# Information for people wanting to breed Cherry Shrimp



## vinnymac

I've seen a lot of people asking questions about cherry shrimp and breeding requirements, tank setup, water parameters, etc.

I thought I'd take a little time to talk about what has worked for me. I got into the hobby a little over a year ago and found this site and a few others and quickly became interested in freshwater shrimp. I bought my first batch of 10 cherry shrimp and 10 amano shrimp and rest is history.

It wasn't until my second batch of cherry shrimp before I realized how easy they were to breed. My second purchase contained a pregnant female and she ended up having the babies in a small pint cup when I was moving her into her permanent home.

I started with a 10 gallon tank with various plant clippings from my main 65g tank and I noticed more and baby shrimp each week. I soon had nearly 100 and I ended up giving some away and selling some to other hobbists.

I set up a 20 gallon planted tank and moved a bunch of the shrimp into it and now I have successfully bred nearly 1,000 very nicely colored cherry shrimp.

Here is what has worked for me and what I suggest for other people if they want to try their hand at breeding cherry shrimp.

1. Tank size should be at least 10 gallons to support up to 100-150 shrimp (based on weekly 30% water changes).
2. Temp should be between 75-78F.
3. Moderate water hardness seems to work the best for robust breeding and coloration.
4. I highly recommend the addition of live plants to maintain good water quality.
5. Sponge filters are the best since they do not pose a danger to baby shrimp.
6. PH of 7.6 has worked well for me.
7. Keep up with water changes! Cherry shrimp are highly prone to nitrate poisoning and they need good water to maintain good health and molting. I do weekly 30% water changes. I use plain tap water (moderate hardness, PH 7.6) and I treat it with declorinator (Amquel).
8. I use full spectrum lighting...10 hours a day on a timer.
9. I DO NOT dose liquid iodine as the shrimp will get all they need from a proper diet.
10. I feed them HBH Vegetable Wafers and HBC Crab & Lobster Bites exclusively. Any invertebrate food will suffice as long as it does not contain any large amounts of copper (READ those labels!). I will occasionally drop in a piece of boiled vegetable (squash or spinach). I feed my shrimp once a day in small amounts.
11. I also recommend you maintain genetic diversity after a few generations of breeding. You can easily do this by introducing new cherry shrimp from other sources. This helps reduce the occurance of inbred deformities or weak shrimp. I have traded shrimp with other hobbist a few times.

I hope I haven't forgotten anything. Please feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions.

Thanks!!! roud:

I thought I'd add some recent pics to show my breeding population and tank:


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## Faust2001

Thanks for the good info.

How long does it take for your shrimp to mature from babies to breeding adults?


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## Urkevitz

The HBH crab bites are great the cherries go crazy for them. It contains copper sulphate but I haven't seen any problem.

I have bred them in my 2.5 gallon, but they seem to be stunted and never reach the size of the cherries in my 75 gallon.


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## vinnymac

Faust2001 said:


> Thanks for the good info.
> 
> How long does it take for your shrimp to mature from babies to breeding adults?



I'd say 45-60 days before the females start to display swollen ovaries in the carapiece.


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## BlueEL

Urkevitz said:


> I have bred them in my 2.5 gallon, but they seem to be stunted and never reach the size of the cherries in my 75 gallon.


I have similar experience with my 5.5G, they seems to stay pretty small comparing to the ones in the bigger tank.
I wonder if its because less food available in the smaller tank.


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## X-Treme

I just bought HBH crab and lobster bites.....the ingredients label says they contain copper sulfate. Isn't copper poisonous to shrimp???


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## Faust2001

X-Treme said:


> I just bought HBH crab and lobster bites.....the ingredients label says they contain copper sulfate. Isn't copper poisonous to shrimp???


I've been feeding mine HBH crab and lobster bites for about a week and no deaths. Other people on the board mentioned that they've fed their cherries the same thing with no deaths.


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## AW0L

ive been feeding blended spinach they get anuff iodine from the spinach


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## Georgiadawgger

Mine do fine off small bits of Omega veggie rounds. If I put any other "tasty treats" in there my rasaboras seem to find it (pretty darn good olfactory sensors therre)...even with the lights off for a few hours.


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## vinnymac

X-Treme said:


> I just bought HBH crab and lobster bites.....the ingredients label says they contain copper sulfate. Isn't copper poisonous to shrimp???



I guarantee HBH Crab & Lobster Bites are fine for cherry shrimp. I've been feeding my shrimp this food for nearly a year.


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## m.lemay

Good thread!!

I just made this a sticky. If anyone else has things to add or compliment this thread add it here. roud: 

Marcel


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## carlnorman

The trick with the crab bites may be how much copper is in the water from the pipes. The deaths stopped as soon as I stopped feeding it. I have adjusted every other factor and it was the only thing it could have been.

It is a small amount, but coupled with the water, that could cause toxic levels in their systems.

Be careful on feeding! In addition to some of the foods mentioned macroalgea sheets also seem to be enjoyed and give them the idodine they need as well. I tear off a little strip and sink it with a plant weight, it works great.


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## AaronT

If you're worried about the copper sulfate in the HBH Crab and Lobster Bites than you might try the Hikari Crab Cuisine. It's essentially the same thing only without copper sulfate. My shrimp actually fight over that stuff.


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## Georgiadawgger

grandmasterofpool said:


> If you're worried about the copper sulfate in the HBH Crab and Lobster Bites than you might try the Hikari Crab Cuisine. It's essentially the same thing only without copper sulfate. My shrimp actually fight over that stuff.


I can't find that stuff anywhere near me!!


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## SCMurphy

Georgiadawgger said:


> I can't find that stuff anywhere near me!!


Aquarium Center

My shrimp like the Hikari sinking wafers too.


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## vinnymac

Georgiadawgger said:


> I can't find that stuff anywhere near me!!



Order it online:
http://www.bigalsonline.com/

Cheap too.


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## Faust2001

vinnymac said:


> Order it online:
> http://www.bigalsonline.com/
> 
> Cheap too.


I found the HBH Crab and Lobster Bites, but I can't find the Hikari Crab Cuisine on the site. I've searched using "hikari" and "crab cuisine" and looked in their "specialty food" section.


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## Jdinh04

I find these cherries really easy to breed, I purchased a batch of 12 from whitepine and the first 2 weeks of having them 4 of the 12 became pregant, then 2 shrimps died, 1 of them was a pregnant cherry shrimp. My shrimps laid their batch about 2 weeks ago and now I have a tank full of baby cherries. To be honest, 2 more cherry shrimps are pregnant again so I should be expecting some more babies.


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## AaronT

Nope, Aquarium Center doesn't have the Hikari Crab Cuisine that I've ever seen. I ordered a bunch from Big Als.


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## Safado

Faust2001 said:


> I found the HBH Crab and Lobster Bites, but I can't find the Hikari Crab Cuisine on the site. I've searched using "hikari" and "crab cuisine" and looked in their "specialty food" section.


I got some from "aquaticmajic." Look for his moss threads in swap and shop. It is crazy, but he can buy it and ship it from Singapore, and it is cheaper than me buying it online or at the LFS (I couldn't find it until after I received it from AM).


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## FobbyBobby

Faust2001 said:


> I found the HBH Crab and Lobster Bites, but I can't find the Hikari Crab Cuisine on the site. I've searched using "hikari" and "crab cuisine" and looked in their "specialty food" section.


you can try www.drsfostersmith.com, they have it too


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## SCMurphy

grandmasterofpool said:


> Nope, Aquarium Center doesn't have the Hikari Crab Cuisine that I've ever seen. I ordered a bunch from Big Als.


You have to look where they sell the terrarium supplies, close to the large aquarium display. It's where I bought my bag.


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## jake

I used the hbh crab and lobster bites for over a year, then switched to Hikari crab cusine - didn't really see a difference, the hikari just became more available to me. Those seaweed selects are awesome... I dont' weight it down or anything... just tear off a piece of the sheet and toss it in. As it becomes water logged, the shrimp fiddle with it on the surface and when it starts to drop they just float with it down. A few minutes later and it's covered in shrimp. Omega One veggie rounds seem to be more popular than hikari algae wafers for my RCS... dunno what that is all about. More recently I've been using HBH Frozen food alternative with spirulina and they just go ape over it.

I've been adding vitachem to the water for the last few months as well. Not sure if it's making any difference yet.

Sponge filters are great, but those bubble-box type like from Lee's and Penn Plax work great as well. They're the green or transparent boxes you can shove crushed coral/filter media into and then an airstone drives the bubbles through a tube with creates the flow into and out of the filter. They come with a top but I leave the top off and the shrimp scavenge any edibles that get sucked into the floss. The kind with the airstone is much more gentle and is the one I'd recommend... not the ones that just shoot big fat bubbles up. Same pros as a sponge filter, but more easily customized.

In a larger shrimp tank ( 29 gal or more), any power filter will be fine with a Filtermax III prefilter. I find them at thatpetplace.com, among other places. They fit wonderfully on canister filter intakes, aquaclear intakes, and indeed every filter I've tried them on so far. I run a 200 gph aquaclear filter with that prefilter on a 29 gallon shrimp tank and it works beautifully. Even for smaller shrimp tanks, that prefilter fits an aquaclear mini just fine too.

Instead of trying to net shrimp when it's time to move or sell/trade some, I was told a trick and I've been using it ever since. Cut the top off a plastic soda bottle ( 16 oz, 20 oz, whatever), and flip it upsidedown back into the bottle. It might take some practice, but you'll get it so that it'll fit right after a try or two. Bait it with a piece of algae wafer or something. Sumberge it in the shrimp tank, letting it fill up with water. A few hours later, it should be full of shrimp. They go into the hole, but when they try to go back out they can't find it and run up the sides of the bottle and can't get out. You don't want to leave them in this trap overnight or for more than 4-6 hours as it is not subject to being properly filtered. Pull the trap out and pour them into a specimen container. Fill another specimen container with water from the tank and net them from the first one to the second one. Whatever shrimp you don't want, pour back into the tank from the first container. ( Don't want to use the trap's water for transporting shrimp as it has not been properly filtered already for a few hours and may have algae wafer debris in it) This method should prevent much of the netting damage shrimp are prone to, and save some stress.


