Cherry Shrimps, also known as Neocaridina Shrimps, produce a very low bioload. So, can you keep these creatures in a bowl? You can find out in this article from Aquarium Blueprints.
Ideally, we recommend putting your Cherry Shrimps in as big of a fish tank as possible. This is because the bigger water volume would lead to more consistency when it comes to water parameters.
On the other hand, a smaller water volume is more susceptible to spikes in ammonia, nitrites and nitrates to go along with swings to pH, GH and KH. For the uninformed, small traces of ammonia and nitrites are deadly for shrimps. If you have more than 20 ppm of nitrates, then that concentration may also cause health problems.
With that said, you should still be able to keep Cherry Shrimps in a small bowl as long as you take the following precautions.
1. Before adding your shrimps to the bowl, make sure you add some substrate. Otherwise, the inverts may end up slipping on the smooth surface.
Not to mention that the substrate provides surface area, which is needed for the beneficial bacteria to grow in the bowl. The more substrate you have the better it will be for your Cherry Shrimps when it comes to biological filtration.
2. We also recommend that you add some live plants in the same bowl as these will provide some biological filtration as well, preventing any potential ammonia and nitrate spikes.
Java Moss are easy to keep as they can grow without any dedicated fish tank lighting fixture.
3. If possible, try to add an air stone as this will help oxygenate your tank water. It should help break up the biofilm that may appear at the top of the water surface as well.
4. Depending on how warm the temperature of the room you are keeping the bowl in, you may or may not need a heater.
For the uninformed, the Cherry Shrimp should be able to live comfortably within a temperature range of 57°F to 86°F (or 14°C to 30°C).
So, if you room can get colder than 57°F (or 14°C), then you should add a small fish tank heater to the bowl.
5. You should have all the equipment you need to keep your Cherry Shrimps alive in a bowl.
With that said, you can also add a lighting fixture if you would like. You can also replace the aforementioned air stone with a sponge filter.
6. Before adding your Cherry Shrimps in the bowl, you should make sure that the biological filtration in the bowl is fully cycled.
7. Furthermore, you should make sure that you carefully acclimate your shrimps to the water parameters of your bowl.
8. After adding your Cherry Shrimps, continue to monitor the water parameters of the bowl. You need to make sure that you have no traces of ammonia and nitrites as well as less than 20 ppm of nitrates.
As long as you follow the aforementioned precautionary steps, then you should be able to keep your pet inverts alive in a small bowl.
