If you haven’t kept shrimp before, you might wonder why people enjoy them. There’s more than one reason!
#1. Cherry Shrimp are Fun
The big reason people get started with shrimp is to have fun. They are fun to take care of and fun to watch!
A shrimp tank is a wonderful project for yourself or shared with others. An aquarium can be a great family-bonding time. (Pro Tip for parents and grandparents: If you want extra time with the youngsters, get a shrimp tank!)
Cherry Shrimp are the Real Sea Monkeys
Some may remember “Sea Monkeys” of the 1960s … their advertisements plastered the backs of comic books and kid’s magazines with fanciful pics promising a wonderful undersea family of cute creatures just waiting for a home. 
Millions of colorful packages went out to children whose dreams were crushed because it was only eggs of tiny brine shrimp doomed to quickly die off.
Turns out, cherry shrimp are the Sea-Monkeys so many were hoping for. They actually DO form colonies and interact with each other and swim merrily about—the fun we were promised! Of course, they don’t look any more like the advertisements than the brine shrimp did—but cherry shrimp are much cuter!
#2. Relaxation & Well-Being
Aquariums promote relaxation and mental health! It seems too good to be true, but medical studies confirm that aquariums can produce measurable benefits for human well-being.
Aquatic environments are relaxing and meditative. Flowing water is soothing … in fact, you’re probably more relaxed just from being reminded of a gentle underwater scene. Gentle cherry shrimp don’t harm any creatures big enough to see and promote a peaceful underwater scene.
Aquariums can reduce stress and anxiety, increase well-being, fight depression, and even prevent loneliness. They can help with sleep issues, sobriety, and weight gain. It must be said cherry shrimp are much cheaper than a doctor!
Here’s more articles about the benefits of our little heroes:
■ Aquariums ‘deliver significant health benefits’ (BBC)
■ Watching Fish Swim Is an Odd But Effective Way to Relax (Vice)
■ Stress Reduction, Tropical Fish and Aquariums (Mentalhelp.net)
■ The Surprising Health Benefits of a Home Aquarium
■ New study finds aquariums deliver health benefits
#3. Aesthetics
Cherry shrimp help make beautiful aquariums. They are excellent caretakers of your underwater world. Apart from the interest and glowing color they provide, shrimp are happy, diligent cleaners inside the tank.
Cherry Shrimp have an important role in the health of the ecosystem. They constantly graze the surface of their environment, feeding off of the tiny life that grows on biofilm. In the process, they work like sanitation squad detailing and polishing the aquarium down to the almost microscopic level.
Freshwater shrimp helped ignite new interest in aquascaping, the artful hobby of making a beautiful underwater scene featuring plants and hardscape.
This new interest in natural planted tanks was boosted when Takashi Amano introduced his fabulous aquascapes to the hobby. To take care of his aquatic gardens, he introduced the freshwater shrimp that now carry his name … and cherry shrimp were reintroduced soon after.
#4. Adventure & Discovery
Sometimes you’re ready for a new adventure! Experienced aquarium-keepers often seek new challenges. It’s part of the fun.
Shrimp are a completely different kind of aquatic animal to explore. They make a fascinating and rewarding addition to planted aquariums.
Cute and appealing, cherry shrimp sometimes spark interest in people who’ve never even kept fish! They are perfect for small nano-tanks, which makes things easy.
#5. Connection with Nature
Many shrimp owners enjoy the zenlike quality of keeping shrimp. Keeping a colony creates a naturally balanced ecology out of small amounts of time, patience, and care. Our little glass boxes are living examples of nature’s amazing ability to adapt and knit the efforts of many species—some visible, some not—into creating a sustaining, beautiful space.
Once set up, aquarium maintenance is done in a few minutes for feeding or water changes, which ensures you have daily contact.
Whatever your reason for keeping shrimp, something about an aquarium is good for us. It attunes us to deeper rhythms apart from our fast-paced world … ones closer to nature and reality.
