If you are keeping Cherry Shrimps (also known as Neocaridina Shrimps), then you may notice that some of them may end up outside of your tank. It is likely that your pet inverts may have escaped or jumped out of the aquarium.
To see how you can prevent your shrimps from getting out of your tank, you can take a look at this guide from Aquarium Blueprints.
1. An easy way to prevent your Cherry Shrimps from escaping or jumping out is to lower the water level of your tank.
We suggest that you leave at least two inches from the top of the aquarium empty. If you do, then a shrimp most likely won’t make escape or jump over the top of the tank.
2. We also recommend putting a top to your fish tank as it will also prevent them from getting out.
Having a top cover also offers the following benefits:
- Regulate water temperature
- Stop water from splashing out of the tank
- Prevent excessive evaporation
- Stop insects and other unwanted guests from getting in the tank water
3. You should also look at the underlying cause of your Cherry Shrimps trying to escape your tank.
One of the potential triggers may be due to incompatible tank mates.
We don’t recommend putting shrimps with any fish as most fish species will see the inverts as tasty snacks. Based on our experience, snails should be safe with shrimps due to their docile nature and slow movement.
4. You need to pay attention to your tank water quality as well as Cherry Shrimps are more sensitive than fish when it comes to tolerance.
For a healthy environment, which will make it less likely for your shrimps to escape, you should have 0 ppm of ammonia, 0 ppm of nitrites and less than 20 ppm of nitrates.
5. For Cherry Shrimps, you should also make sure that you are keeping them in the right pH, GH and KH ranges. Otherwise, your pet inverts could end up trying to escape during less-than-ideal living conditions.
You can find the recommend ranges for these species below:
- PH: 6.5 to 7.5
- GH: 7 to 15
- KH: 2 to 8
6. You should also give plenty of hiding spaces for your Cherry Shrimps, especially if you are keeping them with fish, to discourage them from escaping. Having live plants are great as these will not only provide cover but will also improve the water quality in your tank.
You can also build small caves by stacking rocks on top of each other in order to create hiding spots.
7. Water changes could trigger your Cherry Shrimps to try to jump out or escape from the tank. This is due to the sudden change in water temperature and/or parameters.
To prevent this from happening, we recommend that you make it easier on your shrimps when doing water changes. To do so, you should swap out no more than 20% of the tank water. Furthermore, you should also drip feed new water back into the tank so that your shrimps won’t get shocked by any wild swings.
Keep in mind that Cherry Shrimps have a low bio load. Therefore, you may not need to do a water change at all. As long as the tank water has 0 ppm of ammonia, 0 ppm of nitrites and less than 20 ppm of nitrates, then you are better off not doing any water changes.
