Take an hour or longer and use a slow drip acclimation. You will need to periodically add an iodine supplement to the water because they use iodine in building their new exo-skeleton.Ī cleaner shrimp that actually does a decent job of keeping tank mates clean.Ĭare Level : Easy, needs to be slowly acclimated to the tank. Look around the tank and if you see that the shrimp is indeed still alive, then what you're looking at is the exo-skeleton that they shed every once in a while. It's recommended to acclimate them to your aquarium water over a period of an hour or more to avoid pH shock.ĭon't be alarmed if you look in your tank one day and see what appears to be a dead shrimp. The Skunk shrimp is usually very hardy if they have been acclimated slowly. They may even take flake foods once they realize they can eat flakes. You just need to ensure that they are getting their fair share. This shrimp should do fine if you want to keep them in multiples but they should not be kept with more aggressive fish species such as Hawkfish, Lionfish and Triggerfish who may go after them.įeeding them is relatively easy because they will eat nearly any meaty type of fish food that you put in the tank. They will probe all over the fish, along the gills and sometimes even inside the mouth of the fish removing the parasites and dead tissues. What exactly are they cleaning you may be wondering? Well, they are looking for small parasites (i.e. These shrimps will setup a cleaning station on top of a section of the live rock and will wave their antennaes until a larger fish stops by and they commence their cleaning tasks. We have listed the top five freshwater shrimp species you should be considering for your aquarium below.The Skunk Cleaner Shrimp is probably the most sought after of the common cleaner shrimps simply because it really does clean fish. The Best Cleaner Shrimp For Freshwater Tanksįreshwater shrimp come in many different species, but some are better suited to aquarium life than others, and some are more readily available in the aquarium trade than others. You should know this genus prefers water that is a little on the acidic side (6.0-7.6), so you’ll have to choose which fish species to keep with it. They are an excellent addition to peaceful freshwater tanks. Shrimp like eating algae, detritus, and any food that floats their way. The Bee Shrimp has contrast bands of white, black, and brown instead of red and white. These shrimp are known as Bee Shrimp because they were born without the color mutation. The price of shrimp with very stark white bands tends to be higher. According to the brightness of the red and white bands, the turtles are sorted into grades. The freshwater Red Crystal Shrimp (Caridina sp.) stands in stark contrast to the transparent Ghost Shrimp. Shrimp like these are easy to find because they have been bred in captivity. However, they still add much peace to a reef system even if they are unsuitable for parasite control. There is a reputation for them managing Aiptasia, common anemones that grow like weeds in some reef tanks, but this isn’t always true some will, while others will not. Fish prefer eating organic matter floating around in their tank rather than parasites. Peppermint Shrimps (Lysmata wurdemanni), also known as Caribbean Cleaner Shrimps or Veined Cleaner Shrimps, are not necessarily cleaner shrimps. You should only keep a mated pair of Coral Shrimps or one Coral Shrimp if possible. This shrimp has been observed to recognize and differentiate between different shrimp individuals. Among its most distinctive features is the long, banded third pair of arms. The Banded Cleaners, or Coral Shrimps (Stenopus hispidus), are easy to spot as they wave their long white antennae at the passing fish. The shrimp’s body is deep red with white spots and long white antennae. The scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp lacks the long white stripe of the scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. The Blood Red Fire Shrimp (Lysmata Sebelius), also known as Blood Shrimp, Fire Shrimp, or Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp, is an actual cleaner shrimp that will keep your fish community clean. However, keep in mind that some fish species like to eat crunchy crustaceans, so you will want to identify and support those fish in a separate tank. These discarded exoskeletons, or molts, allow crustaceans to grow into their more enormous skeletons.Īs well as cleaning fish of ectoparasites, these shrimp can even set up dedicated cleaning stations, which function like car washes for fish. When introduced to a saltwater tank for the first time, these shrimp can proliferate. However, they do have the same white line running along their body as skunks. The Scorpion Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) is the first species we have in our saltwater group.
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