[GSAS-Member] My shrimp!

["Phil Lacefield Jr." <phil@lacefield.com>]

>> I bought Phil's shrimp and blue mini tank at the auction yesterday and
have a bunch of questions:

Hey there!  I'll do my best...

>>What kind of shrimp are they?  My shrimp experience is limited to
"Bamboo Shrimp" (Atyopsis moluccensis) that live in my community tanks.

They are RCS< or Red Cherry Shrimp, and they came out of my main RCS tank
that is just crawling with shrimp.  The six or so you got were whatever came
out of one swipe with the small net!

>>What sorts of food do they like?  Are they filter shrimp or
Vegetarian/Carnivore/omnivore?  Am I going to have to grow zucchini on
the farm this year?

I occasionally give that tank flake, and only every couple of days; the rest
of the time they spend picking on the moss and other plants in the tank, but
an occasional pellet or two of regular fish food wouldn't hurt them.
They'll pretty much eat anything...

>>Will they thrive/breed in this kiddies' tank or do I have to modify it
with substrate, plants, filtration, etc.  Do they need heat?

They should do quite well in that tank, which I picked up at the Vancouver
auction and just love to death!  I modified it to take that CF bulb, so the
heat from that should keep them at a fine temp year round (as well as help
out the moss...)  You could always add a bit of substrate or some more
plants, but with a tank that size I like to think minimalist and not get too
much stuff in there.  Plus, it's a gallon or less of water, the more you put
in the less water you have.

>>Can they live in a fish bowl/mini aquarium environment, like the desk
top bowls that sold yesterday?

Certainly, and there are many GSAS members who do just that!  You'll need to
be very careful with water changes so that no shrimp float away, but
otherwise they'll do just fine.

>>Can they live with small mouthed fish of any sort?  Are snails okay?

My experience is that snails are fine, and there are several peacock
gudgeons and CPDs living in the main tank that seem to help keep the shrimp
population under control.  Anything bigger than those, however, I'd be wary
indeed.

Good luck!

Phil


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