Cherry shrimp

[oliver moggridge]

hi im thinking of getting some cherry shrimp and im not sure if the other fish in my tank will attack them? and what sort of food do they eat and are they hard to look after?
i have 5 sword tails, 4 bandits, 8 ember tetras, 8 neon tetras, 1 large common pleco, 1 male siamese fighter a, two female siamese fighters and 6 or 7 coolie loach.

[bs6749]

Any fish that can fit a shrimp into it's mouth will try to if given the opportunity. Some fish have smaller mouths and could only go after baby shrimp but some fish like swordtails would be able to eat an adult shrimp when it molts. I wouldn't recommend any shrimp for that tank because of the swordtails and bettas among others.

RCS are one of the easiest shrimp to keep and breed. Basically if you have a male and a female of proper maturity you should have babies in 4-5 weeks. They prefer water temps between low 60's-low 80's for breeding but can survive in slightly warmer than freezing water but they generally stop breeding when the water gets into the mid 50's or so.

They prefer an lakaline pH but can live in a slightly acidic environment, though breeding may cease. Also their lifespans may be drastically reduced if kept in too low of a pH. Harder water is preferred as well by these shrimp.

They will eat uneatern fish food, algae, and they will spend most of their lives picking at "biofilm" from surfaces of plants and sifting through debris on the bottom of the tank. You could feed the tank once every week and they'd do well.

If you decide to give them a try I highly recommend at least a 10g tank soley for them or other types of shrimp and inverts. You can keep as many as 300 in a 10g tank since their impact on the bioload of the tank is so minimal.

[oliver moggridge]

cool thanks for that. kind of enoyed that the fish would eat them so no go on the shrimp. thanx anyway.

[oliver moggridge]

what else can i buy fish wise that will eat algy

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I know any livebearer will eat algae, they are fish lol. You could also get some small snails.

[bs6749]

It depends on what is available to you where you are located. Some ramshorn snails would eat algae and they are safe for plants too. You could try RCS and maybe your fish would leave them alone for the most part or at least maybe you'd be able to have an establilshed colony in the tank and the fish would only take a few of them every now and then. Lots of hiding spaces and plants would make this possible.

[robott]

i just bought a bunch of rcs and i'm pretty sure my fish have eaten all of them
so i definitely recommend species only, at least until they're older. mystery/apple snails are great. one of my favorite things to look at. they don't take over your tank, don't destroy your plants and are very majestic creatures. otos stay pretty small i think.:rol leyes:

[oliver moggridge]

ok cool cheers people. ill look into getting some snails.

[LesPaulPlayer]

What about a shoal of Cories?

[krap101]

Cories don't eat algae?