FAQs about Marine Shrimp Selection Related FAQs: Shrimp Scavenger Selection, Marine Shrimps 1, Shrimp Identification, Shrimp Compatibility, Shrimp Systems, Shrimp Feeding, Shrimp Reproduction, Shrimp Disease, Cleaner Shrimp, Banded Coral Shrimp, Dancing Shrimp, Harlequin Shrimp, Pistol Shrimp, Saron Shrimp, Mantis Shrimp, Anemone Eating Shrimp, and More FAQs on Marine Shrimp, Crustacean Identification, Crustacean Selection, Crustacean Behavior, Crustacean Compatibility, Crustacean Systems, Crustacean Feeding, Crustacean Disease, Crustacean Reproduction, Related Articles: Shrimp, A Few Common Shrimps for the Marine Aquarium by James W. Fatherree,

Question About Shrimp... species for human consumption/home aquaculture    4/23/07
What type of shrimp can you raise in an aquarium or other suitable household vessel that are fine for human consumption?
Thanks in advance for the info.
<Mmm... my best choices... for freshwater: Macrobrachium rosenbergii... for marine... some of the Penaeids... Read on! Bob Fenner>

Wild Gulf Shrimp...Okay to use?  – 4/9/07
I have a 75 gallon FOWLR tank with fine sand in the bottom.  Plan to eventually add some soft coral.  Live on Gulf of Mexico and thinking of using a couple of shrimp as cheap substrate stirrers.  Is this reasonable or would there be issues I don't expect.
<Do you have anything in the way of descriptions or pictures, more specific location? I can't recommend their use without knowing first what they are and there needs.  I would also consider legality, fish&game can be quite meticulous in some areas...Adam J.>

Ghost Shrimp For Sale  1/29/07
Hi,
<Hi Michelle, Pufferpunk here>
Can you please let any and everyone know that I have ghost shrimp.  
I live on the bay and have a large holding tank of shrimp. I keep  
them hostage for two weeks to make sure they are free from diseases.  Then I ship them out to people who are having feeding issues or want to house these little guys. My Rays love them!! If anyone is in need, please feel free to email me at:
http://www.blueoceanaquatica.com
I am glad to help out!!
<Thanks for the info.  I might need some myself!  ~PP>
Thanks, Michelle

Shrimp only with live Rock tank  1/26/06
  Hi, I have a 45G (48x12x16) tank that I would like to set up as a Shrimp Only With Live Rock tank. I would prefer to have different species rather than a bunch (well, a few) of the same kind.
  Would a Fire Shrimp and a White-Striped Cleaner Shrimp (Atlantic or Indo-Pacific) be compatible in such a "small" display?
<Yes>
  I also like the Sexy Shrimp. Would it be too small and become an appetizer for the first two?
<Mmm, not if it was placed with a suitable anemone host...>
  And, last question, do shrimps eat copepods and amphipods?
   <Oh yes>
  Thanks,
     Stéphane   
<Bob Fenner>

- Peppermint Shrimp Time? -
hi I'm Chelsea and i just recently got a salt water tank and am wondering if its even possible to put peppermint shrimp to clean the tank only sometimes with a bulb anemone in the tank i only use the peppermint shrimp to clean and i don't want my anemone to eat the shrimp  but am not sure if it would be okay? <I'd go for hermit crabs rather than a peppermint shrimp - they are a little more durable and more useful at this early stage. Cheers, J -- >

Shrimp Questions  7/10/03
Hi, I have a 75 gallon saltwater fish only tank.<Hey, Phil w/ ya tonight!>  I have been thinking of adding a pair of some type of cleaner shrimp.<Good plan, one question.  What else is in the tank?  Some fish find shrimp a $$$ treat.>  I have read that some clean parasites off fish, thus curing ich.  But wouldn't the parasites that are in a cyst at the bottom of the tank still have to be dealt with? <If a fish is kept in a QT for the normal 4 weeks and is FW dipped it should be ICH free.  Say somehow a few parasites do get in.  The cleaner shrimp finishes them off.  Of course not all cleaner shrimp do open "cleaning stations".  Mine won't even attempt to clean fish, appears he missed the memo :) >   Also, please tell  me which type of shrimp would be the most beneficial in keeping my substrate clean.  Would it be the skunk type? <This is a toughie only because I don't know what else is in the tank.  A shrimp might make a quick snack for someone.  Depending on your bio-load there may be a fish better suited for the job.>
Thank You, James <No problem, please get back w/ me so I can help you more.  Phil>

