Cannot sustain cherry shrimp in planted tank

[SteveMid]

Hi everyone,

I have a well established planted tank (fluval Roma 240 - see attached picture). I am happy with plant growth, especially since moving to CO2 injection 3 months ago, but just cannot keep cherry shrimp alive.

Water conditions are as follows:
Aquarium water
KH 3
GH 5
Ph 6.5
Nitrates 20-30ppm
Nitrates 0
Ammonia 0

~40% water change every week
Daily dose of evolution aqua plant fertiliser.

Tap water (measured)
KH 2
GH 3
Ph 7

The tank is very lightly stocked with 13 neon tetras, 2 leopard danios and 2 platties: Fish health is good.

I have 15 amano shrimps in the tank that thrive and I have not lost a single amano in a year. The females are frequently carrying eggs and no obvious moulting problems. On the other hand, I have tried keeping cherry shrimp but they just slowly die away. I lost my first 5 I bought over the space of a month then recently tried again with 10 and I only have 1 left after approx two months. The ones that last for a while do grow so must be moulting. I’ve only ever found two dead but I guess the others just get cleared up. I’d love to keep some cherry shrimp in the tank but not sure what to do. I can only think that it’s got something to do with the tap water/water changes.

Can someone suggest some things that I could do or where i maybe going wrong.

thanks

 

[MichaelJ]

@SteveMid I only had shrimps (Cherry and other different colored Neocaridina davidi's) for a couple of months in one of my tanks, so I am definitely not a shrimp expert. So far all my shrimps seems fine - I dont have an exact headcount because I always only see perhaps half a dozen randomly at any given time (not sure how they plan that out...), but I know most are still around. They need a good amount of Calcium for the molting process - but 5 GH seems fair if there's enough Calcium there. I am running my tanks at 5.5 GH (at a 2:1 - 3:1 Ca:Mg ratio) and seem to have no problem. I do not know if Amano have a lower tolerance level.... everything else about your water looks fine (and very similar to mine actually - I have high NPK levels... my shrimps don't care). How big are those Cherry shrimps? Could it be predation/injury from some of the other fish or Amano shrimps perhaps?

Hopefully a shrimp expert will chime in!

Your tank look really nice btw. and Welcome to UKAPS!

Cheers,
Michael

 

[SteveMid]

Thanks for your reply Michael, the cherry shrimps were very small when I added them but so were the amanos. The Cherry’s that survived did grow a little but not same size as Amanos. Never been any sign of attack from the fish even when they were little. For the first couple of weeks all of the cherries were happy feeding out in the open but then started to disappear

 

[Aqua360]

Thanks for your reply Michael, the cherry shrimps were very small when I added them but so were the amanos. The Cherry’s that survived did grow a little but not same size as Amanos. Never been any sign of attack from the fish even when they were little. For the first couple of weeks all of the cherries were happy feeding out in the open but then started to disappear

Something to watch out for is matching the parameters closely in water changes, shrimp are very sensitive in that regard and can easily kick the bucket if the conditions are drastically different.

Another thing I noted is you have amano shrimp, this is a divisive issue but personally I've experience plenty of aggression from them, wouldn't surprise me if they were taking the opportunity with cherries.

The other thing is to consider mineral supplements as above mentioned, can really help the moulting process. Have you ever measured TDS?

 

[MichaelJ]

Thanks for your reply Michael, the cherry shrimps were very small when I added them but so were the amanos. The Cherry’s that survived did grow a little but not same size as Amanos. Never been any sign of attack from the fish even when they were little. For the first couple of weeks all of the cherries were happy feeding out in the open but then started to disappear

@SteveMid It could also be the stock... Did you try to introduce Cherry shrimps from a different source?
I got my tank breed shrimps from AquaticArts in Indiana, US and obtained info about the water they where breed in to make sure it wouldn't be dramatically different from my tank water.

 

[SteveMid]

Something to watch out for is matching the parameters closely in water changes, shrimp are very sensitive in that regard and can easily kick the bucket if the conditions are drastically different.

Another thing I noted is you have amano shrimp, this is a divisive issue but personally I've experience plenty of aggression from them, wouldn't surprise me if they were taking the opportunity with cherries.

