# Red Cherry and Nerite Snail questions



## Teibban (Oct 2, 2013)

Hi Everyone,

2 small questions:

1- I have been trying to get Cherry shrimps in my tank without much success. All the parameters of my water are good as per my LFS. I already have 3 Amano in there thriving and molting every month or so. I acclimate them by putting the bag in the water and adding approximately 20% of tank water every 15 min. Shrimps usually live for several days (up to a week) and then die. I usually find them being eaten by my amanos.

Usually I get 3-5 of them at once and only 1-2 survive. Is this standard rate of survival? Should I dose Calcium or any other nutrients to help? I feed them Hikari Algae wafers once a week usually.

The Tank is a 12G with 8 Neons, 3 amanos, 1 Cherry shrimp at the moment and 1 nerite.

Thank is 10 months old. PH = 7.2, Nitrite and ammonia = 0 KH and GH are normal as per LFS (do not have these tests myself) and Nitrates is between 10 and 20.

I do 10-15% water change every week.

2- I have a Nerite Snail for 6 months in this tank and got eggs 2 weeks after I got it. Which I suppose is normal if it is a female that mated with a male at the LFS. However, now I have eggs again but it is alone in my tank. Can it reproduce with other pest snails you get on some plants? I have about 10 always roaming in the tank.

Thanks for your help everyone


----------



## sewoeno (Apr 12, 2014)

that'd odd about the cherry shrimps. i noticed my neon's eating them so i eventually did shrimp only tanks. ..nerite's don't reproduce in freshwater. just lay unsightly eggs.


----------



## Teibban (Oct 2, 2013)

To be honest, my neons usually do not look at the cherries... unless they go after them in the night... but usually the cherries found dead are colorless and do not seem to be munched by fishes. Seems like the one that survived in the last batch was the only male out of 3 (2 others seemed to be females). Females more fragile?

But might be the case... Will try again with a batch of 10 this weekend and see.


----------



## Kat12 (Aug 11, 2013)

animals can lay eggs without them being fertilized

get your own test kit, stores you don't know if the tests are good or not expired etc

Either the shrimp you are getting an unhealthy, or your tanks has something going on. 

Can you post a pict of the tank?

the neons and amanos might be attacking the cherries at night

What care do you do on the tanks?


----------



## Teibban (Oct 2, 2013)

I do not have a recent picture at the moment of the tank. (see latest one 2 months ago)









It is a Fluval Edge 12g. The Gourami and the Black Phantoms are now hosted in a separate 29g tank at a friends house.

It is heavily planted with lots of places to hide for the shrimps. No more Wisteria and the plant at the back left. But added Hygrophila Corymbosa as well as crypt which are thriving in the tank.

I have API tests for everything except KH and GH and TDS. I trust my LFS which is in business for the last 25 yrs and he is only specialised in fishes (freshwater and salt water).

What do you mean by care?

Water changing (10-15% every week), feeding fishes once a day with flakes or pellets. Have a sponge on the intake of the filter.

I am suspecting the amano shrimps but was told amanos are usually only scavenging on the dead shrimps not the live ones. Sometimes attacking during molting but rarely.


----------



## wheatiesl337 (Mar 30, 2011)

Test kit of GH is cheap, you should get that. TDS pens are cheap too. These are basic and essential tools for any shrimp keeper. Any advice is no more than a guess without the basic parameters.

But my guess is... 



Teibban said:


> 8 Neons, 3 amanos


 NOM NOM NOM


----------



## Teibban (Oct 2, 2013)

What do you mean by NOM NOM NOM?

Sorry French speaking guy here


----------



## angelcraze (Aug 20, 2013)

Assuming your ph is correct at 7.2, although this is good for most fish, your general hardness (GH) might be low. I live in Gatineau, and our water is fairly soft from the tap, I usually add a little bit of 'Equilibrium' (which is basically calcium and magnesium). But for the size of your tank, I would only add '2 pinches' or so, it's a powder. But like everyone says, sometimes you can't really go by what the LFS says.

Also, try adding your shrimp at night. I know neons will go for the dwarf shrimp, giving them a chance to explore and adapt to the tank without be harassed might help? Try acclimating a bit slower, with less water at a time too, maybe? Cherries really aren't supposed to be the most difficult shrimp to keep. Have you tried buying them from a different location? Any local sellers?


----------



## Teibban (Oct 2, 2013)

Hi AngelCraze,

I have not tried yet to buy them from different retailer.

Actually I purchased 2 times (qty 3 and 4) shrimps from this retailer.

He is carrying Fire painted red for the same price the others sells standard red cherries. Are they more fragile than the standard ones?