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## bgssamson

Georgiadawgger said:


> I can't find that stuff anywhere near me!!


Ed,

Where do you shop for your fish supplies? There's 2 LFS near my area (Wally's Aquarium & Super Petz) they carry lots of hikari products. I will try this stuff & see if my shrimps will like it.

-Brian


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## Georgiadawgger

bgssamson said:


> Ed,
> 
> Where do you shop for your fish supplies? There's 2 LFS near my area (Wally's Aquarium & Super Petz) they carry lots of hikari products. I will try this stuff & see if my shrimps will like it.
> 
> -Brian


I've been to Wally's...they have decent hardware and stuff, but I don't really frequent that place. I tried to bring them some plant clipping for trade and their policy was "we only accept donations...no store credit or trades". I got miffed and thought that's not a good way to keep a customer. 

How is Super Petz? Sounds like a big chain...where is that place...ALX or Fairfax? 

When I used to afford gas I went all the way out to Aquarium Center, but recently I've been getting stuff online since its cheaper for shipping than gas.


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## bgssamson

Ed,

Superpetz is in the same area but furthur down Anandale. If you know Kmart its right across it near POPEYES. They have bigger space & stocks but they also don't buy/trade plants as well. I used to know an employee that let me trade plants & fish in Wally's but he left that store. The prices varies & sometimes they have stuff that is lower than wally's & sometimes a bit more expensive, but they do have live brine shrimps in a big tank unlike wallys they get there BS shipment every week (I think). But be warned that employees in superpetz are not as friendly as Wally's. IMO.

NOTE:

I have to ask you something. PM is on its way.

-Brian


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## gnatster

The shops that GWAPA works with all take trades for credit. Ck the site for links.


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## vinnymac

Well, it looks like I'll be adding another tank soon. A friend of my wife is giving us a virtually new 37 gallon tank and stand. I'm planning to move all my Cherry Shrimp into it to give them more room to breed and I'll keep my Crystal Reds in the 20 gallon tank.

I may take pictures of the tank setup to include in this thread. 

roud:


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## Faust2001

I've been feeding mine HBH crab and lobster bites for the past two weeks, but I got some Hikari Crab Cuisine today. 

I dropped a few pellets and the cherries are just swarming around it. The HBH stuff never got that reaction.

I'll feed the Crab Cuisine for two weeks to see if it increases the molting ot activity.

Has anyone else noticed a different reaction to different kinds of food?


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## Safado

Faust2001 said:


> Has anyone else noticed a different reaction to different kinds of food?


My shrimp seem to like my home made food  the best. They seem to let it thaw out for about a minute, then nearly every shrimp, and snail in the tank are all over it. When I make a new batch, which won't be for a long while, since I have used a tenth of it, feeding them with it every other day, I will add more spinage.


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## X-Treme

I have only 3 cherries in my 110 gallon tank and they seem to spend all day "cleaning" my plants for me. I recently (yesterday) bought 20 more and started my 10 gallon shrimp "baby facory". The shrimp I put in there are VERY active. They are swimming around constantly unlike the ones in my 110 gallon. Is this constant swimming normal? problem? harmful?


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## vinnymac

X-Treme said:


> I have only 3 cherries in my 110 gallon tank and they seem to spend all day "cleaning" my plants for me. I recently (yesterday) bought 20 more and started my 10 gallon shrimp "baby facory". The shrimp I put in there are VERY active. They are swimming around constantly unlike the ones in my 110 gallon. Is this constant swimming normal? problem? harmful?



I have nearly 200 cherries along with 125 crystal reds in my grow out tank right now and they swim around a lot right after water changes. However, they spend most of the time crawling on the plants and picking for bits of food in the substrate.


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## Faust2001

I've noticed some of mine have a deeper red and better coverage of the red color (males and females), and I started thinking about trying to selectively breed those traits.

Has anyone tried to breed a darker red/"cherrier" shrimp from their stock? How hard was attempt at selective breeding? Was it worth it? Did you learn anything that would help others who are trying?


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## Georgiadawgger

Faust2001 said:


> I've noticed some of mine have a deeper red and better coverage of the red color (males and females), and I started thinking about trying to selectively breed those traits.
> 
> Has anyone tried to breed a darker red/"cherrier" shrimp from their stock? How hard was attempt at selective breeding? Was it worth it? Did you learn anything that would help others who are trying?


Selective breeding can be possible...but is it really worth the time? IMO shrimp are only fun to watch when they're in the main tank rather than in a bare bottom or shrimp-only-minimal tank...and the pain in catching the ones you want is another issue. Toss in shrimp sources and waiting for maturity can also add to the wait. 

Add to that, you shouldn't (IMO) inbreed the selective color traits either, once you have your F2 generation.


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## Urkevitz

I like the color variations you get by letting them breed naturally, check out this brown one. I have a darker brown one in my main tank, as well as an orange cherry.


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## vinnymac

Georgiadawgger said:


> Selective breeding can be possible...but is it really worth the time? IMO shrimp are only fun to watch when they're in the main tank rather than in a bare bottom or shrimp-only-minimal tank...and the pain in catching the ones you want is another issue. Toss in shrimp sources and waiting for maturity can also add to the wait.
> 
> Add to that, you shouldn't (IMO) inbreed the selective color traits either, once you have your F2 generation.



I'm sure it's possible but it's not worth the time and effort since they are so prolific.

I have a very strong breeding stock that produces very deeply colored red cherry shrimp. I do notice the random brown or pale colored baby and I try to net them out and dump them in my main 65g display tank. The culls usually have a 30% survival rate as my angels tend to find them quite tasty. 

I've noticed a dozen or so of my mature females are solid red and I thought about transplanting them into a separate tank to see if I could breed some higher quality cherries but it's almost not worth the effort.

However, my Crystal Red population is starting to display some strong variations in the F1 generation so I will be separating them. Not to mention I have nearly 4 dozen S/S+ grade crystal reds arriving tomorrow from Asia so I will need to be more selective in the babies I keep. roud:


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## vinnymac

Urkevitz said:


> I like the color variations you get by letting them breed naturally, check out this brown one. I have a darker brown one in my main tank, as well as an orange cherry.


Yeah, I get a handful of those every now and again. I put them in my 65g display tank and they do a great job cleaning the plants. They bred pretty prolifically too as I found nearly 40 of them in my sump last time.


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## vinnymac

Just tossing this out there...

I have plenty of java moss and najas grass available so I'd be willing to give it to people starting up shrimp tanks if they cover the cost of shipping.

I highly recommend using java moss and najas grass to control nitrate levels and to provide the shrimp places to hide. These two plants are very easy to car form and look pretty nice in a tank.

Contact me if you want some. roud: 


Thanks!


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## TheOtherGeoff

I have a question now. the shrimp i got from vince are doing great and now the biggest one is a female cause she is carrying eggs. My question is how can you tell if they are good or not. or is there really a way. they are a creamy sort of yellow color and she has had them since i noticed on sunday. 

They are in a small bowl, about a gallon in size and are doing great. they spend all day laning the java moss carpet and hiding amoung the rocks. very nice to watch. the najas grass is also taking advantage of the kitty litter and shooting out roots like mad.


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## vinnymac

TheOtherGeoff said:


> I have a question now. the shrimp i got from vince are doing great and now the biggest one is a female cause she is carrying eggs. My question is how can you tell if they are good or not. or is there really a way. they are a creamy sort of yellow color and she has had them since i noticed on sunday.
> 
> They are in a small bowl, about a gallon in size and are doing great. they spend all day laning the java moss carpet and hiding amoung the rocks. very nice to watch. the najas grass is also taking advantage of the kitty litter and shooting out roots like mad.



Geoff - glad to hear they are doing well. The eggs should be an opaque yellow color and the femail will carry them for 20-30 days before they hatch. I've found incubation periods to be shorter in higher temps (80F) but I recommend you keep the temp around 76-78F. 

Najas will grow VERY quickly. I've had to throw away large batches in the past since it seems to double in volume in my 46g tank every 2 weeks.

roud:


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## TheOtherGeoff

hahah thats cool that it grows so well. i need to find something like that for my 55. 

anyway, the eggs are an opaque yellow so i will keep an eye on them. she seems to be very active still prunning all the algae off the plants. the temp im not sure of what it is. most heat it gets is from the 15 watt PC almost right above the water. it feels be to around 76 -78 so i think im good.


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## vinnymac

TheOtherGeoff said:


> hahah thats cool that it grows so well. i need to find something like that for my 55.
> 
> anyway, the eggs are an opaque yellow so i will keep an eye on them. she seems to be very active still prunning all the algae off the plants. the temp im not sure of what it is. most heat it gets is from the 15 watt PC almost right above the water. it feels be to around 76 -78 so i think im good.



Yeah, it sounds like everything is fine. A female cherry will drop her eggs if anything is out of order with the water, environment, or diet. Just keep an eye on her and if, in a few weeks, you notice the eggs are gone....start checking for babies. They will be TINY at first but they grow very quickly. Good luck and keep us updated on the progress.


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## Safado

TheOtherGeoff said:


> hahah thats cool that it grows so well. i need to find something like that for my 55.


I would recomend people avoid Najas in a regular planted tank. I have some ing my 10g, and am very happy with it. I have some in my 55 g, and went through what I hear a lot of people go through with glosso or Riccia.

Wow, I have a plant that is doing really well.
This is getting old trimming it every other day
how did it get on that side of the tank?
Ok, now I have ripped it out, how is it still coming back???

I have pulled every bit I could find for the last two months. because it breaks in little pieces, some of it seems to escape me. So while this is a great plant, add it to your tanks with the knowledge it may be hard to get rid of.


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## vinnymac

Safado said:


> I would recomend people avoid Najas in a regular planted tank. I have some ing my 10g, and am very happy with it. I have some in my 55 g, and went through what I hear a lot of people go through with glosso or Riccia.
> 
> Wow, I have a plant that is doing really well.
> This is getting old trimming it every other day
> how did it get on that side of the tank?
> Ok, now I have ripped it out, how is it still coming back???
> 
> I have pulled every bit I could find for the last two months. because it breaks in little pieces, some of it seems to escape me. So while this is a great plant, add it to your tanks with the knowledge it may be hard to get rid of.



