Blue Velvet Shrimp

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 11:05:31 -0700 from Streams

@Waitman Gobble
#aquarium
My daughter has a small 4-gallon aquarium we put together for her last christmas. Our first attempt was a few guppies with some plants we bought at a local pet-store.
The plants had a few tiny snails that ended up taking over the tank and kept breeding until I finally drained the tank, left it out in the hot sun all week, then put in fresh water with some plants I pulled out of a nearby lake.

After the tank had time to sit with plants and I was assured there were no more tiny snails, we bought one fish, one large golden snail, and three freshwater shrimp called "Velvet Blue".
The tank is quite colorful now, and the shrimp are very fun to watch as they skitter around the tank. Apparently they will breed and create a small colony and keep the tank clean. I tried to take a photo of one but I could not get my camera to auto-focus on it long enough:

a blurry image of a blue freshwater shrimp in a tank

a pink fish in a tank swimming amongst green plants

Cyborg 2-A ✅

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 12:15:06 -0700 from libertious

Cool. I'll look for the blue shrimps

Adam Robertson

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 12:19:29 -0700 from Streams

Apparently they clean the tank up and eat dead plant parts:
Blue Velvet Shrimp Care: The Complete Guide

The Blue Velvet Shrimp is a freshwater species that simply look amazing. Click here to learn how to care for them.

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 15:17:58 -0700

We had a saltwater tank several years ago. You'll see the bigger fish stop by the shrimps every day for a cleaning. The shrimp clean them from one end to the other and then go back to cleaning the tank walls while waiting for the next customer to arrive. It's great fun to watch.

Adam Robertson

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 11:17:57 -0700 from Streams

I was able to get a close-up shot of the snail in action. it really is a very pretty creature.