Is the care I'm giving my RCS enough?

[Oohitsae]

I've kept ghost shrimp for about 6 months now, but they have been in my community tank so I dont have to worry about them getting enough to eat or anything.

But I recently got 2 berried RCS girls and have about 12 more on the way. Right now I have my 2 in a 1 gallon critter keeper in 72* water and no filter, but heavily planted with java moss, wisteria, marimo moss, moneywort, some java fern plantlets, and corkscrew vallisneria. I feed them 1 API bottom feeder pellet and a sliver of an algea wafer every 3 or so days, whenever I notice the old one is gone. Is this sufficient care for them?

I know the tank size will be too small when I get the other 12 of these guys in. I am planning on moving them into a 2.5 after I get one of my betta girls out of QT and into the sorority, and filtering that with the sponge filter thats in it. And then once my 5 gallon is cycled they will be moved there.

I just want my shrimp to thrive instead of survive. I would love to see some RCS babies as well. So any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[jcolon]

So far your plan sounds fine ... get them into a 5gal as soon as possible. RCS are prolific breeders and very quickly your dozen or so will become several dozen. Plants, DW and Rocks will go a long way in providing a safe atmosphere with surfaces for bio-film to form.

With proper filtration and tank maintenance, you can keep a nice sized 60 or so RCS in a 5gal ... though at some point you'll either have to upgrade tank size, or rehome a dozen or two. They'll just keep breeding with proper conditions and soon a couple hundred RCS are scurrying about your tank. I'm just a few months away from this myself!

 

[Oohitsae]

Thanks for replying! I didn't see it till now.


So your saying I should probably just jump right over to a 5 instead of a 2.5?
Is that all that I should change?
I'm planning to change all my tanks over to NPT style here soon so they will have tons of plants to scurry around on. The LFS has been trying to talk me into breeding both RCS and dwarf cories for months now so I think I'll just sell them to the owner there if I get a big population boom, either that or put them in my other tanks and see if they become a snack or not for my bettas.

 

[jcolon]

Yep.. A 5 gallon's a good size for RCS ... Sure you can go 2.5gal ... But a 5 will just give you that extra room to really enjoy a growing colony.

 

[Coursair]

If you decide to really get into breeding try a 10g for RCS and a 20Long for Dwarf Cories.

10g are more stable and 10-20g seem to have best results according to breeders I know.

I have a club member who breeds Cories and the 20g Longs are his fav for the little Cories. He breeds hastatus and habrosus.

 

[Wepwawet]

If it's possible to jump right to a 20 long I would. A buddy breeds them in 20s and loves that size due to not having to worry about over crowding. He also sells privately and to the lfs in town

 

[jcolon]

If it's possible to jump right to a 20 long I would. A buddy breeds them in 20s and loves that size due to not having to worry about over crowding. He also sells privately and to the lfs in town

Yep .. a 20gal Long's a perfect size for RCS IMO. Gives you plenty of room to breed a good sized colony with plenty of space for plants, DW and rocks. That's why I'll be moving my Shrimp Tank to my 20gal Long I've had in storage. I just need to buy a sturdier bookcase / Stand, glass cover and lights and I'm set.

 

[Oohitsae]

Thanks for all the advice everyone!
I would absolutely love to but am unable to get a 20 long at the moment. I just do not have the space for it.
I will be adding them all to my 10 g spawning tank after all the females hatch their eggs though.