Red Cherry Shrimp Queries

[superbsite]

Hi All

I could not find a compatibility thread for Invertebrates so hope Ive posted this in the right forum rather in the Fish compatibility section

I wanted to add some Red Cherry Shrimps to my Tank so I have some questions.

How many should they be grouped in ?
Are they to be drip acclimatized just like the fish ?
Do they have to be given separate food other than the usual ones for fish ?
Will they be compatible with Black Neon Tetras, Cardinal Tetras, Sword tails, Mollies, Guppys, Platys even though the Swordtails, Mollies and Platys have bigger mouths than the Neon/Cardinal Tetras and Guppys ?

Thanks

Cheers

[Brhino]

How many should they be grouped in ?

It doesn't really matter, because if you keep them successfully, they will soon multiply prolifically. I started with 20, and now have over 200. You could do something similar.


Are they to be drip acclimatized just like the fish ?

Yes, use normal acclimation techniques. I didn't quite drip acclimate mine.


Do they have to be given separate food other than the usual ones for fish ?

In a planted tank with food going in for other fish they should find plenty to eat on their own. If you don't currently feed any kind of sinking food you might do a little tiny bit of that.

Will they be compatible with Black Neon Tetras, Cardinal Tetras, Sword tails, Mollies, Guppys, Platys even though the Swordtails, Mollies and Platys have bigger mouths than the Neon/Cardinal Tetras and Guppys ?

Pretty much any fish that's even slightly interested in live food with go after shrimp. Even if the fish aren't that big, they may eat baby shrimp, or they may pick at the adults after they've molted and their shells aren't hardened. "Officially" there's very few fish that are compatible with RCS. Unofficially, it depends on a lot of things. I'm keeping them with danios and a gourami, and a shrimp gets eaten every once in a while, but not often enough to keep the population from thriving. You could try it and see how it goes. If you have a well-planted tank with lots of cover your odds will be better.

[superbsite]

Thanks Brhino for all the advice

[Lady Hobbs]

I started with 50. What was I thinking! Even my neons pick at the smallest babies so I wouldn't hold a lot of hope for them with larger fish. Neons might be small but baby shrimp are dots but they are also fast and leap away much (not all) of the time.

I just dumped them in the tank. Didn't acclimate at all.

[dragoonwoman]

Everybody says shrimp are easy, simple to keep and breed like mad.

I come home every night to dead bodies in my shrimp (only) tank. It's got plants and wood and places to hide, a seasoned filter, and good quality food. So why do MY shrimp keep dying?

Rhetorical question, folks - I'm not expecting an answer. I'm just majorly frustrated when I read about how someone starts with 20 and now they have hundreds.

I've tested for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and copper. I use conditioner with every water change, which has become 50% daily in an effort to stop the deaths.

Final attempt - I ordered Fluval shrimp stratum for my tank, and will replace the mix of plant substrate and sand that's in there now. IF the shrimp STILL die after that, I'm giving up on them.

[Lady Hobbs]

Then I would suspect perhaps the dechlorinator you use. Do you use one of those containing aloes or slime coating? I have no answer for you but would change whatever products you might be now using.

[dragoonwoman]

Is what I use.

I avoided ones with aloe or slime producers, because I had Purigen in my filters for a while.

What do you use, My Lady?

[Brhino]

Have you checked your hardness and pH? If you were at an extreme on either of those, it might make it tough on your shrimp.

[dragoonwoman]

pH is 7 - 7.2, which is fine for shrimp.

We have incredibly soft well water. When I test it, KH is 1 or less (one drop of reagent changes the color), and GH is about 7 or 8. I've been adding Equilibrium in small amounts to the change water to bring up the numbers.

I've tried adding human-consumption calcium (1/2 tab) to the tank, as someone here suggested.

I'm really at a loss to figure this out. I love looking at the shrimp I have left, but I hate seeing bodies in the tank!! The Fluval Shrimp Stratum is a last-ditch effort; if they still die after I change the substrate, I'll just have to give up on keeping them. Which would seriously bum me out....

[Lady Hobbs]

If you have well water, why use dechlorinator at all?

I use Prime.

[dragoonwoman]

If you have well water, why use dechlorinator at all?

I use Prime.

Using dechlor was one of the factors I was trying to eliminate - that is, if I didn't use it, did that kill my shrimp? Frankly, it doesn't seem to make a difference either way.

I have to stop at the lfs on my way home tonight. I'll look for Prime.

[mermaidwannabe]

My RCS hang out in the floating plants, and rarely come down to the substrate. I sometimes find one or more hanging out on the pre-filter sponge or in the foliage of the artificial stem plants.

I find that if a fish is swimming too closely to them, they will jump away.

I deliberately got a large group at one time, because I knew some of them would get eaten. But, always, some escape and manage to grow large enough to be relatively safe in a peaceful community tank without very large fish. They can also intensify or detensify their coloration as needed to blend into their surroundings. I've seen some of mine in the morning almost completely clear, then the same ones later in the day a brilliant opaque red. That's a defense mechanism, I believe.

