# 30 Gallon Cherry Shrimp tank mates?



## Doc6DK (Feb 8, 2012)

I plan to get a few cherry shrimp for my 30 gallon, I am going to try and breed them for food for my cichlids.
It's a planted tank wit java moss, hair grass, amazon sword, java val and star grass. I've heard and read they eat and reproduce in plants like Java moss. is this correct? and if so what other plants will feed them or help them reproduce?

I plan to feed algae wafers occasionally, but again read they can go without feeding and live off algae and the plants. is this true? what else do others feed?

Will they eat plants or what is it, if anything at all, that they eat from plants like java moss.

I have 5 red seprae/minor tetras and have a large feeling they will definately eat the babies and eggs of the srhimp when possible... does this sound correct?

Also have 5 small cory cats, not sure on species but they are all very small. being voracious lil eaters tho,,,,, im sure they'll eat anything they can fit in their mouths. Should i move them also?

What kinds of tank mates usually wont bother even the smallest of the shrimp spawn?

thanks all


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## Taratron (Mar 17, 2004)

Move the tetras. The cories should be fine; I have several tanks with cories and cherries and the population never drops. That said, any cull gets dropped into a tank with Congo tetras, and rarely do the shrimp hit the sand.

Your best bet to breed and raise cherries is to feed them often; leave lettuce leaves or chunks of zucchini or green beans in the tank. They also go crazy for raw cocktail shrimp.

For fish that won't bother them, I've had good luck with bristlenose plecos, farlowella, and most cories. Pretty much everything else will eat shrimp.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> I've heard and read they eat and reproduce in plants like Java moss. is this correct?


Yes, but they eat the algae, etc on the plant, not the plant. They will keep java moss looking really nice.



> and if so what other plants will feed them or help them reproduce?


They don't *need *plants, but the java moss alone serves them well.



> I plan to feed algae wafers occasionally, but again read they can go without feeding and live off algae and the plants. is this true? what else do others feed?


Crushed pellet food. You can also crush the algae wafers and sprinkle it in.



> I have 5 red seprae/minor tetras and have a large feeling they will definately eat the babies and eggs of the srhimp when possible... does this sound correct?


They may, but I've had cherry shrimp thrive with cichlids. Depends on the cover you give them and how motivated the particular fish are to eat them. I've got a six gallon tank on my desk with neon tetra's and cherry shrimp. I've not seen the neons go after the shrimp, but I"m not being over run with shrimp either, so I suspect they're getting the little ones. For maximum survival, keep the shrimp alone. You can use a cheap 10 gallon tank. I attached some java moss to a piece of driftwood, fed crushed NLS every other day and otherwise ignored the setup for many weeks. 30 turned into several hundred. i ended up with more than I could use and eventually thinned them way down. They've almost become pests in my tanks. I've found them hiding and thriving under rocks in tanks where they should have been eaten.


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## Doc6DK (Feb 8, 2012)

SO i got my shrimp and some snails! 
Got rid of ALL the fish in the 30.
But it still seems empty towards the top I was thinking about adding some small upper water small fish, like formosa maybe? any other suggestions.
If not I think I'm going to get some more exotic shrimp to throw in and have a giant snail/shrimp tank.
I'd prefer if they didn't interbreed, i dont want hybrids. and also would like somehting really different! that stay about the same size and eat the same foods and no the baby shrimp haha

Any suggestions?


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## Doc6DK (Feb 8, 2012)

Also can cherry shrimp live off only algae, for a temporary period? I have sinking pellets and algae wafers. But my tank has alot of algae and plants looking color and loosing leaves, so would the large amount of algae and dead plants be alright to live off mostly,, until they the tank algae free?


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