The Latest Idea

[AdamT]

Hey, so I'm thinking of a new project: Breeding cherry shrimp. The goal being to stock all my planted tanks, and eventually sell whatever is extra to the LFS. The amanos won't breed in a simple freshwater tank 'cause the babys need brackish to develop, I guess. But the cherries will do it in freshwater. I understand they're pretty good algae eaters as well. I must admit that I've seen pictures of crystal red shrimp, and I like the look of them better, but I'm not sure where I'd get any. Dunno which would be a better algae eater. Anyone got any opinions on neat and easily bred shrimp?

So according to what I've read I'd have to do this in a species only tank, stuff I've read recommends a 20 ga. I've got a 20 ga. long running right now as an anubias spa. I'm trying to decide if I should try to grow anubias and cherry shrimp in the same tank, or if it would be better to separate 'em. The shrimp like 8-10 degrees of hardness to breed in, and that's a bit harder than I'm running most of my stuff.

So that's what's bouncing around in my head right now. Whadya think?

-Adam

 

[retro_gk]

A 20 long will be wasted on cherry shrimp, unless you plan on keeping a couple of hundred of them in there. A 5 or 10 gallon tank with some Java moss will do just fine.

You should be able to find shrimp through various planted tank fora. Alternatively, you can get them from places like www.petshrimp.com
I'd avoid aquabid for shrimp.

And, if you do get cherry shrimp, remember that only females are bright red. Males are mostly colorless, many people buy all red shrimp and wonder why they can't get them to breed.

 

[AdamT]

So what I'm wondering is can I attempt to breed shrimp in any of my existing tanks, or do I need to set up a new tank to do it? (oh no don't make me set up another tank!)

Available tanks:
20ga - anubias tank, currently has nothing but plants in it - I'm trying to keep the water level low so that I can grow anubias emergent in it. I guess I could bring the water level up, but I understand that the shrimp like moderately hard water. I dunno what ph (wide ranges are listed, but what is best for breeding?). I don't want to take the conditions too far away from what the anubias like. This seemed my most likely candidate, which is why I stuck this question in 'the planted tank' topic. Prolly shoulda put it in husbandry / breeding tho, eh?

10ga - grow out tank - 1/4 inch apisto young go in here. Will there be shimp / baby apisto incompatability? I gotta figure there is a size above which shrimp will not bother a fish, below which shrimp will attempt to eat it. I don't know what that size is.

5ga and 2.5 ga - these are where the fry go after I pull them from a community tank. I figure the very young fish and the shrimp prolly shouldn't go together. Also, while I don't want to turn out crazy numbers of shrimp, I would like to see a fair number. I think I don't want to go below 10ga, but I'm not really sure about shrimp stocking density.

+ some bigger community tanks that I wouldn't guess were appropriate for breeding.

- Adam

 

[retro_gk]

You will need moderately hard water and a pH of greater than 7 (7.5-8 is good) to keep and breed the shrimp.

Anubias will do well under such conditions, so the 20 gallon will do just fine.

The 10 gallon tank will work for adult shrimp. Fish are only at risk from shrimp species with well developed pincers (Machrobranchium, Palaemon, Palaemonetes sp. etc). The others are detrivores/filter feeders whcich are incapable of catching live fish. Newborn shrimp will quickly become fish food.

You could use the 5 gallon tank as a shrimp nursery. You could also hang clear, plastic specimen containers in the 10 gallon and use those as fry nurseries.

P.S. Resistance is futile, you will get more tanks.

 

[apistoireland]

I have cherry shrimp. As nice as they are as useless they are as algae eaters. They feed on detrius. If you want algae eaters get Amanos. You can breed them but just have to keep the larvae in slightly brakish water (salinity around 1.005) for about 4 weeks. After that they will be OK to put back into freshwater.
The weird thing, however, is that my discus think Amanos are a nice addition to their food but will not go near cherry shrimps. If anybody has any explanation I would be interested to hear it. And by the way, my cherry shrimps also breed in slightly acidic water (ph is 6.5)

 

[algaefarmer]

Totally different experience here - my cherry red shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata) are the best algae-eating animal I've ever kept (on par with Amanos). Kept with Otos there are very few algae types that'll go uneaten. They are small though and you need a lot of them to actually control algae growth, 1 per gallon at least.

It's possible that yours are getting too much fish food to be interested in algae.

Too bad Apistos tear them to pieces.

 

[AdamT]

"P.S. Resistance is futile, you will get more tanks."
Shhh - don't tell my wife!

Algae-eaters? I've heard varying reports about this, embodied here. Perhaps there are different strains of shrimp in the hobby?

Breeding Amanos in brakish water - This sounds difficult to me. I like the cherry idea b/c I expect I can mostly just let nature run it's course. Can someone comment on how difficult / easy actually breeding the amanos is?

"Too bad Apistos tear them to pieces."
Oh man! Seriously? That isn't what I wanted/expected to hear! (tho certainly they'd go after the young that were small enough) Nobody has been bothering my amanos... Maybe the lack of food that inspires yer cherries to eat algae also inspires your apistos to eat the cherries...?

Thx for the info, all. -A