multiple shrimp species in 1 tank?

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boobiebutt

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I'm still fairly new to raising fish in general so I don't know a lot about raising shrimp but I would like to. I was wondering if it was possible to have multiple shrimp species, ghost shrimp/cherry shrimp/snow ball shrimp/etc, in 1 tank? Or do they all require different parameters or possibly fight each other?

Another question that's slightly off topic of invertebrates, but does anyone know anything about marimo, aka moss balls? I would like to consider having a few of these. I'll post the question about the marimo in the plant section of the forum if I don't get an answer about it from here. Here is a wiki link about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimo
 
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Blueiz

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Im not so sure about the shrimp, but Im sure someone will chime in with a more definitive answer. What I suggest doing is research on each individual shrimp and there needs and seeing what is compatible from there.

As far as the marimo balls. I know that its not a type of moss, but a type of algae. You have to keep them turned for them to keep there shape and i beleive they are medium to high light plants. Be careful when purchasing these as recently there have been reports of lfs's selling actual moss balls made of moss, not the true marimo moss balls.
 
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msjinkzd

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Different shrimp species CAN be housed together, but not snowballs and cherries as they are both neocaridina and can interbreed. You could have ghost shrimp with a single neocaridina species (snowball, cherry, yellow, blue pearl, etc) and also have a caridina species (dark green, bee, crystal red, etc). The determining factor for housing shrimp together is more tank parameters as the caridina shrimp are more particular about hardness and pH as well as temp than the neocaridina shrimp. You could also have amanos with either of the ones you asked about as well. If you have more specific compatability questions, ask away!
 
sed03f

sed03f

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I have heard that ghost shrimp will eat any young/dying/injured shrimp of all species. any neocardinia species should not be housed together so you dont get hybrids, from which I hear are infertile and most likely not very attractive. And Cardinia species shouldnt be kept together either to avoid hybrids, but one neocardinia and one cardinia species can be housed together and probably with anyother shrimp not of those two groups that fit the same living conditions.
 
DominionDesign

DominionDesign

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Here is a link to a shrimp compatibility chart:http://www.planetinverts.com/Shrimp-Chart3.jpg. I would be remiss not to remind at this point to THOROUGHLY research any online retailers you may consider buying from. Feel free to PM for explanation. There is some great info and pics here though.
 
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Que

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Nice chart. In my experience Amano/Japonica shrimp can go together with shrimp as small as Red Cherry shrimp but you can expect the RCS to become an occasional snack. I'm not sure if the RCS were dead to begin with. I have only seen this a few times but my RCS breed so much it's not a problem.

Q
 
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boobiebutt

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Thanks for all the replies about the shrimps. I only pondered up the question due to me exploring members 'for sale' links in their signatures. I would most likely purchase them from fellow members here rather then a LFS, mostly because I only have Petco and Pet'smart by me and they have teenagers that don't know anything.

I will look into the links you guys have provided me during this week as I'm currently swamped with schoolwork. If I got more questions, I'll post them here again. Thanks everyone again. =)
 
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boobiebutt

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I'm curious is the ghost shrimp and the amano the same? What are the difference because they pretty much look the same to me. I looked through the links provided and I think I would like a mixture of blue pearl/dark green/ghost or amano. Any thoughts? And apparently with this other compatibility chart I found, it seems that ghost shrimp might have a tendency to eat smaller/sick species as sed03f stated (http://www.theshrimpfarm.com/dwarf_shrimp_compatibility_chart.shtml). Would amano be a safer choice since ghost and amano look alike?

Also I believe I read somewhere on this forum that the shrimp/gallon ratio is about 10 shrimp/1 gallon. Would having 10 of each species in a 3 gallon nano tank be too crowded? Do they breed like crazy requiring me to upgrade to a larger tank? I don't have much room for another large tank. So if they do breed like mad I would get 5 of each instead so even if they reproduce I can manage.
 
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msjinkzd

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Would having 10 of each species in a 3 gallon nano tank be too crowded? Do they breed like crazy requiring me to upgrade to a larger tank?
Click to expand...
Yes
I would leave plenty of room. The blue pearls breed very quickly. Amano do not produce viable young in freshwater. The dark greens are VERY slow growing but will produce babies over time.

Amano and ghost shrimp are different species. Amano shrimp are algae eating shrimp. Ghost shrimp are scavengers commonly sold as feeders. If it was my choice, I would choose the amano.
 
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