I agree to a certain extent. Najas is a very fast growing plant and it can get out of control quickly. However, I've never had a difficult time getting rid of it. It's easy to pull out by hand then scoop the rest out with a net.


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## TheOtherGeoff

yes it may be hard to get rid of but if it grows then its all good. hey said it would be impossible to get rid of java moss and i got rid of all of it. so im not worried about it. Vince the next time you are going to throw some out lemme know and i'll take some. anyway- back on topic, no more thread hijacks.


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## vinnymac

roud:


TheOtherGeoff said:


> yes it may be hard to get rid of but if it grows then its all good. hey said it would be impossible to get rid of java moss and i got rid of all of it. so im not worried about it. Vince the next time you are going to throw some out lemme know and i'll take some. anyway- back on topic, no more thread hijacks.



Geoff, no problem. I'll ping you the next time I have a bunch to get rid off. I usually include it with shrimp orders as a bonus. roud:


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## Faust2001

Has anyone tried feeding their shrimp the dried seaweed for sushi? I saw them at Wegman's and I'm curious.


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## vinnymac

Faust2001 said:


> Has anyone tried feeding their shrimp the dried seaweed for sushi? I saw them at Wegman's and I'm curious.



I wouldn't do it for a couple of reasons:

1. It might be difficult to keep it on the bottom of the tank and it will break up and float all over the place.

2. I'm always weary of consumer products (food for humans) because it may contain chemicals or other non-invert friendly ingredients.

Besides, there are plenty of invert-specific foods on the market that are cheap and readily available.


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## gnatster

Faust2001 said:


> Has anyone tried feeding their shrimp the dried seaweed for sushi? I saw them at Wegman's and I'm curious.


I feed all my shrimp some of seaweed that I picked up from Wegmans with no ill effects.


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## Snailpoo

Is an alkaline pH necessary for breeding? Most tropical tanks are slightly acidic, right?

Does the acidity change breeding behavior?


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## vinnymac

Snailpoo said:


> Is an alkaline pH necessary for breeding? Most tropical tanks are slightly acidic, right?
> 
> Does the acidity change breeding behavior?



I've keep my tanks at PH 7.6 and my cherries breed like crazy. I've never tried an acidic environment.


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## uncskainch

I can't seem to find an answer to this question elsewhere in the forum -- how big are newly hatched baby cherry shrimp? 

I ask because my 2.5 gallon shrimp tank has little tiny slightly pinkish critters swimming around near the surfacce and landing/walking on the glass. They are too small to detect any sort of shrimp shape (I don't have a magnifying glass), but I'm wondering if they might be baby cherries. 

I have had some hatch from my adult shrimp before, but not since I got the 2.5 gallon tank -- the original babies were from a cherry that was in my 29 gallon community tank, and I only found the babies in the filter and have no idea how many days old they were at the time.


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## Georgiadawgger

uncskainch said:


> I can't seem to find an answer to this question elsewhere in the forum -- how big are newly hatched baby cherry shrimp?
> 
> I ask because my 2.5 gallon shrimp tank has little tiny slightly pinkish critters swimming around near the surfacce and landing/walking on the glass. They are too small to detect any sort of shrimp shape (I don't have a magnifying glass), but I'm wondering if they might be baby cherries.
> 
> I have had some hatch from my adult shrimp before, but not since I got the 2.5 gallon tank -- the original babies were from a cherry that was in my 29 gallon community tank, and I only found the babies in the filter and have no idea how many days old they were at the time.


I would say a couple days old baby cherry shrimp is about 1-2 mm long. But they should definitely have a distinct shrimp shape to them.


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## uncskainch

Thanks -- I'm guessing what I'm seeing is some other sort of tank critter, but I suppose time will tell. I have a female carrying eggs, so even if these little dudes aren't cherry babies, some will be on the way soon, I hope!


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## vinnymac

uncskainch said:


> I can't seem to find an answer to this question elsewhere in the forum -- how big are newly hatched baby cherry shrimp?
> 
> I ask because my 2.5 gallon shrimp tank has little tiny slightly pinkish critters swimming around near the surfacce and landing/walking on the glass. They are too small to detect any sort of shrimp shape (I don't have a magnifying glass), but I'm wondering if they might be baby cherries.
> 
> I have had some hatch from my adult shrimp before, but not since I got the 2.5 gallon tank -- the original babies were from a cherry that was in my 29 gallon community tank, and I only found the babies in the filter and have no idea how many days old they were at the time.



Newly hatched cherries are approx 1-2mm in size. They are very small.

They look exactly like adult shrimp.


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## NeonShrimp

Thank you for your tips. I just moved my female RCS to a planted tank that has a sponge filter. I hope the hatching wiill go well and both mom and babies will come out well.

Thanks again!


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## leonpetty

*Mixing Shrimp*

I'm thinking about starting up a shrimp tank soon and I am trying to get all the info possible to start it out right. 

I was wondering if anyone has mixed shrimp tanks that they use for breeding. I would like to try breeding cherries, crystal reds and ghosts. Do they eat each others eggs? Thanks!


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## tritan

jake said:


> I used the hbh crab and lobster bites for over a year, then switched to Hikari crab cusine - didn't really see a difference, the hikari just became more available to me. Those seaweed selects are awesome... I dont' weight it down or anything... just tear off a piece of the sheet and toss it in. As it becomes water logged, the shrimp fiddle with it on the surface and when it starts to drop they just float with it down. A few minutes later and it's covered in shrimp. Omega One veggie rounds seem to be more popular than hikari algae wafers for my RCS... dunno what that is all about. More recently I've been using HBH Frozen food alternative with spirulina and they just go ape over it.
> 
> I've been adding vitachem to the water for the last few months as well. Not sure if it's making any difference yet.
> 
> Sponge filters are great, but those bubble-box type like from Lee's and Penn Plax work great as well. They're the green or transparent boxes you can shove crushed coral/filter media into and then an airstone drives the bubbles through a tube with creates the flow into and out of the filter. They come with a top but I leave the top off and the shrimp scavenge any edibles that get sucked into the floss. The kind with the airstone is much more gentle and is the one I'd recommend... not the ones that just shoot big fat bubbles up. Same pros as a sponge filter, but more easily customized.
> 
> In a larger shrimp tank ( 29 gal or more), any power filter will be fine with a Filtermax III prefilter. I find them at thatpetplace.com, among other places. They fit wonderfully on canister filter intakes, aquaclear intakes, and indeed every filter I've tried them on so far. I run a 200 gph aquaclear filter with that prefilter on a 29 gallon shrimp tank and it works beautifully. Even for smaller shrimp tanks, that prefilter fits an aquaclear mini just fine too.
> 
> Instead of trying to net shrimp when it's time to move or sell/trade some, I was told a trick and I've been using it ever since. Cut the top off a plastic soda bottle ( 16 oz, 20 oz, whatever), and flip it upsidedown back into the bottle. It might take some practice, but you'll get it so that it'll fit right after a try or two. Bait it with a piece of algae wafer or something. Sumberge it in the shrimp tank, letting it fill up with water. A few hours later, it should be full of shrimp. They go into the hole, but when they try to go back out they can't find it and run up the sides of the bottle and can't get out. You don't want to leave them in this trap overnight or for more than 4-6 hours as it is not subject to being properly filtered. Pull the trap out and pour them into a specimen container. Fill another specimen container with water from the tank and net them from the first one to the second one. Whatever shrimp you don't want, pour back into the tank from the first container. ( Don't want to use the trap's water for transporting shrimp as it has not been properly filtered already for a few hours and may have algae wafer debris in it) This method should prevent much of the netting damage shrimp are prone to, and save some stress.



Do you have a pick of how to make this trap. Another thing for filtering my LFS has had great success with a 20 gallon and a UG filter with powerhead.


----------



## TRDMCV20L

How important is water temp? Currently my water temp is about 79-80 without a heater/chiller. Later on in the year my temp will drop to about 75 or so, while summer time it will be about 85.


----------



## AnneRiceBowl

leonpetty said:


> I'm thinking about starting up a shrimp tank soon and I am trying to get all the info possible to start it out right.
> 
> I was wondering if anyone has mixed shrimp tanks that they use for breeding. I would like to try breeding cherries, crystal reds and ghosts. Do they eat each others eggs? Thanks!



There's the possibility that the ghosts will eat RCS and CRS shrimplets, so I would leave the ghosts out.


----------



## cherokeetestpilot

*Re: breeding cherry shrimp*

Hi guys,

New to this forum. As myself, my kids and my wife are all really getting into our planted tank setup, I thought it would be a good idea to join these forums. Anyway, to the point. 

We've recently purchased 5 cherry red shrimp and discovered that 2 of them are carrying eggs. We'd really like to try our hand at breeding these so we could put some in our 80g when they reach maturity. This thread has been very helpful....BUT....(there's always one of those isn't there :icon_wink ) since we JUST purchased a little 10g to house them in I'm not sure if we set it up and cycle it the way we do for our community tanks. Someone suggested that I could do a water change from my 80g and just put that water into the 10g and turn the filter and heater on. Is this correct? 

I look forward to your inputs. Thank you
Jesse


----------



## Solstice

The water from your other tank doesn't contain the beneficial bacteria that the tank cycling process creates. There's a good chance, on the other hand, that it does contain the ammonia and nitrites that you need the bacteria to process, so moving water would be a bad idea.

Filter media, mulm and other surfaces from your large tank would contain some bacteria. If possible, take some filter floss from your large tank and use it in your small tank (do not rinse it), and try to get some mulm off the bottom. This will help your tank cycle faster. You should've cycled the tank before purchasing the shrimp, but adding pre-established bacteria will probably keep them alive.

Good luck!


----------



## cherokeetestpilot

Thanks for the input. I wasn't planning on breeding them when I purchased them. I was just going to put them in the planted community tank. It was only when I discovered that 2 had eggs that I thought it would be a good idea.


----------



## Solstice

Yeah, they'll breed well. After you first batches hatch you can toss your adults in your community tank and as long as it's well planted and depending on the fish you have in there, they'll likely continue breeding...


