Red Cherry Shrimp

[Liv15]

So I've never kept them before and I bought 2 the other day. They are getting along with all the tank mates completely fine and have settled in so they have started coming out of hiding, since I bought them.
If there is any important information I need know about these Shrimp, please tell me!
Also the pet shop was selling "blue shrimp" (but they were sold out). Are these just the same as the red cherry shrimp but they're blue? I'm pretty sure I've heard of blue cherry shrimp before?
Anyway, I have 5 guppies, 1 dwarf gourami and a young algae eater (flying fox I think) , and of course my 2 cherry shrimps. This is a 48L tank (12.7 gal) and I really wanna know how many more I can add as I wanna get a load of them. Thanks.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Its possible the dwarf gourami may eat your RCS if the shrimps are small enough to fit in his mouth. If shrimps are big then possibly may be ok.
 
A risk though.
 
Would not put in any more RCs for a week or so to see if your gourami eats them or not. If not, then you can add more but make sure they are large RCS or other types, although RCS are quite good breeders!
 
So either you DG will eat the shrimplets or you'll get loads!

 

[Liv15]

Its possible the dwarf gourami may eat your RCS if the shrimps are small enough to fit in his mouth. If shrimps are big then possibly may be ok.
 
A risk though.
 
Would not put in any more RCs for a week or so to see if your gourami eats them or not. If not, then you can add more but make sure they are large RCS or other types, although RCS are quite good breeders!
 
So either you DG will eat the shrimplets or you'll get loads!

Yeh they are big enough to not fit in the gourami's mouth and he's fully grown too. I have been watching them and the gourami just ignores them completely. But yeah I agree waiting until getting more. If they breed in the community tank, surely the fish will eat the eggs? of not, the baby shrimp? Thanks for the advice !

 

[Ch4rlie]

If they do eat the RCS, Amano Shrimps are large and should be pretty safe.
 
They don't breed in FW though, they do lay eggs but eggs won't hatch I think unless has salt in water.

 

[ech0o]

The blue ones were probably a cherry variation.   I keep some orange sakuras, and there are blue rili, clear snowball, yellow, and a couple of other variations.
 
Great little shrimp, I keep them with my crystal red shrimp, really love inverts!

 

[bigcheed]

you should be careful about keeping different strains of cherry shrimp together. they will cross breed. if they do crossbreed the babys will just look like they do in they wild. a dull brown colour. also don't be to sure about your dwarf gourami not having a go at adult cherry shrimp. ive seen female bettas take adult cherry shrimp and they arnt as big as a dwarf g. i tried al kinds of combos before i finally set up a shrimp tank. i have cherrys, sakura fire reds and crystal red shrimp in my tank as well as a collection of snails.

 

[Liv15]

Okay i will deffo keep an eye on the gourami, thanks for the info everyone.

 

[ech0o]

Why do you keep fire reds and regular cherrys together?   Yea my shrimp tank is the orange sakuras and the CRS as to not crossbreed.  I have a full grown dwarf gourami that can barely get a bloodworm into his little tiny mouth, better yet a whole shrimp!

 

[Liv15]

Why do you keep fire reds and regular cherrys together?   Yea my shrimp tank is the orange sakuras and the CRS as to not crossbreed.  I have a full grown dwarf gourami that can barely get a bloodworm into his little tiny mouth, better yet a whole shrimp!

what's the difference between fire reds and regular cherry shrimp? Thanks

 

[fm1978]

They're just a higher grade of cherry. Same species, though.

 

[Liv15]

Like a brighter red colour?

 

[fm1978]

Like a brighter red colour?

 
Deeper and richer and the colouring is much more even.

 

[Liv15]

1 of mine are bright red with a really nice even colouring and the other isn't quite as red, its slightly brownish. Maybe they are male and female? They aren't fully grown yet so i cant comment on their size.

 

[fm1978]

There's every chance that you have a higher grade cherry. That's how the different colours and grades came about in the first place, the better coloured ones were selected to breed with other ones of higher colour.
 
That said, you would normally have to wait until they're quite mature before their full colouring is realised.

 

[Liv15]

Ahh so i could have one of each, interesting. Either way they're still really cute.