Cherry shrimp: gear and buying guides

🍖 Feeding a Cherry shrimp: algivore diet, frequency, mistakes

Feeding a Cherry shrimp: diet and habits

The Cherry shrimp is an algae grazer and detritivore: tank algae, spirulina wafers and blanched vegetables as top-up. It feeds at the bottom: serve sinking wafers, in amounts eaten within two minutes at most — everything else ends up as nitrates.

Frequency and variety

One or two small feeds a day for adults, with a weekly fasting day that costs it nothing — overfeeding remains the top cause of tank pollution. In a group of 10 or more, check everyone reaches the food: dominants serve themselves first. Alternate dry, frozen and blanched greens (courgette, spinach) across the week.

The costly mistakes

Beware copper in foods and treatments: lethal to shrimp even at “fish-safe” doses. Avoid discount flakes that fall apart on contact with water: a serious brand costs only a few euros more per year. The rest of the profile is on the full Cherry shrimp profile.

Quick answers

How often should a Cherry shrimp be fed?

One or two small daily feeds eaten within two minutes, plus one fasting day a week. In doubt, underfeed: the water will thank you.

What food suits a Cherry shrimp?

An algae grazer and detritivore: tank algae, spirulina wafers and blanched vegetables as top-up — served in sinking form to reach its bottom zone.

See it in the Planète Pets shop: Programmable automatic aquarium fish feeder (€32.90) · the whole shop

Our products don’t ship to you yet, but the PDF practical guide is instant: Beginner axolotl: aquarium and care (€19)

🧳 Transporting a Cherry shrimp: bagging, acclimatisation, moving

Bringing home or moving a Cherry shrimp

A 3 cm Cherry shrimp travels in a double bag — one-third water, two-thirds air — inside a cool box or opaque bag: darkness soothes, insulation protects from swings away from its 18 to 25°C comfort zone. Add a clump of moss in the bag: shrimp cling to it and travel better.

Acclimatisation: the critical step

Start with 20 minutes of floating, bringing the bag water to tank temperature, then add tank water drop by drop over an hour — the species is sensitive to parameter swings, and release with a net without pouring bag water into the tank. In this species, a botched transfer is paid for in bouts of failed molts during parameter shocks. The first day happens lights-off — darkness defuses the sometimes muscular curiosity of the residents.

Moving an entire aquarium

A successful move rests on three precautions: fish in covered buckets, the filter never dried out (damp cool box — it houses your bacteria), and a same-day restart using original water saved in jerrycans. The tank itself travels EMPTY: glass stressed by a few leftover litres cracks at the first corner.

Quick answers

How long can a Cherry shrimp handle transport?

Properly bagged, a Cherry shrimp lasts several hours unharmed — and up to a day in a professional oxygenated bag. The real battle, past two hours on the road, is holding the temperature.

How do you acclimatise a Cherry shrimp safely?

Float the bag 20 minutes, add tank water gradually over 30 to 60 minutes, release with a net, lights off the first day — and never pour bag water into the tank.

Outside our shipping area? The downloadable practical guide: Beginner axolotl: aquarium and care (€19)

🧰 Accessories for a Cherry shrimp: tests, upkeep and budget

Water tests: your dashboard

A drop-test kit (€15-30) is THE first accessory for a Cherry shrimp tank: NO2 and NO3 weekly, GH-KH-pH at any doubt. Then come the net sized for 3 cm, the substrate siphon and the dedicated bucket — never the cleaning one, whose detergent traces contaminate the water.

The Cherry shrimp specifics

a fine sponge pre-filter on the intake, or the colony ends up touring the pump; a battery backup air pump: at full stocking, a filtration failure is measured in hours; plant tongs and weighted wafers to feed the bottom without scattering everything.

The full budget, no surprises

An equipped 20 L setup (tank, filter, heater, lighting, substrate, decor, tests): expect €100 to 250 upfront, then €10 to 25 a month (food, electricity, conditioner). Second-hand often halves the tank price — only the filter and heater deserve to be new. Details on the full Cherry shrimp profile.

Quick answers

Which accessories are essential for a Cherry shrimp tank?

Drop tests, siphon, net, dedicated bucket, an independent thermometer: the whole kit stays under €60.

What budget for keeping a Cherry shrimp?

€100 to 250 to set up an equipped 20 L tank, then €10 to 25 a month in routine costs.

An accessory from our shop for this use: Stick-on digital thermometer for aquarium and terrarium glass (€18.90) · the whole shop

We don’t ship products to your country yet; our practical guide downloads anywhere: Beginner axolotl: aquarium and care (€19)