Loaches Online Forum

Well, I have been looking on line and would like to get some cherry red or crystal red shrimp but am nervous about ordering on line, since i have never gotten live fish or inverts in this manner. Both pet Solutions and Foster and Smith sell them, but are out of stock, and have been for a while. I have 12 gallon nanocube in the kitchen which is well established and currently has five amano shrimp and a few guppies. All have been in there for months and months are are a happy and thriving little community. There are also a few otto in there, but I would LOVE to have some shrimp with the potential of breeding in the tank.
Has anyone ordered these on line?
Should I quarantine these new shrimp if I get some?
The order would have to be in the US, as I live in North Carolina.

thanks,
glenna

If the seller is reliable, knows how to post animals and takes all the necessary precautions, then I consider for there to be little risk involved in buying online.

It is always best to quarantine everything, before adding it to your tanks, for 4-6 weeks.

I assume it's starting to get cold in US? I personally prefer to not order live animals or plants once the temperatures start dropping below freezing overnight as the risk increases then, so something for you to keep in mind.

yeah, it is starting to get cold here, even in the South. I think we might even get a frost here tonight (I HATE cold weather!!!)
...so, I will keep shopping on line and see what comes up, with the plan to get some new shrimp in the Spring. I guess I could go ahead and mature up a holding tank in the New Year so that it would be nice and stable for new arrivals when (and IF) they ever become available.
I have given up on local LFS type dealers as I live in "Petsmart-ville".

Do you have a fish club nearby? I've gotten/sold/given shrimp that way. I also gotten them in the mail, they ship very well. Here's a link to msjinx site & current list, hobbiest & now importer http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/sh ... 1-Viewing). I've heard very good things of her. She'll do priority mail for the next week & that should be fine as she's in E. PA. so not far from you.
RCS (red cherries) are very easy, I started them as a possible live food but found them very interesting. Bee shrimp weren't as successful for me but I got them just before a vac. so I don't know what happened.

haha....success!

Got some RCS at Pet Solutions. I ordered ten online and they were delivered, and came alive and well. I moved all the fish to a bigger tank and let the the new shrimp have the nanocube. All are in there ( I can't really count them as it is pretty well planted, but the ones I see seem to be healthy and happy).

I really hope that ten is enough to get some reproduction, but I will still be happy if these little guys live and thrive (even if they do not mate(.

That's great1 They should breed as long as you have some males(almost colorless) & females(get more red as they age) & don't overfeed. You can see the ovaries on the females back, called a saddle, yellow or sometimes green. Then when they lay them the females hold the fertilized eggs in their swimmerettes & move them aroung until they hatch in ~2 weeks. The shrimplets a tiny, be careful when vacuuming & check the bucket, they look like 2 specks of detritus that swim, lol, a real eye strain test.

Did you get crystals or cherries? Cherries are definitely easier and easy to breed. I have a 20 gallon with a couple hundred cherry shrimp and some tigers mixed in. I never met a shrimp I didn't like.

just set up a 5 gallon planted for cherrys. will be postin pucs when their in.

I just broke down a tank. I thought that all my blue bee shrimps had died, and while I was pouring out the water, there was a big well-colored blue bee swimming around. Unfortunately, just one. So now I have one blue bee, hundreds of red cherries and tigers, amanos and bamboo shrimp. I think my bamboos are thinking about hatching eggs.

Thats cool. I can only get cherrys, Glass and native ones which are usually big and eat fish.

well, an update...only about three of my shrimp have lived
I never found any dead shrimp, they were just gone.
the amano shrip in there are thriving!!!
I wonder. I have assassin snails in that tank. Could they have EATEN the cherry shrimp that were smaller?

I can get bamboo shrimp, ghost shrimp. The store I bought the amano shrimp is since closed, so no longer available. The five I have are very happy.
I guess I am just disappointed that most of the cherry ones disappeared. In hind site, I should have ordered more than ten.

OH well. I will just keep trying

Are you sure they're really gone? They are really good hiders...My first 10 RCS were in a 10g with some small killies until I realized the fish would try to eat shrimp more than half their size I could only see a couple but when I took out the fish & plants etc there were 6 I think, enough to get a good colony going.

okay, well I guess I will not give up hope!.

There ARE a lot of hiding places in the tank and will occasionally see one or two eating algae.

I don't think the assassins are a threat. A shrimp will move away from the threat. Not like the assassins are fast. They have done a good job on the MTS population in my tank.

i got about 40 cherrys today for 15 dollars from a local pleco breeder and they are stunning