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Page 1 of 2 Red Cherry Shrimp Care Sheet [RCS]
Congratulations on your decision to keep these interesting little freshwater crustaceans.
They are hardy and entertaining, and require very little upkeep.
IMPORTANT!!
When you receive your shrimp, pour ALL the contents of the shipping [breather] bag into a clean container that you can float in your tank. I prefer to use a new ziplock bag for this process. The reason you DO NOT want to use the breather bags the shrimp were shipped in is because the breather bags are designed to exchange O2 only while out of the water and may suffocate your shrimp if used while submerged in the water. Once your shrimp are in a new clean container such as a ziplock baggy, you can then acclimate them to your tank waters parameters. If you are not familiar with this process it is as simple as slowly adding tank water to the ziplock containing your shrimp. It’s best if done over the course of an hour but with a well established tank having 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites you should be able to get away with a 15 minute acclimation.
Red Cherry Shrimp General Care:
These shrimp are EXTREMELY INTOLERANT of chlorine, chloramines, and copper in their water! Even a small amount will kill them very quickly. It’s best to let water to be added to your tank, stand for 24 to 48 hours or use a water conditioner that removes chlorine such as SeaChem Prime. A couple of copper pennies dropped into a tank will kill every shrimp in the tank. Be careful
These shrimp are a member of the species Neocaridina denticulata sinensis var. red
They originated in freshwater streams in Taiwan. The wild variety is rather drab, but over years of selective breeding, those available to hobbyists today are a bright cherry red.
Temperature: These shrimp can tolerate a wide range of temperatures. 60°F to 78°F is perfect but they do just fine at normal household room temperatures and really do not require any special heating, or even filtration, equipment. Breeding, however, seems to only take place at temperatures of 68°F and above. A simple air-driven foam filter is perfect and they like to ‘pick over’ the foam filter surface cleaning it and finding food particles.
Caution: If you use a canister or hang-on-back [HOB] filter, you should use a protective foam cover over the filter intake or the shrimp babies will get sucked into the filter. [A quick and cheap shortcut for modifiying your filter intake is to slip a piece of pantyhose over it and fasten it with a plastic zip tie] You will get more enjoyment from them by keeping them in a clean environment and they will readily reproduce if given moderate care.
Water: Cherry shrimp like medium to hard water but will tolerate a wide variation in water conditions. They need the harder water to provide calcium to build their shells and will die if kept in very soft water Regular tap water that has been treated with SeaChem Prime is perfect.
You will see the shed shells in the aquarium after the shrimp complete a molting cycle. You can leave the discarded shells in the tank and the shrimp will consume them, there by recycling the calcium necessary for the building of their new shells.
Food: These shrimp eat most anything. The shrimp I sell have all been raised on a diet algae wafers, blood worms, blanched spinach, spurilina algae tablets, and flake food. These shrimp also eat LOTS of algae in almost all its forms. As with any aquarium specimen, do NOT overfeed. They do not eat as fast as tropical fish, so monitor their intake so that all food is consumed in 2 hours or less. If food remains after 2 hours, remove it and feed less next time. They will not harm your live plants in any way in fact they are a perfect addition to a planted tank.These shrimp are EXTREMELY INTOLERANT of chlorine, chloramines, and copper in their water! Even a small amount will kill them very quickly. It’s best to let water to be added to your tank, stand for 24 to 48 hours or use a water conditioner that removes chlorine such as SeaChem Prime. A couple of copper pennies dropped into a tank will kill every shrimp in the tank. Be careful.
Breeding: The shrimp that I ship are very young juveniles, just babies really. Most are not old enough to breed but they will quickly grow into adults. Their coloration changes as they mature and is also controlled by their environment. Females will show a yellow patch behind the head as they ripen their eggs. Some data on the web suggests that you can tell males from females by the red coloration alone, but this is not necessarily true. The yellow ovaries and eggs are the only sure way of determining sex in these animals.
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