# should I get shrimp?



## Whitney (Oct 23, 2006)

Hi all,

I'm looking to get some cleaners for my tank.....I'm beginning to get some brown algae here and there and I had been thinking about a pleco....but I've been reading that shrimp are great algae eaters. My LFS carries both red cherry and ghost shrimp. I currently have 3 diamond tetras, 6 harlequin rasboras, and one German Blue Ram in my 30 gallon tank.....do you think that the shrimp will be better for cleaning up my algae than plecos? Will they get eaten? Finally...how likely is it that they will crawl out of the tank?

My LFS also carries wood shrimp....they look very cool....do they do much to filter out floating food particles and help keep the tank clean? 

Thanks...I appreciate all your ideas.


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## Zoe (Feb 26, 2006)

Shrimp help clean the tank, but they don't clean the brown 'algae' which are diatomes. Algae-eating shrimp such as amano shrimp will eat hair algae and other forms of algae (not BBA). Shrimp like cherry and ghost pick through plants and sand to find bits they want to eat (not algae, though). Fan shrimp / rock shrimp / bamboo shrimp use their "fan"hands to catch particles floating by (again, not algae).
But shrimp are great! I suggest a cleaning 'crew' containing a bristle nose plecco, 4 or 5 oto cats, a group of cherry shrimp, ghost shrimp, amano shrimp, and a few rock shrimp. They all help the tank by transforming food matter, so it does not decay into ammonia. The otos and the amano shrimp will help with the algae, but you should still supplement their diets with semolina pellets, zucchini, etc.


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## RazorDX (Nov 7, 2006)

I put about 5 feeder ghost shrimp in my 10g a while ago. There is only one now (some have been put into other tanks, some died). 

They do a good job of cleaning up excess food. I try to have at least one in all of my tanks (with the exception of the "fry tank"). For 12 cents you can't go wrong. There is a possibility of "diseased" shrimp when you buy feeders, but I haven't heard any horror stories about feeder shrimp. Goldfish on the other hand...


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## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

Best thing for brown diatoms other than manual removal is otos. They love the stuff.


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