----------



## cherokeetestpilot

Don't want to sound stupid here, but, what is "mulm"? I'm assuming you're refering to the stuff growing on the filter side walls and such? Is this correct?

Thanks


----------



## epicfish

Decaying fish poop and plant matter, sometimes the fuzzy stuff you see in your tank (not the algae, mind you). That stuff is full of bacteria.


----------



## A Hill

epicfish said:


> Decaying fish poop and plant matter, sometimes the fuzzy stuff you see in your tank (not the algae, mind you). That stuff is full of bacteria.


Basically all the nasty sludgy stuff in the gravel, Vaccume the other tank and the solids you get will speed up the cycle time!

You will have fun with cherries believe me...roud: 

- Andrew


----------



## cherokeetestpilot

Thanks Andrew, and the others that helped out here. The 10g that we're setting up is going to be planted and the cherries. However, We'd like to put in one or two fish that would do well. Andrew, I noticed that you have 2 german blue rams (which I like very much). Would they do well in a 10g with some cherries?


----------



## A Hill

cherokeetestpilot said:


> Thanks Andrew, and the others that helped out here. The 10g that we're setting up is going to be planted and the cherries. However, We'd like to put in one or two fish that would do well. Andrew, I noticed that you have 2 german blue rams (which I like very much). Would they do well in a 10g with some cherries?


Nope they would eat them . Cherries are in the 55g with as of now only otto's. For a fish Try some SMALL rainbows... like Threadfins or a Small fish maybe galaxy rasaboras? Otto's will be fine I know. Not 100% sure on others the threadfins should be fine tho. If you really want a larger fish how about a bristle nose pleco?

- Andrew


----------



## cherokeetestpilot

Hmm, the pleco is an idea, but I think I may go with an otto or 2. Possibly some cardinal tetra's after the tank is more established. I think the pleco would uproot most of the plants just from swimming around them. They are a bit clumsy at times. At least my sultan pleco and commom pleco are. :icon_smil


----------



## A Hill

cherokeetestpilot said:


> Hmm, the pleco is an idea, but I think I may go with an otto or 2. Possibly some cardinal tetra's after the tank is more established. I think the pleco would uproot most of the plants just from swimming around them. They are a bit clumsy at times. At least my sultan pleco and commom pleco are. :icon_smil


Ottos are always nice, especially if you can get your hands on some "zebra ottos"

good luck with the tank and let us all know how it turns out!

-Andrew


----------



## cherokeetestpilot

I will Andrew. Thanks. I'll keep you guys posted. I guess the right way to go about it would ge to start a new thread. Right?
I will post pictures.


----------



## A Hill

cherokeetestpilot said:


> I will Andrew. Thanks. I'll keep you guys posted. I guess the right way to go about it would ge to start a new thread. Right?
> I will post pictures.


Yep:hihi: I think you have already......


----------



## epicfish

cherokeetestpilot said:


> Hmm, the pleco is an idea, but I think I may go with an otto or 2. Possibly some cardinal tetra's after the tank is more established. I think the pleco would uproot most of the plants just from swimming around them. They are a bit clumsy at times. At least my sultan pleco and commom pleco are. :icon_smil


If you're seriously thinking about breeding RCS, they should go in a shrimp-only tank. Pretty much any kind of fish will go after your shrimplets...ie: cardinal testras. =P The otos and plecos will be OK though.


----------



## cherokeetestpilot

Thanks, duly noted :icon_smil


----------



## LS6 Tommy

Thanks for the great info, Vinnymac! You just explained why I just lost 2 cherries and a new bumble bee. My nitrates were off the scale before my last H2O change. :angryfire I guess the Bumble Bee just took longer to die as it didn't go until after the H2O change. I just figured with such a low bio load (only 7 shrimp), the 10 gal wouldn't need as much attention. Like others, I have proved that laziness is the fishkeepers worst enemy. Sorry, shrimpy dudes! RIP:angel: 

Our aquatic families are just like our teeth, ignore them and they'll go away.:icon_lol: 

Tommy


----------



## Jimbo205

> My nitrates were off the scale before my last H2O change.


Is this WITH a heavily planted aquarium?


----------



## LS6 Tommy

No. It's a 10 gallon bare bottom with an _Emperor_ 200 HOB, a heater and a stock light. There's some African fern, some floating Riccia, some potted Brazilian pennywort and some sort of Anubia.

I just was REALLY lazy and not too thoughtful.

Tmmy


----------



## LS6 Tommy

Nitrates are 5 ppm, Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Ph 7.6, 78* F. After 2 days of H2O changes (4 gal each day out of a 10 gal tank. Ph and temp matched, treated with AmQuel) I lost a Bee and a Cherry tonight. I'm confused. They may have been nitrate poisoned from before, but it's weird. They get a little opaque and kind of act drunk, walk backwards or in circles or just lay on the bottom. Then they act normal for a day or two, then start acting weird again. Then they die. I am really losin' it. All the shrimp in the 58 gallon tank are fine.

Tommy


----------



## marco92

I have a general question to ask to all the shrimps breeders.
It's quite important for me...
Do you do any fertilization??
Do someone of you have shrimps with a heavily planted aquarium??


----------



## vinnymac

marco92 said:


> I have a general question to ask to all the shrimps breeders.
> It's quite important for me...
> Do you do any fertilization??
> Do someone of you have shrimps with a heavily planted aquarium??


I would suggest you avoid it unless you absolutely have to. My philosophy was to always minimize the additives I used so the water was void of any possible compounds toxic to the shrimp. Shrimp are very sensitive to metals...specifically copper.


----------



## sandiegoryu

I am not a heavy duty breeder of cherry shrimp, but I've breed about 100 in my nano tank, transporting juveniles into my 10 gallon, and I have used things like double dosing excel, accidentally double dosing flourish, and I also dose nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, and my shrimp breed fine.


----------



## A Hill

vinnymac said:


> I would suggest you avoid it unless you absolutely have to. My philosophy was to always minimize the additives I used so the water was void of any possible compounds toxic to the shrimp. Shrimp are very sensitive to metals...specifically copper.


I agree, Don't put things in you don't need to!

Keep it simple!

-Andrew


----------



## starrystarstarr

What the best wat to do a water change with out accedenty sucking upbaby shrimp? i have 3 preggo femals and i dont want to lose any babies.


----------



## A Hill

starrystarstarr said:


> What the best wat to do a water change with out accedenty sucking upbaby shrimp? i have 3 preggo femals and i dont want to lose any babies.


Just be careful, Usually it isn't too hard to avoid babies... especially if you take the water out of the middle of the tank.

Or use a cup...

-Andrew


----------



## blueguppygirl

I've been using a gallon jug with the top cut down a little. It's the best way I've found so far for putting the water back into the tank too since I can just lower the whole thing into the tank and slowly tip it over. I've tried hoses and such but I always ended up uprooting plants or disturbing substrate.


----------



## cjyhc4

This has probably been answered somewhere, but how long does it take the eggs to hatch from the time they are first visible? from the time they drop down?


----------



## sethsmom5702

I was wanting to start a nano shrimp-only tank soon and I was wondering this...If I keep CRS and RCS in the tank together, will they inter-breed? I may want to sell some babies in the future and I wouldn't want them to be hybrids.


----------



## epicfish

sethsmom5702 said:


> I was wanting to start a nano shrimp-only tank soon and I was wondering this...If I keep CRS and RCS in the tank together, will they inter-breed? I may want to sell some babies in the future and I wouldn't want them to be hybrids.


They're different species and will NOT hybridize.


----------



## vdisoriented

I am new to this forum, and have read through some of the threads. I am wondering about shrimp and an underground filter tank set-up. OK? What about breeding?


----------



## ringram

I have both ghost and cherry shrimp in my 90g, which is heavily planted. I dose K2So4, KNo3, KH2Po4 and Plantex CSM+B "extra iron". No breeding so far that I can tell and there are three clown loaches (3" or so) that don't bother them either -- although they tear apart snails. The shrimp have been in there for a good 2-3 weeks, so if it wasn't going to work, I probably would have seen some deaths by now.



vinnymac said:


> I would suggest you avoid it unless you absolutely have to. My philosophy was to always minimize the additives I used so the water was void of any possible compounds toxic to the shrimp. Shrimp are very sensitive to metals...specifically copper.


----------



## tritan

I am assuming from the pics the larger red ones are female and the smaller more clear are male? I put 6 shrimp 3 of each in my 75 gal and didn't see them for months and now I see at least a 12 or so playing in the java moss. wow they must have breed.


----------



## joe the pleco

How large do the cherries grow?
Are they likely tobe eaten by dwarf gourami or RTBS?

Thanks :¬)


----------



## foolish1

i cant figure out why these are called CHERRY shrimp, they taste like popcorn to me.


----------



## oblongshrimp

The popcorn you eat tastes like seafood? You sure that popcorn hasn't gone bad?


----------



## retoid

I am planning on setting up a 10gal tank to breed cherries in. 
I am curious if my tap water will need any special treatment since the kH is 11 and the pH is 7.8

Do any of you breeders use co2 for planted tanks or do you dose excel?
Also, will eco-complete be a bad choice of substrate as it contains alot of metals?

I am also on the lookout for a filter for this 10gal tank. I would love some suggestions for a cheap yet efficient filter that will adapt to sponge filters.

Thanks


----------



## retoid

Bump


----------



## Gatekeeper

retoid said:


> Bump


ROFLMAO!!! that is a new one...


----------



## retoid

I was hoping it would get enough attention to answer some of my questions


----------



## qazplm25

I will give a bump for retoid because that made me Laugh so hard!


----------



## Dwarfpufferfish

A ten gallon tank is large enough for breeding cherries. I have never used Excel, but have used Co2 and as long as it doesnt cause pH swings it is just fine. Eco-complete has never caused any problems with my shrimp.


----------



## kunerd

retoid said:


> I am curious if my tap water will need any special treatment since the kH is 11 and the pH is 7.8
> 
> Do any of you breeders use co2 for planted tanks or do you dose excel?


