A Guide To Marine Shrimp For Your Aquarium

When you’re setting up a marine aquarium, it can be easy to focus on the fish that will be darting about in your tank. But there are many fascinating invertebrates you can include too, including marine shrimp. The following are just a few of the options you can consider.

Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp

As its name suggests, this shrimp is one of those that provides cleaning services to other creatures in your aquarium. It will clean your fish of parasites and dead tissue. It gets its name from the vibrant red and white stripes that run the length of its back.

Peppermint shrimp

This variety of shrimp is a great choice for keeping your aquarium clean in general because it is a scavenger. That means it feeds on (and cleans up) detritus and uneaten food from your aquarium. This species is particularly known for its ability to manage glass anemones (aiptasia), which are often an unwanted guest in marine aquariums.

Fire shrimp

Fire shrimp are vibrant creatures, red in colour with white spots. Like the scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp, these too provide a cleaning service to the other creatures in your aquarium. These shrimp will also scavenge for bits that drop to the bottom of the tank.

Pistol shrimp

To really enjoy the behaviour this shrimp exhibits, it’s best to pair one in your aquarium with a watchman variety of goby. The fish will stand guard while the shrimp digs out their burrow in the sand. Pistol shrimp have one claw that is larger than the other and it’s this that they use to bulldoze the sand out of their burrows.

They can be fascinating to watch and are a charming addition to any marine aquarium.

If you’re looking for a marine cleanup crew, you could certainly do worse than select one of these shrimp to help you keep on top of your aquarium’s maintenance!