I think it is a RCS...or something else???

Okay, I blame Cichlidnut for getting me hooked on the idea that RCS would be good in my ELB tank...

I was at my lfs on Thursday and came across two lonely shrimp in a tank of guppies. They are extremely dark, and I have read that there are Fire Red Cherry, Tiawan Cherry, Sakura Cherry...ugh...too much for a shrimp newbie to sort out so I figured it would be good to take it to the community that I know can help me solve this mystery...FL. Oh, and both of the shrimp are berried females, according to the lfs.

I could only catch a pic of one, the other was camera shy...what do you think...regular RCS or some variation?

 

that looks to me like a rcs and it dose appear to be berried b4 you think of shrimp ammonia must be at 0.00 fore rcs and copper is deadly and most foods have copper

 

HI Scotty...thanks for the reminder about water parameters. Mine have been at 0/0/5 for three months and there is already an amano who has been happily residing there for two months. I test the water twice a week and change 20% at least once a week. I use NLS and Omega One (plus frozen thawed goodies) for food and have checked and doubled checked ingredients and they do not list copper as an ingredient. I also only use API Leaf Zone for fertilizer because Flourish Comprehensive actually lists .0001% copper so I figured I could not use it (FlourishTrace lists .0005% so I don't use that either). I think I have a shrimp friendly ecosystem going or I would not have gotten them. Any other advice on keeping them healthy and happy is also welcome!

 

Give them lots of places to hide.

 

They have driftwood, several rock caves and a clump of java moss that takes up almost 1/3 of the tank...is that okay or do I need more? They LOVE my prefilter sponge too!

 

Sounds perfect.

 

As AP said, sounds perfect!

 

Rcs are okay with a 5ppm nitrate level right? And how long until a berried female has shrimplets? I have my elb timed out and they are almost 23 days between brood every time.