# Confused by my cherry shrimp



## Fisher2007 (20 Feb 2020)

My 220 litre high tech has been running 4 months now.  About 1 month after setting up I started adding shrimp and fish.  Right now I have;

About 40 amano shrimp
Dozen crystal shrimp
Dozen nerite snails
Half a dozen otos
Dozen CPDs
Half a dozen emerald line rasbora
30+ Espei rasbora
20+ Pascai rainbows
Half a dozen threadfin rainbows
Approx 100 cherry shrimp

I initially added approx 20-30 cherries of mixed sizes (young and adults) including a couple of berried females.  Over the course of the first few weeks post more and more females were berried and at one point I think I counted 10 individuals with eggs, then no long later I noticed tiny babies everywhere.  These babies have grown and I now have probably 60+ which are between 0.5 and 1.0cm long.  So all in all this is great news

The bit I'm confused by is that the number of big adults seems to have reduced.  There are loads of juveniles but the adult numbers have shrunk (either that or they are doing a fantastic job of hiding).  I also haven't seen a berried female for a month or two

Now the shrimp are clearly thriving in some respects as numbers have definitely gone up noticably but at the same time I seem to be missing adult breeding stock.  First thoughts are that something might be predating on them but if that were the case the younger ones would surely be first pick.  Second thoughts are that it is a molting issue and I'm losing some during that process but according to Google they molt every few weeks, so therefore some of the young must be molting too, so why aren't their numbers reducing.  Final idea is that maybe the amano's are picking off the adults, why only adults though makes no sense

Anyone got any ideas?

Pic of the tank attached

Cheers!


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## SRP3006 (20 Feb 2020)

It's funny you should say this, I was only thinking similar today about mine. Cherries have been in there about 6 months and like you say I've got plenty of babies but the 'starter' adult population has declined or are hiding. Mine are in a 400 litre with 20 harlequin rasbora and Amanos plus otos and snails so i doubt they are being eaten.

I'm curious what suggestions you will get here.


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## Sammy Islam (20 Feb 2020)

I think some would have died from old age/disease/failed molts. Also seeing as the old ones may be the main breeders, maybe they hide more as they are baby machines and have figured out the "safest" places to hide/chill out. Maybe theres some in the cannister filter too? My old fluval had loads inside at one point.


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## Fisher2007 (20 Feb 2020)

Sammy Islam said:


> I think some would have died from old age/disease/failed molts. Also seeing as the old ones may be the main breeders, maybe they hide more as they are baby machines and have figured out the "safest" places to hide/chill out. Maybe theres some in the cannister filter too? My old fluval had loads inside at one point.



Possibly re the hiding but they definitely didn't for the first couple of months, even the heavily berried females

And definitely non in my canister filter.  Not even babies


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## SRP3006 (20 Feb 2020)

I fish out 30 plus from my fx6 every week when I clean it, I probably miss some to be honest as they are tiny.


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## Fisher2007 (20 Feb 2020)

And just to add, for what it's worth, I've got three or four amano's full of eggs right now (linked I don't know). Obviously I know the fry won't make it


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## Jayefc1 (20 Feb 2020)

The older ones are probably hiding more and more as the fish stocking levels increase from.fear of being prey and molting more as long as you keep.seeing babies appear they must be there some where do you feed them or just let them graze on waste ?


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## Fisher2007 (20 Feb 2020)

I've not seen any real babies for 3-4 weeks now

In terms of food, they get a bit of target feeding but not every day.  They also get blanched veggies once a week.  These are put in the open areas

My gut feeling points me towards the amano's, although I don't know why


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## tam (21 Feb 2020)

I've had problems before with adults moulting, but it didn't seem to effect them until they got to the 1cm ish mark i.e. there were babies but the adults clearly had issues. Have you checked your water hardness?


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## Fisher2007 (21 Feb 2020)

tam said:


> I've had problems before with adults moulting, but it didn't seem to effect them until they got to the 1cm ish mark i.e. there were babies but the adults clearly had issues. Have you checked your water hardness?



Thanks.  That sounds like a plausible reason.  No, I've not.  What should I be aiming for?


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## Gill (21 Feb 2020)

This will Happen depending on how much Calcium there is in your water.
This can happen to the older generations, as there is not enough in the water for them to Molt as they age. 
Also anything that will die off, will be consumed by the amanos very quickly. 

Have a look at your nerites, if the new shell rings are solid and not broken. 
Then this is a good indicator, of healthy shell growth. 
If there are broken shells or white crusty areas within their shells, not enough calcium.
When having that many shrimp you do need to add minerals for healthy growth. There are plenty of good quality mineral blocks available on ebay and they will improve the adult shrimp. 
I always add Mineral blocks, Indian Almond Leaves or Oak Leaves, Alder Cones and Mineral Blocks/Cuttlefish.


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## Fisher2007 (21 Feb 2020)

Gill said:


> This will Happen depending on how much Calcium there is in your water.
> This can happen to the older generations, as there is not enough in the water for them to Molt as they age.
> Also anything that will die off, will be consumed by the amanos very quickly.
> 
> ...



Thanks Gill

The whole molting issue looks like it might be the reason.  I'll take a look on eBay but if you have any links to anything you use that would be appreciated

Interestingly, and if it is molting, my amano's seem unaffected.  I've not seen a reduction in their numbers and often see exo skeletons lying around


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## Gill (21 Feb 2020)

Fisher2007 said:


> Thanks Gill
> 
> The whole molting issue looks like it might be the reason.  I'll take a look on eBay but if you have any links to anything you use that would be appreciated
> 
> Interestingly, and if it is molting, my amano's seem unaffected.  I've not seen a reduction in their numbers and often see exo skeletons lying around




Amanos are tougher, and takes longer for calcium to affect them, 

Nettle Leaves are also a great source for them, Just blanch them for a few minutes before adding.


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