Red Cherry Shrimp is one of the simplest animals to breed in the aquarium. There are major 3 main things that need to be concerned while attempting to breeding Red Cherry Shrimp. This includes the following: breeding, carrying of eggs and raising the young. If you take care of these three things, Red Cherry Shrimp will breed in your aquarium and populate your tank rapidly than you have ever imagined.
Breeding Red Cherry Shrimp only requires a sexed pair of shrimp, with a stable water perimeter and a food source. Differentiating Red Cherry Shrimp is very easy, male Red Cherry Shrimp are smaller and are less colorful compared to that of females Red Cherry Shrimp. While female Red Cherry Shrimps have a yellow “saddle” that is the eggs developing in her ovaries. It is nearly impossible to determine juvenile Red Cherry Shrimp sex. Another sexual difference is that the male is less obvious than a female as it has a rounder and longer tail section.
You should have the idea about the water parameters, this should be kept extremely stable, within acceptable ranges. The pH of the aquarium water should be within 6.5-8.0. Whereas, the temperature of the water should be kept in between 70-80°F. Remember about the Water hardness as it is not important as long as it is not at extreme soft or hard.
When a female and male are mature enough to breed and all these above-mentioned requirements are fulfilled, it will naturally prompt the beginning of breeding Red Cherry Shrimp. Breeding occurs after female molts. Molting is the process of shedding the exoskeleton of a Shrimp and other invertebrates. This helps to allow the shrimp to grow in size and re-grow a new exoskeleton.
While molting, the female shrimp is very vulnerable. In this period, the female tries to hide in whatever space she feels safe. While hiding, the females release pheromones (Sexual Hormones) into the water. This pheromone causes the male to search for the female. When the male finds male they will breed. After breeding the female will carry out the fertilized eggs under her tail until they hatch.
While breeding, the male will deposit his sperm in the female and once the sperm is deposited the female will pass her eggs through the sperm on its way to the belly, the underside of her tail. These eggs are constantly fanned by the female’s pleopods in order to keep them oxygenated and clean. The female Red Chery Shrimp carries its fertilized eggs until they hatch.
When the shrimp’s eggs hatch, the young juvenile shrimps look like they are small replicas of their adult counterparts. They don’t have larval stages like most of the saltwater and many of freshwater shrimp have. You can provide you juvenile young Red Cherry Shrimp with the same foods you provide the adults.
When you rise for a young shrimp, it is important that there are no predators in the tank. A fish can resist taking into a small shrimp as a midday snack. If breeding Red Cherry Shrimp are in a tank with predators, the only way to ensure young shrimp from getting eaten is by providing plenty of hiding spaces. But this will not guarantee success.
Do include a live Java Moss, Christmas Moss or any other extremely slow-growing aquatic plant in the Red Cherry Shrimp breeding tank. These slow-growing plants are like harbor microfauna and other food sources for young shrimp. While they are not required for a successful breeding and these slow-growing plants will lead to faster-growing as well as healthier shrimp.
Setting up the Tank for Breeding Red Cherry Shrimp
- At first, you need to use origin mineral powder as a base layer in your aquarium. You can use bottle 50g origin mineral powder for this. Then add two bags of origin shrimp soil, you do not need to use too much soil. Now you need to flatten all the soil.
- Now it’s time to fill the tank with water. You can use a water tap that contains TDS between 40-60 ppm. Now, wait for your tank to be filled.
- After the water is full. Then install the Bio Sponge filter into the tank and connect a tube to the air pump. You can use 4 sets of Bio sponge filter for the 4ft tank.
- After that you need to mix GH plus liquid into the water you can use 2 bottles of 120ml GH plus liquid in 4ft tank.
- After that, you need to décor your aquarium as per your choice adding live plants and hiding place for the shrimp.
- You can add your shrimp once the Nitrogen Cycle in the tank is complete.
To understand more about the nitrogen cycle do follow the following article about the Nitrogen Cycle.
Steps for Breeding Red Cherry Shrimp
The following are the steps for breeding Red Cherry Shrimp:
Setting up the tank
All you need to do in this step is to set up your Aquarium. You will need ta tank that holds 5 to 10 gallons or of 20 to 40 liters of water. A heater to keep the temperature at 75F-80 °F or 24-27 °C during cool nights. You also need to use dark gravel so that a dark substrate will lower your shrimp’s stress. And keep a bubble filter that will help your tank to cycle. Be careful while setting up the aquarium and keep only those equipment that is essential.
Buy Master Test Kit
After setting up the aquarium now you need to buy a master test kit to monitor your tank water. It is difficult to determine the problem with a tank without a master test kit. You can test ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate with it.
Filling the tank
Now that you have got all your equipment start setting up your breeding tank. Make sure that the water you are adding to the tank is de-chlorinated. Because chlorine and chloramines will kill the shrimp. So, neutralize them both.
Purchasing Red Cherry Shrimp
Now that your tank is set up, you need to add shrimps in it. You need to buy 5-10 red cherry shrimp which may cost about $1.50 – $3 each at your local pet store. Try to buy both male and female Red Cherry Shrimp. If you get confused with the gender simply buy 10 random shrimp, this way you get a chance of getting both males and females. And is pretty much guaranteed.
Acclimate your Shrimps
In this step, you let the shrimp get used to the tanks water. Since the water chemistry from the source is always different than your tanks water chemistry. Follow the following step.
- Put the shrimp bag in the water and let the bags temperature adjust on its own with the tank water.
- Once the temperature of the bag water is equal to that of tank water, slowly pour water from the tank to the bag using a plastic air tube.
- After several minutes, just dump the shrimp into the tank where the temperature and water parameters should have equalized enough not to shock the shrimp.
- Adjusting the heater
Now you need to set your heater to 80°F and use a thermometer to monitor the temperature of your tank.
Feeding your shrimp
You need to feed the shrimp which flake food, sinking pellets, or blanched squash or zucchini. Feed a very small amount of food per day. And do not overfeed them, since overfeeding or leftover food will result in harmless worms like detritus or planaria. You can even feed them vegetables of your choice but remember to boil them first.
Successfully breeding Red Cherry Shrimp
If all these steps are performed correctly then, it will naturally prompt the beginning of breeding Red Cherry Shrimp, they will simply breed in your tank.
How Many Eggs Do Shrimp Lay At a Time
An adult shrimp lay around 20-30 eggs at a time, which takes roughly around 2-3 weeks to hatch. Make sure that your shrimp are not stressed else, they may abandon the eggs.
Maintain the aquarium
A 10-gallon tank can safely house about 150 adult Red Cherry Shrimp if you do at least 25% water change each week. While cleaning, don’t vacuum the bottom of your tank because baby shrimp get their food from this waste. Do check your water quality with the test kit mentioned above to reduce the risk of death of fish. Since high nitrate can kill the shrimp.
