If you add a group of Cherry Shrimps to your tank, then you may end up getting a mixed group of males and females. The Neocaridina species will readily breed in most aquarium setups. As a result, your colony can end up growing in size relatively quickly.
If you want to stop your Cherries from breeding rapidly, then you can take a look at this guide from Aquarium Blueprints.
1. Based on our experience, Red Cherry Shrimps will usually stop breeding on their own. From what we observed in our dedicated shrimp tank, the female will carry less eggs, if any at all, once the population reached an apex.
Therefore, you most likely don’t need to do anything else aside from simply waiting for nature to take its course if you want to stop them from breeding.
2. If you don’t have the patience, or feel that your tank is already overpopulated with shrimps, then you can try feeding your pet inverts slightly less than before.
With less food to go around, the females won’t be able to produce as much eggs as before. Not to mention that the newly-born shrimplets will most likely starve due to being unable to compete against the bigger adults during meal time. Thus, you will be able to control the population by decreasing the food portions.
3. You can try lowering the temperature as well. Doing so will slow down the time it takes for the shrimps to reach the age of maturity along with the time it is going to take for the fertilized eggs to hatch. Not to mention that the newly-hatched babies will most likely have a harder surviving in colder water.
You should be able to keep the Neocaridina Shrimps in a tank as cold as 14°C (or 57°F).
4. You can also control the population of your Cherry Shrimps by adding a fish or two in the same tank. In our experience, Guppies, Platies and Rasboras have no problem eating both adult and baby shrimps.
With that said, we recommend that provide plenty of hiding spots for your inverts if you don’t want them to get completely slaughtered. In order to do so, you can add live plants, build a rock pile or put in more décor.
In the end, however, adding a fish or two may not be worth the risk even if you give them plenty of hiding places. Instead, we recommend that you try any of the three aforementioned solutions instead.
