Best Shrimp for a 10 gallon reef

[bhskicker18]

I was wondering what the best type of shrimp would be for my 10 gallon reef tank. The current inhabitants are 1 Ocelarris Clownfish, 1 Yellow Watchman Goby, 2 Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs, and 1 Margaretta Snail. I would like to get a pistol shrimp BUT when I started up my aquarium I made the mistake of using only 10 pounds of livesand and I don't want to add more because of the risk of causing my tank to crash.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance,

Will

 

I also have a frag of zoa's, 1'shroom with one little (half the size of a pencil eraser) baby, and a frag of Cadny Cane Coral with 6 heads on it.

[Bamato]

The clown may or may not make a meal out of sexy shrimp. But they would be my first idea.

[fallenlordz]

Sexy shrimp are good for small tanks.

 

I also like cleaner shrimps - I hand squirt feed mine so there is never any leftover foods. He gobbles it all up so quick. They are never scared, it likes to clean my arm when I move corals around in the tank.

[bhskicker18]

I had a sexxy shrimp for not even 24 hours. I had a Cherub Angelfish, my clown, 1 female peppermint (I know she was female because when I had another shrimp in there with her she got pregnant and had babies, which the fish ate) and a sexxy in my Eclipse 12. The clown would swim about 2-4 inches from my sexxy just looking at it. Later on in the day I went into my room and my Peppermint had the sexxy and was picking at its tail so I removed them and went to get a cup and when I got back 1 minute later the peppermint had the sexxy shrimp again and pulled his tail off and was eating his insides! This Peppermint also killed her mate after she got pregnant the second time. I had 1 other peppermint before the crazy female but she died one day when I was at school.

[nano-reefer1]

coral banded shrimp are cool but they are skitish

sexy dancer shrimp are cool but not compatable with your live stock

pistol shrimp is an idea , i like them

cleaner shrimp would be a good choice the are good tank mates and clean lol

pepermint shrimp are also fairly active and very good looking

 

there is my 2 cents but its your choice my best advise is get the one you will enjoy the most

[bhskicker18]

coral banded shrimp are cool but they are skitish

sexy dancer shrimp are cool but not compatable with your live stock

pistol shrimp is an idea , i like them

cleaner shrimp would be a good choice the are good tank mates and clean lol

pepermint shrimp are also fairly active and very good looking

 

there is my 2 cents but its your choice my best advise is get the one you will enjoy the most

 

 

Just wondering, but why would a Sexy Dancer Shrimp not be compatable with my current livestock? Just wondering. The Clown has never hurt a shrimp, but then again he didn't have much time to do anything to the Sexy Dancer I had

[OClownsandNanos]

I have two clowns in with a sexy and a cleaner and they all do fine (it is a 45g and the clowns are 1 1/2" juveniles but still). The clowns have never tried to pick at or bother the sexy in any way. I say a few sexies or 1 cleaner shrimp. Skunk cleaner shrimp if you want riskless for sure (sexies can possibly munch on zoas or rics, depends on the sexy and how well fed it is).

 

I would not put a coral banded in a tank that size. It's too aggressive and territorial. I also would hold off on a peppermint too. Those can get aggressive also (as I guess you saw earlier).

[nano-reefer1]

im not worried about the clown the yellow watchman is territorial and probly wont pick on him till he ventures into his area . my yellow watchman attacks the crap out of my hermits ,and hes got into fights with the coral banded shimp a few times . the sds are small enough to be hurt by the goby

 

and i had a pepermint it was fine in my 10g until it ,somehow got into the knano and became food for my hermits

[bhskicker18]

I have two clowns in with a sexy and a cleaner and they all do fine (it is a 45g and the clowns are 1 1/2" juveniles but still). The clowns have never tried to pick at or bother the sexy in any way. I say a few sexies or 1 cleaner shrimp. Skunk cleaner shrimp if you want riskless for sure (sexies can possibly munch on zoas or rics, depends on the sexy and how well fed it is).

