# Cherry Shrimp Population



## noodlesuk (17 Sep 2020)

Hi

I've currently got some Amano shrimp in my 20L tank, which I love to watch and would like to add a bit of colour with some Cherry shrimp. From what I can see, Cherry and Amano shrimp can cohabit. But it seems that Cherry's breed really easily and don't want the tank to be over run with shrimp. How prolific do they breed?  Will I have to actively control the population, to keep numbers down, or is it best/more common to leave to nature? Any pointers much appreciated!

Cheers


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## Nick potts (17 Sep 2020)

Left to there own devices and if conditions are correct then yeah cherries can be prolific breeders. 

If you end up with too many you can sell some, trade them at your LFS for store credit etc. The availability of food will be a limiting factor in how many will survive in the tank, a power filter will also deal with any babies if you really don't want more shrimp.


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## noodlesuk (17 Sep 2020)

Thanks for the top tips, sounds like it might not be as bad as I thought. May take a look next time I'm at the LFS.


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## lilirose (17 Sep 2020)

I have a 20l planted cherry shrimp tank. It's been running for a year without much interference other than the occasional water change. There are hundreds of shrimp in there now, but the entire bioload of the massive population is easily handled by the plants and a small sponge filter. I have noticed that the berried females have many fewer eggs than they used to, I wonder if this is some kind of natural population control- but everything in the tank appears wonderfully healthy despite the crowded conditions. I'd gladly rehome three-quarters of the contents if I knew anyone who wanted to take them- they started out as very good Painted Fire Reds but now are mixed with many offspring of lesser quality.

I used to have half a dozen Amanos in there as well. I moved them to a bigger tank as soon as I had one, and they exploded in size- the biggest ones are around two inches long now, but they were only about twice the size of the cherries before I moved them.


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## rebel (18 Sep 2020)

lilirose said:


> natural population control-


yes. If you remove some shrimp and do some repeated water changes, they will kick up their breeding.


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## lilirose (18 Sep 2020)

rebel said:


> yes. If you remove some shrimp and do some repeated water changes, they will kick up their breeding.



Okay. Would you like to take some of them off my hands then? 

I'm not sure why I would want to encourage further breeding when I have no homes for the ones I already have- I'm quite relieved that they aren't pumping out 30-40 new shrimplets with every egg clutch nowadays. I was only answering the question asked by @noodlesuk , not asking for advice on my own situation- unless, of course, you know lots of people in rural Ireland who want  cherry shrimp and are able to pick up within COVID restrictions (or provide packing material so I can post them).


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