shrimp

laurasmithuk · Aug 26, 2005

saw some shrimp in lfs yesterday i think they were for tropical tanks.... my question is what sorta conditions do they need? ie set up etc.... cheers all :crazy:

big mick · Aug 26, 2005

Were they 'ghost shrimp'?

They are about 1"-2" and look transparent.

If they are then yes they are tropical but be carefull with them as they are great escape artists.

laurasmithuk · Aug 26, 2005

yeah they were. how can u stop them escaping cuz i wanna get some

willtang3000 · Aug 26, 2005

make sure there no gaps in your hood and that the cables from e.g filter heater etc go through a gap that is smaller than the shrimp or like I did blue tack the gaps

laurasmithuk · Aug 26, 2005

are they worth having? they looked really cool. not sure what they eat etc though. are they ok in a community tank? sorry for all the questions!

Dubby · Aug 26, 2005

They are cool !!! I have 2 shrimp in my heavily planted community tank. They help keep the tank clean eating both algae and leftover food, dead matter.

Just make sure you dont have any types of fish that might think of having them for breakfast

laurasmithuk · Aug 26, 2005

my tank is community with neons and platties at mo. am hopefully gonna get some dwarf gouramis and more tetras. i have a 96 ltr tank how many shrimp would u say i need? wot sorta water conditions? :fun:

emma12321 · Aug 26, 2005

Ghost shrimp aren't the most exciting shrimp out there. If you can find them get some fan shrimp http

/www.shrimpcrabsandcrayfish.co.uk/Sh...p.htm~mainFrame they get a bit bigger and are really interesting to watch. They are also a lot more colourful. There is a video of them feeding in the link above.

Emma

laurasmithuk · Aug 26, 2005

dont know if i could get hold of em.... is my set up gonna be ok for shrimp

sylvia · Aug 27, 2005

Yes - the fish you have now and the fish you plan to get should be fine with some ghost shrimp. 96 litres is about 25 gallons. Most people don't count shrimp in bioload calculations but if you have more than say 2-3 you should take them into acount. I usualy say 1 gallon for every couple of shrimp or so as they help clean up the tank and are very low waste producers. Besides this, there isn't actualy a limmit to how many you could keep as they are non-aggressive and don't take up much physical space. I'd get about 5-7 myself so that you can spot at least one easily at any given time - adds interest.