Cherry Shrimps, also known as Neocaridina Shrimps, will spend a lot of time grazing in your aquarium.
If your pet inverts aren’t spending a lot of time searching for food, or isn’t interested in looking at all, then you can check out this troubleshooting article at Aquarium Blueprints.
1. The first step we recommend taking is to make sure you have a mature tank.
This is because that, even if your aquarium is fully cycled, it doesn’t mean that it is suitable for shrimps. It needs to be aged enough where there is an abundance of algae and biofilm for your aquatic pets to feed of off frequently.
2. If you don’t see your shrimps grazing, then it is likely that there aren’t many biofilms or algae present in your tank.
Algae should be very easy to grow as you simply let your aquarium aged. You most likely run into an abundance of algae rather than a detriment.
If you don’t get a lot of algae, then you can add live plants as shrimps love to graze on those surfaces as well.
When it comes to biofilm, we have great success using a product called Bacter AE. By adding this powder into your tank, you will quickly grow biofilm that your shrimps will most likely go crazy after.
In addition to Bacter AE, you can also add cholla wood, which will decompose and grow a white biofilm that your shrimps will absolutely love graze on.
3. You can also try reducing the amount of food you are giving directly to your Cherry Shrimps.
With that lack of flakes or pellets, they should end up grazing for food more often.
4. If your shrimps have any aggressive tank mates, then they will most likely spend most of their time hiding.
To get your pet inverts to be more outgoing, we recommend that you remove any fish you have in the same tank. In our experience, snails are the only other aquatic pets you can keep safely with fish without causing any issues.
5. Your shrimps may also be stressed due to the sub-optimal water parameters.
When it comes to the tank water, the following are recommended when it comes to keeping Cherry Shrimps:
- Temperature: 57°F to 86°F (or 14°C to 30°C)
- pH: 6.5 to 7.5
- GH: 7 to 15
- KH: 2 to 8
- Ammonia: 0 ppm
- Nitrite: 0 ppm
- Nitrate: Less than 20 ppm
To see how you can adjust some of these parameters, you can check out the following guides:
6. Last but not least, your shrimps may also have a hard time trying to hang on an area to graze, whether if it is due to a strong flow and/or slipper surface.
So, if you have a strong current, then we recommend lowering the air flow of your air stone and/or the water flow of your fish tank filter.
If you have a lot of smooth surface objects, then we suggest removing them from your tank.