We recommend feeding your Red Cherry Shrimps directly as the algae and biofilm in your tank may not provide enough nutrients for them to survive. So, is the Neocaridina variant capable of overeating? You can find out in this article from Aquarium Blueprints.
Should you be concerned about overheating?
Based on our experience, Red Cherry Shrimps will usually stop eating once their stomachs are full. Once they get their fill, they will simply maneuver away from the food.
What should you be feeding?
While it is unlikely that your Cherries will die from overeating, they could end up perishing if you don’t give them the right nutrients. The Neocaridina requires a balanced diet of protein and vital minerals in order to grow and molt without any health issues.
We have great success with feeding your shrimps a combination of Bacter AE, Shrimp King Complete as well as other foods.
Why overfeeding is still a bad idea
Although your Cherry Shrimps won’t likely die from overfeeding, you can still cause issues if you put too much food in your tank.
Any uneaten food will decompose if your tank, resulting in a spike in ammonia and nitrite levels. If your biological filter isn’t strong enough to handle the extra ammonia and nitrites, then your pet inverts may end up perishing due to the exposure to these toxins.
Even if your biological filtration can handle the ammonia and nitrite spikes, the resulting nitrates will build up in your tank water over time. If the nitrate concentration gets up to 20 ppm, then it may cause minor health issues.
To prevent these problems, we recommend that you remove any uneaten food you see in your aquarium after a few hours. By doing so, you will prevent a spike in ammonia, which should also lead to stopping any potential spike to nitrites and then nitrates.
How snails will help with overfeeding your shrimps
In our case, we keep our Red Cherry Shrimps with Ramshorn Snails. The snails do a great at cleaning up any uneaten food from the shrimps. Not to mention that, if you notice an explosion of snail population, then it is an indicator that you are overfeeding your shrimps.
Because of these factors, we don’t have to worry about any overfeeding or water quality problems as our Ramshorn Snails keep both of these in check.
