# Do most people buy RCS only once?



## yum (Feb 11, 2008)

I'm curious if people only end up buying Red Cherry Shrimp once and they renew themselves through spawning, like guppies or mollies or other easily bred fish. (I got a pair of fancy guppies last week and 2 days later they spawned 20 fry in my tank )

Or do you have to buy more as they die off?

My new juvenile RCS look like they are maturing nicely with the largest turning red and a saddle of eggs forming.

I'm really looking forward to a tank full of these critters!


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## MartialTheory (Dec 20, 2007)

I got then 3 times. The first time when I got some that was really cheap but then I realized their color was not as good as I thought it would be.

The next time I got it, I was very happy with some very red ones.

Then I heard someone had even more red than me, so I got another batch, inter breed the last 2 batches, then selected only the most reddest male and female and created another colony with just those 2. 

And don't worry, you will have lots of RCS very soon.


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

Are the white RCS always male.
I even have some new babies that are already red.
I have maybe 30-40 shrimp total.
Can I start culling the herd?


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## dansbdk (Mar 16, 2008)

where do I get cherry shrimp?
My lfs doesn't carry any shrimp but, ghost shrimp! And they looked pittiful!


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

They will breed quickly in your tank if they are happy.

Once in a while however, you can trade them or sell them off and buy some more to mix up the bloodlines, after a while of repetitive inbreeding, they will start to become dull in color and probably unhealthy so mixing new lines in is important IMO


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## mikenas102 (Feb 8, 2006)

I bought Cherry Shrimp once and never looked back. I originally bought 15 of them. In the 2 years of having them I've probably sold off over 500 of them. Unless your fish eat them or something happens to your tank to kill them, you should never have to buy more.


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## mikenas102 (Feb 8, 2006)

goalcreas said:


> They will breed quickly in your tank if they are happy.
> 
> Once in a while however, you can trade them or sell them off and buy some more to mix up the bloodlines, after a while of repetitive inbreeding, they will start to become dull in color and probably unhealthy so mixing new lines in is important IMO


I've had the opposite result. Over time my females have become much deeper and more solid red with each generation. The males pretty much stay the same. I don't do any selective breeding. Just let nature run its course. Perhaps I'm just lucky.


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

I heard somebody state quick a few generations of RCS and doing fine.
It was in this group here not too long ago.


Again can I cull at an early age or just too risky.


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## praxis5624 (Apr 22, 2006)

I have purchased RCS four times when I have seen nice specimens. One lfs had some huge RCS over just an inch and I added a few to my collection again. Another member who had great luck sold some to me. I purchased two groups from different sources online and the results are nice. They breed at an alarming rate.


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