up a lot- i think anyway- the markings are still there but i think they might be scars for life.

The Minnows are great, they love chasing eachother around the plants- all the plants are live as i feel they make the tank look alive and i think they benefit the fish a lot, especially considering that i dont have an air pump/stones. By the way, i have a 1:1 ratio of fish to plants, so 9 plants in all, do you guys reckon my fish will be getting enough oxygen? To my surprise, the plants have developed a really strong system of roots, which really impressed me. The plants also managed to smuggle a hiden snail back to my tank with them from the LFS, there is only one so i don't really need to worry about him reproducing as i don't think they are asexual.

I recently considered getting maybe two red cherry shrimp (both female) because my gravel is getting a little mucky and i dont really like using those gravel siphons too much as they do tend to disturb the tank a lot and one of my past fish (a young comet) managed to get stuck in one when i gave my younger cousin the job of clearing up tanks gravel- but to be honest i think my cousin was more scared than the fish! Anyway, i heard that these shrimp are good at cleaning and thought maybe it would be a wise investment? I recently put a hiden, "undergravel" cave made from half a flower pot. It looks really good (mainly because it's basically invisible ). Anyway. i thought this cave would be good for the shrimp to get away from the fish if needs be... however, i don't think the fish will bother the shrimp anyway. The only thing is, i think a few of my minnows have taken residency in the little cave and love to show their fins of in a display to determine who gets to live in it... i like to just watch them, sometimes it gets pretty funny.

So anyway, i was just wondering what you guys thought of my tank set up and if you think red cherry shrimp would be a good investment?
By the way, sorry for the novel , I just kept writting!


Thanks, looking forward to hearing your responses!

P.S- i do clean my gravel, even though i have had some bad experiences with the siphon! I also, do a fortnightly water change of around 30%. I find that using an old fingernail brush (i dont know the specific name) is really effective when removing algae for anybody interested.

 

[mattyeatsmatts]

Cherry shrimp are great cleaners but you would need more than 2 in a 20 gallon. Have about 15 and just let them free, maybe even breed. The babies would be kept under control by the fish.

 

[Clear_waterPro]

Cherry shrimp are great cleaners but you would need more than 2 in a 20 gallon. Have about 15 and just let them free, maybe even breed. The babies would be kept under control by the fish.

Thanks for the quick reply! I think i will definetly go for some. They should add some nice colour to the tank too. . How much space do they take up though? Would 15 shrimp in a 20 gallon tank plus 3 zebra danios and 6 white cloud mountain minnows lower the oxygen levels, would the ammonia levels...etc be hard to maintain?

 

[phoenixgsd]

shrimp are very good at HELPING you keep a tank clean but you shouldnt rely on them for cleaning, thats your job

 

[Clear_waterPro]

Very wise, i know what you mean, i just think it will be good at maintianing lower ammonia levels.. etc from waste inbetween cleans. If you know what i mean, but yes i will carry on cleaning my tank... indefinetly, i sort of like cleaning my tank anyway, i guess you could say it's sort of therapeutic...

 

[phoenixgsd]

what do you mean by helping maintain lower ammonia levels?

 

[Curiosity101]

Ditto what phoenix asked about the ammonia...

P.S- i do clean my gravel, even though i have had some bad experiences with the siphon! I also, do a fortnightly water change of around 30%. I find that using an old fingernail brush (i dont know the specific name) is really effective when removing algae for anybody interested.

But also although fortnightly water changes might be ok in your situation seeing as you have so few fish. I'd be doing at least 50% changes.
And as for the gravel cleaning, if it 'is getting mucky' and 'disturbs the tank alot', then it's cause you're not cleaning it properly in the first place. Cherry shrimp don't eat fish waste and mulm that builds up in the gravel.

When you're cleaning gravel you need to properly shove the gravel vac in and wiggle it around to get all the dirt out. Cleaning your gravel effectively will solve your problem. Buying shrimp will only add to it... although to be fair they'd only slightly add to it.

 

[Teephphah]

Just a hunch on the amonia point . . .

I'd suppose the thinking is something along the lines of: shrimp will eat dead and/or dying plant material, this will in theory eliminate that material from the tank before it begins (or continues) to decompose. The decomposition would increase amonia levels. By eliminating it, you either decrease or at least better manage amonia levels.

Theoretically.

