Cherry Shrimps, or Neocaridina Shrimps, can look very striking in your aquarium. So, is this species easy to keep? You can find out in this article from Aquarium Blueprints.
What are the water parameter requirements for Cherry Shrimps?
When it comes to the Neocaridina Shrimp species, these creatures are able to live in a wide range of water parameters.
With that said, we recommend that you keep your pet inverts within a range between the 70°F to 72°F. Furthermore, you need to make absolutely sure that your tank is fully cycled as even small traces of ammonia and/or nitrites can be very toxic.
You can find the recommended water parameters for Cherry Shrimps below:
- 57°F to 86°F (or 14°C to 30°C)
- 6.5 pH to 7.5 pH
- 7 GH to 15 GH
- 2 KH to 8 KH
- 0 ppm of Ammonia
- 0 ppm of Nitrites
- Less than 20 ppm of Nitrates
What are the diet requirements for Cherry Shrimps?
When it comes to their diet, Neocaridina Shrimps are most healthy when you give them a balance diet of protein and essential minerals. Therefore, food products made specifically to feed pet shrimps will work best. These inverts also like to graze on biofilm.
We have great success feeding our Cherry Shrimps the Shrimp King product line. We also like to use Bacter AE, which encourages the growth of biofilm in your aquarium.
What are the tank mate requirements for Cherry Shrimps?
Neocaridina Shrimps will be more outgoing and stress-free when kept in a species-only tank. Not to mention that other tank mates may heat or attack your pet inverts.
With that said, snails shouldn’t cause any problems and will help keep your shrimp tank clean.
What other factors you should consider?
There are also a few other factors that you should consider when it comes to keeping Cherry Shrimps. You can find them below:
Drip Acclimation – Cherry Shrimps can’t tolerate big swings in water parameters. Therefore, you need to be careful when adding them into your fish tank. The best way to introduce new water for your pet inverts is through drip acclimation.
Water Changes – As we stated above, Neocaridina Shrimps have a hard time adjusting to large and sudden water parameter swings. Therefore, we recommend only doing small water changes (less than 20%) at a time.
We also suggest that you don’t do any water changes at all if possible. As long as your tank water has 0 ppm of ammonia, 0 ppm of nitrites as less than 20 ppm of nitrates, then you won’t need to do a water change.
Breeding – If you managed to get your Cherry Shrimps breeding, they will most likely have off springs that are better adjusted to your water parameters. As a result, the newer generations should end up being healthier.
With that said, we recommend adding new shrimps to your tank every year to help diversify the gene pool. Otherwise, the constant interbreeding may eventually cause health issues with the newer generations.
Lifespan – One last thing to keep in mind is that Neocaridina Shrimps only live around 1 to 2 years under the most optimal conditions. Keep in mind that the adult shrimps you got from the fish store or breeder are likely already several months old as well.
If you want to get your money’s worth, we recommend that you get male and female shrimps so that they can reproduce and keep their colony going for many years.
Are Cherry Shrimps easy to keep?
Although Cherry Shrimps accept a wide range of water parameters, they are quite difficult to keep in the beginning, especially if you are new to the aquarium hobby.
Along with slowly acclimating them, you need to make sure that there aren’t any significant swings in the water parameters. You also need to make sure that they have the right nutrients.
If you managed to have your Neocaridina Shrimps breed, then you are in the right track as the newer generation will mostly become hardier in your aquarium.
With enough experience, Cherry Shrimps will eventually become very easy to keep as you won’t have to do a lot of maintenance as long as you set up your aquarium optimally in terms of water parameters.
