How many cherry shrimp per gallon?

[aquariumc]

How many cherry shrimp should be kept in a gallon? or 5 gallons?

 

[CraigRets]

around 10/gal

 

[CraigRets]

.... no more then 10

 

[jcolon]

How many cherry shrimp should be kept in a gallon? or 5 gallons?

If you go by bio load, you can literally keep 10 RCS /gal. HOWEVER! Considering the insane rate they can breed, I recommend 2-3 in a one gal no more than 10 in a 5gal. Rest assured, if you want dozens upon dozens of RCS, just give them a few months.. Just ensure you have a couple / few females.

 

[aquariumc]

Thanks for the answers. Is anything else other than male and female RCS required for breeding?

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Thanks for the answers. Is anything else other than male and female RCS required for breeding?

You have to cover the filter intakes with a sponge unless you're using a sponge filter. They're very tiny when newly hatched and can easily get pulled into a power filter. Many fish will also eat the young so there's that.

 

[jcolon]

Thanks for the answers. Is anything else other than male and female RCS required for breeding?

Other than what's been mentioned, maintain stable water parameters, keep temps around 76F and provide plenty of live plants, rocks and some DW. Anubias, Java Fern and Moss is what I have in my RCS tanks. biofilm eventually forms on plants that shrimp eat. You'll still have to supplement food ... chances are there's just not enough algae for a growing colony in a typical aquarium. Algae wafers are a good food choice, but RCS will practically eat anything.

A dark colored substrate and dark / black background will help darken their red colors. Take note in a moderately planted tanks with rocks and DW you'll be hard pressed to see one or two RCS at a time. They're masters at hiding until they get comfortable. And even then it took about 20+ baby shrimp to show up before my original 14RCS started coming out all the time.