Questions (shrimp choices, invert. mystery i.d.)
Hi Robert
I just received your book and its very well organized, with all the info a person really needs.
<Yes, lots of earnest, intelligent help putting CMA together>
I have two questions.
1. I would like to know what kind of shrimp I can keep with my mandarin, I had a coral banded shrimp
but it decided my mandarin was food and tore off a bit of his tail. So I had to get rid of the coral
banded shrimp.
<Look to the genus Lysmata. Please read over the parts of our site (www.WetWebMedia.com) re Cleaner Shrimps.>
2.I recently discovered these tiny oval blobs for want of a better word. They look like grains of sand-totally white and are sitting on my glass and a couple of live rocks-about 1mm big. Any idea what they could be?
<Hmm, a few... likely either mollusks, or stinging-celled life of some sort. Seek out the "Critter i.d." link on the WWM site as well here. Be chatting my friend. Bob Fenner>
Thanks a lot, Jolene

What's better? (shrimp choices)
Hi Mr. Fenner
I once again have a question. I've read over all your articles, and
FAQ's on worms, and I still can't decide what I have.
<There are many thousands of species>
On my LR, I've noticed a couple of worms, they are white, very stringy, and thin. They all seem to be similar, and one is bigger then all the others. They all have the same characteristics. They branch out from the tiniest needle hole in the rock, are all just one strand, (unlike a spaghetti worm with multiple branching out), and at the end they end flat as if when you cut a piece of tubing with scissors. At the end. there is a little black dot, (probably a hole, or mouth) but they are too small to be sure. They are about one inch long, and the biggest one I've seen stretch out to maybe two, or three inches. They only come out in the night when all the lights are off, in the tank, and house. The only way I see them is if I catch them by surprise with a flashlight, and when I put the light beam on them they retract after about ten seconds of the light being on them. The big one is always in the same place, coming out in a crevice under my live rock, and stretches straight down to the gravel, and it's as if he hangs on to the gravel bottom with his end. Actually all of them stay in the same place, and stretch out from there. Is this more of a spaghetti worm, even though none have more then one strand, or can it still be some type of bristle worm,( or do bristles worms always move about?)
<Invest in a small microscope... and one of the many references on sedentariate polychaete worms... I can't even place this worm to family from the above>
I know you say they aren't bad as long as they stay small, and
few, and arena's bothering any of the fishes . But I really don't want
them there anyways, and frankly it's grossing my wife out a bit. While
I'm not panicking or anything, I was wondering about trying
bio-eradication as you call it. What would be better, peppermint
shrimps, or a banded shrimp?
<The former>
I also have cleaner shrimps, so I was wary bout the banded shrimp. Al though my tank is on the big side (120 gallons, and five feet long). I was thinking if I put peppermint shrimps, I'd put two, or three, or one banded shrimp. Also, I know the banded shrimps are more territorial, and would probably stay in or around the same spot , hopefully he decides on the live rock in the corner where my worms are, and the cleaner shrimps already stay pretty much at the other end of the tank anyways.
<I agree about the Stenopus... better to be safe...>
One last question, I've also read about the glass anemones, but still
am unsure if I have one. I have one that hitchhiked in on my LR. It's
up on top in the open, is about 3/4 of an inch long when he extends. At night if I shine the flashlight on it, it will lean over to the light as
if to see what it is then return to it's position of before. It's a
light brown, and somewhat clear. when it retracts or gets shorter i can
see inside of the tube portion, and there is another smaller tube
inside. (Do all anemones have this second tube inside?)
<Yes, good observation>
Once I saw the most finest filaments coming out of it's center that where white to a maximum of 1/16 of an inch maybe even less. It definitely looks like an anemone except that there is only one row of feelers around the center, and they end pointy. Also it has never moved from it's position on the rock. So what do you think glass anemone, or good?
<Likely is an Aiptasia sp.>
( If a glass anemone, I know that the peppermint shrimps are good for ridding those)
I thank you a whole lot in advance, and sorry for the long letters, but
I know you like to have as detailed as possible an explanation.
Greg N. Montreal, Canada
<Chat with you soon my friend. Bob Fenner>