Cherry Shrimp newbie

[Winstons_estate]

Set up my 3rd tank yesterday, Its a planted 10 gal. In a few weeks im adding some cherry shrimp hoping to eventually establish a colony. Ive kept shrimp before but only amanos in a community planted tank.  Very excited.

 

What advise do you have? particularly in regards to food (frequency of feeding and type of food.) I dont target feed the amanos I have in any particular way, They seem to get by scavenging plant matter, Algae and snail waste. Are Cherry Shrimp the same?

[TheSwissAquarist]

I would throw in a n a bit of flake (not too much!) every 2 days or so. @Minanora has a big shrimp colony going…

[JettsPapa]

Hello,

I've been keeping neocaridinas successfully (most of the time) for several years.  From my personal experience, and reading posts from other shrimp keepers, the most important advice I can give for a new shrimp keeper is to be patient and wait at least 90 days after setting up a tank before adding shrimp.  Neocaridina shrimp graze on biofilm constantly, and it takes time for that to develop.  I won't say you can't be successful adding them sooner, but it's less likely.

About feeding them, @TheSwissAquaristis right about feeding them sparingly.  There are a number of shrimp specific foods available but they will also eat any commercial fish food.  And yes, they are similar to amanos in that they don't really need to be fed (assuming there is an adequate supply of the other stuff you mentioned).

On second thought, some time ago I typed up some basics for another new shrimp keeper.  I might as well post it here.

• Neocaridina shrimp (Neocaridina davidi; red cherry shrimp and the other available colors) are one of the easiest ornamental shrimp to keep, with a wider range of suitable water parameters than caridinas. Their parameters do overlap, but it's a narrow range, and not something I'd recommend for inexperienced shrimp keepers. I don't have any experience with caridinas (at least not yet), so I won't address them here.
   
• 6.8 to 8.0 pH is usually the recommended range for neos, with Gh from 6-12 and Kh at least 4. There are supplements you can add to the water to raise the hardness if yours is low. They will tolerate a wide range of temperatures, but around 72° F is generally considered best. At higher temperatures they will grow faster and breed faster, but they will also not live as long. Basically, higher temperatures accelerate their lifespan.
• Shrimp are sensitive to copper in the water, though the small amounts in commercial fish and shrimp food won't hurt them.
• Sponge filters are usually recommended for shrimp tanks. If you choose to use a hang-on-back instead be sure to cover the intake, or shrimp will wind up inside the filter.
   
• If you’re curious about how many to start with, the answer is as many as you can afford, but if money is a factor (which it often is for most of us), you can get a nice colony going with 10 or so. Of course, it will take longer than if you start with 25, but you’ll still probably get to 100 sooner than you expect.
   
• There are many color varieties, and they will readily breed with each other. The results will generally be brown or clear after a few generations (though you may get some interesting shrimp in the process). For this reason, if you want to maintain a specific color it's best not to mix them. Even if you do stick with a single color you'll need to remove undesirable colors occasionally. The amount of culling you'll need to do will likely vary depending on the purity of the shrimp you start with. From my personal experience my red shrimp need a fair bit of culling, while the blues ones need very little. Many people do keep and enjoy mixed colors, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. If you do cull, you can have a separate dedicated tank for them, or add them to tanks with fish. Even in tanks with dedicated shrimp hunters you'd be surprised how many will survive, especially given adequate hiding places. I occasionally see one in my 65 gallon tank, and my big angelfish just loves shrimp.
   
• To get the most enjoyment from shrimp, keep them in shrimp only tanks, or just shrimp and snails. You don't have to worry about predation, and they'll also be more visible if there aren't predators in the tank with them, even if the predators are too small to be a threat to adult shrimp.
   
• Even if they are the only things in the tank, they will feel more secure with hiding places, especially when molting or when a female is releasing babies. Dense plants are a good option. Java moss, guppy grass, Süßwassertang, and pearl weed are some good choices. I like to have two kinds of dense plants; one at the bottom of the tank and another floating to provide hiding places in both locations.  A pile of rocks, sized so that the shrimp can crawl inside, is also a good idea.
   
