Shrimp Advice

Hmmm, tricky one. There is someone on another forum asking something very similar (shrimps, 15 litre biorb life - it's not you is it  ) and the replies on there are to get a different tank (not applicable in your case as you already have it) and a comment from someone who has the larger one saying he's not sure how shrimps would cope, he wonders if they'd get stuck in the filter.

But for shrimps in general -
Red cherry shimps are one of the hardiest, colourful shrimps. They like temps between 21 and 27 deg C.
You shouldn't keep different colour morphs of the same species or you'll end up with hybrid colours, most likely brown. Cherry shrimps do come in different colours such as red, yellow, orange; rili shrimps are the same species. Then there's the crystal shrimps - I've come across red and black, tiger shrimps are another colour of these. Check out what species any shrimp is before mixing them - this is a useful site.
Most shrimps do eat algae but I also feed mine on Hikari shrimp cuisine. I crush the pellets a bit so the babies can get some.
Shrimps like hiding places as they have to shed their skins to grow. Even though there won't be any fish to eat them in this vulnerable stage they will still prefer somewhere to hide while the new skin hardens. Either live plants (the kind fastened to decor in a biorb) or fake plants with lots of small leaves.

You could try the TSS, but bear in mind that shrimps are more sensitive to ammonia and nitrite than fish are, so you'd need to make sure the biorb was well and truly free of them before adding shrimps.

Cherry shrimps are plain red - well at least the females are, the males can be paler. The red and white stripey ones are red crystal and the black and white stripey ones are black crystal, both of which are less hardy than cherries. There are bigger shrimps too, but as they are grey, I didn't mention the plain grey glass/ghost shrimps or the grey with brown dots (male) or dashes (female) down their sides amanos. If you didn't mind the lack of colour, amanos would cope with the filtration system.

Amanos can't breed in freshwater. The females get berried (that just means carrying eggs under the abdomen) and the eggs do vanish to be replaced by new ones but the larvae need salt water to develop so they die in our fresh water tanks. These shrimps live in estuaries, the larvae get swept down to the salty area at the river mouth then swim back upstream when they have matured.

I haven't a clue about ghost/glass shrimps 

The others can and do breed in our tanks, the limiting factor being the number and size of fish in with them. With no fish, you could have quite a shrimp colony. My cherries share a tank with pygmy cories and sundadanios which are all very small and I have to rescue babies from the bucket at every water change. These shrimps do not go through a larval stage, the newly hatched babies are miniature adults.


The biorb life is a different shape from the standard one but I think all the biorbs, whatever shape, use the same filtration method don't they? It's the filter that people on 'the other forum' were worried about.

I have a male and female Amano shrimp and the female is particularly large (affectionately known as shrimpzilla in our household). It's actually larger than a fair few of our fish and probably about comparable in general size to a Platy. The male was significantly smaller when I got it and did find it's way into the filter for a while, but since I've retrieved it it hasn't gone back and I think it is now too large. They definitely don't have the more striking colouration of the Cherry varieties but still have a nice patterning to them.

I've had a look on the internet, as it's not clear from looking at the thing what happens with the water flow. But it turns out It's like a conventional under gravel. So the water, and sometimes creatures, gets sucked downwards through the gravel.
I had this crazy idea I would join the biorb forum to see if anyone had any tips, you know, from someone who actually gas one. You can't view the forum unless you are registered. And you can't register without extreme difficulty. I mean it's harder than registering for online banking!
Anyway, I think I'm in, just need to wait for a real person to email me.

Yes, they seem like real characters. Now starting to think I should just get some for the aqua nano.

I didn't know that biorbs still work if you used pea gravel. I'll file that away for future reference  Pea gravel is what the original under gravel filters used. Vast surface area for bacteria to grow on. Having seen baby shrimps in action, they do jump out of the way if anything threatens them. They should be capable of keeping out of harm on pea gravel. I understand the biorb rocks are quite big, and I could see even adult shrimps getting themselves wedged in those.

However shrimps don't see a looming siphon tube as a threat, only if it touches them. I suck up around half a dozen shrimps at each water change ranging from tiny babies to adults. If you do get shrimp, always check the bucket before throwing the old water away. I go through it with a jug to make sure as baby cherry shrimps are too small to see at the bottom of a bucket of water 

Hi Puffin
I have a 60lte biorb with 7 platies and 3 ghost shrimp in it and the shrimp are doing fine. I did lose a couple when it was cycling but that was because of water quality, not the filter. They actually seem to like the large substrate in the biorb and they bury themselves in it when they want to hide/shed. I've never had any end up in the filter either but possibly because it's well planted and a bigger tank than the baby orb so can't guarantee it won't happen.

Be careful with the heater you choose though - I've read some horror stories about them being so hard to control that they have 'cooked' fish in the baby orb. My tank is unheated and the ghost shrimp are thriving (house is centrally heated and I keep it warm so may/may not need one for the winter though)

Yay, that came out right way up, I'll try some more...

Ok, thanks Sue. More of the same and a heater, it is then.

i knew i wanted shrimp before i even got the tank and i dont regret them at all , i love to watch them up to naughty little things scampering around everywere but yes it is a scary thing when see the empty shell i still have the same reaction as you , i think they do it on purpose.