<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (marge618 @ Sep 30 2008, 06:20 AM)
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jrpatter @ Sep 29 2008, 08:14 PM)
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (marge618 @ Sep 29 2008, 12:46 PM)
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For some time I had trouble keeping Cherry Red Shrimp. Now I have a bunch of them in a 20G long with Edlers. There's a lot of Taiwan moss in the tank as well.
What do you suggest I add to the tank to make it more interesting?
(Note: I am looking for something that will not eat the shrimp or the endlers
ound
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many of your smaller tetra, danio, and barb species will work fine. With mine I keep neon tetras, galxy rasbora, and montezuma swordtails. I also keep cherry shrimp in my grow out tanks so the fish can use them as feeders.
John
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You have had good luck with montezuma swordtails. Does this mean that Red Swordtails will go well with red cherry shrimp and endlers?
You also use CRS as feeders. I assume this means that in grow out tanks the tiny fry don't eat the adult shrimp but dine on the baby shrimp.
There are so many cherry red shrimp sold at GWAPA and CCA auctions. They can't all be 'fishfood'. Please tell me what you have with your shrimp as tank mates. (If tetra, danio, and barb please include which species.)
Also, are there other shrimp that I could include in the tank without worry of crossbreeding, or big shrimp eating smaller shrimp?
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First, realize that there is a difference between breeding them out, and having a sustainable colony. You can lose some to predation and still have an ongoing colony. BUT, they do need to be able to have some survivors here!
In general, you do one of two things. House them with fish so small and/or high swimming dedicated that they are fairly safe, or you make such a densely planted tank that they have tons of hiding places the fish can't hunt them in.
If it fits in the fish's mouth, it is going to try and eat it. Female Endlers also hunt and kill baby/juvenile cherry shrimp - been there, done that.
http://planetinverts.com/safe_tankmates_for_shrimp.html
Otocinclus are shrimp safe. Dwarf rasboras work fairly well. Hengeli/Espei Rasbora, Green eyed rasbora, are pretty dedicated high water column swimmers and do pretty well with shrimp in my tanks.
Most danios will slaughter every shrimp they find, as will most barbs, with barbs being a lot more aggressive about it. Rainbows are ugly, ask Michael Barber about his used-to-be shrimp colony with Rainbows - tiny ones like Threadfins may be different. Gouramis are a no go, no plecos I know of that are shrimp safe (but I don't keep plecos), dwarf cories are okay in my experience but larger ones have a bad rep in shrimp tanks.
Cichlids as a rule hunt them down and kill them, as do bettas, as do sunfish (I recently got pygmy sunfish which are way way too small to hunt adult cherry shrimp, but most of those around are a lot larger than these pygmy fish). Rams are an exception for me, but I think that is just because it is in a giant tank and Rams are pathetic hunters.
For other shrimp - dwarf crayfish work well, the various Cambarellus species. Amanos work well. Any other dwarf shrimp from the "other" family will not interbreed - there are caridinia and neocaridinia, and all of each respective family will cross breed. Cherries are neo's. Tigers, Crystal red shrimp, etc, are caridinia. Predatory cousins like red claw shrimp, larger crayfish, etc., not good.
Interbreeding chart:
http://planetinverts.com/Will%20These%20Sh...Interbreed.html
