Mixing Shrimp?

[JohnRoscoe]

My LFS has some very cool shrimp in their new stock list, and I'm intirgued by adding to tank, which in addition to fish, has a few Amonos and Red Cherries.

Are shrimp generally compatible with each other? I've never had any shrimp breed, is there a chance of this happening and a way to prevent interbreeding (I understand Amanos don't breed in captivity, so haven't been concerned with the Red Cherry)?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

 

[Fishfur]

Depends what species the new shrimp are. Btw, Amanos breed constantly if males and females are present, but their larvae need salt water to survive once hatched. If you have both sexes, you'll see berried females, but the eggs will drop and disappear, either to be eaten or filtered out.

Cherries also breed much of the time if males and females are present and conditions are good. You might not have any males, as females are larger and have the most colour. Males can be pretty dull, so often get left behind in store tanks.

If the shrimp you're thinking to add are also Neocaridina, they are the same as cherry shrimp, just a different colour morph. If you allow different colour morphs to breed, the young ones will look like the wild type, which is almost colourless. So colours should be kept separate if they are all the same species.

There are some other species, like Orange Sunkist, [ Caridina propinqua]. They look like Neos, are the same size, but can't cross with Neos. Sunkists need salt water for their larvae too. They can make a nice colour contrast with Neos.

Find out what species prospective new shrimp are before you buy them.

 

[JohnRoscoe]

Fur, thanks for the information, very helpful. Here's what the LFS has and I'm interested in:

Red Sushi Shrimp
Signifier Rainbow
Orange Sakura Shrimp
Red Cherry Shrimp
Super Fire Red Shrimp
Blueberry Shrimp
Bengal Tiger Shrimp
Sunkist Orange Shrimp
Spiral Horn Snail
Red Crystal Shrimp

Any good FW recommendations from this list that would do well with my current Amanos and RCS?

 

[Fishfur]

Cherries and crystals don't mix well, because they need very different water conditions. Crystals need acidic pH and low GH, where cherries and many others need hard water and alkaline pH.

The 'rainbow' is a fish, not a shrimp.

I have never heard of red sushi shrimp and there isn't anything online about them. I'd ask for the species name from the store, they should have it on the order list. It may be just a name for one of the many levels of colour in red cherry shrimp.

Fire red & sakuras are all different colour morphs of the species Neocaridina, or Neos. So you could have one of them. Sunkist is the Caridina propinqua, so you could have those with any Neo.

Tiger shrimp don't cross with Neos, but are quite a bit more of a challenge to keep and prefer different water conditions, soft water, not hard. Definitely harder to breed than cherries. They are one of the Caridina species.

Blueberry shrimp may or may not be Neos, but they have a reputation for losing their colour and for their young not being blue. Why this is, I am not sure. Some reports claim they are dyed, but I don't think this is true. I think they are just an unstable colour morph. I'd not invest any money in something called Blueberry unless the seller guaranteed I could get my money back if they changed colour.