Cherry Shrimps can grow rapidly as they only need to take 2 to 3 months in order to reach maturity from birth.
If your pet inverts aren’t growing as fast as you expect, then you can take a look at this guide from Aquarium Blueprints to see what steps you can take.
Quick Summary
If your Cherry Shrimps aren’t growing up fast as you expect, then you can try changing their diets. For a healthy diet, we recommend using Shrimp King with Bacter AE. You can also try feeding them more frequently.
Moreover, increasing the temperature should speed up the maturing process. With that said, making the water temperature warmer will also shorten the lifespan of Cherry Shrimps.
You can also make sure that the tank water is suitable for these inverts as it should contain 0 ppm of ammonia, 0 ppm of nitrites, less than 20 ppm of nitrates, 6.5 to 7.5 of pH, 7 to 15 of GH and 2 to 8 of KH.
Last but not least, you sure make your shrimps as comfortable as possible by providing a lot of hiding spots and avoiding adding incompatible tank mates.
How to make your Cherry Shrimps grow faster
To speed up the growth rate of your Cherry Shrimps, you can try doing the following:
1. The first step we recommend taking is to analyze what you have been feeding your shrimps.
For healthy growth, your inverts need a balance diet of minerals such as calcium and protein. A lot of new shrimp keepers tend to neglect protein when it comes to feeding their pet inverts.
We have great success with feeding a combination of Shrimp King Complete with Bacter AE.
2. You can also try feeding your shrimps more frequently. With more food available, you shrimps will be given more opportunity to eat, which should help them grow quicker.
3. Increasing the temperature should also speed up the maturity process of your Cherry Shrimps. These inverts can withstand temperatures of up to 80°F.
Keep in mind that, by making the tank water hotter, you will also shorten the lifespan of your shrimps. Therefore, you need to find the right balance of trying to get your pet inverts to grow as well as trying to keep them alive for as long as possible.
4. You should also test your tank water to see if there are any issues.
Ammonia and nitrites can be quite toxic to your Cherry Shrimps if you don’t remove these nitrogen waste compounds immediately. To see how you can get rid of these if your tank, you can take a look at this ammonia and nitrite removal guide.
Nitrates can also cause health issues if it gets beyond 20 ppm. To reduce nitrates, you can check out this nitrate-reducing guide.
5. You should also make sure that your pH, GH and KH levels in your tank water are suitable for your Cherry Shrimps. The following parameters are recommended:
- pH: 6.5 to 7.5
- GH: 7 to 15
- KH: 2 to 8
Adding a cuttlebone to your shrimp tank will help increase your pH, GH and KH if your tank water is insufficient in these areas. To find out how you can properly add this helpful object in your aquarium, you can take a look at this post.
6. Finally, make sure you are providing a stress-free environment for your shrimps.
In order to do so, you first make sure that you aren’t keeping any aggressive tank mates with your pet inverts. Snails should be fine as they are slow and peaceful when compared to most fish and other aquatic pets.
You should also provide plenty of hiding spots. Cherry shrimps love to hide in live plants and rock piles.
Last but not least, make sure that the tank water is pristine and optimized for your pet inverts.
