# What shrimp are you keeping?



## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Hey folks! I'm interested in what shrimp you are keeping in your tanks. Tell me a little bit about them!


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

bumble bee, cherry, crystal red, amano, had ghost shirmp.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Sounds like you have quite the shrimp crew, Turtlehead - excellent! Do you like any of them more than the others?


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

I love my new crystal red, she's pregnant now, can't wait for her beautiful fry. Hope they look as good as her. My favorite used to be the cherrys, amano's take up a lot og space but are good algae eaters, and the bumble bees have noce black and red colors.


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## thaerin (Dec 12, 2004)

Ghost shrimp (some of which have turned white...) and red cherry shrimp.
The ghost are excellent scavengers for my tanks and the cherries have cleared up all that nasty fuzz algae that was creeping in. Thinking bout getting rid of my bristlenose pleco and getting more shrimp instead! 
Problem is I don't know what to do with poor Spike =( none of the stores around here take fish


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Ahh Thearin, you can't keep Spike and still get more shrimp? 

That's exciting, Turtlehead -- I'm pretty sure the babies will look good! All my Crystal Red babies were pretty except one that I suspect may be either an albino, or just a throwback from the normal Bee Shrimp. Well, except he's not black. He's very pale, but larger than the Cherrys, so he seems like a Crystal. He also has just the faint coloration of the white spots on the tips of his tail, which makes me suspect more he is a Crystal. All the others have good color.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

At this time I have 5 Amanos & 1 Tiger shrimp, both make great algae eaters. I have found that Amanos like eating algae off rock/gravel and Tigers prefer plants for feasting on algae. 

I did have 1 Red Spotted shrimp and some Cherrys, unfortunately my monster red shrimp decided that the Cherrys where snacks. I hate to say that my monster past away about a week ago after transferring him to a larger tank. The only reason I can think of that he died was the hard water.

I'm hoping to score some more shrimp at the auction Sunday.


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## thaerin (Dec 12, 2004)

I love my darling Spike but he doesn'y fit very well in the tank anymore. I've got a Sword he's damaging when he scrapes the algae off all the other plants are so tiny he has trouble cleaning them effectivly. Besides which, i really don't get any algae at all (unless of course he's eating it before i can notice) so I feel bad that he has so little to eat. My tank is a lil overloaded as well so if I was to get more shrimp, I'd probably remove Spike to make room. I can't put him in my second tank as that's where the frog is...

Do you think tigers or amanos would be to large to have in a 20 Long? Was thinking bout getting some, but i might just get more cherries( when i can find the money, they're expensive buggers  )


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## guppy (Mar 7, 2004)

For some reason I have really bad luck with shrimp So I dont have any...


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

bee, bumble bee, ninja are so hard to tell apart. Pises, any help on the difference?


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## thaerin (Dec 12, 2004)

http://www.petshrimp.com/index.html
Pretty darn good shrimp site


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I have Amano's and CR's. I picked up some Crystal Reds last summer in Denver, but haven't seen them for months, so I think I can safely assume they are no longer around.

I really think the Amano's are like dogs running around in the tank. They pick everything up and have to chew on it. It was a rubberband a few weeks ago. It's getting bad when I catch myself talking to them, saying things like "don't eat that....". LOL!


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## Erirku (Oct 5, 2004)

I have some crystal reds, and cherrys, but they aren't breeding in the tank because its small. Can't wait to get my 6 gallon from aquarium plants. So that'll give'em alot of room.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Thaerin, you can fit some Amanos in a 20.


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## Rob G (Oct 19, 2004)

Amanos and cherry shrimp here - I would like to keep tiger shrimp and crystal reds in the future.;-)


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Lots of great shrimp in APC tanks it seems! That is nice to hear  

I would like to avoid doing any identifications/descriptions of shrimp for the time being because I've read that some changes are being made to the scientific names, etc. I think that maybe I'll say something and have to stick my foot in my mouth! I would look personally to Asia for descriptions and identifications, although in many cases we have the importers naming and identifying shrimp any way they wish to sell them. There really isn't a whole lot of info at this point in time about shrimp.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Got myself 6 Crystal Reds at the Raleigh auction today [smilie=b:


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## John P. (Nov 24, 2004)




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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Very nice, John P! 

