Cherry Shrimps, also known as Neocaridina Shrimps, make great additions to your fish tank as they can act as a cleanup crew while also adding bold colorations and interesting behaviors. So, does this species like having a current? You can find out in this article from Aquarium Blueprints.
What are the benefits of having a current for Cherry Shrimps?
Having a current in your fish tank usually mean that you are running a filter. For the uninformed, a filter provides biological, mechanical and chemical filter in order to keep the tank water healthy for your shrimps and other inhabitants in your aquarium.
Not to mention that Neocaridina Shrimps are usually found naturally in rivers, which are obviously have flow. So, they should be able to adapt for the most part.
Furthermore, having a current near the top of the tank will result in surface agitating. This will help get more oxygen in your tank as it will increase gas exchange as well as prevent oil slicks from forming.
It also helps that these shrimps don’t like to swim around as they will spend most of their time sitting on a surface. So, as long as the current is situated to the top of the tank, then having a current in your fish tank should not be a problem.
What are the disadvantages of having a current for Cherry Shrimps?
If the current in your fish tank is too overbearing, then it should lead to a poor quality of life as the shrimps will spend most of their time trying to hang on. In the worst-case scenario, these inverts may end up getting slammed into objects if the current is too much to handle.
Based on our experience, having a current is also bad if you are trying to breed Cherry Shrimp. Breeding usually occurs right after a female molt as the males in the tank will gravitate over to her based on the she releases pheromones. A high current will send the pheromones all over the aquarium, which will confuse your males on the exact location of the female.
When we kept our Cherry Shrimps with a canister filter that has a high flow, we often see the male shrimps swimming directly against the flow. With little to no flow, the male Cherry Shrimps should have an easier time locating the females and won’t exhaust themselves by swimming against a current.
Recap
Since Cherry Shrimps comes from rivers in nature, they should be able to handle a current in your aquarium. With that said, having a fast-moving current may lead to more stress for these inverts as they will spend a lot of time trying to hang on.
Furthermore, we find that a fast current will hinder the reproduction rate as males will get confused by the locations of females that are ready to breed. Based on our experience, these males will often swim against the current instead of going directly to the females.
To recap, having a current in your aquarium is fine for your Cherry Shrimps. You just need to make sure that it isn’t too overpowering as it may end up causing some issues.
