0:00
So one question that's frequently asked by new red cherry shrimp
0:03
owners is what do red cherry shrimp actually eat? And in this video I'm going to tell you
0:09
Hello friends, welcome back to the channel. If you're new here my name is Richard and I'm the
0:13
author of the new ebook on neocaridinia shrimp. I'm pleased to say we're able to give away
0:18
free copies to the first 100 people who click the link in the description
0:23
Unfortunately red cherry shrimp are often sold purely as cleanup crew, particularly big box stores
0:28
will tell people stick these shrimp in your tank they'll eat all the uneaten food
0:33
and solve problems for you but the reality is red cherry shrimp need to be fed they're not just a
0:38
cleanup crew they're not just scavengers whilst they will consume uneaten food whilst they will
0:43
consume algae they also need a proper diet they need to be fed now here in the UK I keep and breed
0:50
thousands of shrimp each year and to get them in the best of health to make them as big and as
0:55
strong and as colorful as possible i like to feed them good quality foods i like to feed them a varied
1:00
diet in reality red cherry shrimp will eat pretty much any of the fish foods on the market providing
1:06
enough gets to them if you keep your shrimp let say you keep a dozen red cherry shrimp with 20 or 30 guffies it can be hard sometimes to get the food all the way down to the shrimp which is why sinking foods
1:19
like pellets, like algae wafers, like rapashi, tend to be ideal. They drop straight to the bottom of
1:25
the tank. Now another thing I like to feed to my shrimp is katapa leaves or Indian almond leaves
1:32
and although the shrimp don't consume the leaf itself the leaves as they sit on the bottom of
1:38
your tank are quickly covered in bacteria and the shrimp actually consume that bacteria so you may
1:44
be wondering how much should you be feeding your red cherry shrimp and that's always a tricky one
1:48
to answer individual shrimp consume almost microscopic quantities of food although they're
1:54
eating all day long each mouthful is is microscopic they eat tiny amounts what i tend to do let's say
2:00
I'm feeding an algae wafer is I'll drop one or two wafers in. If that is consumed within
2:05
a day or two then I know that's roughly how much I need to add. If the algae wafers are
2:10
sitting there for many days and they start to rot, clearly I'm feeding too much. It's
2:15
a case of learning over time Put in a small amount see how quickly it consumed If the shrimp consume the food within one to two days you perhaps need to add a bit more If it takes them many many days before they get through it you perhaps need to rein it back feed them a little less Now as for how often should you feed your red cherry shrimp
2:32
In my breeding tanks, I typically have food about every two to three days, depending on how quickly they're consuming it
2:39
depending on how many shrimp I have in there at any one time
2:43
I can have five, six, seven hundred red cherry shrimp in an individual breeding tank
2:47
they will consume a large quantity of food if I'm setting up a new starter colony I perhaps
2:52
will put in less food less often maybe only once a week now that's all very well where you keep
2:58
your red cherry shrimp in shrimp only tanks like my breeding tanks but when I keep them in community
3:03
tanks like this you do have to bear in mind the fish will compete for the food so if you keep any
3:08
of the plecos like a bristle nose or as in this tank here we've got dozens of corridors any sinking
3:14
food they will quickly compete with the shrimp for. So you do have to monitor your tank, you
3:18
do have to observe the shrimp eating and make sure they are getting enough food. If they're
3:22
not you might need to increase it a little bit. So in a recent video I answered the question
3:28
do red cherry shrimp eat algae? And I'll put the card up here if you wish to go check out
3:32
that video Essentially the answer is yes red cherry shrimp do eat algae but they only eat very small quantities and they only eat certain algae if you have a tank full of algae you can necessarily just drop
3:45
two dozen red cherry shrimp in it and expect they will survive you will need to target feed them
3:49
as well now i was talking to another hobbyist recently and he had a pair of angels who spawned
3:55
in his tank and he was worried the red cherry shrimp were going to eat the angel fish eggs
3:59
and in my experience they don't they don't touch eggs in fact in a number of my breeding tanks I
4:05
keep red cherry shrimp because they will crawl on the eggs and they will consume any unneeded food
4:10
or detritus which has landed on the eggs meaning fewer eggs fungus and we get a more successful
4:15
spormulant. Now if you made it this far through the video I'd really appreciate it if you hit that
4:21
like button it helps the channel grow helps spread the word to more people. Another question that is
4:26
frequently asked by red cherry shrimp owners is how long do red cherry shrimp live for
4:32
And I answer that question in this video here
