# Shrimp for planted tank... Who's the workhorse of the bunch?



## jons4real

I;m thinking about adding shrimp to my tank but theres more than one to pick from. that means I actually have to choose,lol. So whats the most beneficial shrimp to add to my tank. I want shrimp that will not just look good but will also not destroy my heavily planted tank and will actually do some kind of maintenance like eat algae. Well I think they all look good so which shrimp do the best job of eating algae if any and will not eat plants.


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## Scuff

I've always had really good luck with Amano Shrimp (Caridina japonica) in my planted tanks. They don't bother plants at all, they don't get large, and are moderately hardy.


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## Cole

I've only had Red Cherry Shrimp. I've found that they only eat algae when it gets fairly long, they don't scrape it completely off. But, they're hardy, breed like crazy, and I like the color.

Oh, and they don't eat plants. They clean them off.


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## mk4gti

Yeah the amano shrimp work really well, i have i think 7 or 8 in my 90 gallon tank. They will never reproduce becuse they do so in brackishwater so you wont end up with a ton of them. They are straight work horses and they are too big for most community fish to eat.


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## NursePlaty

*I would go with Red Cherry Shrimps if you are new with dwarf shrimps. They are the hardiest shrimps. They still need pristine water though. Cycled water is a must. Same with no ammonia, no nitrite, and very little nitrate or none if possible.*


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## Big Dog

I have a ton of cherry shrimp and I like them alot. They sure do have lots of little babys which is cool.


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## mk4gti

If you have a big tank with decent sized fish they are going to eat cherry shrimp. Amano shrimp are really the only option if you dont want them becoming food.


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## Big Dog

That is true. I'm working on a 120 shrimp only tank. I hope to be done with mine by the end of January of 2011.


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## NursePlaty

Big Dog said:


> That is true. I'm working on a 120 shrimp only tank. I hope to be done with mine by the end of January of 2011.


*Thats a big shrimp tank lol*


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## Big Dog

I like to think big and I like big Toys. As my wife would say. *surfing: super-bear:


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## mk4gti

The guy that i bought my 90 gallon from had it as a shrimp only tank and used it to bread panda shrimp.


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## jrman83

Holy crap! So what is considered a fully stocked tank for a shrimp only 120 gallon tank? 200? 3?


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## jrman83

mk4gti said:


> If you have a big tank with decent sized fish they are going to eat cherry shrimp. Amano shrimp are really the only option if you dont want them becoming food.


Why is that? Does the color trigger a reaction from the fish?


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## jons4real

How many shrimp could a planted 75 hold ?


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## mk4gti

Amano shrimp just get much larger, i have ones in my 90 gallon that are bigger than tiger barbs. Cherry shrimp would become instant food in my 90 gallon, i tried to put some fully grown RCS in my 20 gallon with a black widow who is only about 1.5 inches and well, lets take a look at the photograph.... keep in mind that tetra is fairly small.


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## jrman83

LOL, he looks like he is looking for where you put the cocktail sauce. Cool pic.


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## mk4gti

Lol what happend was my girls colony was getting too big so i took some of her larger RCS figuring they would do fine in a 20 gallon with the larges fish being that black widow. Turns out, that black widow has expnesive taste, once i saw this i first took a picture becuase i thought the red handed evidences was kinda funny and second i had to remove the rest and retank them


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