Shrimp Convert

[Cazgar]

I never knew how entertaining shrimp could be.
I got some a few weeks ago to go in my Betta tank.
They're such fun to watch as they go around the tank, & today I noticed some tiny babies.
How often do they breed & do I need to feed them anything special?

 

[lloyd]

Im no expert but it depends what you have. re they cherry red?

 

[lloyd]

Im no expert but it depends what you have. re they cherry red?

 

[Cazgar]

They are cherries, but an orange strain

 

[lloyd]

In that case if they are thriving in your tank water then they will breed happily with out intervention. I have have ordianry cherry shrimp in my tak but my b imbellis and kuhli loach keep baby numbers to a minimum. if ever you find your self with an out break i will be happy to buy or trade some off you. i think a mix of red and orange will be nice

 

[Cazgar]

The females are quite brownish, but the males are a lovely orange colour.
You're very welcome to some in future if I get overrun with them

 

[Baccus]

Orange and Red would look pretty for a time but they will quickly breed together and the colours of the orange wont be so great and even the reds (if they are a really dark strain like mine) would also go backwards in their colour. Best to keep two seperate tanks going of the two colour strains to keep them both pure.

Everytime my tanks start getting over run by cherry shrimp I just catch the bulk of them and put them into my other tanks. There is really only two tanks they can't go in and that's because of the gudgeons who LOVE eating the shrimp.

Shrimp are great to watch, I have some large unidentified Australian native shrimp and these guys will come over to the front of the tank and scrutinise me while I am observing them , remind me of little alien lif forms doing reccies into human ways .

 

[Cazgar]

I only have orange in my tank, so hopefully if they breed they will keep their colour.
I never knew shrimp could be so much fun or I'd have got some earlier.
I love watching them feed & interact

 

[lloyd]

If i do mix the clours would mix because only the original parents will survive, the babies soon get eaten

 

[Cazgar]

I only have a Betta & some endlers in my tank.
The Betta ignores them & the endlers are too small to eat them, so hopefully any babies will survive

 

[Baccus]

If you have a nice thick grove of pants (java moss is great) the shrimplets will have no trouble hiding until they are bigger and still find enough food. I have not had my Khuli loaches or Pakastani loaches show the slightest bit of interest in the shrimp, my fighters eat the odd small one and I have seen the sparkling gouramis try eating ones too big for them . All my cory's are fine with the shrimp and even the guppies don't seem to eat them into extinction. The only fish I have that does eat shrimp consistantly are the gudgeons. Oh and the goldfish in the pond would too if I happened to put any shrimp in with them.

 

[Cazgar]

I have moss, wisteria, anubias & crypts in my tank, so plenty if hiding places

 

[Baccus]

I have moss, wisteria, anubias & crypts in my tank, so plenty if hiding places

Then be prepared for a shrimp explosion , if you keep a close eye on the generations you might find natural other colour morphs cropping up in your ones. I keep two tanks of cherry's totally seperate and in one tank the females are the deepest darkest red you could imagine, while in the other tank every so often I get a female with a touch of blue. If I had the room I would seperate out the females showing blue and try to develop my own blue strain but its time and space that stops me.

 

[Cazgar]

I'd set up a new tank if I saw any blue strains.
I have a spare 25 litre cube doing nothing
I've seen pics of some blues & the colour is stunning

 

[Baccus]

The blues are stunning but the trouble is picking the best males that may also carry the blue gene to try and establish the morph. Unless only berried females with the blue colour went into the other tank and then just allow her offspring to breed back to her (line breeding), but it takes years to fully "set" the colour morph and have it breed true.