uprightandlocked

Hi All,

I am happy to report that I have just purchased 6 RCS from my LFS and am in the process of putting the finishing touches on their tank before moving them in. I'm making sure that the tank has places to hide and lots of plants for them to climb on.

It will feature two log decorations. One is a tree-stump that acts like a cave and the other is a hollow log - both providing good hiding places.

Also, they will have a plethora of silk plants to climb and play on of all shapes and varieties.

Further, they have a black gravel substrate - because I've read that their colors are more brilliant on dark substrate.

I've really been looking forward to beginning to keep shrimp and am dedicating an entire 10g aquarium solely to these 6 little guys in the hopes that they will breed and fill in the space. Eventually, I would like to sell them back to my fish store or to other hobbiests once I am in a position to be able to do so. This way, I can keep adding new genetic lines back into the breeding population.

I bought algae wafers for them to eat.

The tank is heated (75 degrees) and filtered. Also, it is on an aquarium light timer for 10 hours of light a day.

Any advice?

-u&L

ATKINSON

What does RCS stand for?

uprightandlocked

Red cherry shrimp

alicem

Red Cherry Shrimp

I've read to grind the algae wafers into small bits with a mortar and pistol, if you have one.
Then feed a small pinch every other day.

Your tank sounds very nice. I hope you have great luck raising shrimps.

alicem

uprightandlocked

Thank you, I don't have a mortar and pistol, unfortunately. I had read that you can break them up into several pieces and drop them in different locations in the tank (to avoid a swarm of fighting shrimp!) and I was planning to do this. If it doesn't appear to work out I'll be on my way to get a mortar and pistol stat!

alicem

You could use anything to grind/smash the wafer on a clean, solid surface,
no need to invest in anything fancy.
I imagine small pieces would be just fine and, as always, be careful to not over feed.

The tank sounds cool, I want one.

alicem

uprightandlocked

They are in and they are eating their first algae wafer! I'm watching to see how much they eat ... today maybe was a little over but I'll quickly adjust. They all swarmed, however, which was neat to see. Six of them in that big tank is kind of funny - but I look forward to babies starting to appear, hopefully soon! So far - they all seem happy and healthy.

alicem

MyFishkies

Put the wafers in a ziploc then crush them with a rolling pin. Also I think your temp is too low for ideal breeding. I've read 80-82 degrees is what they like. There's a post somewhere on fishlore that includes pics of a shrimp actually dropping the eggs. It's awesome, and provides advice on ideal breeding params.

Time

Wow really great job. You surely did the best you could for the shrimp.

uprightandlocked

Thank you for the advice, MyFishkies. I will raise the temperature tomorrow during the day. Also, do they like areas of strong current? I have exclusively kept bettas for the past several years and I have always made sure to have little to no current in my betta tanks. However, in this tank, I do have some current from the filter. The shrimp seem to congregate in this corner of the tank often.

uprightandlocked

Well I hope thatthis is a good sign, but I'm fairly certain one of my shrimp molted overnight. This morning I found what I believe to be an exoskeleton near the front of the tank. Being the paranoid new owner that I am I had to count all my shrimp and some of them just must be hiding - but I'm certain its an exoskeleton because it is white and clear and looks like it ripped just behind the head.

I assume that this is a good thing, would they molt if they were stressed or unhappy?

alicem

I was told to leave the tank lights off when introducing shrimp into an aquarium.
Reason being, that if you introduced shrimp into a bright tank from a dark bag it could/would induce molting.
I asked if I should remove the excoskeleton and was told to leave it in the tank to be re-obsorbed into the water collum.

Clean stable water is probably most important, especially during molting.
Be sure the nitrAtes are really low, like around 5...
hth,
alicem

uprightandlocked

Hello All:

My RCS have been in their tank for 9 days now - and I still have all 6! I have witnessed at least three moltings. I have been feeding them half of a small algae wafer every day. They gobble it up as it dissolves! Every couple of days I skip a feeding just to be sure their isn't an excess of built-up, uneaten food lying around the bottom of the tank. I monitor closely how quickly they are eating the wafer and note whether any is leftover to be sure to keep my water parameters under control.

No eggs or anything so far. Hopefully soon!

alicem

That's wonderful news, uprightandlocked!
You are doing a great job.
Hopefully you'll have a tank full of babies soon.

alicem

Aldric

you can also get a mineral block that will help their shells or i understand you can use a cuttle fish bone ( like they give to budgies) also mine love mellon which they share with my bristlenose

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uprightandlocked

Thanks for the advice, Aldric. I will look into starting to use some supplemental foods and tank additives.

enthusiast

hi uprightandlocked!

i just stumbled on this thread & i also keep rcs, just wanted to offer my advices and knowledge

it seems its been almost a month now since you've had your shrimp? you havent posted in a few days but by this time surely you've noticed some carrying eggs, havent you? In another month your shrimp will more than double! its really neat! i'm about to get a 2nd 10 gal for my shrimp to also start distributing them to LFS & hobbyists

to add to the answers of a few quick things that stuck out in my head while i was reading through the thread, the exoskeletons should be left in the water. Your shrimp will eat them for the nutrients they hold. Also as far as grinding up the food I find that it seems it gets wasted that way? thats just my opinion... I will break an algae wafer in half, and break it in half again, & throw in the 4 small pieces, the shrimp running to the food as it goes toward the ground is a great sign. They'll pick off the pieces they want with their little pinchers, a powder to me seems like it'd just go unseen, & dissolve into the water

as far as current I keep a little filter in my tank but dont have the output of it going along the length of the tank, instead i have the filter on one end (the back of the tank), and its blowing the water out right at the front of the tank, so the water might be coming out strong for the little guys but if you have it set up to where its coming right out and hitting the front glass of the tank, then it stops that problem

The idea of supplementing their food with melons is a good one, they need a varied diet. The only other idea i can think of to add to your tank would be live plants instead of the silk ones. they can be inexpensive and will supply your shrimp a constant food source, for the days that you skip those feedings (which also stuck out in my head, because you have a new tank you set-up for the shrimp, which means it doesnt have sufficient algae growth, & you have no live plants- thus, their only source of food being the algae wafers).

hope this helped some! but by now i'm sure you've gotten the swing of things & you've gotten some great advice from others on the thread! good luck!

Robin4

uprightandlocked

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately, last week I lost one of my shrimp. It was the biggest one I had so I'm not sure if it was age or what? The other shrimp all seem to be doing well.

I think I got all females from the LFS because I have none carrying eggs.

I have had several moltings and always leave the exoskeleton in the water!

I would like to add live plants but have no experience in keeping these. The only live plant I ever had was some java moss from a LFS for my molly tank (to hide fry). Unfortunately, it brough pest snails into my aquarium and I do NOT want to experience that again. How do I get live plants and ensure no snails enter my tanks?

Thanks for the help, everyone!

Robin4

whisper

Also you could get some Java Moss. They love to eat the microrganisiams that are in it. I have the whole bottom of my shrimp tank covered with it and I made a cave for them out of PVC pipes and that also is covered with the moss. The floor carpet I used plastic canvas and sewed the moss to it.They like cucs and zucchini too. The shells you see in the tank I added for there calcium. Also we have a Koi pond with water lily's. The shrimp LOVE the dying leaves from the lily's. Here is a picture of my 2.5 tank. I have about 12 shrimp in it.