Red Cherry Shrimp - Beginner who doesn't want them to breed

[SilverB]

Hi All

I have a Nano tank (21 litre/5 gallon) which I've had many challenges with previously, which, due to tragedy, is now empty again.

I've decided to give myself a fair number of months to sit down and put together everything I've learned so far, but also carry out more research knowing what I know now. At first I was tempted to give up altogether, but I've decided to persevere.

Now, I'm looking to put together a simple set up, and decided that I would start with something simple so I can build some skills. Given the size of my tank, a small schooling fish was my first thought, but it seems that even with their size, I wouldn't be able to stock to the levels that the fish would be most comfortable in (I believe 6-8 is ideal and I'd probably get a max of 4?)

Then I was looking at shrimp. I read that Red Cherry Shrimp are good for beginners and they seem pretty cute and vibrant. I've had Amanos previously but I don't think I'd be able to stock more than 2 in this tank, and I'm hoping for a little activity and something a bit forgiving.

My concern is that Cherries are prolific breeders, and I'm a bit averse to having to deal with that, primarily as I want to really focus on getting a good, solid set up which is stable. And not having to worry about being overrun.

I called my local fish shop and asked if it would be possible to purchase a single sex group, but they told me it would be hard for them to sex them and I could just bring the shrimp I get overrun with to the shop (for free). This smells odd to me since I've seen some indication online that they can be sexed fairly simply.

Despite that, I haven't seen anywhere online selling the shrimp in single sex groups.

Any thoughts?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Unless you get all the same gender, they will breed. You can try to sell some to your LFS or locally. That’s what I do from time to time.

 

[CassCats]

If you dont mind something without colour, try out ghost shrimp
They dont breed easily, as they have to be raised much like fish would be raised as babies, and the adults 10-1 will eat most of the babies. So if they didn't successfully have any, it would be few and far between.

A small group of 5 would be quite fine in a 5 gallon, light bioload. They will eat whatever you feed them, my old lady goes nuts for bloodworms particularly lol

Avoid buying them from the feeder tank though, those usually will not live long.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

If you dont mind something without colour, try out ghost shrimp
They dont breed easily, as they have to be raised much like fish would be raised as babies, and the adults 10-1 will eat most of the babies. So if they didn't successfully have any, it would be few and far between.

A small group of 5 would be quite fine in a 5 gallon, light bioload. They will eat whatever you feed them, my old lady goes nuts for bloodworms particularly lol

Avoid buying them from the feeder tank though, those usually will not live long.

I was going to say the same about amano shrimp. They are a bigger shrimp, not colorful but really interesting, and they don't breed in fresh water.

 

[seangee]

Cherry shrimp aren't like guppies. Yes they do breed prolifically but won't keep going until they burst the tank. The population will stabilise once there are enough and will then stay fairly steady.

 

[Naughts]

As shrimp don't have terribly long life spans, breeding sustains the population. Their bioload is quite insignificant unless you are overfeeding/ under-cleaning.

 

[Colin_T]

Only feed them once every couple of days and they won't breed.

 

[SilverB]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this. I will take a look at the Ghost Shrimp - they honestly look very charming.

I like Amanos very much, but I had mixed success with them in my previous tank - a tank I'm trying to move past

Do you think that shrimps would be a good/better place to start with a beginner? I am a bit conscious of my previous failings so I'm a bit nervous about setting something up - have any of you had to overcome confidence when getting into this hobby? Its a pretty brutal hobby if things go wrong (which they seem to do quite often at the start!)

Honestly, I might be being a bit optimistic in terms of them breeding anyway, I'd just be grateful if I can build a tank with stable water parameters!

Cherry shrimp aren't like guppies. Yes they do breed prolifically but won't keep going until they burst the tank. The population will stabilise once there are enough and will then stay fairly steady.

What kind of numbers could I expect from a stable population in a 5 gallon, if they do breed?

 

[SilverB]

Also the more I look into this, the more it seems like I'm the only person who doesn't want them to breed - am I more worried about this than I should be?

I feel like a 5 gallon (with the back closed off for filter media so only really 4 gallons swim room) is way too small for an exploding shrimp population.

Perhaps I will stick with the Ghost shrimp!

 

[AquaViva]

5 gallon is perfectly fine for a shrimp colony, go with the cherries and let them breed. If u want a schooling fish a group of boraras would be ok aswell.

 

[mcordelia]

Another thought could be a single snail. I had a 5gal tank when I was younger that had a single yellow snail. It was supposed to be an apple snail but ate the plant that I attempted to grow so I don't actually know what kind of snail it was. For a while it was the single inhabitant and it was fairly active so it was neat to watch! I later got a betta to share the tank with him, and they made a reasonably good pairing as well.

 

[CassCats]

Ive got a 2.5 gallon for cherry shrimp, some room to breed a small colony in there too. Q 5 gallon will allow a good sized colony just fine

 

[eatyourpeas]

I started with 6 RCS in this 5 gallon tank, and they had babies. There are now almost 50 shrimp in there, but they have stabilized. They will self regulate, it seems. So fun to watch, and as @Colin_T suggested, I only feed them once every two days. They are fun to watch, and very busy little bits.

 

[hansgruber7]

I have RCS in a 5G and it works great. I do take a few dozen to the LFS every few months for store credit just to keep the numbers manageable. But that's how I get my basic supplies for free, so it works out pretty well.

 

[SilverB]

Thanks everyone - I really appreciate the inputs!
I'm going to have more of a think about it - I think I'm mainly worried that I will find it all a bit overwhelming . I can be a bit of a perfectionist and control freak, so allowing something to go its own course is slightly alarming for me! Though that's probably why this hobby will do me some good.

I'm actually tempted to go with the Boraras with perhaps an Amano or Ghost Shrimp - though based on the inputs above, the Ghost would have the lesser bio-load.

Seriously, thanks all. This really helps me