Shrimp Care

[bmarine]

I'm planning on getting some red cherry shrimp for a 5 gallon. Is there anything special I need to do for them or can I mostly treat them and feed them like fish? Also, are they hardy and what temperature should my tank be? And how many shrimp could I get in there if I also had like 5 fish?

Thanks!

 

[AquaShark]

Im wanting to keep some red cherry shrimp as well so I'm subscribing. All I know you shouldn't use anything with copper in it

 

[pleechford]

Hey guys! They are really easy to care for. I have a 10g that is just RCS and a few snails. My ph is around 7.6 and temp about 76. They are prolific breeders. If you want to breed them, I would avoid having any fish at all in the tank. Even a neon tetra can eat a baby shrimp. I suggest getting some java moss or something of the sort for them to hide in, they love it. Also the offspring will eat biofilm or something on the moss to sustain itself until it gets bigger (which doesn't take long). If you have anymore questions lemme know!

 

[pleechford]

Also, if your 5 gallon is established and has algae. The RCS do not need much food at all. You can feed them blanched zucchini, carrots, squash, algae wafers, fish flakes. As long as the food has no copper sulfate.

 

[Sfgiants415]

There's really nothing to keeping Neos. They're pretty hardy. When I first got them, I never gave them any special care. I kept them with fish and they still went from 10 to about 80+ in a few months. You won't have any problem keeping them assuming your tank is heavily planted like mine is. If not, give them some cover. Moss will work. Cholla wood has worked wonders for my CRS tanks but then again, CRS are a complete different species of shrimp and are way harder to keep. I just lost a bunch in a move to an area with hard water. As for Neos, they will survive and breed in any tank as long as the water is kept clean and maintained.

Anyways, good luck.

 

[bmarine]

There's really nothing to keeping Neos. They're pretty hardy. When I first got them, I never gave them any special care. I kept them with fish and they still went from 10 to about 80+ in a few months. You won't have any problem keeping them assuming your tank is heavily planted like mine is. If not, give them some cover. Moss will work. Cholla wood has worked wonders for my CRS tanks but then again, CRS are a complete different species of shrimp and are way harder to keep. I just lost a bunch in a move to an area with hard water. As for Neos, they will survive and breed in any tank as long as the water is kept clean and maintained.

Anyways, good luck.

Gotcha. My tank looks like this:




Will that work for them? And do they need live plants? I've heard that you can just give them flake food also. Is that true?

 

[aluka]

Shrimps will eat anything. Best advice i can give you is dont over feed. Feed them twice a week if you have less than 50 of them, 3 times a week if you have more than that. If there is no fish in the tank, all the extra food will cause a bloom in other critters, like seed shrimp, little worms, daphina.

Cherries are super hardy, they like cooler temperature, but can live in temps up to 80, but they breed best in around 70. So no need for the heater. They do like to have live plants, because they love picking biofilm off them. thats what the baby shrimps mostly eat in the first few days of being alive, so you must has some live plants in the tank.

Any fish that can fit a shrimplet in their mouth will eat it. Unless your tank is super dense, dont keep any fish over 1 inches with them. Tetras, guppies, will all eat your baby shrimps, and will even eat adult shrimps when the fish is full grown.

 

[bmarine]

Shrimps will eat anything. Best advice i can give you is dont over feed. Feed them twice a week if you have less than 50 of them, 3 times a week if you have more than that. If there is no fish in the tank, all the extra food will cause a bloom in other critters, like seed shrimp, little worms, daphina.

Cherries are super hardy, they like cooler temperature, but can live in temps up to 80, but they breed best in around 70. So no need for the heater. They do like to have live plants, because they love picking biofilm off them. thats what the baby shrimps mostly eat in the first few days of being alive, so you must has some live plants in the tank.

Any fish that can fit a shrimplet in their mouth will eat it. Unless your tank is super dense, dont keep any fish over 1 inches with them. Tetras, guppies, will all eat your baby shrimps, and will even eat adult shrimps when the fish is full grown.

Yeah I'm planning on small fish. And I don't really need to breed them, i just want them for something to watch on the bottom, so do I need live plants? I feel like live plants will be a hassle and I don't think I would have time to care for them during the school year.

