potential shrimp-keeper looking to learn a thing or two.

Z

zennerz

New member
So, let me just start off with saying that I know nothing about keeping tanks/fish/shrimp, etc. I've never even had a gold fish. However, I have kept land hermit crabs for about 2 years now (I have 8 small-medium purple pinchers in 20 gallon, but there's never more than 3 or 4 up at any given time).


I will be perfectly honest; my fascination with keeping fish at all (or shrimp) started when I was at the local petco looking for new shells for my hermit crabs and I saw the fire shrimp they kept there. Saw them, fell in love, had to have them. However, having been burned by Petco before in proper pet maintenance (seriously it's like their job is to kill your crabs...) before, I wanted to gather as much information as possible before buying anything, as I take pet ownership very seriously. My crabs are as well cared for as my show horse (and both are 30+ year commitments... Assuming molting or colic doesn't get to them first). So this wouldn't be some little throw away project, but I really want to know what kind of commitment I'd be looking into making before I start anything.

Also I have horrible insomnia and I'm hoping having a tank with shrimp and fish will help me out.

I was talking to a friend of mine, and she suggested starting out with Red Cherry Shrimp rather than the Fire Shrimp, because apparently freshwater is easier than saltwater, and they're less aggressive then the Fire Shrimp. Also they're hardy (apparently), as I don't want something that will go into shock if something in the tank goes wonky while I'm still learning.

While I'm doing a bit of research on my own, most of it is pet store sites which I don't trust at all after my experience with what they deem to be "proper hermit crab care", I also want to get information from the people who've raised them themselves.

I'd like to get some fish to go with it as well (Open to breeds, but the hardier the better... I like to avoid killing my pets when possible), but my main focus is on the shrimp.

So my main questions would be;

What size tank would I need

Would I need any filters/etc

Would the shrimp totally take care of tank cleaning, or would I need to do some myself?

Do they have any specific gravel needs (molting or whatever) or will just anything do

Best fish species that are compatible?

Other shrimp types that would get along?

While I've read they breed almost constantly, what would I be able to do with the babies? Hermit crabs don't breed in captivity (at least my set up is not elaborate for them too, and the babies have yet make it even with the hardcore crabkeepers) so I've never had to deal with the situation. Can I sell them?


Thank you for your time and any and all information shared~
 
Shrimp are very fun and can be reasonably easy. You seem to be serious and looking to learn. Here is my two cents. First decision is salt or fresh water.

Salt - more expensive and more learning curve but opens the door to endless opportunities for creating an underwater ecosystem.

Fresh - cheaper and less of a learning curve. IMO not as many opportunities to learn and grow, however there are some very neat freshwater shrimp and underwater plants and moss to keep with them.

What is more appealing to you, the process and learning, or the final product you can watch?
 
As I'm still an at-home college student and possibly moving when I've finished my 2 year at community, right now I want to keep it something light that can be moved with relative ease when ever I go to wherever it is I'm finishing my 4 year at. I think for now I want to stick with freshwater to get my feet wet with having tanks, etc. Once I'm out on my own I can begin setting up a more intricate tank.

I was thinking of getting another 20 gallon to start with, but I may go to a 40 depending on how elaborate I want my plans/how much space is required to be with setting up this first tank
 
Sounds like a good idea. If shrimp is your thing you can go small with the tank even a five or ten gallon but that limits what fish you can keep if you're planning on that.

Keep an eye on forums and Craigslist and buy used. You'll save a TON of money.

Make your first goal to learn and understand the nitrogen cycle. That will get you off to a good start and make sure you don't end up killing off your livestock right away. Good luck!
 
thanks for the tip! And yes, I'll probably go with a larger tank just because I'd like to have some different fish species in there as well, it will just be a matter of finding some that will all get along, and go with the shrimp. I definitely don't trust the pet stores, haha. It's not the employee's faults 80% of the time, but they are not properly trained.
 
I've kept red cherry shrimp. They are very fun and very easy to keep. They do breed constantly once established. For me, it was no problem as the ones I had were bright red and my LFS offered me $1 each for them... so I would just occasionally scoop some out and sell them to the LFS.

The drawback to the red cherry (and most any freshwater shrimp) is that since they are so small pretty much all freshwater fish will eat them. Only the smallest, non-aggressive fish will leave them alone.

Saltwater is more expensive and a little more difficult, but there are way more possibilities and way more compatible fish. Since you take ownership seriously and you already found the best source of info (this site) - you should be fine going saltwater... Just read, read, read! Also, I don't think most of the saltwater shrimp breed as readily as the freshwater shrimp.
 
Judging by what the OP posted, I'm assuming that he/she is going for a freshwater red cherry tank.

I would recommend a shrimp bowl, it's usually very small and easy to move. theplantedtank forum would have more information on this. You would only have shrimp in the bowl though. Alternatively, you could have a 10 gallon aquarium, and stock it with fish like pygmy corydoras (Corydoras pygmaeus) and Burmese gold ring danios (D. tinwini). That is how my tank is setup. The cherry shrimp will also need plants.

If I'm wrong and the OP wants a saltwater tank, then somebody else should chime in.
 
I would really recommend the following site for shrimp, when I had a tank of Red Cherry Shrimp they looked fantastic from them.

http://www.theshrimpfarm.com/

The shrimp seemed to love the food they sell too. I had around 20 or so in a 10G tank. They were easy to breed and people always wanted to buy them.
 
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