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Shrimp care

Cherry Shrimp Care | Taking Care of Cherry Shrimp

Overview with Cherry Shrimp Care

Even though Red Cherry Shrimp are one of the easiest variants of shrimp to take care of, there are still some measures to take with their care to make sure you are successful in creating a thriving colony.

Aquarium Size

Before even diving into this type of hobby, it’s important have a good size aquarium. This is a critical consideration on your end-goal with what you want to accomplish with your RCS. For additional information, check out the pros and cons of Big Vs. Nano Aquariums. I recommend at least 10 gallons (38 L) with 1 cherry shrimp per gallon.  This should give them a good population and space to start breeding in, and will support up to 100-150 shrimp.

Filtration

This is another important part of your cherry shrimp care. Having a HOB (hang on back) filter that is rated GPH (gallons per hour) 8-10x the tank volume is recommended. For canister filters, recommended GPH filtration is 5x or more of the tank volume. Either one of these will need a prefilter sponge so your shrimp or baby fry don’t get sucked up into the propeller. Also food for thought: the more filtration you have, the healthier your shrimp will be.

Sponge filters (alternate)

Besides having a HOB or canister filter, you can go the sponge filter route, which uses an air pump and the sponge itself as the bio-media. This is a great shrimp care solution for starters or hobbyists that might have power outages once in awhile. But remember, it makes a dull bubbling noise and can start to make your house sound like an aquarium store.

Drip Acclimation

Drip acclimation is an crucial part in shrimp care. When adding your Red Cherry Shrimp into an aquarium, you need to acclimate them to your water parameters before just throwing them in. Check out more about the drip acclimation process.

Water Parameters

Keeping your water parameters stabilized is critical in achieving proper shrimp care. Water changes are a vital part of replenishing old water from your shrimp tank and keeping nitrogen levels in check. Typically a 10-15% water change is recommended every week to bi-weekly to remove excess nitrogen within the water. Learn more about Water Changes.

Feeding

Food is essential to keep your shrimp alive and kicking. How mature your aquarium is and how much algae you might have will determine how often you will need to feed your shrimp. A good recommendation is once every week with either an algae wafer or piece of blanched zucchini (Google how to blanch vegetables).  You can freeze any extra blanched vegetables for future use. I also would consider putting a feeding dish inside your aquarium so clean-up isn’t as difficult with something like an algae wafer. They tend to break up fairly easy once added into the water and could potentially fall into your substrate, creating unnecessary critters inside your shrimp tank.

Genetic Diversity

Another great aspect of Cherry Shrimp care is to trade or buy more red cherry shrimp from other sources. I recommend you maintain your genetic diversity after a few generations of breeding. This will reduce the inbred deformities or creating shrimp with weak or undesirable traits.

Outro

When achieving all this, you will be in the right direction towards your cherry shrimp caring. Soon you should have a huge thriving colony of Red Cherry Shrimp in your aquarium.

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