YAYYYYYY Trena!!!!!! Glad you got them! When did they hit the auction block and may I ask what you paid? Was there anyone left still there?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

After you left we took another break, I looked around some more and found 3-4 bags of Crystal reds. I paid $20 for 6 at around 4:30pm and we left at 5pm. Yes, there was some people left but the crowd had thinned out a bit.


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

Amanos and cherries (2 females, 1 pregnant). Tomorrow night i trade some mosses for some Hawaiian Reds adn black Crystal shrimp. I'm so excited.....and I just can't hide it.....!


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

How cool is that -- good luck with them, Dennis!


That's a great deal, Trenac!


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## John P. (Nov 24, 2004)

Piscesgirl said:


> Very nice, John P!


Thanks! I just noticed that my Bee Shrimp (the one in focus on the top photo) is now carrying crimson-colored eggs. This wil be cool!


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Excellent! Pictures when the babies arrive, please!


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## richy (Nov 8, 2004)

i have 2 tigers, several amanos, some rainbow shrimp (ninja?), and some that i'm not sure i know how to identify. waiting to get a digicam to take some pics, but at present, no pics. one female amano is pregnant (round 2). first batch died cuz i didn't know how to take care of them. i don't know if i will try again. i've heard they are quite hard to raise from larvae to mini-amanos.


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

Yes, they need brackinsh or salt water conditions with in a couple days of hatching to develope, or they die

Also, got my shrimps tonight the Hawaiian Reds are cute little buggers, very tiny and inquisitive witha nice swimming pattern and interesting body shape. The black crystals, not that black, look sort of like tiny amanos. Neat though non-the-less Aparently, the carrying cherry I have should release the eggs soon. I got her from the same person as the new shrimp adn he thought they "layed" their eggs shortly after they turned big and yellow. Anyway...we'll see.



richy said:


> i have 2 tigers, several amanos, some rainbow shrimp (ninja?), and some that i'm not sure i know how to identify. waiting to get a digicam to take some pics, but at present, no pics. one female amano is pregnant (round 2). first batch died cuz i didn't know how to take care of them. i don't know if i will try again. i've heard they are quite hard to raise from larvae to mini-amanos.


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## ragn4rok (Jan 23, 2005)

I have hundreds of Taiwan shrimps + 20 red crystal + 1 red cherry + 5 Attyopsis mollucencis


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Ragn4Rok - -what do the "Taiwan" shrimps look like? Do you have pictures to show?


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## ragn4rok (Jan 23, 2005)

My "Taiwan" shrimps...


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Very cool - thanks for sharing! Are they a good algae eating shrimp?


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## ragn4rok (Jan 23, 2005)

yes...  they are very active algae eating shrimps...


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

I have my Cherry, amano, and an interesting Cherry-malayan hybrid.


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## thaerin (Dec 12, 2004)

Hundreds of the lil Taiwan buggers you say? :smile: Do you happen to need all the lil guys or could u spare some?


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

uh oh, Gomer - a hybrid? Would you post a picture?


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## ragn4rok (Jan 23, 2005)

My Taiwan shrimps breed likes rabbit Thaerin...  In Indonesia, they are very cheap... 1 US $ = 20 shrimps....

Sorry if my English is bad...


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

I've had, at one point or other, the following:

Amano shrimp (C. japonica)
Cherry red shrimp
Malayan shrimp
Tiger shrimp
Bumble bee shrimp
Crystal red shrimp
Blue shrimp
Rainbow shrimp
Bee shrimp (looked exactly like the one in JohnP's first photo)
Unknown shrimp
Bijillion seed shrimp (ostracods) that I totally despise

Did I manage to get any offspring EVER??? NO! Actually, I did keep a batch of Amano shrimp larvae alive for about six weeks. Started off with an estimated 400+, and by the fourth week, only a handful were left. Neglected them after that and they all died. 

I had bumble bees and tigers turn up with eggs, but they all got dropped in the first few days. Never even got cherry reds (in numerous attempts) to berry. There must be something in my water that's effectively acting as shrimp birth control  . 

At the moment, I have Amano and Malayan shrimp that are both proving to be indestructible, some cherry shrimp I got from a friend (that again won't breed for me) and a single tiger shrimp that I got a little over a month ago. Since my first tiger shrimp (almost two years ago), they've been my favorites of the little guys. But Amano shrimp are definitely the best for algae control. I occasionally harvest thread algae from my other tanks and put it in the tanks with the Amano shrimp. They're awesome.

