Under the right conditions, your Cherry Shrimps will be out and about throughout all hours of the day. If your pet inverts are only appearing at night or when the fish tank light is turned off, then this behavior may indicate that there is a problem with how your tank is set up.
To see you can potentially fit this behavioral issue, you can check out this article from Aquarium Blueprints.
1. The first step we recommend taking is to make sure that you aren’t keeping your Cherry Shrimps with any incompatible tank mates.
Your pet inverts are small. If you are keeping then with bigger fish, then there is a good chance that your fish will eat your shrimps. Even if they ignore your shrimps, fish can easily scare the Cherry Shrimps into hiding with any fast and sudden movements.
To get your shrimps to appear in the day, we recommend that you remove any fish you have living in the same tank.
2. You can also tempt your Cherry Shrimps to come out of hiding by putting in food that they like to eat.
We found that our inverts enjoy eating food made specifically for them, such as the Shrimp King products, as they will quickly swarm over to it.
For the best view, we recommend dropping the shrimp at the front of the tank with no obstructions so that you can easily observe your shrimps while they eat.
3. We also suggest checking your water parameters as it may not be suitable for Cherry Shrimps. The following is recommended:
- 57°F to 86°F (or 14°C to 30°C) Temperature Range
- 6.5 to 7.5 pH
- 7 to 15 GH
- 2 to 8 KH
- 0 ppm Ammonia
- 0 ppm Nitrites
- Less than 20 ppm Nitrates
If your tank water doesn’t meet the aforementioned requirements, then your pet inverts may be too stressed and/or unhealthy to appear during the day.
4. Another method you can try is to create hiding spots all around the tank in order to make your shrimps more comfortable.
To create hiding spots, you can use live plants, fake plants and décor. We found that shrimps prefer small caves, which you can easily recreate by stockpiling rocks to create small cervices.
With more hiding spots, your shrimps should be more willing to appear during the day.
5. Make sure you are also providing plenty of biofilm, which Cherry Shrimps love to graze on.
6. If you see a lot of discarded shells around when you Cherry Shrimps are only appearing at night, then you should have nothing to worry about.
Shrimps are most vulnerable when they molt; therefore, they often go into hiding, especially during the day. After a short while, they should become more outgoing.