Poor Cherry Shrimp

[maximinimus]

I've just been and bought 6 cherry shrimp from my LFS, I asked in there if they were suitable for a tnk with odessa barbs, which the guy in the shop said they were.

When I got them home I took a couple of hours to get them used to my tank water before I netted them out of the bucket at put them in the tank.

As soon as they dropped out of the net my odessa barbs tore one of the females to pieces and since then have been attacking one of the males.

I would take all the shrimp out of my tank but there is no way I am gonna find them amongst all the plants.

 

[Wolfenrook]

I've just been and bought 6 cherry shrimp from my LFS, I asked in there if they were suitable for a tnk with odessa barbs, which the guy in the shop said they were.

When I got them home I took a couple of hours to get them used to my tank water before I netted them out of the bucket at put them in the tank.

As soon as they dropped out of the net my odessa barbs tore one of the females to pieces and since then have been attacking one of the males.

I would take all the shrimp out of my tank but there is no way I am gonna find them amongst all the plants.

All you can do really then is just hope that some of them manage to stay hidden. As to your LFS, well I wouldn't get advice from them again. Odessa barbs are far too big to be tank mates for cherry shrimp, and as a general rule barbs do tend to be fairly predatory. I manage to keep cherry shrimp with cherry barbs, but wouldn't risk it with any barb bigger than these. Crustaceans are a normal part of the odessa barb diet in the wild.

If you really want to keep these little beauties then I would suggest that you buy a little 5 gallon nano and plant it well with plenty of mosses. Mature the filter in your main tank for a couple of months, and run the nano during this time if you can as well. Then put a group of cherry shrimp in there, if they are happy they will breed like crazy!

I am really sorry about you having such a bad first experience with keeping shrimp, and hope that you don't let this put you off from trying again.

Ade

 

[maximinimus]

I had a good look for the remaining shrimp today during cleaning, I even took out my plants and bogwood in the search, sadly there were none left

I went back to the LFS to complain about their poor advice and they gave me 5 dwarf ottos so I now have a nice shoal of those cute little blighters instead

The odessa barbs still had a little nip at the otos when I put them in there, but now they seem to be under the protection of my RTBS
He chases away any barbs and the otos seem to be following him around the tank, feeding near to him

I'm thinking about setting up a little 30l planted tank for shrimp, but that will have to wait as I'm going to order my new car on Tuesday