help with RCS

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CerenaDaft

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Oct 17, 2011
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i have around 24 RCS in a 10g with 4 mollies and i was wondering if it was on to keep them in there. i have done research and i have read on multiple sites that it is ok and not ok to keep them with livebearers. i want them to breed but would a smaller tank to themselves be better?
also how would i remove them from their current tank without stressing them too much.
thanks in advance
 
Understand the risks of keeping fish with shrimp: the shrimplets will be small enough for many community fish to eat, only a few will survive.

I've had 3 berried shrimp recently that all had their eggs hatch. At a guess, I have 3 distinct sizes of juvenile shrimp, and a total number of about 10 juveniles. Knowing how many eggs were on each female, it's about a 10% survival rate. The only predation attempt I've seen was when a little shrimp was swimming and not walking.
 
The fish will most likely eat the shrimp hatchlings. I have like 400 RCS in my tank half of which are berried and my badis badis keep population control. Only select berried females get a tank to themselves
 
The only thing I would recommend keeping with RCS are maybe Marbled Hatchetfish, or African Dwarf Frogs. Everything else will probably eat the babies and keep your population low.
 
sinner41265 said:
The only thing I would recommend keeping with RCS are maybe Marbled Hatchetfish, or African Dwarf Frogs. Everything else will probably eat the babies and keep your population low.
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To summarize, if you want an exploding shrimp population, get them their own tank. If you want some population growth, that may be slow in coming, you can have other inhabitants in the tank.
 
CerenaDaft said:
Thanks for the help! I am going to get a tank this weekend for the shrimp. What is a good size for it?
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They don't need that big of a tank. If you local Petco is still doing a $1/gallon sale, a 10 is a good way to go. Surface area is more important than height, though. So, a 20 long (if you were going that big) is better than a 20 tall. If you don't have access to a cheap 10 gallon, I'd go with at least 3 gallons. Also, keep in mind that a big portion of what they eat will be biofilm and algae, so putting them into a cycled and brand new tank isn't always a good solution. Maybe cycle the tank, put a molly or two, or a few fry, in there for a few weeks after cycling before adding the shrimp. If you're in a hurry, you'll have to supplement their feeding with some kind of stick/wafer/something, and should move over a piece or two of decor from the existing tank.
 
I've kept RCS with CPDs with no problem.

Then I had a tank with RCS that I threw in some swordtail fry for grow out. Let me tell you that even though the swordtail fry were physically smaller (at the time) than the CPDs, I immediately saw a drop in numbers of shrimplets. It has only been recently since I have unloaded those fry that I have seen numbers increase in that tank.

Cover is the important thing to have in a good shrimp tank. I've noticed in all of my tanks with shrimp that the area with the most cover (usually a piece of drift wood with java moss growing on it) will act as a hatchery for the shrimp. The berried females seem to congregate in that area, moreso than just saddled ones. Males don't seem to care.

Also, my shrimp seem happiest in the tanks with a floating plant...even duckweed. They hang from the underside and graze, especially at night. Turn the light on and sit back and it almost looks like rain as the lil ones fall back to the substrate and denser moss.
 
I just saw the body of a dead shrimp float across the tank and one of my mollies picked at it. did they kill it?
and i don't see much of my shrimp and i don't think they hide many places...
i have gotten no bodies on my filter so i'm worried the mollies are eating them
 
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