-Naomi


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

Why is it that every time I write the word "Amano" it gets underlined and made into a link? :?

-Naomi


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Hi Naomi -- it's a new feature at APC, certain key words will turn into links that provide more information on the subject.


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

Oh, okay. Thanks. 

Also, whenever I get an e-mail notification that there's a new post in this particular forum, and I click on the link provided, it gives me a "page not found" error thingie. Is anybody else here having this problem? Sorry I'm posting this here, but it does only seem to be with things that are in the shrimp forum (as far as I can tell). Or maybe it's just me.

-Naomi


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## thaerin (Dec 12, 2004)

gnome said:


> Oh, okay. Thanks.
> 
> Also, whenever I get an e-mail notification that there's a new post in this particular forum, and I click on the link provided, it gives me a "page not found" error thingie. Is anybody else here having this problem? Sorry I'm posting this here, but it does only seem to be with things that are in the shrimp forum (as far as I can tell). Or maybe it's just me.
> 
> -Naomi


Nope, not just you. Trenac and I are having the same problem. Art's been doing some search engine optimization on the site, he's working on fixing it. Just have to be patient =) In the mean time, I find that if you delete the last portion, &goto=newpost , and then hit enter the link works fine.


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## Porkchop (Mar 1, 2005)

I just got into the shrimp biz recently, and I now have 30+ red cherries and tigers. Still looking for the Green Shrimp.

BTW, Piscesgirl, shrimp are friends, but they are unfortunately very tasty too. (sorry)

Jim


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

thaerin said:


> Nope, not just you. Trenac and I are having the same problem. Art's been doing some search engine optimization on the site, he's working on fixing it. Just have to be patient =) In the mean time, I find that if you delete the last portion, &goto=newpost , and then hit enter the link works fine.


Ah, okay. Thanks! BTW, same thing happens when I click on "last page" on the post topic thingie. Do I make sense? You know - where they list the posts and it says "page 1, 2... last page" and you can click on the numbers or where it says "last page?"

Anyway, sorry for going so off-topic. Here, to make up for it:

Wouldn't it kick butt to have these guys:
http://www.transfish.de/garneleindonesienw.jpg
http://www.transfish.de/garneleindosien.jpg

-Naomi


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## thaerin (Dec 12, 2004)

Yep, I've got the same problem Naomi. It'll get fixed in due time *shrugs*


ohhh...those are pretty lil shrimps.

I've got Amanos now as well! =) Recent addition


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

Piscesgirl said:


> uh oh, Gomer - a hybrid? Would you post a picture?


 All of these below have cherry blood...I'll let you decide which is pure, which is hybrid...and to what extent


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Thanks for posting that picture, Gomer  The one towards the back -- what a funky shrimp! I like it, though. Pretty cool. 


Porkchop -- lot's of things taste good, but I avoid most of them  (I'm a vegetarian by the way).


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## SAWALLACE (Dec 24, 2004)

I only have 4 Amanos (I think) as of a few days ago. Cool little things. Will be getting more very soon.

The shrimp naomi pointed out (whatever they are) are very cool. I would pick them up if I came across them.

Bitten by shrimp bug!


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## jimjim (Jan 25, 2004)

*schrimps*

I've aparantly got several hundred Ghost shrimp. I went to feed my tanks this evening and noticed little things swimming around demolishing the fry food I feed a couple of shrimp in a holding tank. I put them in there about 3 weeks ago. Magnifing glass says mighty small shrimp. They do look weird tho. Differant than their parents, more eyeballs and legs..Jimjim


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## iris600 (Feb 12, 2004)

They got in some bee shrimp at my LFS! I brought home the last one, they should get more in two weeks (I asked them to reorder)... They breed readily in fresh water, right? I think I currently have over 20 cherry red babies, and four egg carrying females. Population explosion, between the CR's and the endlers, I'll be buried in months. 
It seems like everything is reproducing now, the chickens, geese, ducks are laying, my horse is pregnant and the baby has been moving around quite a bit, the stallions are getting quite full of it, and the college girl's hemlines are moving skywards. 
I think it's finally spring here in NY


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## spyder (Nov 30, 2004)

At last I've got my shrimp! As of last night I now have 9 Amano and 10 cherry reds. These guys are so fun to watch! When I first put the CR's in, a couple of Amano's came up to one of the CR's, and the way they were checking each other out made me think of dogs (although without the improper sniffing ;-) ).


