Future Shrimp Tank

[Hollygirl]

After I move the Assassin snails to the 10 gallon tank, I want to use the 6 gallon Eclipse for my first shrimp tank. In the case of Cherry Shrimp will their numbers stay down if they are fed sparingly like pond snails, or is using a 6 gallon unrealistic? I don't plan on adding anything other than live plants to the tank.

[cam191919]

a 6g sounds fine for RCS, but why would you want their numbers to stay down ;)

[msjinkzd]

They will go like gangbusters, but you could always add some to your community tank when the numbers increase.

[mellowvision]

yeah, don't worry about the surplus... just start with nice ones!

[Hollygirl]

I guess I'm a little squeamish about feeding the baby shrimp to my fish, so I was trying to get an idea of how fast they multiply if I were to start with say 5 shrimp in a 6 gallon. What would be the maximum number of shrimp that could comfortably live in a 6 gallon Eclipse system?

[ciaobella7122]

Lets put it this way... In mid-October I bought 6 RCS, I now have over 30 and that's after definitely losing some to two complete clean outs and probably some predation since I had a betta and have gouramis. Plus, I now have two, maybe three, berried females. They aren't that big so over population probably won't be a problem for quite some time. Good luck :)

Oh and Jinxzd would be able to tell you better than me about max numbers lol. I'm just letting mine do their thing, they don't take up much room!

[Hollygirl]

And I'm assuming that all the neocaridina reproduce at the same rate? I'm leaning more toward the green or the blue rather than the red cherries.

[msjinkzd]

the general rule of thumb is 10 adults per gallon. With your dilligence for maintenance and attention to detail, you could easily go over that. I have had upwards of 300 cherries in a 10g and all thrived. This was mixed ages mind you.

[cam191919]

someone else on this site sold RCS to their LFS, as it was hard for them to get in shipments. maybe an option to consider

[Hollygirl]

I'd like to keep them with the snails (the nerites and the briggs, not the assassins), I just don't know how the snails are going to feel about new "roomies" LOL!

[Hollygirl]

someone else on this site sold RCS to their LFS, as it was hard for them to get in shipments. maybe an option to consider
I'd be worried that they would end up in the "feeder shrimp" tank. I have seen quite a variety swirling around in there.

[EdFanatic]

that would be some expensive dinner for fish :)

[Hollygirl]

There is quite a variety of sizes and colors in the feeder tank - I'm not kidding. He rarely sells "pet" shrimp. The one that will show up in the shop occasionally is I think a "Wood shrimp" (not sure of the name)- The filter feeder shrimp that sells for around $20.

[pik01]

the issue between keeping snails and shrimp together is crowding. They won't attack each other, but shrimp being shrimp, they will pick and groom everything, including the snail's shell. If there are too many shrimp, the snail will end up getting stressed and msjinkzd has reported her brigs being stressed to the point of not eating. Mind you, this only occurs when there are many many shrimp in the tank. I think her numbers were 150ish shrimp in a 10g with brigs.

I have 2 brigs in a 10g with a little less than 20 red cherries and everyone has been happy so far. When the shrimp started crowding the tank I moved about 80 of them to my plant grow-out tank.

As for the growth rates, I bought 15 from Rachel in mid-October, kept them at about 74-76F, fed every other day and was rather scrupulous about WC (first inverts, nervous :p) and by the middle of December the first 15 exploded into almost 100 shrimp. That's not an exaggeration :D I don't have any other species of shrimp (yet!) but everything I've read indicates that since they're all neocaridina, they have very similar rates of reproduction.

[shawnhu]

There is quite a variety of sizes and colors in the feeder tank - I'm not kidding. He rarely sells "pet" shrimp. The one that will show up in the shop occasionally is I think a "Wood shrimp" (not sure of the name)- The filter feeder shrimp that sells for around $20.


Bamboo Shrimp, they're $9 a pop around me. They're huge

[jimi]

i have cherrys in with big filter shrimp and they get along great.

[Hollygirl]

Bamboo Shrimp, they're $9 a pop around me. They're huge
That's the one "Bamboo" - they are around 3 to 4 inches long when he has them for sale.

[Hollygirl]

Of course if their numbers get out of control I could buy another tank . . . LOL

[msjinkzd]

muahahaha, sounds like a plan! :D