# Red Cherry Shrimp & temp



## lovemmth (Aug 30, 2010)

Hi all I have a 3 gallon planted nano. The tank has been running sence early summer with everything doing great. I am only keeping RCS in the tank. My question is in summer the temp stayed at 68-70 with no heater witch I now know is to cold. I have put a hydor mat heater in but it can only keep the water at 68. I am going to purchase a heater today but all the small heaters are preset to 78. Will this be to hot and will the change from 68 to 78 do any harm to the shrimp. Thanks


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## rikardob (Aug 13, 2011)

Newman tells me the 78 degree range will damper o2 exchange in the water if it's a filter-less bowl. Cherry are fine in this range though, but prefer around 74.


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## doonie (Oct 27, 2011)

Can I ask what the air temp is , since the mat will only keep it at 68 ? From what I have read people are keeping cherry shrimp at warmer temps with out an issue, they say from 65 to 80 degree's is fine. You will be going from the low side to the high side. But I don't think it will be an issue.


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## Moe (Jan 22, 2004)

they will be fine


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## lovemmth (Aug 30, 2010)

There is a HOB filter in the tank and no c02. The air temp in the room stays at 64-65 daytime and cooler at night 55-60. This may sound dumb but what about a second mat?


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## doonie (Oct 27, 2011)

I have a hydor mat on my 2.5 gal , and it keeps the temp at 73-74 , with out the heater temp in tank is 68-69. I don't see why you couldn't run two mats. I was planning to do the same on a 5 gallon. I hate seeing equipment in my tanks. And with two you could always just run both at night and one in the day.


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## lovemmth (Aug 30, 2010)

Thanks for all the help. My problem with another mat (I just found out) is no one around here sell them. But I just found that petsmart has a 25 watt heater that is not preset. Even though I agree I dont like the looks of a heater in the tank this my be my best option for the winter.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

When you first turn on the heater I would set it to 70, then 72, then 74 in increments of several hours. While the RCS are probabily hardy enough to take the 8 degree change right away its better to be safe than sorry.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

you may even want to spread it over a day or two to get up to 78F.
and since you have a HOB providing aeration and no CO2 injection, then you're fine to keep them at the upper 70s.


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## Bannik (Apr 2, 2011)

Cherry shrimp are very adaptable to temperature. The breed/grow slower in colder temperature but they also live longer. In warmer temps they breed more often, but they have shorter lifespans. You're fine keeping them anywhere from low 60's to high 70's. Just as long as there isn't a sudden temp change they'll thrive.

And speaking of sudden temp changes I see a lot of threads where an entire colony was killed off due to a heater getting stuck on. As long as your tank isn't outside, directly by air/heat vent, or by a door or window you're better off letting them be at room temp.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Adjusting from low to high is an excellent suggestion. So far I have 6 heaters and NONE of them has an accurate sticker reader on them. In fact, I have one that is set around 78-80F in actuality, and on the sticker it says it is set below 75F! 

This is why it is important to have a thermometer in the tank. I bought mine for less than $3 ea. and they are available at petsmart, walmart, etc.


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## lovemmth (Aug 30, 2010)

Thanks Bannik wish I would have seen your post earlyer. Put in a heater turned to 72 last night woke up to 72 deg water and about half my shrimp dead 25-30 and all the other looking bad. Did a water change and everyone seems to be doing better. So the new heater is gone and the old one is in will be keeping the at the old temp.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

What killed them is you shot the water from 64 to 72 overnight. There's nothing wrong with the heater. You should've slowly ramped up the temperature instead of doing it instantly.


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## lovemmth (Aug 30, 2010)

diwu13 The heater was set to 68 but the tank said 72 in the am. I was trying to go up slowly. The heater was in a small tank of water that I had kept at 68 for some time. I put it in the tank overnite and woke up to 72. And dead shrimp.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Very weird, so the tank the heater was in originally was 68? But when you put it in the tank it became 72? You said it wasn't one of the heaters that come preset, did it by chance get bumped and increase in temperature?


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## lovemmth (Aug 30, 2010)

I had the heater in another 3 gallon tank with only water. Took 2 days to get the water the water to 68 and hold it at that temp. Then took it out of one tank and put it in the shrimp tank. All I know is when I last looked at the tank the temp said 68 and the heater was off went to bed and woke to about 30 dead shrimp. The heater is gone and the tank is back to its old temp and the shrimp seem to be doing ok.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Ohh, sorry to hear that. Were the shrimp breeding for you at the lower temperatures?


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## lovemmth (Aug 30, 2010)

Yes I started with 20 shrimp and was up to about 60. At all times I had 2-3 berried. I know they will bounce back.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

a temp change of 68-72 overnight should not kill any cherry shrimp. something else is going on here. something toxic on the heater(untreated tap water?), stray voltage, unusual things like that. a 4 degree temp change doesn't even bother more sensitive animals like corals. i can't imagine a cherry shrimp that is more sensitive than coral.

To put it into FW perspective, crystal shrimp wouldn't mind 4 degrees of change either;they would not die or show any stress. 

In the case of the crystal shrimp, we are talking about the same lower 70s temps or below. (slightly higher temps for the coral example. about 75F-80F wouldn't do anything)

I would investigate this further. something else caused them to die


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

I think they stated the water was at 64. 64 to 72 quickly would kill them, or at least cause tons of stress.

The water that was 68 was where the heater was before.


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## DerekFF (May 24, 2011)

You all act like cherry shrimp are weiners. ime they're like cockroaches, live through a nuclear war and still be fertile

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

so it started at 64? o_o
yes 64-72 overnight would be a problem... why would you do it that fast though? 1 degree per day is good enough...


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## lovemmth (Aug 30, 2010)

The heater was set to 68. That is the problem it was suppose to go only to 68 but it went higher. The heater was in another tank with only water set to 68 and it stayed that way for 2 days then I moved it to the shrimp tank and for some reason it jumped to 72.


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## 1987 (Jan 27, 2007)

that's only 4 degrees. I have rili that I changed the temp from 74 to 80 in one day. They have been fine for weeks now. Something else is going on here.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

it turned out to be an 8 degree change. overnight, even if it only stayed at 68F, you may still have seen some deaths. best to do it slowly over a few days.


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## Bannik (Apr 2, 2011)

Just make sure you scoop out your dead and do a quick test to make sure your nitrates aren't too high, if so follow up with a water change. Having dead shrimp or fish can cause it to spike quickly, especially in such a small tank.


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## lovemmth (Aug 30, 2010)

Yes I got all the dead shrimp out and did a water change to be safe. The remaning shrimp seem to be doing ok.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Newman said:


> so it started at 64? o_o
> yes 64-72 overnight would be a problem... why would you do it that fast though? 1 degree per day is good enough...


Hey Newman, do you think its a problem that my tank fluctuates by 2-3 degrees between morning and night then?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

not an issue. if youre keeping charries they dont care, and if youre keeping crystals, as long as the temp fluctuates in the low range, they dont care either. crystals dont like temps jumping from 76F-80F, they will go crazy...


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