Breeding Cherry Shrimp

[DemonAdmin]

Hello,

I'm slightly new to this shrimp business but a little while ago (3-4 weeks) I bought 5 Cherry Shrimp, in the last week I noticed that some had been missing from 'daily view', so I just guessed they were hiding... I also noticed an exoskeleton from a cherry in my tank a few days after they went 'missing'..

Upon getting home from work tonight, I noticed a really really small looking red thing at the back of my tank, when looking even closer, it's a baby cherry shrimp. Now, this is news to me as I didn't realise one was pregnant. I've only seen one baby so far, should I expect to see more?

My other query being, they also share the tank with 6 Rummy Nose Tetra, 4 Amano Shrimp, and 2 Otto. Are any of the other fish/shrimp in the tank likely to eat the freshly born cherry's?

Thanks for any help, it's come as a nice surprise!

 

[Derek Tweedie]

The rummy noses might,but it depends what hiding places you have in the tank for the shrimps mosses,caves etc. Cherries are a good introduction to shrimps they are fairly undemanding( 1st species I kept).
The shell in the tank was probably a female. Once a female who has eggs in her and is ready to breed she will shed her skin sending out a pheromones driving males crazy and the rest is up to them.

 

[DemonAdmin]

Ahhh, that explains it then

Hopefully my Rummy Nose won't get peckish...

I don't really have any caves, or any moss.. Although my tank is planted heavily and has some wood/pebbles so there are a few hiding places.

How many babies should I expect to see? (Assuming they don't get munched by Rummy's)

 

[Derek Tweedie]

Depends on the size of the female. But I think normally between 10 to 30. They are very prolific and will soon take over.

 

[DemonAdmin]

Ah, that's cool, I'd like a few more Cherry's. Do they breed often?

I guess it's quite a short breeding cycle too!

 

[gmartins]

Got 5 and 2 months past the number went up to around 40 (impossible to count really). Seems to have stabilized now. I think I read somewhere that they have some kind of density-dependent mechanism of regulation so that their numbers do not grow exponentially (which is nice).

cheers,

GM