# Any shrimp in my tank?



## CSM84 (Sep 1, 2006)

I have a 75 with 3 baby angels, 2 black neon tetras, 5 otos, or 4 cories. I have several types of moss growing along with other stem plants. The angel fish seem to be very messy when they eat and there is always food sitting in my moss. The cories don't seem to want to deal with the moss and just stick to the substrate. Could i add some shrimp to keep my moss clean? If so what species would be the best for my situation. I realize that someday when my angles are large they will eat shrimp but right now they cant even eat the "tiny" hikari cichlid pellets, their mouths are pretty small.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

The angels will make an expensive snack out of any shrimp you add to that tank.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Heck, even my platys were picking on my poor shrimp. =/


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## CSM84 (Sep 1, 2006)

so it wouldn't even be worth trying some ghost shrimp @ 4 for a buck?


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## jpmtotoro (Feb 13, 2003)

*ghosts?*

if you are just trying to pick clean extra food, why not just get some ghost shrimp? they are insanely cheap at some places, and pretty hardy. i wouldn't worry about the angels for a while. i had shrimp with my angels and the shrimp just hid when they angels started to get big (and yes, they got big). as long as i fed the angels regularly, they weren't really interested in "hunting" for food.

of course, this is MY experience, not yours... but i don't see a problem adding 3 or 4 bucks worth of cleaner shrimp into the tank, even if they do end up getting picked on by the angels. but realistically, if you have places for them to hide, i bet they'll last for a while.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Well, ghost shrimp are considered feeder shrimp, so in that respect I don't see the harm.


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## CSM84 (Sep 1, 2006)

ok, i think i'll pick some up tonight and see how it goes. in my experience the ghost shrimp can be a little fighters so maybe they will last a while. The moss should serve as good cover for them as well.


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## jpmtotoro (Feb 13, 2003)

*do you feel lucky, punk? well, do ya?*

actually if i remember correctly, wal-mart carried them for 25 cents a piece if they were in stock. ..... do NOT ask me why i was in that wretched store, though...

yeah i figure... he's not doing algae control, he's cleaning food particles. at 25 cents a piece, i don't think you can go wrong.

on top of that... my angels never went after my shrimp. i had a bunch of amanos in a 50 with two large angels... but the angels got fed twice a day on a timed feeder so they never bothered anything else. once i let the feeder empty out and within a day or two the angels were tearing snails off the glass and eating them (yay!) but otherwise... the amanos just came out at night when it was safe.

the ghost shrimp were always dumb and just did what they wanted... but they didn't get touched. so... the ghost shrimp can be a little "test" too... if the angels get big and still don't eat the ghost shrimp, you might be able to start adding some amanos or other shrimp if you want/need them.

some people have terrible luck with things killing other things... are you one of these people?


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## CSM84 (Sep 1, 2006)

i've had pretty good luck as far as things killing eachother so i'm definately going to give this a try. hopefully all goes well.


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## JeffLL (Oct 20, 2006)

*What About Crayfish?*

I am particularly fond of crayfish as a cleanup crew. If you get a burrowing type beware as they will rearrange the substrate, and possibly uproot the plants(mine certainly did).

These tough critters are fun to watch and were never eaten in my generally carnivorous tank (clawed frogs and painted turtles). I have been looking at maybe picking up a breeding pair of orange dwarfs. They mey be pricey, but perhaps my LFS will buy them to support my jones.

You are on the right track. Anything you put in your tank might end up as food. I prefer to put swimming hamburger in my tank rather than Kobe tenderloin on the fin.

My Tank: 75g palu, bio-ball UGF, 2x32W 'sunlight' T-8, ViaAqua 1300 in sump, lots of granite as retaining wall, LECA as 'land' substrate, rock wool slab as planting substrate terrace, waterfall into overland river with pool. Pics to come as it is being rebuilt.


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## toddnbecka (Sep 20, 2006)

> I have been looking at maybe picking up a breeding pair of orange dwarfs.


I've been looking too, can't seem to find any f/s. Dwarf crayfish would be good cleaners, just need cover to hide when they molt.


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## CAF (Oct 24, 2006)

Ahh... but IMO (and experience) the crays would try to eat the smaller fish.


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## bioch (Apr 8, 2006)

i cant seem to find my shrimps either


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## toddnbecka (Sep 20, 2006)

From what I've read, the C. patzcuarensis and a couple of closely related species are peaceful types, and won't go after fish. I have a trio of the orange/brown mixed in my 10 gallon RCS tank, and haven't seen any problems. I do crush an occaisonal ramshorn for food, but the baby snails are everywhere, so apparently they don't eat live snails.


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## southpark (Oct 9, 2006)

you can get ghost shrimp for 20-30 for 1$ US if you find the right LFS (avoid the big generic stores, as they try to sell ghost shrimp as "special algae eating glass shrimp")

and you usually end up w/ a lot more shrimp than just 20/30 for a 1$, cuz the guy siphoning them into the bag just rough guesstimates it since they usually have thousands of ghost shrimp in a tank for feeders.. although you may want to quarantine them briefly to ensure they're not diseased? ghosties are good at grabbing up leftover flakes/pellets and they even fight over the crushed snails i drop in there sometiemes while i'm cleaning my other tanks..big ghost shrimp will use those tiny little claws to snatch and entire dead snail up and carry it around and nibble, and shoo other ghost shrimp away. its actually really funny to watch

i keep ghost shrimp and cherry shrimp in their own tanks.. while the cherry are prettier color wise, some of my ghosts are just plain more fun to watch.. and some of them get a little color as well(stripes, and red markings on the legs and antennae and the dots on the tail)

ghost shrimp can be a cheap rewarding shrimp to stock (especially at 20-30 for 1$)

but yeah, angelfish that are bigger than say.. oh a silver dollar.. will eat into the shrimp population big time if they're hungry, so provide lots of hiding crevices for the shrimp to retreat to..


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