 

I would not put a coral banded in a tank that size. It's too aggressive and territorial. I also would hold off on a peppermint too. Those can get aggressive also.

 

 

I have heard that sexies will munch on zoa's and if I do get a sexie or two and they do munch on the zoa's I just can't drive to the store and take them back. The only store I have seen them at is about 1.5 hours from my house. The thing about the Skunk Cleaner Shrimp is at Petco (which is 10 minutes away and they don't have sexiy shrimp when I'm in there) is that they cost like $20+ lol. And I have pretty much thrown the Coral Banded Shrimp out. I might get one for my Eclipse 12 but he would be bigger because I have a small 6-Line wrasse in it.

 

im not worried about the clown the yellow watchman is territorial and probly wont pick on him till he ventures into his area . my yellow watchman attacks the crap out of my hermits ,and hes got into fights with the coral banded shimp a few times . the sds are small enough to be hurt by the goby

 

and i had a pepermint it was fine in my 10g until it ,somehow got into the knano and became food for my hermits

 

 

I forgot that the Watchman Goby might try to eat the sexies

[nano-reefer1]

they might be ok but i wouldnt risk it , my ywg is a grouch and attacks anything that goes near his rock, oncluding hermits ,snails ,my clown , the bubble coral lmao (i think its gonna eat him one of these days),the coral banded shrimp,and if my hand haapens to be near him he will charge at me lol its kinda funny

[cruiZe]

Get a pistol for your

Yellow Watchman Goby

 

Pep's or cleaners are good too. I've had bad luck keeping pep's alive but thats just me. I love my cleaner pair.

[nbeasley1211]

I have a peppermint shrimp in my ten gal nano reef, he loves it. i see him all over and very active.

[bhskicker18]

Get a pistol for your

 

 

Pep's or cleaners are good too. I've had bad luck keeping pep's alive but thats just me. I love my cleaner pair.

 

 

The only thing about the pistol Shrimp is that the sand bed is 1 inch deep. When I was starting my aquarium I didn't plan to get a YWG, but my cousins boy briend gave it to me because it jumped into one of the back chambers on his BioCube 14 and he could not get it out so he bought another one and got the one in the back chamber out, so now I have it lol. The YWG will get sand in his mouth and puts it one 1 of 2 piles he is making. He completely covered up my zoa frag once and he is in the process of doing it again lol

[OClownsandNanos]

If I had to choose between my sexy and my skunk cleaner, my cleaner would win. He's always visible, tries to clean the fish, tries to clean my hand, and will feed from the dropper. He's only a problem when I'm feeding my corals, but if I give him a big piece of food first, he eats then is content and leaves them all alone. He does not attack anything except food and he loves to hang upside down. I also love how he glides across water. They cost a little more but I can totally see why.

 

If you haven't had a cleaner yet, you might want to try one. They are awesome shrimp.

[DoubleD]

Any of the cleaner shrimps would work well. They are beneficial to a smaller tank as they are scavengers as well as parasite cleaners.

 

Either the Blood Shrimp or Skunk Cleaner would work. Once they are acclimated they are very hardy to the swings that occur in a smaller tank. I have a Blood Shrimp in my 10gal and a Skunk in my 14G biocube. Both over a year old now and happy.

[bhskicker18]

and will feed from the dropper.

 

What do you feed your shrimp? I red my Eclipse 12 with Tetra Marine Flakes, Micro Crabs (from Tetra), Frozrn Brine on occasions, and when I had my angelfish I would leave a small piece of an algea sheet in the tank. I had some Hikari Tropical Crab Cuisine Pellets from when I had my land hermit crabs that I would feed my Peppermints and crabs with about twice a week. Now I feel my tanks Tetra Marine Color Enhancing flakes(which are smaller that the original Tetra Marine Flakes, San Fransisco Bay Freeze-Dried Mysis Shrimp, occasionally some Tetra Freeze-Dried Blood Worms,Frozen Brine Shrimp, and H2O Life Fish & Reef #1 Frozen Fish Food. Is there something else that I need to feed shrimp with or is what I feed my aquariums with now enough?