• They are sensitive to changing water parameters, so most experienced shrimp keepers recommend limiting water changes to around 15%, and the new water should be close to the same temperature. If you do larger water changes, it’s even more important to temperature match the water.
   
• Since they need biofilm to graze on, and are very intolerant of ammonia and nitrites, it's usually recommended to let a tank run for at least 3 months before adding shrimp, and 4 months is better. You might get by with adding them sooner by adding a sponge filter, plants, substrate, etc. from an established tank, but you still aren't likely to have as much success as you will if you're patient and let the tank "season" (I know this from first-hand experience, and not just once; I'm apparently a slow learner).
   
• In addition to the biofilm, they will also benefit from being fed. There are several commercial foods especially for shrimp, but I've also given mine several kinds of fish food, and they've eaten all of them. While there are mixed opinions about it, many people believe they also benefit from blanched vegetables once or twice a week. I've tried several things, and mine seem to prefer zucchini and spinach, followed by sweet peppers. I usually feed those late in the evening and remove any uneaten portion the next morning. By the way, shrimp just LOOOVE freshly crushed snails. Mine will swarm all over one.
   
• If you use CO2 in shrimp tanks keep it around 10 – 15 ppm, and definitely below 20 ppm. They often can’t tolerate the pH swings and/or elevated CO2 levels at higher concentrations.
   
• Of course, if you want to establish a colony you need males and females. Females are usually larger, and have better color, so when selecting them in a store you can get all females if you aren’t careful. It’s not difficult to tell them apart, even on shrimp that are the same age. The abdomen (the rear half) of females is larger than males, with the bottom line sagging down. Males’ abdomen is thinner, and it’s pretty much a straight taper from front to back.
   
• As females reach maturity they will develop a “saddle” on their back. This saddle (usually yellow) is the unfertilized eggs showing through their shell. They're ready to breed when they next molt, after which the fertilized eggs will move down below their abdomen where she will constantly “fan” them and juggle them around with their swimmerets to keep them aerated. Unlike some shrimp, neos don't have a larval stage, so they’ll hatch as very small fully developed shrimp after about 4 weeks.
   
• If you suddenly notice the shrimp swimming around the tank more than usual, it’s probably nothing to worry about. When a saddled female molts she releases pheromones signaling she’s ready to have her eggs fertilized, which gets the males swimming around trying to find her.
• If you notice a shrimp with a lighter colored lateral line on top that's called a "racing stripe", and is a harmless feature that's common with some color varieties. It will typically get wider, with the edges more ragged, as the shrimp gets older. It's very common on yellow shrimp, somewhat common on red ones, and I don't think I've ever seen it on blue ones.

• Don't worry about your tank becoming overstocked. They have a very small bioload, and a 10 gallon tank can hold hundreds of shrimp without becoming overcrowded.

Edited January 4, 2023 by JettsPapa

[Winstons_estate]

@JettsPapa wow that is some great info, thank you!

[lefty o]

totally agree they need biofilm to graze on. unless everything you put in that tank came out of another one you should really consider waiting longer than a few weeks to let the tank mature. id probably toss in a few small fish, or a nerite snail to help it along.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

When I set up my shrimp tank I threw in a bit of Java moss, my hard scape, and then let the thing get gross with algae. Started with 30 shrimp, and have sold several hundred of them at this point. 
 

I feed every other day. Shrimpee pellets from Xtreme, Hikari shrimp cuisine, boiled zucchini, etc. 

I agree that you should establish biofilm and algae. It will help you be successful 

[Winstons_estate]

On 1/4/2023 at 1:16 PM, lefty o said:

totally agree they need biofilm to graze on. unless everything you put in that tank came out of another one you should really consider waiting longer than a few weeks to let the tank mature. id probably toss in a few small fish, or a nerite snail to help it along.

