How Many Red Cherry Shrimps can be added at one time?

guntank0079 · Post by **guntank0079** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:18 am

Hi, everybody!
I am a newbie in aquarium shrimp, although I have found a lot of helpful info in this forum, I still have some unanswered questions at some points...

Recently I just setup a 10 gallon tank for the breeder glass/ghost shrimps as my first trial tank to shrimp...the tank is set up full of dead "live rock" (my friend gave me those live rocks; but since I am not interested in marine setup, they become regular sandstone with tiny shells stuck on them) to create caves and rocky landscaping for the shrimps.
Thus, a 10 gallon tank holds only 6 gallons of water...

After 2 months of the learning-from-mistake process, the tank is finally stablized and it is now holding 13 glass shrimps in there, even three of the female ones has turned 2" already...
(Too bad 17 shrimps were wiped out due to mistakes.)
(I was not that crazy to put all 30 at once; they were added 5~10 at a time for my trial-and mistakes.)

Now I am trying to go for my real goal, a 10-gallon tank for the Red Cherries...
And this time, the 10-gallon will be set up with a small piece of driftwood with Java Moss, a thin layer of gravel and Moss balls only to leave more space for the RCS...

Is there a "rule of thumb" that certain gallons of water holds certain number of RCS?

Also, how many RCS can be added to the 10-gallon tank at one time?

I am also thinking to use some oyster shells to create some caves for the shrimps...oyster shells will be soaked in water, boiled, dried, boiled again, soaked in water, water changed everyday for another two weeks...trying to lower the pH effect from the shell contents...
Do you think it's a bad ideas to use oyster shells for shrimps?

I have been raising freshwater fish for a whole now; but for shrimps, I think they have a little different "rules of thumb"...

Please spare your helpful hints and advise!
Thanks!

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 5:58 am

I would not start with more than 10. If you get them to breed, you'll have plenty soon, if not, you've only killed 10.

Be sure to only get tank bred animals. If you get imports, they will all be female adults and all will die in a few weeks. Looks like Mustafa has them available inthe shrimp store.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 7:01 am

Is there a "rule of thumb" that certain gallons of water holds certain number of RCS?

I don't think there is a set rule on number per volume of water, within a reasonable point. It depends on the water quality/oxygenation. Shrimp will do much better overall in a well set up and filtered tank than in one that is not. If the tank conditions are to their liking they will reproduce as pointed out above.

I do not have experience with oyster shells so keep us updated on how that turns out. Hope things work out for you

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 7:44 am

Oyster shell should not have a significant effect on pH. Do you have an accurate pH meter? Drops & strips can easily be 1/2 point off, if notmore.

guntank0079 · Post by **guntank0079** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 6:14 pm

Thanks for your info!

I think I would like to try 10 shrimps the first time, to make sure that the tank condition is ok...like you said, badflash, if they are in a good condition, they are happy to reproduce themselves...

Neonshrimp, I have given up on the oyster shells this time, as they turned out real stink. They probably carried too much of bad/dead bacteria and made the water real stink and milky, even just after 8 hours.
I will try again if I get some from another source next time.

Thanks again for your advise!