The other thing is to consider mineral supplements as above mentioned, can really help the moulting process. Have you ever measured TDS?

Thanks for this. I had wondered whether I should be adding something to the tap water during my water changes. Are there good water conditioners available for shrimp or do they tend to be additives to add to the tank.

also interesting about the Amano behaviour. They can get fairly aggressive and have seen them bothering the fish to get to their food before they do and they usually win 😀

 

[Aqua360]

Thanks for this. I had wondered whether I should be adding something to the tap water during my water changes. Are there good water conditioners available for shrimp or do they tend to be additives to add to the tank.

also interesting about the Amano behaviour. They can get fairly aggressive and have seen them bothering the fish to get to their food before they do and they usually win 😀

If you aren't adding dechlorinator, this would deffo be a major red flag, fortunately dechlorinators are common and you shouldn't have any difficulty finding some online

 

[SteveMid]

If you aren't adding dechlorinator, this would deffo be a major red flag, fortunately dechlorinators are common and you shouldn't have any difficulty finding some online

Yes I do add dechlorinator at water change I was just wondering about other mineral additives as my tap water is very soft

 

[Aqua360]

Yes I do add dechlorinator at water change I was just wondering about other mineral additives as my tap water is very soft

Ah ok sorry,

Definitely consider a mineral supplement, dennerle do a good shrimp mineral food, conversely you can add mineral balls, but I haven't had much experience with those

 

[SteveMid]

Ah ok sorry,

Definitely consider a mineral supplement, dennerle do a good shrimp mineral food, conversely you can add mineral balls, but I haven't had much experience with those

That’s great, thanks, I will definitely try this and see if I can get better results 👍

 

[MichaelJ]

Ah ok sorry,

Definitely consider a mineral supplement, dennerle do a good shrimp mineral food, conversely you can add mineral balls, but I haven't had much experience with those

@Aqua360 The Dennerle Shrimp food looks interesting I just ordered that - Thanks for the tip!

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Aqua360]

@Aqua360 The Dennerle Shrimp food looks interesting I just ordered that - Thanks for the tip!

Cheers,
Michael

Good luck!

 

[erwin123]

I have similar issues, not sure if it is the amanos, Denison barbs, or both. I'm starting a separate small shrimp tank to allow my cherries to grow bigger/breed before introducing them to my 'main' tank.

 

[PARAGUAY]

Stumbled on this on youtube. French shrimp keeper Nicos Shrimps. Full of advice practical knowledge on all types of shrimp. Every water change is done by the drip acc. method interestingly. The amount of tanks he as is in about 100.

 

[tam]

I struggle with them too, I'm pretty sure it's something they don't like about my water - they breed enough to have some about but they don't tend to reach full adult size. I chucked half dozen in my main tank about 6 months ago maybe though and they've done much better (with amanos funnily enough), whereas the shrimp specific tank the population has declined. The big tank is fed more heavily as there are fish too, but I've also started changing that will tap/ro combo so whether that contains something they need maybe. I was using a shrimp remineraliser which you think would be ideal though so maybe it is a food thing.

 

[Zeus.]

RCS are pretty 'bullet proof' IME, there must be something seriously wrong for them not to thrive or they are hiding or something is eating them, I struggled with RCS at first in my 500l till I spotted SAE (Siamese Algae Eater) eating them, as soon as the SAE was relocated the RCS thrived and started seeing them lots also overnight. They are 'ninjas' at hiding also.

Just done a quick google and Platy Fish and Cherry Shrimp – Can You Keep Them in Same Aquarium?

BTW - Nice tank

 

[Raws69]

must have just got lucky but I have no problems with platys and cherries….

 

[Zeus.]

must have just got lucky but I have no problems with platys and cherries….

Mine was fine with the SAE at first, but then the SAE got bigger and got a taste for them, imagine it will be similar with the Platys

 

[SteveMid]

Hey, thanks everyone for the info and suggestions - It’s really appreciated. So glad I joined UKAPS. I’m going to try the re-mineraliser first and see what happens. So I am changing one thing at a time. If this doesn’t work then I’ll work my way through the the others one by one. I’ll update you on how I get on in a couple of months 🤞🤞🤞

 

[SteveMid]

Sole survivor seems happy enough feeding out in the open and not bothered by the tank inhabitants.