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Shrimps arrived

BarryH

BarryH

Member
Joined
25 Feb 2017
Messages
608
Location
Derbyshire
I finally managed to collect my first 10 shrimp yesterday, Fire Red Sakura. I was a little disappointed with their size which was roughly 1.5cm but never having had shrimp before I wasn't really sure what to expect.

I followed all the usual advice going through drip acclimation and so on and eventually had the shrimp in the tank. Really pleased to see how they started on the little bit of algae I have almost straight away. What algae there was had formed in a light cover on the rocks and by this morning one large portion of the rock was back to its original grey colour. At this rate, once they've cleared the algae, they'll start eating the rock too.

When I picked up the shrimp, I also bought a tub of Bacter AE and a pot of Shrimp King Color. My biggest problem at the minute is finding them, so many hiding places in the hairgrass and up among the Frogbit roots.

I have to admit, when I first thought of shrimp, it was simply as a clean up crew. Now, and after watching loads of YT videos, they're so much more than that. They're really interesting.
 
Glad you took the leap and got yourself some

Until 3-4 months ago I'd never kept freshwater shrimp either. I added amano's and cherries both because I liked them and as clean up crew. I now love the little guys, they're interesting to watch, always on the move and add scale to the tank (I find myself face to the glass watching them).

At 1.5cm yours obviously aren't adults yet but grow surprisingly quick and I think start breeding at a few months old - so you shouldn't need to wait long. The ones I got were a mix of ages but within a few weeks some females were full of eggs and now I have more than I can count

Wait until you get babies - they are tiny!

The only down side is that I've now restricted myself to what fish I can keep safely with them. All you read is that all fish (with the exception of Oto's) will in theory eat a shrimp if they can get them in their mouth. So far I've had now issues with Espei Rasbora, CPD's, threadfin rainbows and pascai rainbows, or at least from what I've seen
 
They've in the only tropical tank I have and they're sharing it with Harlequin Rasboras. So far, the fish haven't paid any attention to the shrimp and I hope that's the way it stays.
 
Thank you Pardeep. I'm still finding it hard to believe how interested the whole family has become in the shrimp. It's standing room only around the tank since they've arrived.
 
They are pretty amazing little creatures they will settle in no time too and defore you know it 10 will be 20 20 will be 40 and so on I brought 20 yellow sukura from Steve and now have bought 200 in 2 tanks lol
 
Out of interest did you go to proshrimp in Mansfield notts.

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Gill said:
Out of interest did you go to proshrimp in Mansfield notts.

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I went to Pro Shrimp on Monday and then again to Wharf Aquatics on Thursday. Wharf had a really good selection and lots of variety to choose from but I went for the same Red Cherry Fire shrimp I bought from Mansfield although the ones from Wharf turned out to be quite a bit brighter red when I got them home.

 
Congratulations! They are really fascinating critters - and the babies are beyond cute - my crystals have just had their first batch :)
 
BarryH said:
I went to Pro Shrimp on Monday and then again to Wharf Aquatics on Thursday. Wharf had a really good selection and lots of variety to choose from but I went for the same Red Cherry Fire shrimp I bought from Mansfield although the ones from Wharf turned out to be quite a bit brighter red when I got them home.

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Cheers Barry, will have to make the trip over, as Last time i went to wharf. I was not treated well, and was made to feel I should not have been there. Maybe attitudes have changed there now.

Also To feed your shrimp, So that you can watch them and see how many babies there are in the tank. Once they stat breeding.
You can use these Target Feeding Tubes.
They are great as the shrimp learn that the food will be dropped here. And watching them swarm like bees is fun to watch. Now they have gone up is price since they 1st appeared on the market and the sets were only £1.50 a few years ago, but at this price still cheap.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarium...hash=item4da4eca035:m:m9XRi0KSI6U-Lb7gcePbHEg

If you don;t want to spend that money, You can use a tube of millions sweets and a glass ashtray.
 
The shrimp have been in the tank for a little over a week now and I can't believe how much they've grown and are loads "braver". When they first arrived, it was a game of Spot The Shrimp.

We were watching a YT video the other night and I was asked the question "why don't ours swim around like that?". After a week or so of watching them crawl around the tank it's really good to see most of them swimming at last.
 
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