So I just got a group of about 20 cherry shrimp and from what I hear I will have more shortly is there an easy way to catch the small ones besides netting? I plan on giving some to fellow hobbyists. I know someone said its easy to catch snails by putting a peice of lettuce in a small jar, any similiar ways to catch shrimp. Maybe an algae wafer is a jar Thanks in advance.

One more question. What impact on bio load do shrimp and snails have? I was just curious as I have MTS snails and cherry shrimp and want to know does the standard 1" per gallon rule count for inverts as well?

I don't know of any easy way to catch them without a net, so I too am interested in the replies.

I do know a couple of things though, and one is the inch per gallon thing doesn't really work for guestimating bioload, mass per gallon would be much better measure because more mass = more waste. For instance lets say a 2" fish weighs 10grams, and a 1" fish weighs 2.5grams. The 2" fish will produce 4 times as much waste as the 1" fish.

I'm not suggesting you throw your fish on a scale, but it's weight can be roughly estimated by the space it takes up. Fish density is close to water density otherwise they would sink or float every time they stopped moving. Water weighs roughly 1.00 grams per cubic centimeter.

An adult neon tetra is roughly guestimated 2.5cm long by 1 cm tall by 0.5 cm wide which equals 1.25 cubic centimeters and should weigh roughly 1.25grams. An adult female swordtail is roughly 6.5cm long by 2cm tall by 1cm wide which equals 13 cubic centimeters and should weigh roughly 13grams.

The other thing is that small snails and shrimp are much less of a bioload on a tank than fish are.

Keep in mind non of the above takes into account other things like frequency of & amounts of feeding, behavior of the fish or even its ability to turn around which also need to be taken into account when stocking or estimating bioload.

Thanks for the reply. I only have small fish in the tank and thats all intend to keep. Plus the inverts of course. I currently have about 23 tetras, 9 ottos, 1 bulldog pleco, 5 Amano shrimp, and about 20 cherries. Plus a few MTS. I have a 75 gallon tank. I change at least 50% of the water 1 to 2 times a week. I think I'm pretty good with my stock level right now and don't plan on adding anymore. I prefer my tank to look a little on the bare side as far as fish go. I didn't think shrimp and snails contributed too much but I had to ask. I've heard of people having lots of cherries in ten galon tanks so I thought I was safe.