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## Talonstorm (Feb 16, 2005)

I have 11 amanos and 5 cherry reds in my 29 gallon and 3-4 amanos in my 10 gallon. I love the little buggers! My mom came to visit recently and said "yuck, they look like little bugs crawling around in your tank, I don't see why you like them!". ](*,) 

I do seem to have trouble keeping the cherry reds around though. I had 5, then When I moved the tank I only found 1, and believe me, I got everyone out before siphoning the water out. So, I felt bad for the one, and bought him/her 4 buddies.

Tina


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## richy (Nov 8, 2004)

turtlehead said:


> bee, bumble bee, ninja are so hard to tell apart. Pises, any help on the difference?


bee and bumblebee shrimp have alternating black and white stripes. the difference between the two is that the bee shrimp has a white stripe starting at its head and the bumblebee has the black stripe as the starting stripe. crystal reds are derived from bee shrimp and will also have the white stripe on its head, and instead has red instead of black stripes.

high grade bee, bbee, and CRS will have very solid white stripes. lower grade specimens will be more clear/transparent.

not sure about ninjas.

hth.


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## Blinky (Mar 2, 2005)

Piscesgirl said:


> Hey folks! I'm interested in what shrimp you are keeping in your tanks. Tell me a little bit about them!


I keep Amanos in one tank, and have another tank devoted to Singapore bamboo shrimp (Atyopsis moluccensis). I really enjoy the filter feeders, they're fun to watch with loads of personality. The Amanos are hillarious, they steal food right out from under my barbs' noses


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## richy (Nov 8, 2004)

Blinky said:


> I keep Amanos in one tank, and have another tank devoted to Singapore bamboo shrimp (Atyopsis moluccensis). I really enjoy the filter feeders, they're fun to watch with loads of personality. The Amanos are hillarious, they steal food right out from under my barbs' noses


amanos can be very aggressive, and IME, are the most aggressive compared to other shrimp species. they will *bully* other shrimp in the same tank (no matter what species) and take their food. sometimes it looks as if they will make a meal out of the smaller shrimp. the females seem to have a more voracious appetite than the males, but then again females are larger in size as well.

i've also noticed that other shrimp will do the same thing. i have a species only tiger tank, and they attack eat other for food too. again, females are more aggressive. it's amusing to watch, but scary as well because it looks like they will hurt or kill each other for that little bit of food.


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## benigne (Apr 11, 2005)

I've got 4 Amano's shrimps&#8230; in fact I think I have 4 shrimps, because I haven't seen them for months&#8230; 
I originally introduced them in the tank when it was almost empty (only a few guppies waiting for their own tank), and I saw them all the time, I liked them a lot because they were moving everywhere in the tank, eating everything they could find (even pleco's meal); they did a wonderful job with algae
but it seems like they don't like Trichogaster leeri ! the guppies came to their tank, and I introduced my 3 T leeri&#8230; and now the only thing I see from time to time is the skin they leave when they grow (I don't remember the right word in english), so I think they're still alive, but I'm not sure; also, after not seeing one for months, I saw one 2 months ago, for 2 minutes&#8230; it just crossed the tank and disappeared

has anyone an explanation to this ? I loved to see them, I hope they haven't been the snack of a fish&#8230; :neutral:


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## Veneer (Jun 12, 2005)

richy said:


> amanos can be very aggressive, and IME, are the most aggressive compared to other shrimp species.


I beg to differ - many _Macrobrachium_ spp. can be much more belligerent than _C. japonicum_ (to the extent of clearing setups of all tankmates within a matter of days): an aggression compounded by enormous size (up to 26 inches, including chelipeds, with _M. carcinus_ and the like).


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

You are correct, Veneer, of course, that Macrobrachium shrimp are much more aggressive; I think Richy was actually referring to algae eating shrimp specifically. I think sometimes we forget that there are 'other' shrimp out there, because algae eating shrimp are the ones most used in planted tanks at least for now.


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## FauxQuixote (May 14, 2006)

I've got four ghost shrimp in a five gallon tank. They keep it nice and clean for my two platies.


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