Cleaner Shrimp?

Question

I have a 10g fresh water fish tank. I have heard that cleaner shrimp really do clean your tank. I have an algea problem, and I am getting cleaner today, but other wise, I have not way of cleaning the gravel or the fake plants. Can cleaner shrimp live in freshwater?? are there any other fish,shrimp, or water creatures that you can buy at a pet store that clean your tank?

Answer 1

you can get red cherry shrimp that do eat algae but dont think it will do as good of a job as a few snails. There are some bottom dwelling cat fish that will clean up some of the waste material but the biggest mistake made by people is getting a pleco (sucker fish) many people at the fish store will tell you they will clean up the tank but in your size tank you have to realize they grow to 18inches. Not only that but the ammount of waste they produce is far greater than the algae and waste they consume so i feel they are counter productive. I feel your best bet would be a few snails and they will do the best job on the algae. Remember that its the aquarists job to clean a tank not the inhabitants of the tank so just cause you have snails or catfish or shrimp that are known to clean the tank you still have to keep up with your regular water changes. hope this helps and good luck with the tank.

Answer 2

Cleaner shrimp, snails, and some fish will eat some algae, but don't count on them eating all that's in your tank. There are some species of shrimp (like ghost shrimp) that live in freshwater and will pick at algae. Others are saltwater, so you'll need to get one that can live in your tank.

If you're having a lot of problems with algae, you may just need to clean your tank more often, or you might be overfeeding your fish. You should only give the fish enough food to last 2-3 minutes. If there's any left when the time is up, you should use a net to remove it. Don't feed them this amount more than 2 times each day.

When you clean, you should also use a gravel vacuum to get any of the old food and fish poo out of the gravel. All this has nutrients that act like fertilizer for the algae. And remember, that any fish, shrimp, or snails also eat and poo, so they only contribute more nutrients to the tank, so they aren't a "perfect" solution. The best way to avoid algae is to decrease the overall nutrients by not overfeeding, and changing 25% of the water every week, plus making sure the tank isn't getting too much light. Sunlight should never hit the tank (it also warms up the water), and if you have tank lights, only have them on for 8 hours or so each day. If you don't have live plants in the tank, you don't need to have them on at all - this just lets you see the fish better.

Answer 3

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RE:
Cleaner Shrimp?
I have a 10g fresh water fish tank. I have heard that cleaner shrimp really do clean your tank. I have an algea problem, and I am getting cleaner today, but other wise, I have not way of cleaning the gravel or the fake plants. Can cleaner shrimp live in freshwater?? are there any other fish,shrimp,...

Answer 4

Keep algae down with Cherry Shrimp and Yamano Shrimp or Olive Nerite Snails.

Answer 5

I dont know about cleaner shrimps, the ones I know are for saltwater tanks and they wont live in freshwater, but you can use snails they do this job too and dont have a problem with fish, you can also use a syphon and clean the grave before the algae becomes a big problem, good luck

Answer 6

Red Cherry Shrimp are a good, colorful, algae eating Shrimp. Ghost Shrimp will not really eat algae, but they will eat excess food. No living thing eats fish poop, so you will still have to vacuum your gravel weekly. To limit algae, only let your tank receive about 10 hours of light daily, keep it out of direct sunlight, don't overfeed, and vacuum the gravel weekly.

Nosoop4u

EDIT: Algae Eaters are terrible. They only eat algae when they are young. As adults, they reach about 8 inches and will suck the slime coat off of slow-moving fish, leading to infections and death.

Answer 7

I bought 5 ghost shrimp and 2 cherry shrimp and all but 2 of the ghost shrimp have been eaten. I would get a golden algae eater beacause they don't get very big at all. There's a picture of mine on my blog. www.the-rainbow-blog.blogspot.com

Answer 8

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Lenago is incorrect. They do clean fish, which is how they get the name "cleaner shrimp." They are scavengers too, and will also eat leftover foods. They will set up a cleaner station, where they spend most their time. If a fish has a parasite, bothersome scale, etc, it will swim up and brush against the cleaner's long antennae. This tells the shrimp the fish wants service. The shrimp will then reach out and pick at the fish with their numerous legs. Sometimes the shrimp will even climb onto the fish, or on larger fish it will even climb into the mouth to better clean the gills and teeth! Check your water chemistry, but a few months without a molt isn't terribly abnormal but you might be missing some needed trace elements for him to molt. Increased water changes will help regulate water chemistry.

Answer 9

sure, there are lots of shrimps which can live in fresh water.
but such a small tank... i'd rather you would keep shrimps alone in it. they are quite interesting creatures by themselves. no fake plants in this case, though.