As for feeding, I've never had to feed mine anything different than what I feed my fish. My RCS are always picking away at something in the floating plants, and whatever missed pieces of fish food remain floating in the current they are quick to latch onto. These often get caught in the plant material so the shrimp always have plenty to eat. They really are good cleaners.

I think the live plants, themselves, shelter tiny organisms we can't see that the shrimp can feed on.

RCS are easy to keep if you provide plenty of hiding places for them where they can stay just out of reach of anything that might decide to snack on them. Even then, some of the smaller ones will become fish food, which is why you need to get lots of them at one time.

-- mermaidwannabe

[Rhaethe]

dragoonwoman, what kind of shrimp are you trying to keep? And where are you getting them from?

Some species are truly sensitive, some aren't.

[dragoonwoman]

Rhaethe - I'm trying to keep red cherries, which are about the cheapest and most common out there. I drip acclimated them for an hour when they arrived and at first they seemed fine, but day by day I lost them. They came from a seller on Aquabid.com (had all positive reviews).

Last night was the FIRST night I didn't have to pick bodies out of the tank. MAYBE this means I'm turning the corner and the surviving shrimp will breed. I see one full-size female with a green saddle, so I can hope.

The shrimp are alone in their tank except for some very small ramshorn snails. There is nothing to prey on them, but the plants and wood still give them hiding places if they feel the need (like after molting).

Readings as of last night: pH 7.0, ammo & trites zero, trates 5, GH 9, KH 3, temp 76. I feed them every other day, a single pellet or a couple small flakes of veggie food, or 1/4 of an algae wafer. There are only about 10 shrimp in the 5g tank.

I considered getting more, but didn't want to see THEM die too. If the ones I have stay alive and/or breed, I'll get another batch and add them to the tank.

[mermaidwannabe]

If they start breeding, and most of the babies survive, you won't need to add another batch. It will be done for you. :hmm3grin2orange:

-- mermaid

[dragoonwoman]

If they start breeding, and most of the babies survive, you won't need to add another batch. It will be done for you. :hmm3grin2orange:

-- mermaid

I would LOVE to see that happen, but I'll still get another batch just to add genetic diversity to the mix. With only 10 to start with, inbreeding could be a problem in short order.

[Rhaethe]

Hmm. Outside of a hidden source of weirdness leeching into the water, I'm not sure what could be the problem. RCS are fairly durable. CRS not so much.

Do you get each batch from this one person every time? And is he sending you Adults or juvie/shrimplets? Juvie/shrimplets survive shipping transit and acclimation far more readily than adults, in my experience.

I have several tanks full now, after having only started with a base stock of 20. Even so, I still "freshen up" the colony with new shrimp I get here or there. And I don't even breed them per se. Not commercially, anywho :D

[dragoonwoman]

I have gotten my shrimp from different sources each of the 4 times I've tried keeping them. This is the first time they've lived longer than 10 days.

I chose RCS specifically because they're written up as being easy keepers.

This last batch was larger (generally) than the other shrimp I've gotten - these were 1/2" to 3/4" in size, rather than 1/4" to 1/2". I was a bit surprised when I opened the box and saw how big the shrimp were, as I have read the babies/juvies ship better.

I will be buying from a different seller next time, mostly for the diversity factor. As I said before, the seller I got this batch from had positive reviews across the board. The shrimp were in good shape when they arrived; it was after they were in my tank the trouble started.

The tank itself is new. The substrate is a mix of old plant stuff and new sand (well washed before mixing). The plants came from my other tanks, and the wood is Manzanita which I soaked for 2 weeks before setting up the tank. The filter media was well seeded in my 10g before the shrimp arrived. I'm at a loss to explain the deaths.

I've also just realized how badly I've jacked this thread!! It started as a question about what fish to keep with shrimp! :14:

[Rhaethe]

Ack, I'm sorry for helping the jacking, OP :11:

dragoonwoman, I sent you a PM ... I think I know what may be going on.

[chrisfraser05]

Ack, I'm sorry for helping the jacking, OP :11:

dragoonwoman, I sent you a PM ... I think I know what may be going on.


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Are you sure its dead shrimp and not moults you are finding?

[Cermet]

One thing that killed my shrimp was when someone used furniture polish in the room that held the aquarium - it was only a little spray polish far from the aquarium but that did it :fish2: - after doing research on the subject, I read that inverts (esp. shrimp/lobsters) are hyper sensitive to chemicals that get into the water - had I known that, maybe some charcoal would have saved it if put in after the spray (then late that night/next day thrown out) :ssuprised: . Just a thought.

[wijnands]

I'd advice any novice shrimp keeper to add some charcoal to their filter unless you have a good reason not to do it. Many shrimp, especially RCS, are very sensitive indeed to all sorts of chemicals.

[dragoonwoman]

It's a tiny Azoo Palm filter on the tank, but I'll try fitting a bag of charcoal in there for a day. If it helps, GREAT.

I saw several "husks" which I recognize as being molted exoskeletons, but what I'm picking out are bodies - they are solid and still have the red color to them, while the "husks" are white.