Shrimp: An Alternative to Bottom Feeding Fish

One of the things that I constantly been told and read since starting out in Aquariums is the importance of Bottom Feeding fish. Bottom feeding fish are the scavengers of the fish tank. They clean uneaten food from the gravel preventing it from rotting and clouding the water and polluting it. Also many of them will nibble away at algae keeping the glass and plants clean. They also provide some activity at the bottom of the tank. But in my tank the gravel is quite large, (6mm or more in diameter) and pointy and triangular. This can damage the sensitive mouths and underside of the fish and kill or injure them.



Fortunately I did find an alternative to these bottom dwelling fish in Freshwater shrimp. They vigorously search the gravel for left over food, some are excellent for algae control, and provide some activity at the bottom without placing a very large on the tank. There are a wide variety of shrimp in existence each with very different water parameters and compatibility. I've done some research and this is what I've come up with.

General Information 
Shrimp are one of the several types of freshwater inverts other then snails, and crabs. They have several unique needs. Firstly for those with planted tanks, copper is quite toxic to shrimp. But unless your putting a massive amount of copper in your shrimp should be fine. However without plants to absorb the copper the shrimps will surely build up copper and die. So be careful. Secondly Shrimp moult there exoskeleton many times during there life. During this time they are very vulnerable to predators and disease an need places to hide while there next exoskeleton regrows. Leave the old skeleton as they need the calcium. Shrimp primarily feed off a very thin layer that covers all things in the aquarium called bio film. To feed a large colony though you will need algae wafers or other like food. Moss is an excellent source of food both in that it is soft enough for shrimp to eat and provides a large surface area for bio film. Also in the right conditions a shrimp population can multiply very quickly and overload a tank, but on the other side many fish will eat the newly hatched fry and many can be lost to power filters so a sponge filter is best for an all shrimp tank.


The Plan
I plan on getting either Amano Shrimp or Cherry Shrimp. Amono shrimp can be very hard to find but Cherry Shrimp are fairly common.