Are all shrimps alike

[davdandy]

As the title says, are all shrimps alike, apart from colour and size, do they all suit a planted aquarium. I know Amano get mentioned a lot but today I saw some beautiful red shrimp at Pier Aquatics so pondered the question .

 

[Little]

The two main types for aquariums are Neocaridina and Caridina.
It’s very important to know which group you’re getting as they have different water requirements.
For example…
Cherry shrimp are Neocaridina and need harder water. Bee shrimp are Caridina and need soft / acidic water.
Definitely good to do some research before buying livestock 👍

 

[LMuhlen]

do they all suit a planted aquarium.

Ornamental shrimps found in the hobby are mostly fine with planted aquarium, but they have some important differences between themselves. Other than their requirements for water parameters and hardness/softness, some shrimps are considerably more delicate than others and may suffer from small variations in water quality. This could be counterproductive for tanks where you expect to do large water changes.

Also, some shrimps will breed in fresh water, while others have a more complex breeding cycle that probably won't work in a planted tank. The amano shrimps are the most important ones in this category, despite being widely used in planted tanks, they won't breed in them.

Then there is the matter of their effectiveness as algae eaters, some do better than others. Amano are known as a good algae eater, while neocaridina may only eat them more sparsely. They may still help fight algae by consuming eventual left over fish food.

The neocaridina are probably the most common ones because they aren't too fragile and they come in a large variety of colors. They breed effusively when in good conditions. They do appreciate some carbonate hardness in the water, though, so they probably won't enjoy a reverse osmosis tank.