 

[Clear_waterPro]

Just a hunch on the amonia point . . .

I'd suppose the thinking is something along the lines of: shrimp will eat dead and/or dying plant material, this will in theory eliminate that material from the tank before it begins (or continues) to decompose. The decomposition would increase amonia levels. By eliminating it, you either decrease or at least better manage amonia levels.

Theoretically.

Yes that was my thinking, thankyou for understanding like so few people did not. However, i guess i didn't really make myself clear. . Thanks for the 50% water change suggestion anyway. One last thing, i do clean my tank properly, and whoever says that sticking a siphon in a tank and moving it around to suck stuff up doesn't disturb the fish, clearly doesn't understand what sort of situation the fish are in.

 

[Clear_waterPro]

Ditto what phoenix asked about the ammonia...

P.S- i do clean my gravel, even though i have had some bad experiences with the siphon! I also, do a fortnightly water change of around 30%. I find that using an old fingernail brush (i dont know the specific name) is really effective when removing algae for anybody interested.

But also although fortnightly water changes might be ok in your situation seeing as you have so few fish. I'd be doing at least 50% changes.
And as for the gravel cleaning, if it 'is getting mucky' and 'disturbs the tank alot', then it's cause you're not cleaning it properly in the first place. Cherry shrimp don't eat fish waste and mulm that builds up in the gravel.

When you're cleaning gravel you need to properly shove the gravel vac in and wiggle it around to get all the dirt out. Cleaning your gravel effectively will solve your problem. Buying shrimp will only add to it... although to be fair they'd only slightly add to it.

The point of this topic was to give me an idea of what the negatives and positives of keeping red cherry shrimp are, not to educate me on my "poor" siphoning ability. I clean my tank like any other aquarist. My gravel gets a bit dirty- i clean it. I just think it would be nice to have some red cherry shrimp- as phoenix put it- HELPING me.

 

[phoenixgsd]

The point of this topic was to give me an idea of what the negatives and positives of keeping red cherry shrimp are, not to educate me on my "poor" siphoning ability. I clean my tank like any other aquarist. My gravel gets a bit dirty- i clean it. I just think it would be nice to have some red cherry shrimp- as phoenix put it- HELPING me.

i dont think anyone meant to offend, im sorry if we came across that way, in short a answer to your question is shrimp are a very pleasing to the eye thing to have, they come in varying colours and can help you keep a clean tank if you have enough numbers, the only downside is you have to be careful what else you have in the tank as they could be food for some fish, and of course you have to feed them shrimp food of some sort, which will add to your gunk in your gravel if not eaten

 

[Curiosity101]

Actually I did answer your question, you just didn't ask it quite in the way I answered it. You asked would cherry shrimp help. The answer is no, I just explained why and gave you the alternative that actually would fix your problem.

Cherry shrimp are living organisms that create ammonia just like anything else. They create less for their body mass vs fish but they do add to it. Also if your tank is cycled then ammonia shouldn't even come into the equation so you mentioning ammonia raises a whole host of alarm bells in my head.

Cherry shrimp poop, so this will add to the 'dirt' in the gravel. And whether you want to believe it or not the best way to clean gravel is to shove the siphon right in and wiggle it about to dislodge all the mulm and suck it up. The fact you are describing your gravel as getting 'mucky' means it isn't getting cleaned properly. If it was then you wouldn't be considering cherry shrimp for cleaning it up.

Fish rapidly get used to a proper cleaning regime, once they're used to the cleaning regime they ignore the siphon completely. And if you don't believe me then feel free to ask around on the forum as to how people clean their gravel. I don't expect you to take my word for it if it's not something you've seen before, but what I would expect is that you might at least consider/look into it seeing as it'll fix your problem yet your original plan would actually add to it.

 

[Clear_waterPro]

Thanks guys, i will buy a good siphon, the one i have one at the moment- the Multi-Vac Battery Powered Aquarium Cleaner by Marina- i

think, is on it's last legs and don't worry curiosity i'll make sure to dig down deep into the gravel- well atleast deeper than i do

at the moment.

 

[Man of fish]

Ahhh so you're syphon is battery powered... I've heard some pretty bad things about those, and that could explain your problems.

 

[Clear_waterPro]

Ahhh so you're syphon is battery powered... I've heard some pretty bad things about those, and that could explain your problems.

Really? Are there any you would recommend?