We do have a couple of things in the tank that are aged, the sponge filter and a ball of java moss specifically. The substrate has also been wet since mid november due to a 'dry' start with some seeds we wanted to grow. (awesome way to achieve a carpet FYI) The actual water also came from a tank thats been set up for 3 months. I put 6 Zebra danios in there last night too to get things going.

We also over did it a little with Easy Green in hopes of setting off some algae lol

 

@AllFishNoBrakesYour Java Moss is beautiful!

Edited January 4, 2023 by Winstons_estate

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Thanks! That literally started from just a couple of strands lol. That tank has since changed, but that giant Java Moss jungle and a couple hundred shrimp was fun. 

[TeeJay]

Yes when I set up my shrimp sanctuary tank I let it season for a solid 3-4 months before adding shrimp. I used a pair of mysteries to help get it going well during that period. I like using bacter ae to help the biofilm get established as well. Imo I like to feed my shrimp one small meal daily of Xtreme shrimp sticks, mini alge wafers or something of that sort. A couple of times a week I will give frozen thawed veggies like green beans, zucchini or green/red bell peppers work well.

[Remi de Groot]

To be honest i still find feeding shrimps one of the hardest things to figure out, even after a few years and 6 tanks with shrimp.
Some groups eat a lot, others don't seem to eat anything i put in the tank. Probably they have enough food in the tank already.

Best thing is just to start with really small amounts every other day.
If they didn't eat it all you can remove the leftovers and feed a bit less the next time.
Still not all finished? Do even less feedings in the week.

Most of the tanks with small groups (under 30 shrimp) i only feed them once a week.
But i always make sure they have enough leaves in the tank and 'snow flakes'.
They don't affect the water parameters and that way food is provided 24 hours a day.

Chris Lukhaup had a great video about feeding as well last week.

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/4/2023 at 6:50 PM, Remi de Groot said:

To be honest i still find feeding shrimps one of the hardest things to figure out, even after a few years and 6 tanks with shrimp.
Some groups eat a lot, others don't seem to eat anything i put in the tank. Probably they have enough food in the tank already.

Best thing is just to start with really small amounts every other day.
If they didn't eat it all you can remove the leftovers and feed a bit less the next time.
Still not all finished? Do even less feedings in the week.

A lot of the research I've run into this week, studies, research papers, and from people much smarter than me with experience from the species basically says to feed them 2x a week, generally speaking.

The reason for that is because they want to avoid ammonia and nitrite, and to keep nitrates low for as long as possible.  If you have a bigger tank (not a nano one) then you have more dilution so you can feed slightly more.

If you have a group that ignores the food, that means a few things, but I would argue it's a good thing.  It speaks to their natural behavior of wanting aufwuchs and other organisms in the tank as a good source compared to something like a shrimp stick or wafer. 

In my own experiences I have had a lot of issues feeding "algae wafers" vs. "spirulina wafers".  I have that in quotes there because you really do need to check the ingredients for what is in there.

I recommend feeding repashy soilent green. If you can find it Chris' food is simple and clear what's in it and it's a good choice too.  Some cichlid or discus food might work for shrimp as well. They tend to be either smaller pellets (good) or tend to have the omnivore ingredients of things that shrimp usually prefer.  As always, check what is in the ingredients and see what you think.

I try to feed shrimp specific food with added calcium once a week. I'm not great about it, but the attempt to do so is there. I usually feed repashy 1-2x a week and I'll feed something like frozen foods that same pace which also gives them some of the vitamins and minerals needed. (Especially spirulina brine)

I have a few more papers to read through, but if there's something worth posting I'll toss that in here too. I've been finding some interesting stuff.