What is your Equilibrium product? Is it sold in places like Home Depot/Rona?

Will buy KH/GH kit this weekend to see and will post full results.

I usually add them late in Evening and let the night lights on until the lights go off at 9PM.


----------



## shrimpletess (Jun 1, 2014)

I wanted to mention just in case, but are you sure you have amano shrimp and not some sort of macrobrachium shrimp which look like amanos a lot but are predatory? Check all three of them, macrobrachium have tiny claws.

Other than that if your current shrimp, nerite and fish are fine, it's very odd that the cherries die because they are super tough little shrimp.

As suggested, I'd check the Gh and Kh in case it's too low for them but then again your snail or amanos would suffer too so possibly you may have a predator.


----------



## wheatiesl337 (Mar 30, 2011)

Teibban said:


> What do you mean by NOM NOM NOM?
> 
> Sorry French speaking guy here


First, it might well be that your gh is too low. But if your water parameters are fine, I am guessing the neons and or amano's ate them. Contrary to other suggestions in the thread, neon tetras are not shrimp safe. No tetra's are shrimp safe. In fact, CPD's and similar micro danios and rasboras are not shrimp safe.

Amano shrimp are not dwarf shrimp safe either. I generally do not house them together, but a few weeks ago I was quarantining some new amano shrimp in 5.5g that had a few juvie neo's growing out in. I came home from work to find an amano shrimp with one of the juvie neos stuffed halfway down its craw. I wish I had snapped a few pictures with my cell phone, but I was too irritated at the time. It was one of my better juvie orange neos, and it had been alive and well that morning.


----------



## Raith (Jun 27, 2014)

The Nerites will have eggs from time to time, it does not mean they need to breed, they'll just sit there and get picked off. If your cherries are dying, it may be the water changes, I have killed a decent sized colony before when I just did a 30~% water change and the next couple of days, I just find corpses of them. If the temperature is 80s, and you're doing water changes, make sure the water is around the same temperature as well. I think mine was 68 or something when I last did it, now I just match the water temperature or just do a 10% change.


----------



## angelcraze (Aug 20, 2013)

Teibban said:


> Hi AngelCraze,
> 
> I have not tried yet to buy them from different retailer.
> 
> ...


Ok, adding them in the evening and then letting the lights out is a good idea, at least, that's what I do when there are fish in the tank. 

I don't know if the fire painted reds are more sensitive, but I think they are just selectively bred to be more red, so I would say no.

Equilibrium is make by Seachem, available at Big Al's or fish stores, but I was just saying what I have to do, and suggest you find out what your gh tests at before adding/buying anything. Maybe some of the shrimp experts can let you know the minimum GH level recommended for shrimp.

But if you don't find any bodies, I would definitely say you have a predator, and I second the fact that neons will snack on a neocaridina (dwarf shrimp).


----------



## Teibban (Oct 2, 2013)

Just a little heads up for everyone.

bought GH and KH kit and it is within the parameters for the cherry shrimps as per planetinverts.

added 8 days ago 5 cherry shrimps from another location and they are thriving. they even molted all 5. Must have been a bad batch from my LFS.

Thanks all for your help.


----------



## taquitos (Jun 20, 2014)

Teibban said:


> Just a little heads up for everyone.
> 
> bought GH and KH kit and it is within the parameters for the cherry shrimps as per planetinverts.
> 
> ...


Where did you get your shrimp? Sorry, I'm just another Montrealer and I have some RCS but I just wanted to know where I can get good stock! I bought mine at Aquarius >_>


----------



## levian (Apr 30, 2013)

taquitos said:


> Where did you get your shrimp? Sorry, I'm just another Montrealer and I have some RCS but I just wanted to know where I can get good stock! I bought mine at Aquarius >_>


Not him, but another good place I found is at Pointe-Claire (Aquatica). Last time I went there, their RCS were much cheaper than Aquarius... But I'd say the best would be to find people locally, like on kijiji.

I met a guy there once who was a true shrimp hobbyist :icon_smil. He had really great tanks and sold me a few CRS for a fair price, compared to some LFS that was selling them for $9.99 a pop..!


----------



## Teibban (Oct 2, 2013)

Hi Taquitos,

I am located on the south shore so Aquarius is a little far for me with all the traffic 

I bought the first 2 batches at Subaquatique in Beloeil and the last batch was bought at TWIT palace in Boucherville. Be careful in Boucherville as they have different grades in the same tank. 

Had to catch them myself because I wanted the ones with the most red (almost fire painted).


----------



## Aplomado (Feb 20, 2013)

Amanos and fish may be eating or harassing them. They are best by themself.


----------