[OClownsandNanos]

What do you feed your shrimp? I red my Eclipse 12 with Tetra Marine Flakes, Micro Crabs (from Tetra), Frozrn Brine on occasions, and when I had my angelfish I would leave a small piece of an algea sheet in the tank. I had some Hikari Tropical Crab Cuisine Pellets from when I had my land hermit crabs that I would feed my Peppermints and crabs with about twice a week. Now I feel my tanks Tetra Marine Color Enhancing flakes(which are smaller that the original Tetra Marine Flakes, San Fransisco Bay Freeze-Dried Mysis Shrimp, occasionally some Tetra Freeze-Dried Blood Worms,Frozen Brine Shrimp, and H2O Life Fish & Reef #1 Frozen Fish Food. Is there something else that I need to feed shrimp with or is what I feed my aquariums with now enough?

 

What you feed sounds fine as they are just carnivores. I usually feed my shrimp selcon-soaked shrimp pellets or Ocean Nutrition Formula One pellets (or frozen) or frozen mysis or New Life Spectrum Marine pellets. I usually use my dropper because I presoak in selcon and tank water and I like to target feed.

[yardboy]

C'mon guys. Expand your horizons. All your suggestions are great, but there are others too.

How about a Periclemenes pedersoni. They like anemones, but are cool with ricordia's also

Or a real cool one is Periclemenes brevicarpalis, the anemone shrimp. They like anemones too, but will hang with a trumpet coral also.

[nano-reefer1]

+1 says the man

[bhskicker18]

Looking back at this....... my spelling was horrible. But I have a Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp! Thanks everybody for your opinions!

[gabe_j]

i agree with the pederson shrimp idea i had ordered one but they got a magnificent shrimp instead, and its been a cool shrimp to watch, i also have 2 sexy shrimp in my tank and they don't bother anything else. i've got a good bit of zoas, that aren't ever bothered by them.also got a blue leg herimit and a starry eyed hermit. as far as livestock goes i've got 1 black occ. clown, and a green mandarin dragonet, in a 8.75 gallon tank. and everyone is healthy..

[Bill Nye]

Woah where can you get a pedersons cleaner shrimp... I got some ricordeas dying to host one

 

I was thinking about doing some sexy shrimp but I spend way too much on zoanthids and palys to have them turn around and start munching.

 

edit

 

 

all I can find are Periclimenes brevicarpalis ... they are just listed as anemone shrimp. Would these be similar to pedersons

[EliPhant]

Good choice in choosing the skunk cleaner shrimp! I was gonna suggest it. I like mine. it's never scared and chills upside down on a piece of rock. Whenever you stick your hand in the tank he jumps on and goes to town!

[bhskicker18]

Good choice in choosing the skunk cleaner shrimp! I was gonna suggest it. I like mine. it's never scared and chills upside down on a piece of rock. Whenever you stick your hand in the tank he jumps on and goes to town!

Mine doesn't "attack" my hand like I thought he would. My Peppermints go crazy when I opened the lid of my Eclipse 12 (Main lid, not feeding lid) because they knew I would let them climb on my hand, but the cleaner doesn't. He did maybe once or twice, but not as often as I thought he would. But he is a cool shrimp, no doubt about that! I quit naming my aquarium critters because every time I would name one they would die within a month, no lie. My Blue Damsel (Dory) died in 2 days, Marlin my Clarkii died in 2 weeks, and my other Clarkii (which I sadly forgot his name, but its on a Myspace picture) died within a month. My O.Clownfish from Petco, John (after THE John Parker Wilson) is almost 2 years old! A Petco fish thats almost 2 years old! I only let family members and girl friends name them, so I guess I need to get a new girl friend so she can name the shrimp!

[gabe_j]

if you brave aquacon... they have them in stock but they aren't the best shippers from what i've read. lfs is your best bet.