Red Cheery Shrimp escape risk

[PatrickL]

Alright, I have a 45 gallon, its tall and wide, not so deep front to back. I have tiger barbs, serpae tetras, some mollies, a rubber nose pleco, and a redfin black shark. Except for the tigers playing tag with themselves, and the RFshark chasing the tigers occasionally, its a very peaceful tank. I have some plants, all doing well except the amazon fern I inherited(my brother joined the navy) but Its not doing well(I assume because I didnt give it a root tab). I want to add some red cherry shrimp. I am pretty sure the tigers will leave them alone, and will probably curb thier population by keeping the babies in check.....if I should be concerned about that. let me know, but I think Ill be fine. But my main concern is RCS escaping. As I've googled, some people say they wont escape, some say very few, and some have mass exoduses of shrimp....some mention RCS some had armano, so I want to know what yall think. I realise most will stay in. but Id really rather not have dead shrimp about my house if I can help it. I have a poser head they could climb out on, a heater, and a filter with a tube, and a hood with slots for these, so they have escape points....

 

[ScotJudd]

Hi. I have a large colony of RCS (probably 200+) and I have never had an escapee. There are gaps in the lid. I have mainly tetras (about 40) and corydoras (about 10). They just ignore the shrimp although I suspect they may have had the odd baby. I think the key to success is an awful lot of mosses for the young shrimp to hide in. Your fish have bigger mouths than tetras and you may have greater losses but once a colony is established there is no holding them back. These are a few of them at feeding time (bit out of focus) but you will get the idea.



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[PatrickL]

Oh good. I dont have any moss time things, but I have some ships they can hide in, that only the smallest cories can go into, and the bigger ones the pleco dwells in. I have a few moneywart and dwarf sagg(Id guess the shrimp claim it) and a java fern. The amazon sword I mentioned above is probably just gonna get thrown away. Its visibly degrading, and I dont think the light is good for it. Good to hear about the shrimp tho.

 

[Luv4dan]

I once found a rcs inside my filter (alive thank goodness ) so I'd suggest putting a prefilter on the filter intake.


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[Autumnsky]

Have had many things escape the tanks but not RCS.

I think you might lose the shrimp to your bigger fish. Those hiding places will likely be their homes and they might not come out because of being scared. Babies would likely be eaten. So if you are set on Cherry shrimp, I would get a big bunch, and add them at night when the lights are out to give them a chance to hide, but get a few bunches of Moss and a bunch more plants. they will need lots of places to hide.

The fish can go in sideways even under rocks, DW and plants. I think the Barbs would eat them right off.

Amanos may be a better choice as adults they won't be as likely to be eaten.

Also you might be alright with a Rock, aka Bamboo, aka Flower Shrimp. But I have never kept them with semi-aggressive fish like Barbs. I did have them with a 7 year old RTS which was a pleasant tank mate to the rest of my community fish (also with Amanos). I added some cull Cherry Shrimp into the tank and after the first day never saw them again.

Use black duct tape over the openings.