Cherry Shrimp Facts:

Scientific Name : Neocaridina heteropoda

Diet

A well-balanced Shrimp diet consists of:

• Their diet includes commercial food like fish flakes, shrimp pellets, fish pellets, and algae wafers.
• Red Cherry Shrimp diet can also include edible plant matter shed from live aquarium plants.

Feeding

Things to remember when feeding your Shrimp:

• Feed small amounts 1-3 times daily, no more than fish will eat in 3-5 minutes.
• Thaw frozen foods if you choose to feed frozen.

Housing

• Keep in an appropriate size aquarium; provide plants for hiding, various species may prefer sparse or thick vegetation.
• Stable water quality, water temperature, and pH levels are critical to the health of the aquatic life. If you are unsure of your water quality or pH levels, Home Aquatics offers water testing.

Characteristics

• A Red Cherry Shrimp tank setup can be any size tank provided the rules against overstocking are followed. The tank should include plenty of live aquarium plants.
• A female shrimp will carry her eggs under her tail, and that means she is “berried”. When a female shrimp is berried, its important to place a fine sponge pre-filter on power filter intakes to make sure that the baby shrimp do not get sucked up into the filter when the eggs hatch.

Habitat Maintenance

Daily: Check filter, water temperature and other equipment.
Weekly: Check water quality at least once a week.
Monthly: Change 10-25% of the total volume of water every 2-4 weeks, or as needed.
Introduce new inhabitants to the aquarium gradually.

Compatibility

Red Cherry Shrimp can do very well in large or small groups with others of their kind along with other, peaceful fish.

Health

Signs of a Healthy Fish

• Clear eyes
• Healthy appetite
• Bright, even coloring
• Clean in appearance

Avoid overcrowded conditions; they are a major cause of stress and disease. Maintain good water quality with regular water changes and adequate filtration.

Red Flags

• loss of color or appetite
• spots or fungus on body or mouth
• erratic swimming
• frayed fins

Common Health Issues

Red Cherry Shrimp feeding is not difficult at all. Their diet includes commercial food like fish flakes, shrimp pellets, fish pellets, and algae wafers. Red Cherry Shrimp diet can also include edible plant matter shed from live aquarium plants. Cherry Shrimp are also algae eaters, feeding on forms of soft green or brown algae that grow on hard surfaces, and soft bio-film algae as well.

Its important for these shrimp to have lots of places to crawl on and explore. Live plants provide great hiding places and cover for these shrimp. Another value of a tank with live plants is that the tank is never “too clean”. Plants shed edible matter that will make its way into the water column and settle on hard surfaces for the shrimp to eat.