Cherry Shrimp

I've been keeping Cherry Shrimp, Neocaridina heteropoda var. red, for about 2 years and I've found them to be neat little creatures that are incredibly easy to raise. 

Setup is pretty much the same as most fish.  I keep mine in a 20 gallon long setup with a layer of gravel, java moss, driftwood, sponge filter, and a light.  Water temperature is in the low 70s, hardness is around 300ppm TDS, and 50% water changes are done weekly.  I feed them fish food, usually flakes or pellets, and they happily graze algae from the tank and decoration surfaces.  There are also invert/shrimp specific diets but I haven't tried any yet.  I'd love to hear from anyone who has. 

I started with a group of 8 shrimp.  The original population grew somewhat slowly, but after a few months I started seeing a number of young shrimp in the tank.  The population increases and decreases according to how much attention I pay to the tank.  When I get busy with work, I do fewer water changes and feed less often and the population shrinks somewhat but I never get massive die-offs.  Once I have more time and feed more and do water changes, the population recovers quickly.  I've had more than one hundred shrimp of various sizes in a 20 gallon tank and they don't seem to mind being crowded as long as they are fed.

Cherry shrimp make great scavengers for planted tanks with fish that are small enough that the shrimp won't get eaten.  Baby shrimp will get eaten, so keep in mind the population may not increase if they have tank mates!  Which brings us to another good use for them: live food.  I've occasionally fed young shrimp to some of my fish.  They are a good food for conditioning fish to spawn. 

If you're looking for something a little different to play with in the fish room, give some shrimp a try.  There are lots of different types of freshwater shrimp, cherry shrimp are only the tip of the iceberg! 

Comments

Popular Posts