Gonna get some cherry shrimp for the first time…tips?

I’m getting some cherry shrimp and I have some questions.
1) What should the ideal kh/gh be?
2) I’ve read that cherry shrimp poop a lot and raise nitrate levels-especially tanks with sponge filters. Is this true?
3) I’ve heard that people’s CS die in like 2 weeks, any way to prevent this?
4) Any other inside tips you only get with experience?
Some of my tank info:
Heavily planted
10 gal
6 neon tetras(gonna add 2 or 3 more)
Ammonia 0.25-my tap water has ammonia in it no way to get it to 0
Nitrates around 10 haven’t tested in a while
PH 6-7
Don’t have a gh/kh test kit probably gonna get one as it’s important for shrimp.
Note: I’m not trying to breed for profit or anything I’d just like to get a good colony going and thriving.
Thanks in advance for all the help!

 

There are more expert people to tell you more but I do know 2 things: shrimp will produce much less waste than fish and they love java moss.

 

Hi airdog44,
Don’t just buy the first shrimp you see wait until you see strong colour.
Males do have less colour and you need some males.

Buying small shrimp is better than buying grandmother shrimp that will not give you as many offspring. It may take while for juveniles to breed?

As you have fish living in the tank successfully don’t worry about the GH / KH for cherry shrimp. They are completely different to other more fragile species.

Buy a minimum of 6 . Yes it’s possible you will lose a couple in the first fortnight in your slightly different water parameters.

My experience suggests for my cherry shrimp in my water that normal 45% water changes are not a problem. Even doing 3 water changes in the same week do not effect my strain of cherry shrimp in my water.
Not doing a water change for months and then doing a 50% change is likely to shock them.?

Shrimp poops the same size as neon tetras poop. You will not see it unless you have a bare bottom tank. Shrimp do not add ammonia in the same way as fish breath does.

A ten gallon can have dozens of ch shrimp don’t worry about it.

Question #2 .
There are people who like to think sponge filters are old fashioned and somehow different from any other filter. I believe they are misinformed? Don’t worry about the bio load of cherry shrimp.

At least until the colony is established you may wish to vacuum into a white bucket. Sit the bucket to one side and net out any juveniles when the water has settled and you can see the small shrimp.

 

Shrimp love stable water parameters. Keep whatever you have, but keep it stable.
Neocaridina shrimp also love oxygen-rich water, so an air-driven sponge filter is perfect.
Cooler water is preferred, but this bites with your tetra; again, as long as you keep parameters stable.

Your cherry shrimp will probably disappear over time with the tetras, as they'll go after shrimplets, once you get those. So make sure you have plenty of hiding spaces. Not some cave here and there, I mean lots of plants and wood to hide in and under. A few Catappa leaves offers hiding places as well as well as a food source. Both wood and leaves will alter your water parameters a bit, and stain the water, but in a way that is also preferred by your neon tetras.

Don't clean your tank too much. Shrimp(let)s love grazing on biofilm. I would perhaps feed them some calcium supplements.

 

Neocaridina (Red Cherry Shrimp) Basics

 

Thanks so much for all the help everyone! I will be buying them off of eBay, they seem really good quality(10 shrimp) I really appreciate all the information. I have a really planted tank so many of hiding spaces there with some wood as a hardscape. I just have have one last question-what food do you feed your shrimp? Could I get some brand names? Thanks so much again!

 

Ok as you are buying sight unseen of E bay you should consider culling out some of the worst shrimp on day one. Trust me it’s hard to cull at any time but once they are hiding in a planted tank it will become harder to catch those shrimp of a lesser colour.
As you should already know cherry shrimp eat bio film from an established tank . At the very least an established dirty sponge filter is needed. A man made food that works is hikari crab cuisine - Google Search
Just one pellet will go a long way for 5 of the best shrimp should you be able to sex a couple of good males out of what you get from e bay. Unlike fish the crab cuisine can stay in the tank until eaten. A feeding dish is needed to keep the food out of the substrate.

 

Ok as you are buying sight unseen of E bay you should consider culling out some of the worst shrimp on day one. Trust me it’s hard to cull at any time but once they are hiding in a planted tank it will become harder to catch those shrimp of a lesser colour.
As you should already know cherry shrimp eat bio film from an established tank . At the very least an established dirty sponge filter is needed. A man made food that works is hikari crab cuisine - Google Search
Just one pellet will go a long way for 5 of the best shrimp should you be able to sex a couple of good males out of what you get from e bay. Unlike fish the crab cuisine can stay in the tank until eaten. A feeding dish is needed to keep the food out of the substrate.

Ok sounds good. Thanks for the tips. I think I’m ready!

One more question sorry: How often do you feed them? Once a week? Twice?

 

I have a glass lid from a coffee jar. One or two pellets per few dozen shrimp can sit in the jar for 24 hours or until consumed.
I have at times had thousands of cherry shrimp used for live food swimming in with fish fry and juveniles . As these tanks are being feed multiple times per day for the fry (and getting the necessary water changes ) I don’t add extra shrimp food. When I did run a shrimp only tank for a while I was feeding a couple of times a week. But feeding only a small number of pellets for hundreds of shrimp in a smalll tank .

