Shrimp overpopulation

[krazyrabbit]

Hi all! Very glad I found this forum, lots of valuable info here. I think of myself as semi-experienced aquarist but always interested in learning more from the experts.

I’m currently cycling a 10 gallon talk, black sand, planted with a sponge filter and a piece of Mopani driftwood. I’m considering starting a Red Cherry Shrimp community. From what I’ve read keeping fish with shrimp is offering up yummy treats, and the shrimp spend more time hiding, so I'm thinking shrimp only.

My question – if the shrimp community is successful, how do you keep the population from becoming overstocked? I’ve had fish that have had fry but very few survived due to predation so I’ve never had to worry about what to do with too many fish. If the shrimp have no predators in the tank how do owners deal with multitudes of shrimp that might result?

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[jcolon]

Ah! Here's your opportunity to capitalize$$$. Offer to sell RCS to other members, maybe a trusted LFS? It'll take several months ... but you should eventually get a nice sized colony going eventually.

You could keep smaller fish like Neons and or Cardinal Tetras. In a 10gal you can keep 6-10 and they stay small enough not to harass the adult RCS ..... but they could still dine on the baby shrimp enough to keep the population somewhat in check. The trick is to provide enough hiding spaces for the shrimp lets .. like JavaMoss, planted areas, DW and rocks.

I'm looking to start up a 20gal Long RCS / CRS tank myself in a few months and a growing colony is something I've been thinking about.