Hi there,

I'll start by explaining the history of this situation then you will understand my dilemma. About 1 year ago (or more), I got hooked on shrimp they seemed such interesting creatures, so I thought I would set up a tank to have a breeding colony of red cherry shrimp. The tank was 36"x12"x15" so a fairly big tank that I hoped would provide a good sized colony, it had plenty of java moss and I put in some dried oak leafs with a sponge filter to make sure any babies were safe. To cut a long story short the colony didn't emerge and there was no increase in the shrimp number.

I had this tank for a year atleast and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, so when the time came I needed the tank for fry of my other fish, I decided to move any shrimp I could find to my guppy tank (40"x16"x20"), they were all adult shrimp so I thought they would be safe with the guppies. Its a heavily planted tank with tons of elodea and other plants due to the natural sunlight it recieves through my window. I moved about 6 shrimp over (all I could find of the 10 I had bought), 2 females and 4 males. Now, after about a month or two in the guppy tank I saw for the first time 6 baby shrimp. I couldn't believe it. And now I'm stuck on what to do, I would still really like to have a shrimp colony, and realise that this won't be easy with the guppies in the tank, so I'm thinking of returning the guppies to the LFS, however at the same time I don't want to return the guppies and then not have the shrimp reproducing.

So now I basically have 2 options. 1) Return the guppies and hope that the shrimp will build up a colony OR 2) Leave them both in the tank and hopefully the RCS will breed enough to get a colony. Im fearful that with only 6 shrimp it might take a while to get a decent sized colony as well, thats if they decide to breed again...

Thanks for taking the time to read,
Shroob

If it were me I would probably wait a couple of months to see how the babies do then decide. If none survive then get rid of the guppies!

As the tank is well planted I would of thought some would be able to hide from the guppies and survive. As you know they are happy to breed in this tank you could always add some more shrimp to ensure enough babies are born for some to survive to adulthood.

I could have sworn I replied to this.

It sounds heavily planted, with good 'hiding plants', so the shrimp should make it. I would add more like Shrimper said.

Thanks, I think thats what I'm going to do, just wait and see. I might have over emphasised how planted the tank is , looking at it, its lacking bottom cover with only java moss, the rest is taller, bushier plants that are in the mid/top section, which is litterally packed with plants. So I think I will move a huge clump of java moss from another tank and put it in this one.

I just don't want to go back to the situation of having non-reproducing shimp in a tank like I had before, sods law that they would breed when there's something that could eat them in the tank. I think I'll wait to see if this breeding wasn't a one off, if I see multiple spawns of shrimp then I will be happy. I'd love to have a carpet of shrimp like you see in some peoples tank, so if the shrimp breed its going to be bye bye guppies.

This post has been edited by shroob: May 27 2008, 06:43 PM

The moss and the dense upper area combined should be enough.

I wouldn't remove the moss, the babies will feed on the things growing on it.

im striving for a "shrimp carpet" too, but atm it's not happening

they're bad luck, seriously. two cracked tanks, a broken heater, tights slipped and killed loads of babies...... then my only male died. so now i have 3 preggers females and i just need to hope that the babies survive and there are some males.

not that you really wanted to hear any of that crap. but tharrr we go.

I mean move java moss from my HRP tank, into my shrimp tank, so the babies have more cover.

Oops, my mistake.

That sounds good. The more moss, the better.

Oks, so I've added the moss (about a large margarine tub's worth), and counted 9 baby shrimp, theres probably more that I can't see. Am I right in thinking an average brood would be about 30 shrimplets for red cherry shrimp?

20-30 is usual.

That's a pretty good survival rate with fish.

The survival rate just got better, I've just counted 15 babies, which I'm pretty excited about. The tank I have "free" is my fry tank for my honduran red points, I think they are big enough not to be eaten by the guppies but I want to give it another week or two to make sure, after that I'm planning on moving the guppies over into that tank.

With regards to these new babies, does anyone know how long it will be before they start having babies of their own? (I know it will depend on how old the babies are, but I'm not really sure) For example if the babies were born today how long would it be until these had offspring.

This post has been edited by shroob: May 29 2008, 02:07 PM