My suggestion is you need a feeding dish to keep the food out of the substrate. This will allow you to see if all the shrimp are swarming over the food or ignoring it.
To answer your question depending on how many shrimp you have feed “a little and often”.
Every couple of days?

A snapshoot of how small fish like endlers, ember tetras and neons actually get pushed off food by shrimp. While I do use cherry shrimp as food this story of “all fish “ eat shrimp is overplayed I suggest.



I started with 5 cherry shrimp a couple of years before this photo was taken.

 

Ok. Thank you so much for all the information this is so helpful. I’ll be sure to update you when I get them

 

Have to respectfully disagree on the parameter bit... cherries will not molt if your GH is below 6... a GH of 8 would be better... KH should be 2 degrees minimum as well

They're easy until they stuck in their molts

 

Have to respectfully disagree on the parameter bit... cherries will not molt if your GH is below 6... a GH of 8 would be better... KH should be 2 degrees minimum as well

They're easy until they stuck in their molts

I don’t have a test kit for those parameters…I’ll be sure to get some.

 

Hi airdog44 if your GH was below 6 the PH would very likely be swinging up and down so much your neons would be struggling ( dead) .

By all means get a test kit or ask your local aquarium shops. Alternatively your water supply company should post an annual report on this. Only a tank that does not get water changes for far to long will see a lower GH than your tap water. If you have the money to buy a test kit for yourself by all means do so.

My understanding is green leaf vegetables are an excellent source of calcium for shrimp. ( Mulberry tree leaf, nettles, Broccoli etc.)
You asked about feeding and I did not mention feeding green vegetables. I add zucchini once a week already for other species and do see the shrimp picking on it.

 

How do you prepare the vegetables?

 

Have to respectfully disagree on the parameter bit... cherries will not molt if your GH is below 6... a GH of 8 would be better... KH should be 2 degrees minimum as well

They're easy until they stuck in their molts

Really? 2dGH, 2dKH, and I've got hundreds more than I started with 20 months ago

 

In my country we just rinse vegetables well under the tap with a good rub by hand. It is often said that members from other countries blanch / boil for a minute or two. If that is to remove pesticides or to soften I can’t say? Both answers I have read. It’s up to you if you what to boil / blanch everything every time . A weight is need to hold vegetables down. A fork from the kitchen or a BBQ skewer is as good as buying something made for the job in my opinion?

 

Ok sounds good. Thanks. Will order tmrw!(The shrimp I mean)

 

How do you prepare the vegetables?

I typically boil them for just a brief time. It softens them up some, and also helps them sink. If you put them in fresh most, if not all, will float unless you use something to hold them down.

 

GH has nothing to do with pH, that's KH... higher KH will stabilize pH, not the other way around... and the benchmark isn't even 6 degrees either, no clue where that number is coming from... anything over 4 dKH is usually considered safe for pH and it won't really swing around until KH drops below 2 degrees

Anyways, to the person saying they have cherries in 2dGH, that is impossible... that's pushing it even for the soft water Caridina species

Not here to argue but I would strongly encourage the OP to perform a simple Google search... the advice here is not great

 

If advice were to be given to someone who is just starting with cherries, then 7-ish dGH would make more sense. But we are talking about cherries; not some Sulawesi shrimp or trying to selectively breed a trait in a Pinto strain.

Provided your established, planted tank doesn't have (near-)blackwater conditions for your tetra fish; I would not worry too much about water conditions, just keep the conditions a bit stable and let them slowly adjust to your tank. They really are tough creatures.

Regarding question no. 3) I’ve heard that people’s CS die in like 2 weeks, any way to prevent this? Most likely the result of a tank that is not cycled.

 

Ok. Ya I’ve done my own research I just wanted to get it from real people who are keeping cherrys. So the ideal kh would be above 4, and the ideal gh would be 7/8? My ph is also pretty unstable I’m testing it every day this week to really measure but yesterday is was 6.6 and now it’s 6.8. I’ll keep you posted….but any way to raise the kh? I haven’t tested it yet but I’m assuming that it’s pretty low. I’ll bring it to my lfs sometime next week to get the water tested for free.

 

pH changes throughout the day in a planted tank in a rather fixed pattern. 6.6 vs. 6.8....don't worry.

People can make themselves crazy with water parameters. If you have a heavily planted tank, and its established, really dont worry about the cherries!

But if you want to get more scientific, also look up gh:kh ratio's. But i was under the impression you just want to enjoy cherries and perhaps get them to breed a bit.

 

pH changes throughout the day in a planted tank in a rather fixed pattern. 6.6 vs. 6.8....don't worry.

People can make themselves crazy with water parameters. If you have a heavily planted tank, and its established, really dont worry about the cherries!

But if you want to get more scientific, also look up gh:kh ratio's. But i was under the impression you just want to enjoy cherries and perhaps get them to breed a bit.

Ya you’re right I just wanted to make sure that they can live as long as possible. Thanks so much for all the help! Mods you can close the thread now