The best freshwater aquarium shrimps for beginners that you can add to your tank successfully. Also get shrimp care tips that will help you keep healthy shrimps and not create havoc in your tank.
Freshwater Aquarium Shrimps
There are different types of freshwater shrimps to choose from. This list contains some of the shrimps I have interacted with over the years. Many of these types are also great for beginner shrimp keepers since they are low maintenance.
Caridina Shrimps
The Caridina or Neocaridina genus of shrimp are generally considered to be the best choice for beginning shrimp keepers.
They are hardy, inexpensive, readily available, and quite easy to care for. There is also a wide variety of color morphs available in this genus.
Caridinas are prolific breeders, provided they are maintained properly. This means that they must be kept in clean water with proper food and light.
The shrimp-keepers will have to separate the parents from their offspring (known as “the little ones”) after just a few months.
The first thing you need to know is not all Caridinas stay small. Some of the most popular species like Crystal Red, Sakura Fire Red, and Blue Velvet grow to an adult length of around 4 inches. That is just about the same size as Neon Tetras!
So, if you are planning on keeping your shrimp in a small tank without any other fish, then this shouldn’t be much of a problem. However, if you are keeping your shrimp in a community tank with all sorts of other fish, then this will cause some problems.
Some fish keepers try to keep these large types of shrimp and other fish together. The majority of them report that their shrimps were killed by their fish-tank mates.
Although not frequent, some large tanks were completely decimated by hungry fish and all the shrimp eaten.
So, if you plan on keeping your shrimp in a community tank with other fish, you will need to think carefully about what types of fish you add to the aquarium. If you do decide that these larger shrimps are not right for you, then it is time to take a look at some of your other options.
Amano And Ghost Shrimps
The next group of shrimps that are generally considered to be good choices for the beginner is the Amano Shrimp and Ghost Shrimp.
The reason why these are often recommended as starter shrimp is that they are fairly inexpensive, very easy to breed, fairly small in size, very peaceful, and they stay out of the way during feedings.
Amano Shrimps
Amano shrimps are also an attractive choice because they come in many different color morphs. Amanos are fairly popular with shrimp hobbyists because they can be kept in smaller tanks (my personal experience tells me that I wouldn’t go any smaller than a 10 gallon).
These shrimps are often kept in smaller tanks because they don’t seem to bother the plants, either. However, Amano Shrimp are one step up from community tank shrimp because they can be a bit nippy towards fish fry.
Amanos also has another drawback that beginners should be aware of: they are poor jumpers! Amano shrimp are notorious for being able to jump out of tanks, so you will have to take precautions.
This can be done by creating a barrier around the outside of their tank or using a cover with very small air holes. Amano shrimp are very good swimmers and often find themselves on the other side of such barriers.
Ghost Shrimps
Ghost Shrimp, or “Glass Shrimp” as they are commonly called, are another popular choice for a community tank. The only time that they become nippy is when one of their own kind is attacked by a fish.
If you keep them in a well-planted aquarium with lots of hiding places, then this should not be too much of a problem. There are also many color morphs available in this species.
Red Cherry Shrimps
The next shrimp choice is probably the most popular for many beginning hobbyists, and that is the Red Cherry Shrimp.
Like Amano Shrimp, these shrimps can be kept in smaller tanks because they don’t bother plants or fish. They are also very easy to breed, which makes them a favorite with many shrimp hobbyists.
These little shrimps are also being bred in just about every color imaginable, which makes them even more attractive to the first-time aquarist. This species of shrimp is very hardy and can withstand a wide range of water conditions.
They are considered to be one of the easiest aquarium inhabitants for beginners because they are extremely forgiving of any mistakes made by the aquarist.
Blue Velvet Shrimps
Second, only to the Red Cherry Shrimp is another very popular choice for beginner shrimp hobbyists, and that is the Blue Velvet Shrimp.
They can be fairly difficult to find at local pet shops because they are not as readily available as some other types of shrimp. This species is also considered to be fairly delicate, so the newcomer needs to find the water quality up.
They are also another shrimp that is sensitive to sudden changes in pH and temperature; this means that you will need to make slow changes when your tank needs them.
A final note about the Blue Velvet Shrimp: they like to eat small snails, so if you decide to get one of these shrimps you might want to remove any snails that are in your tank. Snails can potentially be a problem for this species.
Freshwater Shrimps Care Tips:
If you plan on keeping more than one male of an Amano or Red Cherry Shrimp species, then they will become nippy towards each other once the mating season begins. It is best to keep only one male per tank when they are being kept in a community tank with fish.
If you have a big enough aquarium, then it might be OK to have a couple of males during the non-mating seasons, but I would still recommend housing them separately during the breeding season.
This is also the case for shrimp of the aforementioned species that are kept together in a smaller tank with fish. It all depends on how many shrimps you have and what your stocking level is.
If you keep them in an under-stocked/over-filtered situation, then they may be fine with each other, but that can be a recipe for disaster if you keep them in an over-stocked/under-filtered situation.
Freshwater Aquarium Shrimps
Shrimps are always a great addition to any aquarium. They are available in all colors and sizes and add a lot of interest to the tank.
However, proper care is required if they are to grow healthy and not bring havoc to the aquarium. I hope this post on freshwater aquarium shrimps gave you some ideas on shrimps that you can get. Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest for more on shrimp keeping.
