Disposition of 'Hardy' Cherry Shrimps

[gary35111]

The disposition of these cherry shrimps are interesting and funny - at least to me. To the best of my knowledge, they are very 'new' shrimp which got introduced to the aquarist hobbyists from Taiwan, like in 2003? Although they are known to be very hardy shrimps, my experience with them prove it otherwise or perhaps the fault is with me and I should feel guilty for causing these 'hardy' shrimps untimely death.

I suppose when they are first placed in a new comfortable environment ,and once get "used" to the environment, will be overly stressed if you remove them one by one and place them in an entire new environment. They will be so stressed that they will died within 24 hours. Those were the situation of all my previous dead cherry shrimps which I bought them from previous shrimps owner and LFS @ SG$1.50 per shrimp. And when I say, 'once get "used"', I mean like having lived in their new aquarium tank for like many days or weeks.

However, the new 20 cherry shrimps which I purchased (I was told) were from mass production of a fish farm and newly arrived in a pack of 20 and have not yet "lived" in any planted or otherwise ornamental aquarium tank before. I guess other than that my previous cherry shrimps were all overly stressed and not sick , I cannot fathom any other reason why they all died within 24 hours.

Perhaps they are VERY hardy when FIRST placed in ANY new environment and not yet conditioned to it but once conditioned, they will be very fragile. My new 20 cherry shrimps were all put in 4 hours not-so-old tap water with my usual dose of medication and the previous dead shrimps were placed in 4 days old water. Supposedly, these shrimps prefer 'old' water...hmmm....maybe it is just me or that there are something really weird with these shrimps.

And I wonder why some LFS will not sell cherry shrimp per head but rather sell in a pack and newly arrived one. Perhaps they knew of this innate delicacy of these 'hardy' cherry shrimps?

Anyone with similar experience? Or some other shrimpy theories to share?

Gary

[RonWill]

Anyone with similar experience? Or some other shrimpy theories to share?

Yes, Gary. Ever heard of acclimatization?

We have Wright to thank, for highlighting to us that TDS shock is more lethal than the commonly perceived pH shock, and shrimps are quite prone to that.

I habitually acclimatize every living creature prior to transferring them to their setups, filled with well aged, not treated 'not so old' water. [I no longer trust water straight from the mains and bi-weekly water changes are no more than 20% these days]

Cherry shrimps are very hardy and can take alot of abuse, even in 'dirty' mulm-filled containers, but you've gotta treat them right first.

[CM Media]

I've just transferred my breeding stock (Cherry Shrimps) from a 2ft tank to a 3ft tank a few days ago.

For the new 3ft tank, I use 2 old air-driven filter and new gravel without washing. I do not use any base fertilizer as if it leaks out to the water would cause a disaster! The plants I used are just Java moss, Java fern and some nanas with driftwood. After a day of circulation, I transferred all the shrimps from my 2ft tank to the 3ft tank on the next day.

Out of the 2 to 3 hundred shrimps, I lost only 3 to 5 shrimps.

Base on my experience on Cherry shrimps, I can conclude that they have no problem adapting themselves on out tap water. The main killer to them is medication. I do not even use anti chlorine to treat my tank water. Moving them around would definitely create certain amount of stress to them but this will not kill them if they're not in a overly crowded enviroment.


Let me find some time and I'll take some photos on my new setup.

[keehoe]

I agree with Au. Cherry shrimp to my experience is hardy. They would not die easily unless you poison them with chemical.

I had a 5 little plasic container filled with Java moss and about 8 cherry shrimp 5 yamato and some unknown number of baby shrimp with no filter of any type and no water change for 5 months without problem. I also occationally migrate some to other tank to work on the algae/ dirt etc. All have been good until one day i decided to try get ride of the snail. I try using copper sulphate salt on a separate container. After that i clean up the container with tap water a few times before using it to transport some shrimp to another tank for their services.

Withing seconds, all the shrimp died.

[hobgoblin]

I've heard some advice regarding shrimps and substrates.
Some of these shrimps are so sensitive to the changes in their surroundings. Stiring the water 1-2 inches away from the substrate can cause some to die.

Is this true?


Regards,
Drew

[stormhawk]

Hi Drew, don't mind me asking but if you have more than one nickname registered, please remove the others. We are all entitled to one user account each.

Shrimps are sensitive to sudden movements in the water. The stirring of water just 1-2 inches away from them can cause some major stress to the shrimps. The stress however is liable to kill them.

[hobgoblin]

Hi,

This will be my permanent account. I can't access my previous account, which was under the nickname 'drew'. I'll like to advise other users not to change the board style option under profiles.

Regards,
Drew

[timebomb]

There isn't any rule that says a forum user is entitled to register only one account, although that is what we hope forum users would do.

Drew, I'm wondering if I should delete your previous nick from the membership list. Would you want that? If your previous nick is deleted, it would mean you can register again using that nick. But that would also mean something will happen to your old posts, in that, the name of the poster will disappear.

Sorry to go off-topic. To bring the thread back on track, I've never been able to breed the Cherry Shrimps, although everyone tells me they're easy.

Loh K L

[Green Baron]

I agree with Au as well. I have a small 1 feet tank with just Java Moss but no aeration or filtration. The Cherry shrimps thrives in there and once a month I change 30% of the water, straight from the tap.

I also do not acclimatise them when transferring to my other tank

[hobgoblin]

Mr Loh,

Well you can delete the account if you want to. I will stick to this current account. 'a' is short for andrew, to those few whom I am acquainted with.

By the way, I've had success with breeding cherry shrimps. Just like what Mr Au, and Mr Gan said, they are very easy to breed. I just leave it with the java ferns and moss.

Regards,
Andrew

[stormhawk]

KL, the users can actually change their nicknames without having to re-register. Go into the Profile section and retype a new nickname and click Save Profile.

As for Drew's case you can delete his previous account and he can switch back to the actual nickname.

Back on track, I can't quite keep shrimp in my tank. There is something lacking in the system that I'm not sure of.

[hobgoblin]

I just got a 1 ft tank from Zulkifl today. Am having thoughts of setting up a shrimp tank, maybe with a pair of killies in it. So far, I don't have any luck with tiger shrimps. To me cherry shrimps are rather prolific and easier to maintain.

Now, I do not know if it's in the nature of Yamato shrimps to be carnivorous. I saw it grabbing one of my juvenile killes when it swam too close. It was literally trying to pin the fish (about 1inch long) down. Has anyone encountered this before?

Regards,
Drew

[stormhawk]

Yamato shrimps are pretty aggressive as they grow bigger.

Shrimp tanks.. probably the only killie suitable would be Ps. annulatus or the Clown Killie.

Tiger shrimps die quickly if not given the proper conditions. The key to ensuring their survival is almost always a colder temperature of around 25 degC. Cherries are harder and can survive in most conditions if acclimatisation is done beforehand. Sudden swings in temperature can kill them.

[hobgoblin]

Okay, anybody wants Yamato shrimp?

Drew

[RRG]

Okay, anybody wants Yamato shrimp?

Drew

Me! Me!

ahhh, are you offering?

I'm just joking, I'm sure it's quite illegal to send animals to Hawaii. How big do they get?

[hobgoblin]

I'm not sure about that. But the biggest in my tank is approximately 4cm.

Drew

[amber2461]

I would like some Tiger shrimps, any one giving them away?