RCS Heartyness - Shrimp & other Invertebrates

Muirner · 02-28-2007, 02:02 PM

So I just recieved my first set of Red Cherry Shrimp, and I have a question.

I have a 55 gallon that i have set up, using SMS and topsoil as the substrate, it's been up and running about a week now, and I have a good amount of plants in it. The thing is, should I acclimate these Cherries in my 55gallon or my 10 gallon that has been up and running housing fish for a while?

The 10 gallon has cheap rock as the substrate and the only problem i forsee is the challenge of catching these guys to put into my 55.... Advice?

eklikewhoa · 02-28-2007, 02:10 PM

I would put them in the cycled 10g

Muirner · 02-28-2007, 05:42 PM

Ok, that's fine with me, but how will i go about catching them later on?

Mud Pie Mama · 02-28-2007, 05:52 PM

A few questions first, and with some qualification I may disagree and say try them in the 55g.

Does the 10g also have a lot of plants in it? The cherry shrimp will be most happy in a tank with plants, especially some mosses. Will you be unhappy if they also settle in and colonize this tank - if you later can't catch them all?
Do you have any fish there that will eat them?

Have you already felt safe to introduce fish into the new 55g, and if so how are they doing? Have you done any testing for ammonia? If you've happy fish in the 55g and/or the plants are taking care of all ammonia produced so that you are not measuring any; than I'd go ahead and add the cherries to the 55g.

My experience has been that cherry shrimp are quite hardy. I once temporarily housed eight of them in a one gallon bowl filled with java moss. They stayed in the bowl for a week with no heater and no filtration except the moss. That's how long it took me to prepare, scape and plant a 10g tank I wanted to use for them. I seeded the substrate with mulm from another tank, then put the cherry shrimp in the same day I planted and filled the tank. That ten gallon tank now has around 100+ shrimp from my original batch.

Now, my important disclaimer: ONE - I certainly would'nt be so willing to risk this with very costly shrimps. TWO - I did keep a good eye on them and was willing to move them to another tank if needed. And THREE -I already have several planted tanks doing well so felt confident in getting this tank off to a great start from day one. Just to say YMMV!

Muirner · 02-28-2007, 11:17 PM

I havent done any testing for ammonia levels yet, i've just been way to busy with school and the such. I decided for now to put them in the 10 gallon. It's cycled and all set up. And no, no fish that would eat them. Right now just 5 ottos and 1 DP. The 10gallon has a good amount of plants in it...

Yes i am willing to let them set up shop in this ten gallon tank for now. I'm just wondering how i'll catch them once i want to move some to my 55?

My 55 has no fish, a good amount of plants, but has been set up about a week or two.

eklikewhoa · 03-01-2007, 12:51 AM

If by DP you mean dwarf puffer then it will pick off shrimplets and if hungry or bored enough it will go for what it can. The good thing is that they won't be able to eat enough to really impact them if they are producing.

With the catching issue just throw a algae wafer in there and wait till they crowd it and net them. If you leave them for a litttle while you should have enough to fill both tanks with them!

YuccaPatrol · 03-01-2007, 05:33 AM

I'd put them in your 10 gallon until you get a large enough breeding colony to begin moving some over. Mainly so you can find them. It isn't hard to move shrimp, you just have to be patient and move a few at a time.

Do watch out for the puffer though. Even if it doesn't harm the adult shrimp, it probably will go after babies and young shrimp. However, I do have one tank which has clown loaches in it and they don't bother the larger cherry shrimp in the tank. But I almost never see baby shrimp in there and the population has stayed pretty small and I'm sure the fish are eating them.

Muirner · 03-01-2007, 09:03 AM

Anyone wanna buy a DP? She's cute and well... Hard to find a place for. LOL, I'll figure it out. Shes well fed though, and I'm keeping my eye on her, she gets her daily meal in the morning in and mid afternoon.

Been keeping an eye on her, and she's stayed about midlevel so the shrimp seem to be around (although, i have trouble spotting them haha)

Yucca - Thank you for these shrimp!!! They are great!

EDIT: It seems every time i look for another shrimp i can spot 2 at a time. This morning it was a very red one (i assume female) and a couple males. A few hours later, only the couple of males, check back again, i find the red female but no males HA. Soon enough i'll be good at this spotting shrimp thing.

Jookie · 03-01-2007, 03:07 PM

I've heard of dwarf puffers munching on fish bigger than they are. I would be hesitant to have the shrimp around a puffer. I thought German Rams would be fine to have with my cherries, and it was a massacre. Some people have success with puffers, rams, and loaches, but it seems that once they discover that they can be a food source, it's on...