My PH is high like yours and my RCS do fine. As far as cos some use injected, some use excel, and some dont use any at all. It all depends on what you are comfortable with. me persoanlly my tank is not about the plants it is about the rcs so i have no cos in it cause my vals and crypts dont mind.


----------



## retoid

thanks guys


----------



## Mad78

i also feed my cherries hbh crab lobster bites and then i noticed some deaths, i thought it was because of the food so i stopped feeding it to them, the deaths continued. The real problem was my copper water pipes, If you take the tap water hot or warm the copper disolves it the warmwater, so now i take it out cold and nuke it for a couple seconds. I continued to feed them HBH and they are fine, it was the pipes.


----------



## dekstr

It seems like I didn't do anything to get red cherry shrimps in my tank to propogate. I got 4x 1" cherries, and 10x juveniles 3 weeks ago. Today, I noticed one of the larger ones already carrying eggs...


----------



## spypet

Now that several berried females gave birth and my shrimp are thriving in my shrimp only tank, I moved all the adult males and no-berry females to another tank. so my question is; does it pay to segregate the redder males from the clear carapace males for mating with the females, or does it hardly matter.

my coupling shrimp M/F


----------



## Madfish

I dont know I will be able to tell you in a few months. I have stated to slective breed them to find out just that.


----------



## ZooTycoonMaster

Since I have fish in my tank with RCS, and have no other tank avaliable, I just let the eggs hatch in the water and, like Darwin says, "Survival of the fittest". So some of the baby RCS get eaten, but the rest hide and grow up


----------



## A Hill

Spypet, 

I wouldn't expect immediate results. After a few generations (3-5) I would expect some results. I think it would take at least that long to get the certain trait you're looking for steady, because as you've said they're one heck of a mix of genes. Starting out with a strict pair or two would work best. Maybe 1 male and 4 females? Limit the males present and select the best females. I've been trying this here and there but lack of tank space has yet to let me see results.

-Andrew


----------



## efish

I've read that shrimp uproot HC. Is this true? I was going to convert my feeder guppy tank into nano planted tank with just shrimp, but want to start with emersed HC and dwarf grass.


----------



## Ulli Bauer

Hi spypet,

I did that - took out all the relatively weak-colored males and left only one that was redder. My offspring showed a better color pretty soon, so I think that may have paid off. Now some of the ladies are almost concolorous (however only after they were first berried).

efish,
my shrimp leave the HC alone, however, the MTS always dig it out. I've resorted to binding it to little rocks, now it stays in place.

Cheers
Ulli


----------



## Dream Chaser

*number of offspring*

So, I have looked in various places but have yet to see this posted. How many offspring can be expected from one berried female RCS? I know with their minute size it is hard to give a solid count. I am also aware the number probably varies, but I am curious. 15, 30, 50, 70? Also is there generally a high survival rate of all? (shrimp only tank)
I'm excited because, as of this morning, all 4 of my females are now berried! Woohoo! :thumbsup: 
BTW, This thread is full of wonderful info. thanks to all!


----------



## Ulli Bauer

Hi DreamChaser,

you can generally assume that Red Cherry carries around 20 to 40 eggs. Young females have sometimes a little less, one of my very young females had only three eggs (must have been a teenage pregnancy). 

The survival rate depends very much on how much food there is available for them. In "sterile" tanks with no muck lying around and virtually no algae growth less will survive than in tanks that look a little unkempt.

Cheers
Ulli


----------



## Dream Chaser

Thanks, Ulli! Haha, teenage pregnancy. I have noticed it looks like 2 of the females are carrying more eggs than the other two. One is carrying significantly less...maybe 8-10? 
I have a few oak leaves on top of the Eco, many plants, and <gasp> have allowed algae to grow a bit. The tank has been set since early December, seeded with water, plants, and a filter all from another tank. Hopefully this will provide acceptable conditions for the majority to survive! Even if only 10 survive from each female, that increases my population from 7 to 47! yippie! Thanks again for those who contribute to this thread. 
Now, if I could only figure out how to convince my fiance to allow me to upgrade to a larger tank for the shrimp...I could introduce CRS too. hmmm


----------



## SicilianDefense

Thanks for the info.
Do you really need 10 hours of lighting for successful breeding results? Is there an alternative method that's about as good? I'm willingly to do the lighting method if it's the best one, but just curious. 


Thanks!


----------



## fishsandwitch

light has nothing to do with breeding cherry shrimp...


----------



## SicilianDefense

Yeah, I was looking on the first page. The guy who started this thread said you needed like 10 hours of lighting for good results (or something like that).


----------



## fishsandwitch

No, it says he personally has 10 hours of lighting which is pretty much irrelevant info...


----------



## SicilianDefense

Oh. Ok. So how much lighting is normal?


----------



## southerndesert

I run 10 hours on all my tanks simply to increase growth of bio-film.... 

Cheers, Bill


----------



## southerndesert

I run 10 hours on all my shrimp tanks simply to increase growth of bio-film.... 

Cheers, Bill


----------



## Hockiumguru

How big do cherry Shrimp typically get? I've read anywhere from 2.5 cm's to 4...


----------



## epicfish

Hockiumguru said:


> How big do cherry Shrimp typically get? I've read anywhere from 2.5 cm's to 4...


About an inch long.


----------



## chase127

so does the same info apply to snowballs? (id assume) 

i have a ph of 7.2-.4 

thats good for breeding them right? or would a more acidic substrate work better?


----------



## F22

I've been using chingmix flowerhorn diet for the shrimp, the color pops after like 2 weeks or so...


----------



## theemon

This Thread Has Alot Of Great Info. But There Is Alot Of Hijacking And Clutter. It Would Be A Better Thread If The Clutter Was Gone


----------



## Joetee

Maybe you can read through it and copy and paste it into a doc and then submit it for an article.


----------



## theemon

If I Wasnt Posting On A Cell Phone I Would


----------



## CobraGuppy

Sorry if this has already been asked but about how long does it take for a newborn shrimplet to be come sexually mature?


----------



## Joetee

I'm probably mistaken, but it seems to me that I read somewhere that RCS have a life span of about 4 months. So if this is correct then I would say about 6 to 8 weeks.
Some one correct me if I am wrong.
Joetee


----------



## epicfish

Joetee said:


> I'm probably mistaken, but it seems to me that I read somewhere that RCS have a life span of about 4 months. So if this is correct then I would say about 6 to 8 weeks.
> Some one correct me if I am wrong.
> Joetee


Life spans range from 1-2 years, 1.5 years is common from what I've seen.

You're correct about the range for sexual maturity. At around 7-8 weeks, the females will be fully saddled.


----------



## Joetee

I stand corrected. Sorry. Maybe I got confused with life span and age of maturity. 
1 1/2 years, thats amazing isn't it, for such a small creature. They bread like crazy. My 29 has maybe 200. About 2 months ago, at best I had 100. Love these little guys.
Joe


----------



## CobraGuppy

Thanks guys!

They do live a long time o.o 
So now i'll know around when to expect babies.


----------



## goatdemon

*just make sure you have a safe filter*

I recently cleaned out both of my canister filters and found three live fish and a couple dozen shrimp of various sizes. I recommend using foam on the intake. I was contemplating using pantie hose over the intakes since I have the type that does not come with the foam. hmmm. . . ?


----------



## renown

not sure if this is a noob/rhetorical question or if its been answered, but is it a bad idea to have ghost shrimps in the tank with the cherries? im worried that they'll go after the new babies


----------



## epicfish

goatdemon said:


> I recently cleaned out both of my canister filters and found three live fish and a couple dozen shrimp of various sizes. I recommend using foam on the intake. I was contemplating using pantie hose over the intakes since I have the type that does not come with the foam. hmmm. . . ?


Yes, or a prefilter sponge would also work.



renown said:


> not sure if this is a noob/rhetorical question or if its been answered, but is it a bad idea to have ghost shrimps in the tank with the cherries? im worried that they'll go after the new babies


It depends on the species of ghost shrimp. They're commonly mislabeled in this hobby. Some are passive while I've read reports that others will go after snails.


----------



## Joetee

Pantyhose over an intake will work, however, it will clog fast. I tried it and quickly removed it. I was using the well, white on one side and blue on the other, can't remember what it is called. I just cut a piece and used zip ties to keep it on. It does work quit well, but it is always a pain to change it weekly. Now I started using a black spunge prefilter which has a whole all the way through it. It is about 6 inches long and round. I slide one end over the intake pipe and use a small blue stone air bubbler pushed into the bottom end. This so far has worked out fantastic. It is black so you can hide it very easy behind some plants etc. Large enough so it don't suck to hard to allow the babies shrimp to escape. Does not slow the uptake of water much at all if any. I think this one is made my Hagen. I think I paid $7.00 for it.
Joe


----------



## biggecko

when t he shrimp have babies how many do they have at a time


----------



## A Hill

biggecko said:


> when t he shrimp have babies how many do they have at a time


30ish

Sometimes more sometimes less

-Andrew


----------



## Frogmanx82

I'm trying to keep the red up and I have quite a mix. I know the males are paler. I would like to know the best way to sex them early so I can keep some red males. 

Its easy to pick out pale females once the saddle shows. What I really need is a way to be sure I don't get rid of all my males because of culling the pale colored ones.


----------



## non_compliance

I am keeping mine with CPD, zebra danios, asian rummy nose, and L333 and L270 pleco... does anyone know if they will eat the babies? I have a berried female currently. 

Also, do they carry the eggs until they hatch, or ddo they lay them somewhere?

Are MTS a problem for the eggs? Lots of MTS in my tank. For that matter, do the MTS compete for food?



Thanks!


----------



## Spachi

The eggs are always with mom, so snails won't have a chance to get them. They both eat biofilm so they may compete technically, but rcs will get to the dropped flakes or other foods quicker. In reality, you would have a hard time starving either in a planted tank.


