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New Shrimp Tank.... Sort of.

2K views 17 replies 5 participants last post by  fashionfobie 
#1 ·
We bought some cherry shrimp yesterday. They are quite small so I only got 5, just in case they become a sushi snack. I want to put them in the tank at the bottom so they have at least a decent chance rather than floating down the same as the fish food does so I am waiting until we do the water change tonight.

Temporarily they are in a jug with some sand on the bottom and some duckweed on top, duckweed is not in the picture.

I bought some "shrimp food"... sort of. I found that the food that we already have, NLS I think it is, would have been fine. What I ended up with, in hindsight, is of much lower quality. First ingredient is wheat middling and then shrimp meal so it's not actually shrimp food, it's food made of shrimp... who knew?

Here are a couple of shots of the temp tank.

Jeff.
 

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#2 ·
Isn't it interesting how something like that can make us feel uncomfortable. For example you can feed a parrot, chicken. They will crack the bones open and eat the marrow. Something about this seems weird. However chickens and parrots are completely different species. It isn't different than homosapien consuming a fellow mammal such as a cow.

Now with fish they do seem to be willing cannibals in a lot of cases. But in the shrimp food there is also a strong possibility it is a different species.

Food for thought :)

I look forward to seeing your shrimp in their permanent tank. Cherry shrimp are so cool.

~Natalie
 
#5 ·
I didn't leave them in that tank long... did a large water change last night and put the shrimp in. I was thinking to let them grow out first but they are 7/8" already and didn't think they would grow much larger. I just made sure they started where they could get to some hiding places. For whatever reason one died before I moved them. I think it was just one of those things, transition, injured at the store. It wasn't looking the best earlier in the day as it was.

Oscar (the betta) was curious and I think may have tried to snack on one but there is no way he could catch them... the little guy just scooted away as if it were just another day in the park. The barbs didn't notice them and the catfish won't likely bother them either.

So, four shrimps are in there somewhere... I did see one this morning. If there are still any about in a couple of weeks (I figure if they survive that long they are fine) I may pick up a few more.

Jeff.
 
#15 ·
It was kind of neat i must say to watch when i saw for the first time where my ghost shrimp where disappearing too.
With the mention of ghost shrimp I just wanted to add some extra info. Ghost shrimp are not compatible with other decorative shrimps. They will actually slay them. They wait until the other shrimp are molting so they are vulnerable. I know you don't have them together. I just thought you would enjoy the extra information.

I am happy to hear your cherries are still around. I am sure they will get themselves settled. :greenyay:

~Natalie
 
#8 ·
I was all set to give up on the shrimp assigning them to eaten sushi status and was looking at trying the amano shrimp just because they are larger, i think. Tonight I took a flashlight and poked around some of the hiding spots that I have seen them lurking about early on. I managed to spot three of the four that I put in.

I figure that one loss of four in a week is not unusual as one out of five died within a day before even getting them into the tank. I don't think that they travel well but the fourth could still easily be in there and just out of sight. I guess they are getting lots to eat in the nooks and crannies of the driftwood.

So, back to adding more cherry shrimp next week perhaps.

Jeff.
 
#11 ·
Sure, I can barely ever see them, let alone figure out the males from the females. Obviously I could have done this prior to releasing them but I was working on having them survive. I expect to be getting some more so I will end up with male and females I am sure.

They were rather brown when I got them, in fact I didn't see them in the store tank, or didn't think they were cherries. Now they are nice and red and stand out when I know where to look.

Jeff.
 
#10 ·
They are crafty. They will make little tunnels under structures and logs and stones etc so they might all be in there somewhere. Amano shrimp are much larger. I have kept amanos with dwarf cichlids and haven't have casualties.

I wouldn't totally give up on your cherries yet. They may get some eggs laid and get a colony going. My amano shrimp get on well with my pumpkin shrimp. They all hang out on logs munching away together. Very cool! So if you wanted to add them they are compatible and are very animated. My amano shrimp will even steal from my fish and swim off.

~Natalie
 
#12 ·
If by luck you do have both sexes then the odds of them breeding are quite hi, even in hiding they multiply like bunnies, Cherry red shrimp casrry the eggs and they hatch while still attached to the female so dont have to worry bout your fish eating the egss, just the fish eating the shrimp. Sounds good tho, they are survivors
 
#14 ·
Well, I found number four as well. I guess they have enough hiding spots that nobody has got to them yet. I figured if all were still there after a week that we might get some more.

Jeff.
 
#17 ·
It's always surprising to see something really up close, always little things that you didn't or can't notice otherwise. I thought that these were a solid colour shrimp but they have some striations along their sides.

Here is a shot of one of the cherry shrimp hanging out on a leaf.

Are shrimp similar to shoaling fish in that they tend to be a bit braver when there are more? We had 4 and almost never saw them, now we have 10 and there are always one or two flitting about, sometimes chasing each other across the sand or just chillin' on some plant somewhere.

Jeff.
 

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