Cherry Shrimp & Population Control

[PaigeIs]

My daughter wants to add cherry shrimp to our 20H planted tank.  I am happy to add the shrimp, but do not want to breed them. We already have 3 otos, 2 nerite snails, 3 amano shrimp, a few platies, and one 3 spot gourami.  Here is my question....  Will the current aquarium residents eat the cherry shrimp fry, a sort of natural population control?

[Lennie]

I personally don't think even adult cherry shrimp would be safe with three spot gouramis. They are known to be agressive and grow up to 15 cms. If a shrimp fits in fish's mouth, it will be eaten. If a species is agressive, they will try a way to eat it even if it does not fit in their mouth directly.

I would not advice keeping cherry shrimp with any gourami other than honey gourami, and even in that scenario, you should observe its behavior closely.

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/11/2023 at 1:40 PM, PaigeIs said:

Here is my question....  Will the current aquarium residents eat the cherry shrimp fry, a sort of natural population control?

I added some to my community tank, the platies will very likely go after them. I don't know about the gourami.

I'd recommend a shrimp only tank and add culls to the community tank to see if they do ok.

[Cinnebuns]

I agree the shrimp adults are not safe with the three spot gourami. I hate to say it but that tank is nowhere near large enough for that gourami. Three spot get uo to 6 inches long. Before I realized how big they were, a friend sent me one once for my 29 gallon tank. I had it for only 1 hour before I realized there was no way the tank was large enough and had him take it back. In addition, they do tend to get aggressive. In a smaller tank with limited room this aggression gets worse. Every fish personality is different but it's very likely the gourami would eat the shrimp. 

[JettsPapa]

If you don't want cherry shrimp to breed the only way I know of to avoid it is to get all males or non-berried females.

Do you mind if I ask why that's a concern?  You could probably have 500 in a 20 gallon tank without it being crowded.  I recently took 70 from a 5.5 gallon tank.  That was nowhere all of them, and it didn't look crowded before removing some.

[Flumpweesel]

I think you have plenty of population control in there but I thought I'd mention that they are very likely to hide in set up that includes potential predators so your daughter might be very disappointed in the amount she gets to see them.

[PaigeIs]

On 2/12/2023 at 8:46 AM, Cinnebuns said:

I agree the shrimp adults are not safe with the three spot gourami. I hate to say it but that tank is nowhere near large enough for that gourami. Three spot get uo to 6 inches long. Before I realized how big they were, a friend sent me one once for my 29 gallon tank. I had it for only 1 hour before I realized there was no way the tank was large enough and had him take it back. In addition, they do tend to get aggressive. In a smaller tank with limited room this aggression gets worse. Every fish personality is different but it's very likely the gourami would eat the shrimp. 

@CinnebunsYou are correct about the gourami.  It ended up with me due to a series of unfortunate events.  I need to rehome it soon.  

On 2/13/2023 at 9:33 AM, JettsPapa said:

If you don't want cherry shrimp to breed the only way I know of to avoid it is to get all males or non-berried females.

Do you mind if I ask why that's a concern?  You could probably have 500 in a 20 gallon tank without it being crowded.  I recently took 70 from a 5.5 gallon tank.  That was nowhere all of them, and it didn't look crowded before removing some.

@JettsPapaTBH...  I just don't want to deal with a lot of baby shrimp.  Between the platies and the guppies (in another tank) I am constantly netting a dozen or so fry and carting them off to my LFS.  

Edited February 15, 2023 by PaigeIs

[jwcarlson]

My tetras and probably corys to some extent have kept my cherries at reasonable levels.  They don't bug the big shrimp often, but I have seen them get ahold of one and rip it into pieces as a school.  

I am not sure you can have "too many" shrimp, they seem to regulate pretty well and a ton can be in a small place. 

[bryanisag]

I don't think you will ever feel like your shrimp are any problem at all

[PaigeIs]

On 2/12/2023 at 8:46 AM, Cinnebuns said:

I agree the shrimp adults are not safe with the three spot gourami. I hate to say it but that tank is nowhere near large enough for that gourami. Three spot get uo to 6 inches long. Before I realized how big they were, a friend sent me one once for my 29 gallon tank. I had it for only 1 hour before I realized there was no way the tank was large enough and had him take it back. In addition, they do tend to get aggressive. In a smaller tank with limited room this aggression gets worse. Every fish personality is different but it's very likely the gourami would eat the shrimp. 

P.S.  The three-spot gourami (Edward Scissorhands) is not living happily in a 125g community tank.  A much better environment for him (her?)

[Guppysnail]

Your platies will control them. I kept them with guppies. My guppies did keep the population in check without wiping them out. However new shrimp are often small. Those the guppies will eat if they can catch them. You should be fine though. Give it a go and set overpopulation fears to rest.