Due to their excellent algae-eating capabilities, more and more people are choosing to add cherry shrimp, amano shrimp or ghost shrimp to their aquariums as a quick, easy, and cheap way to try and control the build-up of algae.
With so many people starting to add shrimp to their aquariums, there has been a spike in the number of people reaching out and asking for advice on how to care for their shrimp.
One of the most common areas where we see beginners to keeping shrimp making mistakes time and time again is on placing shrimp hiding places in their aquarium.
You should always try to have plenty of aquarium hiding spots for shrimp to give them a place to safely moult while also being able to hide from any potential predators to relax and de-stress.
Thankfully, there are a number of excellent options that you are able to use in your aquarium that can be used as shrimp hiding places without you having to spend a large sum of money.
In some situations, you may also be able to current tank accessories that you already have in your aquarium as a place for your shrimp to hide.
Do Shrimp Need Hiding Places?
Shrimp do need hiding spots in any aquarium where they are kept as a place for them to safely moult. Shrimp hideouts can also be used as a place for the shrimp to hide and relax from the potential predators in the tank to reduce their stress and anxiety levels too.
Depending on your tank set-up and the fish species that you keep, a shrimp hideout can be as simple as just making sure there is a good area of your tank covered in something like java moss.
Although it is cheap, simple, and fits with the look of most aquarium setups, once the java moss grows in and forms the sea grass look, it provides an excellent hiding spot for your shrimp.
As with most things when it comes to aquariums, the hideouts that you provide for your pet shrimp can b as basic of as intricate as you want.
The majority of our readers will probably want a nice basic set up though as they require minimum time and financial investment but perform just as well as the more expensive options.
Where Do Shrimps Like To Hide?
Shrimp tend to like to hide in live plants such as java moss, artificial or real caves, in and under driftwood, in moss balls, and anywhere else they can find cover.
The possibilities for shrimp hiding places really are only limited by your imagination with there being a huge number of excellent options.
If you have rocks in your aquarium then you can sometimes arrange them in a way for your shrimp to be able to use the rocks as a hiding place too. This can be a great option and some people will even choose a soft, aquarium safe rock and make their own cave scrapes.
As the name suggests, this process involves you actually scraping-out areas of the soft rock to make your own caves for your aquarium.
This process can take a large amount of time and more skill than many people initially realize too so it is not very beginner-friendly though. This is why we have listed our more beginner-friendly shrimp hiding spots for your aquarium below.
Do Shrimps Need Caves?
Caves offer some of the best hiding spots for your shrimp allowing quick and easy entry and exit as needed. You can usually get aquarium caves with holes to keep most fish out if you want but many shrimp will be fine with having smaller fish in their hideouts.
There are a huge number of popular decorative cave accessories that you are able to use in your aquarium as a shrimp hideout.
These tend to come pre-decorated so they will fit in with the aquascape look of many aquariums but you can usually find them in pretty much any design to fit the look of almost any aquarium.
One cav hideout option that is becoming more and more popular is to take generic rock caves and then add java moss to them. This essentially adds three hiding spots for your shrimp all at the same time.
They can hide in the caves, in the java moss or in the cracks and holes between the caves if you stack them together. If you do choose to stack them then be sure to use an aquarium safe glue to make sure that they won’t collapse on each other.
Does Driftwood Hide Shrimp?
Driftwood can offer a number of hiding spots for your shrimp in a single addition to your aquarium.
Most driftwood will have cracks and branches where the shrimp can hide but they are also able to hide in the area where the driftwood comes into contact with the substrate in your tank too.
We would always recommend that you try to use aquarium safe driftwood if possible.
Although you are able to clean driftwood you find yourself to make it aquarium safe, it tends to take more time and effort than its actually worth due to aquarium safe driftwood being so cheap.
If your driftwood is large enough then you can often drill holes into the areas that are not forward-facing in your aquarium. This offers additional hiding places for your shrimp without having an effect on the visual aspect of your tank.
Using Java Moss As A Shrimp Hiding Place!
Java moss is one of the most popular shrimp hiding spots due to it being so easy and cheap while also looking good in the majority of tank setups. Even a small area with a thin layer of java moss can hide a large number of shrimp with ease.
Our regular readers will probably already know that we are huge fans of using java moss in aquariums for its aesthetic look and its ability to help oxygenate your water.
Using java moss as a place for your shrimp to hide is just an additional benefit that fits in nicely with the increase in the popularity of keeping shrimp in aquariums.
Java moss does not require any specific substate in your tank either and can usually grow on the majority of surfaces in the tank with ease.
This is why you can usually coat other hiding spots in your tank such as driftwood and rock caves to add multiple hiding spots in the same feature in your tank.
Can Shrimp Hide In Moss Balls?
Although it may look like your shrimp are trying to hide in moss balls, they are probably trying to just graze on there and eat the food they find.
You are able to pull holes in moss balls to allow your shrimp to use them as a hiding spot though with many people using them in this way.
We would usually recommend that you opt to use any of the other hiding spots on our list for your shrimp rather than moss balls. This is due to the majority of “moss balls” actually being marimo moss that is a type of algae rather than a moss.
Intentionally adding algae into your tank can often defeat the purpose of keeping your shrimp in the first place.
In addition to that, these moss balls can often attract other algae eaters in your tank to them with some of these algae also being shrimp eaters defeating the purpose of using moss balls as a shrimp hide.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over the most popular shrimp hiding places that we see people asking about to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you better understand the hideout options available to you and how you are usually able to combine multiple hiding options to help offer your shrimp as much protection as possible with as little effort being required on your part.
