# What to feed my new cherries?



## lowfi (Apr 18, 2007)

Hey everyone,

I picked out 3 new cherry shrimp yesterday at the LFS..3.49 a pop, ouch. (being a student im stretched for $$$) I picked out all bright red ones and heard today that i might have picked only females, bummer  . I am still stoked off of them though. I just put them in my 5.5gal and was wondering what you should feed them, if anything at all. I have heard a variety of things but am wondering what you all have to say on the topic. With only 3 cherries, is it possible that they will breed or will I need to buy more? Is there any way to look at them and tell the sexes? If you guys can give tips on what to look at, feed, and how to possibly get them to spawn it would be a big help. Thanks a bunch.

Sean


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## deepdiver (May 30, 2006)

Wow! you can find them on Aquabid for around $1.00 a piece. Try getting around ten more off Aquabid, and put them in a 10 gallon tank with a good amount of moss-they love that stuff. They'll eat the micro organisms that grow in mosses. They also eat eat a little algae. As far as food, they will eat just about anything. I feed mine Spirulina tabs and flake food. I give them very small amounts every other day. Make sure not to overfeed, and pollute the water. No Nitrites, and very low Nitrates make for happy shrimp. Good luck


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## A_Shea (Jun 2, 2007)

with only three and them being the red you say, they are most likely female. So the chances of breeding aren't too good. As said above i would get at least 10 more if you want to breed them and put them in a bigger tank. The water quality for shrimp needs to be very good so moss and other live plants are recommended to help reduce the nitrates. you can feed them anything really, just make sure there is no copper in the ingredients. i feed mine Hikari foods, as they dont have copper in them. Past that they should breed pretty regularly


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

I feed them flakes, bloodworms, Hikari algae wafers and H&B lobster bites.

Be sure you have a mix of females and males, and they'll be sure to reproduce quickly without much effort on your part. 

-John N.


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## Bill Weber (Jul 17, 2005)

I feed my Cherries Hikari Algae Wafers. The waffers sink to the bottom so it is easy for the shrimp to feast. When I drop 1 into the tank the shrimp run to the waffers. You can pick these up at the LFS. I know they have small packages which will last a long time.

As far as sexing the shrimp goes, I am not a shrimp expert but I have several hundred in a 20 gallon tank. Most of my shrimp are red. So unless I have a female colony that can do amazing things, you might be OK with yours. They breed like crazy. I also have some Christmas Moss in the tank which is full of shrimp. You can get some off Aquabid. If you do order some more shrimp from aquabid, chances are that the breeder may send some along for no charge.

3 shrimp is not very many but do not rush out and purchase more at over $3.00 a pop. Go with aquabid to get more value for your buck.

Good Luck. Shrimp are really cool once you get them going.


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## runwithit (Aug 1, 2007)

i'm kind of on the same boat as everyone else. i feed mine algae wafers and flake food and keep them in a planted 10 gallon by themselves (several snails though... can't get to them all ). i bought 25 on aquabid about a week ago and two came with eggs. i already have about 35 in the tank... and another female is just about to let her babies go... so your population (once you get some males) will go up quickly. gl.


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## mikenas102 (Feb 8, 2006)

Although the cherry shrimp will eat just about any food you put in there, it's a good idea to read the ingredient label to be sure the food does not contain copper in any form. Very small amounts won't kill them but copper will build up over time. Shrimp are very sensitive to copper. There are plenty of foods out there without copper that it's not worth the risk to feed them one that does have it.


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