 

[bud29]

Yeah I'm planning on small fish. And I don't really need to breed them, i just want them for something to watch on the bottom, so do I need live plants? I feel like live plants will be a hassle and I don't think I would have time to care for them during the school year.

Live plants are very beneficial, maybe look into just getting a type of moss? Moss is very easy to care for, doesn't need much in the way of light, but still harbors the microfauna that shrimplets eat.

Also, the color of light in the picture looks like you are using incandescent lighting. In order really to grow any plant, you need a bulb with a higher color temperature. If it's a fixture with a standard socket I would just replace the incandescent bulb with a daylight CFL. You ideally want the color temperature to be 5000k+.

 

[Sfgiants415]

Yeah I'm planning on small fish. And I don't really need to breed them, i just want them for something to watch on the bottom, so do I need live plants? I feel like live plants will be a hassle and I don't think I would have time to care for them during the school year.

I recommend cholla wood to anyone that doesn't want to keep live plants. My shrimp go crazy on it. It provides hiding spots and the shrimp feed on the microorganisms that live on it. I strongly recommend you look into getting some. My berried shrimp like to hang out inside because they can sit there all day in cover while they eat the microorganisms.

 

[bmarine]

Live plants are very beneficial, maybe look into just getting a type of moss? Moss is very easy to care for, doesn't need much in the way of light, but still harbors the microfauna that shrimplets eat.

Also, the color of light in the picture looks like you are using incandescent lighting. In order really to grow any plant, you need a bulb with a higher color temperature. If it's a fixture with a standard socket I would just replace the incandescent bulb with a daylight CFL. You ideally want the color temperature to be 5000k+.

Will i have to trim moss? And does its growth get out of hand or anything? Do i put it on my driftwood then? And yeah the tank has a fluorescent bulb right now. Planning to change that soon. And I'll think about cholla wood.

 

[bud29]

Will i have to trim moss? And does its growth get out of hand or anything? Do i put it on my driftwood then? And yeah the tank has a fluorescent bulb right now. Planning to change that soon. And I'll think about cholla wood.

It grows fairly slowly, so at some point you may have to break some off but it's not really brain surgery. You don't have to put it on your driftwood, but many do to keep it anchored.

 

[bmarine]

It grows fairly slowly, so at some point you may have to break some off but it's not really brain surgery. You don't have to put it on your driftwood, but many do to keep it anchored.

Gotcha. Yeah, im not sure what to do about that! Sometimes I feel like live plants don't always look the greatest and I really like my driftwood the way it is right now. Do all shrimp need live plants?

 

[bud29]

Gotcha. Yeah, im not sure what to do about that! Sometimes I feel like live plants don't always look the greatest and I really like my driftwood the way it is right now. Do all shrimp need live plants?

I honestly think you could get away without any live plants, however they are really appreciated. I'm thinking a bit of moss may look decent in the bottom right corner there, not making everything messy-looking but still there.

 

[bmarine]

I honestly think you could get away without any live plants, however they are really appreciated. I'm thinking a bit of moss may look decent in the bottom right corner there, not making everything messy-looking but still there.

Gotcha. Yeah that could work! I have some pretty fine sand, would that be ok for the moss? And what kind of moss should I get? Java?

 

[bud29]

Gotcha. Yeah that could work! I have some pretty fine sand, would that be ok for the moss? And what kind of moss should I get? Java?

Java, christmas, willow, anything works. I like the look of flame moss too. Personally I have an issue keeping moss anchored in sand, I would tie it to a cholla log or landscaping rock to keep it in place.

 

[bmarine]

Java, christmas, willow, anything works. I like the look of flame moss too. Personally I have an issue keeping moss anchored in sand, I would tie it to a cholla log or landscaping rock to keep it in place.

Gotcha, maybe I'll get a small rock to anchor it on, and move the rock around if i want to move the moss. Would that work?

 

[bud29]

Gotcha, maybe I'll get a small rock to anchor it on, and move the rock around if i want to move the moss. Would that work?

Yup, that would work fine.

 

[bmarine]

Yup, that would work fine.

Alright, so could it be a nice small thing then, like maybe 1 and a half inches in diameter and that would be fine?

 

[bud29]

Alright, so could it be a nice small thing then, like maybe 1 and a half inches in diameter and that would be fine?

maybe a bit bigger, but yeah. Then just get a golfball of moss and tie it to it