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Which Shrimp ?


Sparky

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Ok two months ago I bought my first betta..., three tanks later and I'm in the process of setting up my first planted tank which is now cycling. In the numerous trips to the lfs these little shrimp have cought my eye.

So I've decided to invest in one and see how we get along they have Ghost / Bamboo / amano my tank has many hiding places and is currently sitting at 26 Degrees ( waiting for a heater to arrive ideal temp I'm aiming for is 28 ) I would like the shrimp to take care of any algae that might develop... so which one would people recommend? Eventually he will share the planted tank with a male betta.

One other quick question is should one quarantine a shrimp? if so for how long and would it be ok to use my hospital tank with a moss ball??

Im also thinking that the biological load from a shrimp cant be to high so would it matter if he went in the tank before its fully cycled?

(I think most of the questions are community related so I hope I'm ok posting in this forum sorry if I'm not Bigfish!)

Im still quite new to this so any advice is welcome,

Thanks,

Sparky

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I was under the impression that the Glass shrimp... which I think your lfs has named Ghost shrimp... were the best at cleaning up the algae. But they're also the hardest to see. Those lovely red or striped shrimp would be nicer to watch if money were no obstacle. If you get a mixture they'll probably interbreed and wind up some dull colour.

Are you planning on investing in more than one? I don't think you'll ever see just one. He'll vanish into the undergrowth and never come out and won't be able to keep up with the algae.

The see-thru shrimps should only cost around $1 each while the other non-fancy ones should be around $4-$10 each, so it's not much of an investment. Maybe start with say 10 Glass/Ghost shrimp and see how they go. That way if the conditions aren't right and they all die, you've still got some $$ in your pocket.

In large numbers they will add to the bioload of the tank but 10 will hardly have any impact.

A planted tank should cycle fairly quickly, but I would quarantine them for at least a week, and give the cycle more of a chance to establish. They love to cling to moss, but feed them algae wafers or something as well in an empty hospital tank. And when you're moving them from the bag to the quarantine tank set up a drip line to adjust them to the new water slowly then after an hour scoop them out and add them to the quarantine tank, same when you move them from the quarantine tank to your planted tank.

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