I currently have an Ivory Mystery Snail in a 5.5 gallon tank with caves, plants and an African Dwarf Frog. After doing some research it seems these snails sometimes foul up the water enough to almost defeat the pupose. I really love the dwarf shrimps and am considering swaping the snail out for a couple. Any thoughts on this? Pros or cons for either choice?

Thanks for reading!! Any advice greatly appreciated

What are you referring to by Dwarf Shrimp exactly is there a specific species called Dwarf Shrimp or are you talking about things like Cherry Shrimp, Ghost Shrimp, etc? (I ask this because I've never heard of Dwarf Shrimp before.)

If you're talking about Cherry Shrimp, they are good in tanks with algae or with other fish that require a vegetarian diet as they prefer vegetarian foods. Glass/Ghost Shrimp are excellent cleaners in basically any tank as well because they will eat essentially anything and produce little waste as far as I know. I have around 20 Ghosts in my 30G and it allows me to overfeed a bit and not worry about the excess food going to waste. It's also quite entertaining when I put an algae wafer in the tank for my Bristlenose Plec, the shrimp will literally pick up the entire wafer and try to swim around with it before a couple others come in and 'help' (of course leading to an inevitable battle over the wafer until the pleco plants himself on it, at that point the shrimp try to muscle in on it and the pleco seems quite content to let them pick at the sides of the wafer as she eats the bulk of it).

__________________
30G planted aquarium with Aquaclear 50 and two Aquaclear 20s. 7 Cherry Barbs, 12 Cardinal Tetras, 1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Golden Honey Gourami, and a handful of Ghost Shrimp.

Dwarf shrimp are in the neocardinia family and do include RCS, Blue Pearls, Crystal Reds, Candy Cane, etc.

They would be my ideal choice, however they might not get along with the African Dwarf Frog. So many bottom feeders as energetic as shrimp placed in close proximity (a 5.5 gallon tank is close if you ask me) with an ADF will cause problems. You could maybe get away with 1-2 shrimp but they don't consume very much unless in large numbers. So I would suggest either trading the mystery snail for a nerite snail, or keeping the mystery snail.

__________________
Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Yes, sorry I was referring to shrimp such as ghost and RCS. I also like crystal reds and amano...if my local aquarium has them. I was worried the shrimp might be too active and stress the frogs, and I also wouldn't want the shrimp to be too small or the frogs might think they are food?

I've seen ghosts and ADFs housed together, but it is a small tank and I don't want to stress them. Do you think 2 shrimp would be ok with more plants? so they have more space to crawl around on besides the frogs space?

Sounds like switching for a nerite snail might be best. If I get just one isn't there still a possibility of it reproducing?

I would put Ghosts in your tank without worry, you mentioned you had caves so if the shrimp really feel that threatened they have somewhere to hide and Dwarf Frogs are pretty non-aggressive from my experience. 2-3 Shrimp seems like it could only be beneficial, with smaller tanks the scavengers are really useful.

__________________
30G planted aquarium with Aquaclear 50 and two Aquaclear 20s. 7 Cherry Barbs, 12 Cardinal Tetras, 1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Golden Honey Gourami, and a handful of Ghost Shrimp.

I just noticed you have ghosts with ADFs, came on here before I had my coffee! The only reason I worried is I had a ghost shrimp before and it was all over my snail pestering it...just wouldn't want them to do that to the frog. Maybe I will try a nerite snail and two small shrimp. I read conflicting info on nerites...just want to make sure its not going to multiply.

I have 2 DAFs, the otto cat, 6 neon tetras and 1 nerite snail along with several other "volunteer" snails and they all seem to get along great. The nerites should not reproduce according to my research. The other snails seem to control their population on their own, so I don't mess with them. So far all is working out well and since I have lots of plants, the excess waste goes to good use. So, my vote goes to the nerites!

__________________
AVATAR: Wallace's Flying Frog: a moss frog found from the Malay Peninsula into western Indonesia.
Their webbed feet are their "wings"!

Shrimp can easily outcompete the nearly blind ADF for food, so I wouldn't add them. Not to mention most frogs I've kept would find a dwarf shrimp to be a tasty snack! Mystery snails do have a big bio-load, but if it's just the frog and snail in the tank, I wouldn't worry. I would be concerned about the snail getting enough to eat in such a small tank though. At full size they eat quite a bit. I would supplement daily with something like shrimp pellets, and place the snail right on them so the frog doesn't get to them first. I recommend adding a couple more ADF's since they are social and prefer to be in groups.