Table of Contents
Creating hiding spots
When creating an aquascape or even just creating a shrimp tank, RCS and other types of shrimp would like some sort of home to seek refuge in. This could be from a small little cubbyhole all the way to something like cholla wood. It’s almost necessary to put these safety measures in place to give your shrimp the best security possible, especially when there might be predators in the tank. Providing great hiding spots is essential to keeping a healthy, happy shrimp colony.
Hardscapes
One of the best ways to create some sort of shelter for your red cherry shrimp is to add hardscapes likes rocks and/or driftwood to your scape. Combining them in a way that there are crevices underneath or around them gives your shrimp some refuge from bright light or potential predators.
Stones/Rocks
Rocks and stones are one of the main hardscape elements used in an aquarium to create a natural feel for “the wild”. They are a great source to grow algae and diatoms on which your cherry shrimp will feast upon. In the aquascaping world, there are a few rocks that are commonly used:
- Pai-Hai Stone
- Sado-Akadama Stone
- Kei Stone
- Black River Stone
- Utah Dragonstone
There are also sorts of rocks that have massive amounts of nooks and crannies that give shrimp a potential cubbyhole to hide in. These types of rocks, with combination of moss, can create a shrimp haven and actually a huge landmark that they will call home.
Driftwood
Driftwood is another hardscape element that shrimp love to crawl around on. These come in all different types, like:
- Malaysian
- Mopani
- Manzanita
- Cypress
- Riverwood
- Texas Select
- Hornwood
- Branchwood
Each type has different characteristics and just depends on your personal taste. Driftwood has a tendency to lower pH in an aquarium, which can be great if you have hard water or a very sensitive species of shrimp, like crystal red shrimp. It is common for driftwood to grow some fungus on its bark, which your shrimp colony will love to eat. You can try to reduce the chance of fungus by boiling your driftwood – find out more about preparing driftwood for your aquarium.
Aquatic Plants
There are literally hundreds of different aquatic plants to choose from. I seriously couldn’t name them all off but they are great accents for any aquarium to give it a lot of green or red for colors. Plants also produce oxygen in the water column from soaking up ammonium and nitrates while in the photosynthesis period – find out more about nitrogen cycle with plants,fish and shrimp with your aquarium.
Keeping aquatic plants like java moss or DHG (dwarf hairgrass) will give your shrimp, and especially your shrimp’s fry a place to forage and hide when needed. Moss is essential for shrimp fry in the early stages of their life and will help keep their die off to a minimum.
Shrimp Products
There are Cholla Wood and Ceramic Shrimp Tubes products that will give your shrimp a nice secure environment where they can hide when they become stressed from whatever it may be. This typically could be from outside predators like cats,people, or even sudden light changes.
