Red Cherry Shrimp

[Lance M.]

Hey-

Just wondering if anyone has this shrimp. I'm thinking about getting some but I don't know the requirements of them. Like what ph and temperature and what to feed them. I'd appreciate any info. Thanks!

 

[madasafish]

Tankgirl has some. She should be along soon, or tomorrow with advice.

 

[TankGirl]

Cherry shrimp are my favorite at the moment! I keep them in several tanks that have slightly different water parameters with great success. They will spawn and in the absence of predators you will find many babies.

I do not feed them or otherwise take any special care of them, but they do eat algae (one tank has some, the other is a low light tank without any - no difference in the shrimp that I can tell) and I assume they eat leftover food from teh fish. I am sure there is a profile available for them that gives specific parameters, but I have found them to be hardy and adaptable to my relatively hard, alkaline water as well as my soft, acidic heavily planted tanks. Their color is vibrant and complements the green of the plants very well.

 

[marcus russo]

Also they will breed like crazy for you. I bought about 100 of them and in months I had almost 400

 

[TankGirl]

Exactly, Marcus, I have them in with Endler's livebearers and between the two sets of creatures the tanks are becoming overrun!

 

[marcus russo]

Baby factories for sure! but quite cute

 

[Lance M.]

Thanks for the info!
But scratch the idea of getting red cherry shrimp. They are $8 each at my LFS!!!

 

[TankGirl]

WHAT? 8O -sorry to shout, but.....

I ordered mine from AZGardens.com when I was getting some plants. Don't remember what they cost, but certainly not that. After shipping charges (they charge a-plenty) you are probably better off getting them at the LFS. Once you have a colony going you can sell them back to the LFS and get a return on your investment.

 

[Lance M.]

Maybe I'll do that. Just buy a few and breed them to get some money back. Good idea, but that will be a while .... $8 each!!. Thanks for the help.

 

[marcus russo]

Get about 6 or 7 and you should be fine

photo courtesy of Lin, Yu-Ho

This is a small (about 1" TL) algae eating shrimp from Taiwan.
Survive in aquariums: Yes
Survive in warm ponds: No
Survive in cold ponds: No
Plant eating capacity: Low
Algae eating capacity: Moderate to High
http://www.aquatic-store.com/index.html?target=p_3337.html&lang=en-us