Red Cherry Shrimp 101-The Basics

[wendamus]

Trying to catch a few leftover questions.

Can a bristlenose pleco live with them? And not eat the babies?

My BN and Dwarf BN both did fine, completely ignored them. They're so exclusive to a veggie diet that I have never seen them pay any attention to anything that moves.

Are pencilfish and featherfin rainbows OK?

I doubt it -- almost any fish that eats live food is big enough to eat the newborn shrimp, even day old guppy fry left my population static. Think of it this way, newborn Red Cherry shrimp are almost the same size as baby brine shrimp -- anything that will eat BBS will eat baby RCS.

 

[Que]

Very true. All my small mouthed fish (neons, cardinals, harlequin rasboras and rummy nose) eat shrimp fry. The trick is to have enough plants to provide enough cover so that enough shrimp survive to maturity and continue the life cycle to keep a nice population working for you. It doesn't hurt to keep a small shrimp only tank to be on the safe side.

Q

 

[The Zigman]

IME, if the shrimplets will fit in the fishes mouth, they will become food..
except for the ones that can hide really well.

 

[shawnhu]

I just wanted to also add this link as to how these shrimp mate.

http://www.planetinverts.com/shrimp_reproduction.html

 

[mak3mydae]

in the first picture of the saddled females, what kind of moss is that?

 

[pik01]

impossible for me to tell, i don't even know if it's a moss

 

[Chuxter]

Not really worried about them reproducing but can the adults survive with Angel Fish in the tank?

 

[Que]

Not really worried about them reproducing but can the adults survive with Angel Fish in the tank?

Not in my tank. I have 3 angels in a 75 and whenever I put RCS in the tank they're gone in days. This is a tank with good plant cover. The SAEs root 'em out and the angels snap 'em up.

Q

 

[werecatrising]

How big do they need to be before they start breeding?

 

[thincat]

Okay, I got my RCS in saltwater. Will they breed in water that is sg 1.025 and a PH of 8.0...?