----------



## pianofish

Hello Everyone,
I am in the process of setting up my first large planted tank and would like to see some cherries in there when I get it setup. I have a few questions though: 1. How long after I set up my tank will it be safe to add the shrimp? 2. I plan on having angels, some sort of schooling tetras, a few apistos, and maybe a loach or two. Will shrimp go okay with these? 3. Should I add shrimp first before fish, to allow time for their "colony, family, herd, pack, gaggle" to grow? 4. Is it really necessary to feed them fancy crab wafers and such, or will they do okay with plain ole algae wafers? 5. And can shrimp be added to my small 10 gal tank, that currently has 1 black skirt and 2 neon tetras, and a yoyo loach, It has plants , but is not "heavily planted"? that is my only worry.
Thanks a bunch,
Your pal,


----------



## Joetee

Just about any fish with eat RCS. That said, I have a 29 gallon planted heavy with over 200 RCS in it. I added 6 Cardinal Tetra's. The shrimp are able to produce faster than the fish can eat them. They don't eat the adults, rather just little babies that happen to venture out from the safety of the plants.
If you add a dozen or so shrimp to a fish tank, I am sure they will all be eaten. 
Joe


----------



## Joetee

Oh and also, the shrimp will eat just about anything too. I'm sure some food is better than others, but mine eat what ever they can get to. Flakes, shrimp pellets, wafers, etc.
Joe


----------



## pianofish

Thanks Joe
but I'm confused.....


> If you add a dozen or so shrimp to a fish tank, I am sure they will all be eaten.
> Joe


Is there no hope for me?


----------



## Frogmanx82

With a loach, no hope. With the others, lots of java moss would help the babies greatly. I'm not sure how angels are with the shrimp.


----------



## Joetee

Pianofish,
In order for shrimp to live in a tank that contains fish that will eat shrimp, you need enough shrimp to multiply faster than the fish can eat them. In other words, my 6 cardinal tetra's love to eat the baby shrimp in my 29 gallon that stray away from there hiding. But I have had between 100 and 200 shrimp in the tank before I added the fish. There is a lot of plants and especially java moss that the small shrimp and babies hide in. The adult shrimp swim and crawl all over the place without being eaten because of there size I guess.
The fish that you mentioned I am not sure of, but they may eat the adults shrimp as well.
If you have a tank that contains just about any kind of fish and add a small amount of shrimp, say a dozen or so, they will not survive because they can't multiply fast enough.
I hope this helps you understand a little better Pianofish.
Joe


----------



## stpeteplanter

I just found my first batch of fry today, I had two berried females, and they're both fairly large and no longer berried, so far I've only been able to spot 10 fry, there's probably a lot more I can't see. 

The fry don't need any special care, do they? They'll eat everything the larger prawns will eat, right? I've just been putting in different blanched vegetables and the larger prawns are doing well on em.


----------



## Joetee

They will eat anything. They really like shrimp pellets and algae wafers.
Joe


----------



## stpeteplanter

Joetee said:


> They will eat anything. They really like shrimp pellets and algae wafers.
> Joe


Alright, I've been avoiding it for the longest time but I think I may break down and purchase some actual shrimp food from Dr.F&S, I've heard good things about hikari shrimp cuisine, and I know everyone says the copper it contains is negligible, but would even negligible amounts of copper effect shrimp fry? It seems like the smaller shrimps would be effected by smaller amounts of copper. 

Thanks for the help, Joe.


----------



## Joetee

In not sure, but I just get my algae wafers from Walmart. Never seen any baby deaths.
Joe


----------



## pianofish

I think I understand somewhat better, I just have one more question. I have a 75 gal that I plan on setting up heavily planted lo-med light with angels, small tetra school and some apistos, If I added the shrimp before I got fish, and allowed them to get a good "colony, pack, herd, gaggle, family" going then I added fish, once there was plenty of cover and hiding places, Is there a high probability that they will survive? 
What I've understood so far is that the more hiding places and plant cover the better, don't get anything with copper, Keep the water clean (low amonia and nitrites), Get enough shrimp at one time to start off a healthy "colony, pack, herd, gaggle, family" , occasionally after a few months add in shrimp from a different source, to refresh the gene pool, and they can eat algae wafers, or shrimp and crabs wafers. Would this be about right?


----------



## [email protected]

With angels, one day there simply won't be any shrimp left.


----------



## dindin

I have a grow-out tank with 7 baby killifish (a. striatum) not showing color yet but at least 2 months old, 4 teeny baby cherry barbs, and a slew of 3/4 inch dwarf ancistrus. There's a RCS that hitchhiked in there and she's carrying eggs. Move her to the shrimp-only tank? Or leave her?


----------



## BeavisMom62

Would your suggestions work for breeding ghost shrimp as well? I have a 10 gal tank that I am trying to breed ghosts for F8 puffer food. So far, no babies. I feed them Hikari algae wafers and Tetra spirulina flakes. Also, is adding calcium a good idea? I am also trying to breed pond snails in there, so for no luck. So wondering if the calcium would help to "nourish" their shells or not?


----------



## Frogmanx82

Forget the ghost shrimp, just go with cherry shrimp, they are much more prolific. I'm pulling a half dozen a week out of my tank to feed my salt tank. To keep the red, you need to cull anyway.


----------



## BeavisMom62

I just may do that. But at the moment, I just bought three dozen ghosts in addition to the dozen I already had in the tank. I've actually never seen cherry shrimp at any of our LFS come to think of it. But if I do, can I add cherries to the same tank as ghosts? I already have 7 tanks and have no more room (or $$!!) for any other tanks.:hihi:


----------



## Frogmanx82

I have heard that the ghost shrimp will eat the small cherry shrimp, but I don't know that for sure. I do know that I have cherry shrimp out the wazoo starting with 8. I have purchased dozens of ghost shrimp and never had success. Oh I had a few babies make it, but it wasn't a sustainable population. I have never had a ghost shrimp live more than a few months. In the same tank I have 4 amano shrimp which cannot breed in fresh water that I bought in July last year.

My experience is that ghost shrimp are the least hardy shrimp and Amano shrimp seem the most hardy, but cannot be bred. Cherry shrimp have died on me but multiply faster than they die off.


----------



## Spitfire696

Extremely helpful thread! Very informative.


----------



## TeamTeal

how do i know if they are male or female?

they are pretty small right now, do i have to wait?


----------



## DBL TAP

TeamTeal said:


> how do i know if they are male or female?
> 
> they are pretty small right now, do i have to wait?


Yes. Males have a tendency to be bland and colorless. Females should redden nicely. The sure way of sexing is when the female is saddled.


----------



## aaronbrown

how long does it take for rcs to reach sexual maturity? and is it normal for them to hide all the time


----------



## LesPaul

can i use canned vegetables for feeding?


----------



## Frogmanx82

The best thing for shrimp is java moss. With some thriving moss you don't need to feed anything special. I just feed my guppies flakes and some NLS micro pellets. I don't see the shrimp get too excited at feeding time. They seem content with algae.


----------



## Franco

Ghost shrimp have a planktonic larval stage. I have had success breeding them pn 1 occasion in an unfiltered deck pond (bucket of green water + duckweed). They eat on the algae and eventually I saw them and thought they were daphnia until I sucked them up to feed bettas and got a closer look. Not really worth trying to breed them though since they are like 10 cents a piece anyways.


----------



## A Hill

Franco said:


> Ghost shrimp have a planktonic larval stage. I have had success breeding them pn 1 occasion in an unfiltered deck pond (bucket of green water + duckweed). They eat on the algae and eventually I saw them and thought they were daphnia until I sucked them up to feed bettas and got a closer look. Not really worth trying to breed them though since they are like 10 cents a piece anyways.


This is really off topic but I think their baby shrimp are the best looking baby shrimp in the hobby, they are gorgeous as they grow. Their behavior is also very interesting in comparison to the somewhat dull RCS behavior after a while.

Congrats on getting them to breed though, it isn't the easiest shrimp to breed.
-Andrew


----------



## Banana

Hi all! New to rcs, has anyone tried to have them in an el natural wasted method tank? I kept bettas in 3-5 gallons like this for years and decided to add some shrimp too. bettas are crazy don't keep em together with the bright cherries. They literally will hunt them down! Mine are shrimp and betta divided for the moment for a week now.. Hoping water params or oxygen will stay nice like this...


----------



## klinds89

My shrimp have been having babies, and its been going good. But I have dots all on my drift wood that is an off yellow.... is that eggs? It looks similar to what the females carry, but I didn't know if they lay them and hatch that way.


----------



## msnikkistar

Sounds like you got yourself some snails klinds


----------



## Waterbaby

I have looked through all the posts in this sticky and I don't think this question has been answered so, here it is. How much flow and suction from the filter is too much? I have a marineland penguin 100 (100 gallons per hour) in a 7 or 8 gallon tank with a pre-filter sponge on the intake. There is still quit a bit of water movement and I was told I could cut the propellers to lesson the flow but I wanted to check first to see if that was necessary or, I might return it for a different filter if I have too. Thank you for any info in advance


----------



## guppygolucky

A simple sponger filter will be all you need in a 7-8 gallon tank with shrimp. Too much water movement will just blow your shrimp around. I have a 16 gallon tank with CBS and RCS and they are doing great with just a sponge filter, mosses, HM, and flourite (red), heater and light.


----------



## Waterbaby

Thank you  I don't want to go return/buy another filter (i'm lazy). But for anyone who is curious I just cut 3 of the propellor blades off and it cut down the flow significantly and it made the filter a lot quieter.


----------



## Kunsthure

Can anyone give an update on their experiments breeding the wild-type almost colorless RCS with ones with a deeper red color? My 20g is home to the wild-type and I'd like to know what I could see if I added red ones.

-Lisa


----------



## boringname

I have a question about breeding yellow shrimp, which I think are just a color morph of the same shrimp as cherry shrimp. If I just buy 2-4 of them from the LFS what are the chances of that turning into a breeding colony? I know you only need a male and female to breed but I wonder if in practice starting with very few doesn't work.


----------



## TeamTeal

i started off with only 6


----------



## Piphobbit

Hi, I'm new to RCS. They are in a planted 6 gallon (Fluval Edge), species-only tank, with java moss (plenty), red ludwigia and some hornwort. I've had my shrimp for a couple of weeks, and they all seem to be pretty mature but I still can't sex them for the life of me! Of the 5 shrimp, I see 3 have belly skirts and 2 have narrower bodies...but all of them are intensely red. Is this because they have good genes or because they are female? Also, they seem to be all the same size.