[Andy's Fish Den]

I have been keeping shrimp, both neocaridina and caridina for quite a few years now, and all of my neo shrimp tanks have fish in them as well, mainly different strains of endlers or guppies, so the tank gets food put in it pretty much every day. For the most part, the shrimp just eat the leftover foods that the fish don't get, and maybe once a week I will throw in few algae wafers or sticks when I am feeding my plecos. My caridina tanks do not have fish in them,  so I do throw a little bit of food in their tanks a couple of times a week. Now, I do also keep some sort of leaf botanicals, either Indian almond or oak leaves in the tank and the shrimp graze on them. It's cool how they will munch ot down to just the thick veins of the leaves. 

[Brainsponge]

On 1/4/2023 at 10:38 AM, JettsPapa said:

Hello,

I've been keeping neocaridinas successfully (most of the time) for several years.  From my personal experience, and reading posts from other shrimp keepers, the most important advice I can give for a new shrimp keeper is to be patient and wait at least 90 days after setting up a tank before adding shrimp.  Neocaridina shrimp graze on biofilm constantly, and it takes time for that to develop.  I won't say you can't be successful adding them sooner, but it's less likely.

About feeding them, @TheSwissAquaristis right about feeding them sparingly.  There are a number of shrimp specific foods available but they will also eat any commercial fish food.  And yes, they are similar to amanos in that they don't really need to be fed (assuming there is an adequate supply of the other stuff you mentioned).

On second thought, some time ago I typed up some basics for another new shrimp keeper.  I might as well post it here.

• Neocaridina shrimp (Neocaridina davidi; red cherry shrimp and the other available colors) are one of the easiest ornamental shrimp to keep, with a wider range of suitable water parameters than caridinas. Their parameters do overlap, but it's a narrow range, and not something I'd recommend for inexperienced shrimp keepers. I don't have any experience with caridinas (at least not yet), so I won't address them here.
   
• 6.8 to 8.0 pH is usually the recommended range for neos, with Gh from 6-12 and Kh at least 4. There are supplements you can add to the water to raise the hardness if yours is low. They will tolerate a wide range of temperatures, but around 72° F is generally considered best. At higher temperatures they will grow faster and breed faster, but they will also not live as long. Basically, higher temperatures accelerate their lifespan.
• Shrimp are sensitive to copper in the water, though the small amounts in commercial fish and shrimp food won't hurt them.
• Sponge filters are usually recommended for shrimp tanks. If you choose to use a hang-on-back instead be sure to cover the intake, or shrimp will wind up inside the filter.
   
• If you’re curious about how many to start with, the answer is as many as you can afford, but if money is a factor (which it often is for most of us), you can get a nice colony going with 10 or so. Of course, it will take longer than if you start with 25, but you’ll still probably get to 100 sooner than you expect.
   
• There are many color varieties, and they will readily breed with each other. The results will generally be brown or clear after a few generations (though you may get some interesting shrimp in the process). For this reason, if you want to maintain a specific color it's best not to mix them. Even if you do stick with a single color you'll need to remove undesirable colors occasionally. The amount of culling you'll need to do will likely vary depending on the purity of the shrimp you start with. From my personal experience my red shrimp need a fair bit of culling, while the blues ones need very little. Many people do keep and enjoy mixed colors, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. If you do cull, you can have a separate dedicated tank for them, or add them to tanks with fish. Even in tanks with dedicated shrimp hunters you'd be surprised how many will survive, especially given adequate hiding places. I occasionally see one in my 65 gallon tank, and my big angelfish just loves shrimp.
   
• To get the most enjoyment from shrimp, keep them in shrimp only tanks, or just shrimp and snails. You don't have to worry about predation, and they'll also be more visible if there aren't predators in the tank with them, even if the predators are too small to be a threat to adult shrimp.
   
• Even if they are the only things in the tank, they will feel more secure with hiding places, especially when molting or when a female is releasing babies. Dense plants are a good option. Java moss, guppy grass, Süßwassertang, and pearl weed are some good choices. I like to have two kinds of dense plants; one at the bottom of the tank and another floating to provide hiding places in both locations.  A pile of rocks, sized so that the shrimp can crawl inside, is also a good idea.
   
