This free aquarium shrimp stocking calculator tells you how many shrimp your tank can hold as a starting colony, from its litres and planting level. It runs fully in your browser, so nothing you type is sent to a server, and you need no account and no sign-up to use it.
Aquarium problems usually build slowly. A tank that looks fine today can drift over weeks when feeding, stocking, or water changes stay unmeasured. Small numbers, checked early, stop most trouble before fish show stress. This tool turns a guess into a number you can act on, and that number is easier to trust than a rough rule of thumb from a shop assistant.
To use the tool, type in Tank size (litres), Planting level. Press the calculate button and the tool shows the result at once. If you change any number, press calculate again to see the new result right away. Try a few values to see how sensitive the result is to each input.
Example: a 50 litre tank with medium planting suits about 10 shrimp to start. The colony will breed and grow from there if water stays stable.
Start small and let shrimp breed. Ten healthy shrimp in stable water soon become fifty, while fifty shrimp dumped into an uncycled tank often become none.
Shrimp hate sudden changes. Match temperature and hardness when doing water changes, and drip-acclimate new shrimp slowly over an hour or more.
Give shrimp hiding places. Moss, leaves, and small caves let moulting shrimp hide, and moulting is when shrimp are soft, slow, and most often eaten.
Common question: Do shrimp add much waste? Very little compared with fish, which is why tanks hold more shrimp per litre. Still, a huge colony in a tiny tank will foul the water, so plant cover matters.
Common question: Can shrimp live with fish? Only with small, peaceful fish. Many fish eat baby shrimp first, so a shrimp colony breeds best in its own tank or with tiny, calm tankmates.
Common question: Why did my shrimp die after a water change? Usually a sudden shift in temperature, hardness, or a trace of copper or chlorine. Age tap water, match parameters, and use a dechlorinator every time.
Keep a short notebook by the tank. Write the date, the numbers you entered, the result, and anything you changed afterwards. That short record turns a vague feeling that something changed into clear evidence. After a month you can look back and see which choices helped and which ones did not, and that makes the next decision much easier.
The most common mistake is changing too much at once. When several things change in the same week, you cannot tell which change caused the result you see. Change one thing, wait, watch the fish and the water, and only then change the next thing. Slow, single changes keep a tank stable, and stable tanks keep fish healthy.
Recheck the numbers whenever anything changes in the tank. New fish, a new filter, a different food, or a change in room temperature can all shift the right answer. A quick recheck takes less than a minute and stops an old number from quietly becoming wrong. Bookmark this page so the recheck is easy.
This tool is free to use as often as you like. Bookmark it, recheck the numbers when your tank changes, and keep the daily routine steady. Small, steady habits matter far more for an aquarium than any single perfect number, and a calm routine is what fish respond to best. If a number surprises you, run the tool twice with different inputs before you act on it, and trust the steadier result.