Couple of other questions:
1. My water temp fluctuates from ~72F to ~79F when I leave the light on (it's a halogen light...came with the Edge). Is this too dramatic a change for the shrimp (for breeding and just generally)? I was thinking of adding a small heater for stability but am afraid that when combined with the light, I'll just cook the shrimp.

2. Should I get a breeding log or cave of some sort if I want them to breed?

3. I guess fish are out of the question if I want them to breed, eh...


----------



## DANIELSON

The females will have a saddle on the top of the back. These shrimp are very hardy and temp changes don't effect them much. They will breed in a puddle of water so u don't need anything special for them. Te saddle will drop and u will see a bunch of eggs on the bottom where their belly is. U can have fish in the tank but u will be limited to small non aggressive fish. If a shrimp will fit in a fishes mouth typically they will eat them. Hope that helps.


----------



## Piphobbit

Thanks Danielson! I've tried looking for the saddle...it's hard to see inside though, because my shrimp are so red. I definitely saw it on one of them (Estelle...I named my shrimp haha), but the others are pretty solid colours. Right now I'm guessing based on the shape of their bellies. Here are some photos of the two shrimp I suspect are males:

Phil - so named because when he eats, he stares into space like a philosopher. He's the palest shrimp:









Rob - short for "Robust" since he's the reddest shrimp:
















And Crusty, who is female? - really hard to see any saddle:










Sorry it's so pic heavy! I just really really want to make sure I have at least 1 male, or else I'll run out in search of one so I can start breeding  Thanks so much!


----------



## mordalphus

Phil and crusty look female to me, Rob is definitely a male! (phil might be a male, but his carapace looks female to me)


----------



## scape

Wow those pics are amazing! What camera set up are you using?


----------



## mfgann

Piphobbit said:


> ... I just really really want to make sure I have at least 1 male, or else I'll run out in search of one so I can start breeding  Thanks so much!


Wow. That is some fantastic color on those RCS. I bought from two sellers, and one had very poor color and the other was pretty good, but not as brilliant as yours.


----------



## m3ypu

*Breeding cherry shrimp*

hi people

This is all new to me im hopeing to add about 20 shrimp to a well established tank and breed , it does however have a clown loach and sone danios in will these cause a problem? 
i think about 25.c is the right temp correct me if wrong
I do have 4 in there now and the clown loach doesnt seem to bother them but thay may not breed with him about?

Help needed

Thanks
happy new year


----------



## decoman

i can see from the pictures that a lot of them have eggs


----------



## rvcrawford

Where is the best place to buy RCS and how many do you need to start a colony? My LFS don't carry them. Sorry if this has been asked and answered, I didn't read the entire thread because most of it is so old I figured it may no longer be relevant.

Thanks,
Roger


----------



## larryl

Frogmanx82 said:


> The best thing for shrimp is java moss. With some thriving moss you don't need to feed anything special.


Agreed, mine are doing great with just Java moss and some veggie flake food. Know any good tricks for thinning out the Java moss without losing a bunch of babies in the process?


----------



## situla

Thanks for the information! I recently got a few cherry shrimp that were already pregnant and am kind of freaking out as to what to do! This was very helpful- 
Does anyone know why cherry shrimp might lose their color? I have three females and one has recently lost her color.... she doesn't seem to be as red as the others. The other two are healthy and happy.


----------



## al28894

Question. Does red cherry shrimp survive in still-standing water? I have a tank in my room and the Hang-On Back filter is too noisy to give me sleep, so I'm considering putting a DIY baffle over the outflow to lessen the noise. But does the RCS survive in slow-moving to still-standing water?


----------



## ohbaby714

Hi all, 
I got 10 of cherry shrimp from Jimko here in the forum about 3-4 weeks ago.
The little guys are all doing great. But i have a lot of questions.
I setup a 5.5 gallon tank RO just for them with some red ramhorns. Small amounts of perarl weed and chrismas moss and corkscrew val and Fluval Stratum. I have some Subwassertang comming and plan to buy some cholla wood so they can have some more place to hide.
The tank have 2 sponge filter and i'll probabaly try to hook up my old cascade 500 with purigen to improve the water quality/ clarity.
In the meantime, there are a lot of dust in the tank sitting on top of the filter sponge, substrate. 
How do you clean this stuff?
I'm affraid to gravel vac, because the fluval startum is so light that it probabaly get 
suck in. I think the dust is probabaly come mostly from the mineral rock i put in and started to break down, but i'm not sure.
Secondly, Maybe i'm being too impatient.
The biggest one is only about 3/4 inches long, how long before they start to breed? 
Is the temperature play a big role in this?
I'm in FL and the house usually around 75-80 degree depending when the ac is on but pretty stable. 
Do i need a heater/fan? 
I have a larger planted comunity tank(40g) and just want to expand the population there but my last attempt with 20 cherry shrimps failed. This time with just shrimps in a small tank, i hope i have better luck.


----------



## leo1234

Once you hook up the cascade the dust will go away. For the sponge's just give them a squeeze when you do a water change but as for the substrate i don't vacuum at all the dust will usually just sink to the bottom of the stratum. And as for breeding it will probably take another month or two i also got some from him.


----------



## ohbaby714

Thank you, Leo. I feel alot better now.

Last time in 40 gallon comunity, they just keep dispearing till there're non left. It didn't seem like the fish bother them at first but when the sailfin mollie have the babies twice (+50); the little shrimp population started to decline. I finally give away most of the Mollies and now working on the shrimp in the 5.5g.

Another question on em cherry. I bought a breading liquid from Rootmedic. It come in a bottle with a squeez drop but no instruction. Have anyone ever use it? How much do you use it on a small 5.5 gallon tank? I got em in a combo with bacterball and mineral rock, but have no idea what the hex it suppose to do. I just dump a whole bag of bacter ball in, drop the mineral rock, and use the drop 1 a week. I have no idea if any of the suff really work????


On a side note, my Red Ramhorn lays egg everywhere, i mean every where. Not to sound too graphic, 3 of them are on each other endless. There are snail egg pods on the glasses, filter tube, rock etc. At this rate in about a month the whole tub will be fill with em creppy crawer.


----------



## Kitty_Kitsch

The little CRS in there look so funny


----------



## Studman0143

*Breeding Q*

Wow, this is an old thread, but I think I am gonna ask this question anyways.

How many cherry shrimp should I start out with to breed? Plus can you easily tell Male from Female?

Also, is there a recommended sponge filter I should buy? Or a preferred brand/type to go after?

Thanks!


----------



## eco69

Hi I am in the UK and have red cherry's and red crystal shrimp in a Nano tank. They have bred quite readily and I would now like to transfer some of them to another tank. How do I manage to do this with out damaging them?


----------



## Benn

Adults you can carefully net. Babies I've always placed java moss around their hiding areas, when they climb into the moss you can transfer the whole lot. There are probably better ways though.


----------



## eco69

Thanks Ben , I will give that a try, have a purpuse built shrip net that came with my Nano tank from Hagaen.:icon_lol:


----------



## Ransonk

i have 5 cherries that move around occasionally but they never jump to food. One or two of them will search for the food but usually they just sit and wait until it comes into their grasp. Is anything wrong? Oh and I have been feeding them goldfish flakes for about a week. they seem to enjoy it but not enough to go get it haha. any ideas or suggestions?


----------



## imasaved

*shrimp*

I have heard of people making little traps such as small plastic bottle with neck cut off and turned around and put in thier food. pull it out and cull the ones you want.


----------



## wrentz44

I would love some Java Moss and the other plant you mentioned ...how much would the shipping be? im just getting my RCS tank started ....its not quiet planted enough .....my email address is [email protected]


----------



## diwu13

Hello All,

I'm new to this forum and somewhat new to raising red cherry shrimp so sorry for the long post asking for help . I've been housing ~30 RCS in a cycled bare bottom, moderately planted, 10 gallon tank. The females are constantly pregnant with eggs but most, if not all, are dropping their eggs.

The temperature is ~72 to 74, pH 6.5, nitrites and ammonia are 0, nitrates ~10ppm, hardness is 50ppm.

Would RCS drop eggs due to the current being too strong in the water? I have a HOB filter covered with a sponge. However, most of the current comes from a bubble curtain in the back. It is strong enough that there is constant circulation but not to the point that the shrimp aren't able to swim easily through the curtain. Is the bare bottom amplifying the current?

Other besides that a few weeks back I went to visit a friend for a weekend and dropped in a 3-day feeder pellet usually meant for fish. I guess this was too much food for the shrimp and when I returned the sides of the tank were covered in white fungus from overfeeding. Since then all the fungus is gone, needless to say I won't be doing that again >.>


----------



## haddaj04

@diwu13 some of those weekend feeders might contain copper which is like poison to the shrimp...

just realized how old this post was, great read though.


----------



## diwu13

haddaj04 said:


> @diwu13 some of those weekend feeders might contain copper which is like poison to the shrimp...
> 
> just realized how old this post was, great read though.


Hello! Welcome to the forum! Small amounts of copper in foods are actually benefitial to shrimps. The copper in ferts also is so minute there isn't danger unless you way overdose. The problem with my shrimps is that they were still getting used to the tank. After two months or so they finally started to keep their eggs and now I have tons


----------



## chriscenter1

Hello! I am fairly new to shrimp but not to aquaria. I have five RCS in my moderatly planted Edge along with 7 harlequin and blue rasboras. 

I've got a sponge filter, xmas moss, any ideas why my little guys aren't breeding? I've had them about two months or so.

Do you think the fish have anything to do with it? I've tried to keep an eye on them and they don't seem to be bothering the shrimp or picking around for babies, but obviously I can't monitor 24-7. Any ideas? I'd greatly appreciate it!
Chris


----------



## diwu13

chriscenter1 said:


> Hello! I am fairly new to shrimp but not to aquaria. I have five RCS in my moderatly planted Edge along with 7 harlequin and blue rasboras.
> 
> I've got a sponge filter, xmas moss, any ideas why my little guys aren't breeding? I've had them about two months or so.
> 
> Do you think the fish have anything to do with it? I've tried to keep an eye on them and they don't seem to be bothering the shrimp or picking around for babies, but obviously I can't monitor 24-7. Any ideas? I'd greatly appreciate it!
> Chris


There could be several reasons, and the fish could be one of them. Besides oto's all other fish have been known to stress out the shrimps. Stressed enough the shrimps will not be able to breed, even with plenty of hiding places.

