This in my opinion is one of the few crustaceans that can safely and compatibly be kept in the freshwater community tank. There are many crustaceans sold in pet stores for novelty purposes: small crabs, crawfish, "mini" lobsters, etc., however they almost inevitably end up spelling trouble when kept with fish. In the freshwater tank, they will either be outcompeted for food and tormented by fish (if the fish are aggressive), or more likely, eventually eat the fish.
For example, many crawfish and smaller crabs appear relatively harmless during the day when they live their scavenging lifestyle, but can actually be opportunistic predators at night, when fish go to the bottom to sleep and make easy prey. Smaller shrimp, on the other hand, such as this species (and also other species like ghost shrimp, etc.) fit in perfectly with smaller fish. Algae eating shrimp, as their name implies, spend most of their time industriously grazing algae off of plants and decorations in the tank. They are fascinating to watch in their habits.
Any algae eater, however, is not a replacement for cleaning the tank, because they will only scavenge off of scraps, not take away pollution.
The algae eating shrimp are often confused with the ghost (clearer, less brown, and usually not as hard-working when it comes to scavenging). They should be used with great caution in a tank with larger predatory fish, which will see them as an easy snack.