• They are sensitive to changing water parameters, so most experienced shrimp keepers recommend limiting water changes to around 15%, and the new water should be close to the same temperature. If you do larger water changes, it’s even more important to temperature match the water.
   
• Since they need biofilm to graze on, and are very intolerant of ammonia and nitrites, it's usually recommended to let a tank run for at least 3 months before adding shrimp, and 4 months is better. You might get by with adding them sooner by adding a sponge filter, plants, substrate, etc. from an established tank, but you still aren't likely to have as much success as you will if you're patient and let the tank "season" (I know this from first-hand experience, and not just once; I'm apparently a slow learner).
   
• In addition to the biofilm, they will also benefit from being fed. There are several commercial foods especially for shrimp, but I've also given mine several kinds of fish food, and they've eaten all of them. While there are mixed opinions about it, many people believe they also benefit from blanched vegetables once or twice a week. I've tried several things, and mine seem to prefer zucchini and spinach, followed by sweet peppers. I usually feed those late in the evening and remove any uneaten portion the next morning. By the way, shrimp just LOOOVE freshly crushed snails. Mine will swarm all over one.
   
• If you use CO2 in shrimp tanks keep it around 10 – 15 ppm, and definitely below 20 ppm. They often can’t tolerate the pH swings and/or elevated CO2 levels at higher concentrations.
   
• Of course, if you want to establish a colony you need males and females. Females are usually larger, and have better color, so when selecting them in a store you can get all females if you aren’t careful. It’s not difficult to tell them apart, even on shrimp that are the same age. The abdomen (the rear half) of females is larger than males, with the bottom line sagging down. Males’ abdomen is thinner, and it’s pretty much a straight taper from front to back.
   
• As females reach maturity they will develop a “saddle” on their back. This saddle (usually yellow) is the unfertilized eggs showing through their shell. They're ready to breed when they next molt, after which the fertilized eggs will move down below their abdomen where she will constantly “fan” them and juggle them around with their swimmerets to keep them aerated. Unlike some shrimp, neos don't have a larval stage, so they’ll hatch as very small fully developed shrimp after about 4 weeks.
   
• If you suddenly notice the shrimp swimming around the tank more than usual, it’s probably nothing to worry about. When a saddled female molts she releases pheromones signaling she’s ready to have her eggs fertilized, which gets the males swimming around trying to find her.
• If you notice a shrimp with a lighter colored lateral line on top that's called a "racing stripe", and is a harmless feature that's common with some color varieties. It will typically get wider, with the edges more ragged, as the shrimp gets older. It's very common on yellow shrimp, somewhat common on red ones, and I don't think I've ever seen it on blue ones.

• Don't worry about your tank becoming overstocked. They have a very small bioload, and a 10 gallon tank can hold hundreds of shrimp without becoming overcrowded.

Quoting so I can be sure to find this later. I'm thinking about doing a shrimp tank and this is just a goldmine of info. Thanks for the write up. Excellent info

[JettsPapa]

On 1/18/2023 at 2:29 PM, Brainsponge said:

Quoting so I can be sure to find this later. I'm thinking about doing a shrimp tank and this is just a goldmine of info. Thanks for the write up. Excellent info

I'm glad you're planning to get a shrimp tank, and happy you found the information useful.  I really enjoy keeping shrimp.  If I had to choose between shrimp and fish it would probably be shrimp.

[Brainsponge]

On 1/19/2023 at 8:13 AM, JettsPapa said:

I'm glad you're planning to get a shrimp tank, and happy you found the information useful.  I really enjoy keeping shrimp.  If I had to choose between shrimp and fish it would probably be shrimp.

I'll have a 45g, well seasoned tanked freed up in a week or 3. Plenty of biofilm and wood. Just need to up the plants and I'm thinking they would do real well in there. I'm leaning towards the blue neo's. Thanks again, very good info