Another reason could be you have all females. Depending if you got them from a LFS or not, most LFS only carry females as they are larger and more colorful. Are they all red? If so you most likely have all females.

Finally, it could be that they haven't fully adapted to the tank yet. My RCS did not breed for almost 3 months in a shrimp only tank. However, they were constantly berried. Are your RCS berrying? When I set up a second tank for yellow's they started to breed in under a month.


----------



## chriscenter1

Hey thanks for the response.

I have mostly females but I do have one male I believe. He's clearer and smaller but apparently not doing his job like I'd like.

I've kept a pretty close eye on the females and have yet to see any eggs being carried. I guess being stressed is a possibility? I've had some troubles lately keeping the temp regular but I think I've got those problems solved. 

I can take a few of the rasboras out and put them in my gf's tank and see if that gets the little guys doing their thing...


----------



## diwu13

chriscenter1 said:


> Hey thanks for the response.
> 
> I have mostly females but I do have one male I believe. He's clearer and smaller but apparently not doing his job like I'd like.
> 
> I've kept a pretty close eye on the females and have yet to see any eggs being carried. I guess being stressed is a possibility? I've had some troubles lately keeping the temp regular but I think I've got those problems solved.
> 
> I can take a few of the rasboras out and put them in my gf's tank and see if that gets the little guys doing their thing...


If you can take a picture, many people mistake juvenile females as males. You can properly identify them by looking at their tail.

Are any of your females saddled? Like developing eggs on their back?

If you're able to, move the shrimp to a shrimp-only tank until they start to breed a lot. Then you can easily keep a well-established shrimp colony with lots of fish!


----------



## shrimpzoo

Anybody know if 23 Degrees Celsius is good enough for Red Cherry Shrimp to breed in?


----------



## chriscenter1

diwu13 said:


> If you can take a picture, many people mistake juvenile females as males. You can properly identify them by looking at their tail.
> 
> Are any of your females saddled? Like developing eggs on their back?
> 
> If you're able to, move the shrimp to a shrimp-only tank until they start to breed a lot. Then you can easily keep a well-established shrimp colony with lots of fish!



Thanks, I moved out my four bigger harlequins today so we'll see what happens! I often picked up two more of what I think are males so I figured that increases my chances of one being male. I'll try and get a pick up though.


----------



## diwu13

shrimpzhu said:


> Anybody know if 23 Degrees Celsius is good enough for Red Cherry Shrimp to breed in?


That's actually the ideal temperature. Neocaridina shrimp will breed anywhere from 68 to 80 degrees. Any lower/higher and they will be able to survive, but most likely won't breed.


----------



## kevin93

hey new to the hobby and just wondering if you got some for sale?


----------



## diwu13

kevin93 said:


> hey new to the hobby and just wondering if you got some for sale?


Hey kevin93, welcome to the forum. I suggest you check around the SnS http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/swap-n-shop/ here. A lot of people stop shipping in the winter due to breeding slowing and issues with heating. I'm sure you can find someone but make sure you pick someone close so they shrimps do not get stuck in shipping. I also suggest waiting until after thanksgiving as many things get stuck in shipping then. Good luck!


----------



## Byakuya

What are good plants for a shrimp tank?


----------



## dj2606

Less demanding plants like moss and ferns


----------



## l Spidy l

just a quick question on water changes...

i've got a fluval chi and at the moment it evaporates approx 1 pint a day which i replenish with ro water, would i still need to do 30% weekly water changes or would the daily topup do the same job?


----------



## Joetee

No. Just topping off the water does not do anything to dilute the water. You still need to perform water changes.


----------



## synthorange

How old are cherry shrimp generally when they show their full colours? I've got a few that hatched in late November. Are their colours still developing or are they doomed to be culls?


----------



## hedge_fund

synthorange said:


> How old are cherry shrimp generally when they show their full colours? I've got a few that hatched in late November. Are their colours still developing or are they doomed to be culls?


Most likely culls. I have ones that hatched a month ago and they are showing some color already. Perhaps your water is not as clean as it should be or your food needs to be upgraded. Since I changed to BorneoWild my cherries have really really turned red....literally overnight.


----------



## synthorange

They get a mix of Hikari Shrimp Cusine, algae wafers, the occasional carrots and broccoli leaves, and any fish food the tetras dont finish, which is a mix of old betta food, tetra chips and freeze dried blackworms.


----------



## diwu13

The specialty food will only bring out pigment that's present. So if there isn't much to begin with expensive food won't help. Pretty sure hedge fund is right and you got some culls


----------



## synthorange

Oh. Well guess I have some 'volunteers' to help tend the betta tank.


----------



## [email protected]

I bought 30 red cherry shrimp about 6 months ago,and all I've fed them is algae wafers and shrimp pellets. Since then Iv'e sold 550 back to the local fish stores, and I must have 500 still in my 55 gallon shrimp tank.I have them in my 75 gallon community tank, and everytime I do a water change I also clean out the filter(30% a week). I probably rescue 20 to 30 out of the filter everytime. They have plenty of places to hide in the 75 gallon tank,and what is interesting is that there are more and more of them growing to full size in that tank, and almost all of them are fire red! I just think it's awesome! Jimbo.


----------



## Shrimp_Newb

[email protected] said:


> I bought 30 red cherry shrimp about 6 months ago,and all I've fed them is algae wafers and shrimp pellets. Since then Iv'e sold 550 back to the local fish stores, and I must have 500 still in my 55 gallon shrimp tank.I have them in my 75 gallon community tank, and everytime I do a water change I also clean out the filter(30% a week). I probably rescue 20 to 30 out of the filter everytime. They have plenty of places to hide in the 75 gallon tank,and what is interesting is that there are more and more of them growing to full size in that tank, and almost all of them are fire red! I just think it's awesome! Jimbo.


Awesome! you're doing something right! roud:


----------



## [email protected]

*shrimp*

Shrimp Newb, Thanks for the responce! Jimbo.


----------



## Shrimp_Newb

Do you have any pics of your masses that you can post?


----------



## [email protected]

Shrimp Newb, I'm very new to this Computer stuff, It'll take me a while to figure out how to do that. Thanks for your interest though. Jimbo.


----------



## jameshill247

thinking of getting a bristle nosed plec for the shrimp tank or maybe a couple always used to have them in my old community tank, would they hassle the shrimp much? i will have to keep an eye on the feeding but threat wise?


----------



## diwu13

I can only say the 100% shrimp safe fish is the otto. All other fish are nearly 100% going to eat babies, and some will even snack on adults.


----------



## Geniusdudekiran

But I'll always be one to say, depends on your exact fish. I have 7 CPDs temporarily in a 2.5 gallon filled with only baby shrimp, and I watch them; there were about 17 baby shrimp when I put them in and I still see 17 or them. Tiny, tiny shrimp.


----------



## AROS

Hi guys I'm new to this stuff......so I have a few questions.What do you guys use to dose your plants with shrimp CRS? I know they are very sensitive to copper but all the ferts I have seen have small amounts of copper in them. Is there anything special i need to put in the tank for them to breed like a piece of bamboo or something like that?

Set up is-
29G
couple plants
gravel sub
4 fancy guppies


----------



## shrimpzoo

You can put in an Indian Almond Leaf so it lowers the pH to their liking and as a source of something they can graze on.

Should help the breeding a little little little bit.


----------



## Gfountain

Awesome! I just got some Cherries and your info will come in handy. So Thanks Alot!!


----------



## GrampsGrunge

Anyone in SouthWestern Oregon know of a local seller of RCS? The lady at the local fish store just gave me a blank look.


----------



## diwu13

GrampsGrunge said:


> Anyone in SouthWestern Oregon know of a local seller of RCS? The lady at the local fish store just gave me a blank look.


You don't want people to ship? It's really easy and safe for those shipping shrimp.


----------



## GrampsGrunge

diwu13 said:


> You don't want people to ship? It's really easy and safe for those shipping shrimp.



I'm not sure, I guess it being summer there wouldn't be a problem with live deliveries except maybe being too hot?

I'll have to read more about those breeders who have extra RCS, I'd prefer to have them come from a nearby state.


----------



## dwaf

do you got any shrimp for sale i would be iterested in the shrimp i got 3 shrimp and i would like more if any of you guys got any shrimp for sale text me or call me my number is 608-566-0538


----------



## ArabTanker

dwaf said:


> do you got any shrimp for sale i would be iterested in the shrimp i got 3 shrimp and i would like more if any of you guys got any shrimp for sale text me or call me my number is 608-566-0538


Post that in the Swap n' Shop section of the forum. You will find more people there.


----------



## Griffith Sky-Treader

Can someone tell me how many cherries can be contained in a 5.5 G tank? Can it contain 50 shrimp? c:


----------



## greenteam

I would not toss in 50 shrimp into a 5g tank. If a colony grew to 50 then it wont be an issue.

A small tank can be easily thrown out of whack if suddenly more waste is been produced and the good bacteria's cant keep up with the ammonia spike.


----------



## krabbgrabb

So jealous of the OP, after like three months the only berried shrimp in my very sparsely populated shrimp-only 15 gal was already dead when I saw it had eggs  I love these little cute shrimp, I feel so bad getting more to maintain an even gender distribution when I know they are probably going to die again.


----------



## Zoidburg

krabbgrabb said:


> So jealous of the OP, after like three months the only berried shrimp in my very sparsely populated shrimp-only 15 gal was already dead when I saw it had eggs  I love these little cute shrimp, I feel so bad getting more to maintain an even gender distribution when I know they are probably going to die again.


That's why you try and figure out why they aren't thriving and fix the issue! And as I've learned... it can be a whole host of different reasons!

People talk about how they have a huge population boom within 3-6 months of getting a starter colony of about 10 shrimp... nearly 3 years in, I still haven't had that population boom.... well, no, that's not quite right.... the only time I was having a population boom where the shrimp would thrive was right before a double whammy massacre.... haven't had one since....


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