Aquarium – Populating the tank – Shrimp

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Another new thing for me with this aquarium is shrimp. I hadn’t actually even thought about them until I was reading up on what some of the best algae eaters are for aquariums and several types of shrimp were mentioned, along with Trumpet snails. I found a local supplier, SKA Shrimps & Nature Aquariums, that I purchased many of my shrimp from. I also purchased a few from Francos Aquariums and I think two from Petland.

I started out by buying three Red Sakura Shrimp and three Fire Red Shrimp. These are very similar. The Red Sakura started slightly larger but lighter in color than the Fire Red. Honestly, I don’t think I an tell them apart now. One of the Red Sakura’s died early on, but I can’t really get a good count anymore to tell how many I have in total, even though they are the easiest shrimp to spot.

One bag with shrimp, The Fire Reds I think
The other bag with the Red Sakura
Checking out their new surroundings
Hanging out with a Zebra Nerite. There is a second shrimp on the bottom of the branch under the first shrimp.
Checking out some snacks with a Bristlenose Pleco
Hanging out in the leaves
Wandering around the plant roots
One of the favorite spots for a lot of the shrimp to hang out is in the moss in the planter on the side of the tank.
Joined by a friend
One swimming straight up, one checking out a snail, and one hanging out on a leaf.

After I had the original batch for awhile, I picked up two Crystal Red Shrimp as well as two Blue Neocardia shrimp.

Looking pretty pasty in the bag they came in.
Just waiting to get released to the quarantine tank
Having a chat on top of the Stargate

Once I put them in the big tank, it has been hard to get photos of the blue shrimp. They really blend into the background and even when I spot them the camera on the phone doesn’t seem to want to focus on them.

Moved into the big tank
I also picked up two yellow and two orange shrimp. Here is one of the yellows.
An orange shrimp sitting on a leaf.
A couple Neons checking out the orange shrimp
Heading for the moss clump

Along with the yellow and orange shrimp, I added a very dark red one, but I have the same problem with it as I do with the blue ones. It’s hard to spot and the camera doesn’t like to focus on it.

There is a red shrimp in this shot. But, I just like the way things are reflected in the water surface.

After having the tank going for two months, I added a few more shrimp. I actually ordered one crystal red and three crystal blacks, but things got mixed up and I got three reds and one black. The black one prompted disappeared and I assumed it died. The reds were interesting because they are actually quite easy to tell apart. One is primarily white compared to the others, one has a red tail and the other has a white tail. They started out much smaller than the other surviving crystal red.

A little blurry, but you can see that this one has a lot of white.
Strolling along the driftwood
This one has more red, it’s head is white and the tail is red with white tips.
A slightly better shot of the same shrimp
Again, kind of blurry, but you can see that the tail on this one is almost all white
A slightly better picture of the one with the white tail

After being completely out of sight and presumed dead for three weeks, the crystal black suddenly showed up and has been wandering around happily ever since.

Walking along the driftwood
Continuing the stroll along the driftwood
I suppose if the assassins snail could move a lot faster, it might try and eat a shrimp, but it can’t so they pretty much ignore each other.

I recently added two more black crystal shrimp, the two that got missed in my earlier order. They aren’t as shy as the first one was but haven’t managed to get a good photo of them yet and I’m not sure if they have any distinguishing features that will help me tell them apart. One was about the same size as the first one I got and the other was smaller, but likely won’t stay that way. I did get a video where you can see all three, the one on top of the chola wood is pretty clear, the other two are inside and a little harder to see.

Three crystal blacks on the chola wood.

I also picked up six amano shrimp when I got the crystal shrimp. These guys are great algae eaters. They are also really transparent, more active at night, and really hard to get photos of.

One of the few photos I managed to get of an amano. It’s pretty much dead center in the picture, you can see it has a few spots and a bit of a red streak but not much else for color.
An amano laying claim to a fish food pellet.
You can see four amanos in the rock waiting for the corys to get out of the way of the food.
An amano trying to wrestle a large fish food pellet away from the catfish

In total, I think I still have three red shrimp, one dark red, two blues, two yellows, two orange, four crystal reds, three crystal blacks and six amanos. I did manage to count five of the amanos at one time a couple days ago so pretty sure all six are still around. I lost one original red early on and 90% sure one of the original two crystal reds.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised on how quickly they can grow. They have been a fun addition to the tank and it’s fun to see how many I can find at any given time.

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