River shrimps

**mikhail** · 20th Jun 2005, 12:19

Hi,

Is it okay to put river shrimps in a planted tank. River shrimps are those being sold $1 a bunch and it's actually being used as feeders for big fishes or bait in fishing. I came accross a LFS selling this kind of shrimp and they are saying that this shrimp can survive in the aquarium similar to yamatos. I wonder if this is true. I try to compare its appearance to the shrimps I see for aquarium use. It looks similar to a mosquito shrimp only that this river shrimp has longer but thin legs.

Any of you have experience with this river shrimps? Will they be useful also in algae control? I'm very tempted to get some because of the cheap price but would need first your feedback about this.

Regards

**loupgarou** · 20th Jun 2005, 13:53

I belive these are ghost shrimp, they are carnivorous, do not put in your tank. if you got small fish (like harlequin rasboras, tetras etc), they can get eaten.

if you want algae eating shrimp, stick to yamato shrimp

**Justikanz** · 20th Jun 2005, 15:36

Hi, the river shrimps are actually omnivourous but they will snatch fish at night and snack on them when they grow big and they WILL grow. I had some a few years back and they grow to the size of the smaller tiger shrimps in the wet market... Unless you have fish that are not too small and will not eat them, they are fun to keep in an aquarium. Else, opt for Yamato or Malayan shrimps. They are not very expensive and can help you with algae problems too. Cheers.

**mikhail** · 21st Jun 2005, 09:32

Thank you guys for enlightening me regarding this river shrimp. I also checked the web and I find the ghost shrimp match the appearance of this river shrimp. So it should be the ghost shrimp. I have small tetras in my tank and don't want to take the risk of them being eaten by this shrimp. Thus, I shall buy yamato or cherry shrimps instead. Do you know a place where I can buy cheap yamatos, malayans or cherries?