# When to add more shrimp and fish



## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Currently my tank is running 10 days and I am going to test the water at day 14, if it's good I introduce 3 amano shrimp. My question is what time frame do I have to wait; I also want 10 red cherry shrimp and 6 microrasbora kubotai. Plan is to introduce the red cherry shrimp and microrasbora seperate. How many days should I wait after introducing the amano's?


----------



## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

this isn't answering your question but I wouldn't get 10 cherries, just save some money and get like 5. they will breed if not the first day than in a week


----------



## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

BettaBettas said:


> this isn't answering your question but I wouldn't get 10 cherries, just save some money and get like 5. they will breed if not the first day than in a week


People told me 10 is almost guaranteed for both sex. Guess I can get 5 and just see if it works out. Thanks


----------



## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Have tank running *AT LEAST* 30 days, until the cycle is done before introducing any shrimp.


If you want fish and shrimp, then definitely do start with 10 cherry shrimp. Make sure tank is heavily planted, then wait a minimum of 6 months before introducing fish. This allows the cherry shrimp to become established in the tank and hopefully create a healthy breeding population before introducing the fish. The fish may or may not pose a risk to the adult shrimp but they will eat baby shrimp.


The amanos and cherries can be introduced at the same time, as long as the tank is fully cycled and matured. Shrimp don't do well in un-cycled or young tanks... so it's better to wait longer anyway.


----------



## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Zoidburg said:


> Have tank running *AT LEAST* 30 days, until the cycle is done before introducing any shrimp.
> 
> 
> If you want fish and shrimp, then definitely do start with 10 cherry shrimp. Make sure tank is heavily planted, then wait a minimum of 6 months before introducing fish. This allows the cherry shrimp to become established in the tank and hopefully create a healthy breeding population before introducing the fish. The fish may or may not pose a risk to the adult shrimp but they will eat baby shrimp.
> ...


Damn that sucks to wait that long. As the soil runs out in like a year? Does only carpet plants mean heavliy planted? So confusing people telling me tank can be cycled in 1 week, 2 weeks now 4? Really want something living in here to watch at in the meantime.


----------



## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Honestly, if you want Neos, just go with sand substrate. They generally do better in higher pH water anyway with GH and KH.


If you go with buffering substrate, you want RO water with a GH+ only remineralizer. At that point, you could keep Caridinas and perhaps some Tigers... however, considering these shrimp are typically more expensive, you really don't want to keep fish with them....



Amanos, if they don't like your water parameters, will just jump ship and if you are lucky, you'll find them within 10' of the aquarium. If not, they might be 20-30 or so feet away.

If your water parameters are not ideal, you'd just kill the cherries...




And it should be stated that if you keep shrimp and fish together, you may lose out on the entire reason you purchased the shrimp in the first place because they (specifically Neos and Caridinas) don't like fish... in other words, you may never see your shrimp because they would always be in hiding away from the fish, and it also means you'll have lower breeding rates once the fish are in there. This is another reason why it's recommended to wait at least 6 months before introducing fish.



"Heavily planted" should mean more than just carpet plants... You want moss and thick growth plants as well. In other words, you kind of want it to look like a jungle.


----------



## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Zoidburg said:


> Honestly, if you want Neos, just go with sand substrate. They generally do better in higher pH water anyway with GH and KH.
> 
> 
> If you go with buffering substrate, you want RO water with a GH+ only remineralizer. At that point, you could keep Caridinas and perhaps some Tigers... however, considering these shrimp are typically more expensive, you really don't want to keep fish with them....
> ...


Got a rain barrel at home and of course no rain falling with my daily water changes. A jungle isn't really a option because of the Iwagumi. Might skip the fish then?  Do I need to clean algae or just let it be for the Amano's?


----------



## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

The amanos may or may not eat the algae. I'd recommend leaving it, or only cleaning and removing some of it.


Better to do shrimp only tank and have fish in another... so if it's not a must to have fish and shrimp in the same tank, then yes, skip the fish.


----------



## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

@Zoidburg I don't think it takes six months for shrimp to get established, experience. In my five gallon shrimp tank I added my cherrys first as usually and as should, then about a month later maybe not even, just when I saw them beginning to really breed, that's when I added fish which is CPD's five of them. And production is still to high lol.
In my iwagumi I have a variety of plants hanging over the largest rock, but I wouldn't consider that a jungle. they breed anywhere, including my filter outlet. If a fish decides to peck one just to see what the shrimp even is, it wont effect them since they will just dart back quickly. This applies unless its something like a pea puffer than its head is missing, might not live.


----------



## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

It's a good idea to give them several months so the second generation shrimp can become mature enough to start reproducing on their own while the first gen are still breeding themselves, thus if any fish do decide to eat baby shrimp, you still have a population of adults to fall back onto.... unless the fish you introduce choose to eat the adults as well.


----------



## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

seems I got lucky again somehow? man I may as well be frank sinatra


----------

