Cherry shrimp are not picky eater's. I assume you think they are picky because they are not eating all the food you place in the tank.
Just remember the three most important rules to keeping shrimp: 1. DO NOT OVER FEED 2. DO NOT OVER FEED and last but not least 3. DO NOT OVER FEED. If they can't finish it in 2-3 hour's IT'S TOO MUCH. All uneaten food should be removed after 2-3 hour's.
As for using special food imho it's just not neccesary. I feed boiled veggies and Hikari algae wafer's to all my shrimp colonies and have wonderful luck.
Calcium and molting. I have never had to add calcium to their diet to promote good moult's.
My advice is place a small amount of crushed coral in the tank or the filter. Cherry shrimp prefer slightly harder water than most shrimp, and the coral will help buffer the ph when doing water changes etc.
ADA substrate, seachem's flourite substrate...any fracted clay substrate intended for planted tank's work's very well in maintaining a lower ph. But as has been mentioned already...isn't really neccesary for cherry shrimp. They are not only very forgiving of water parameters but they also prefer harder water than most shrimp.
Everyone uses different methods, something that may work for me may not work for other's. But my fire red's, yellows and G/W bee's (sold my super tiger colony) are thriving and I have ton's of berried female's.
Red cherry, Bue pearl, Snowball and Yellow shrimp are basically the same in regard to care and ease of keeping. Just remember they will all hybridize so keep them seperately.
Just remember the three most important rules to keeping shrimp: 1. DO NOT OVER FEED 2. DO NOT OVER FEED and last but not least 3. DO NOT OVER FEED. If they can't finish it in 2-3 hour's IT'S TOO MUCH. All uneaten food should be removed after 2-3 hour's.
As for using special food imho it's just not neccesary. I feed boiled veggies and Hikari algae wafer's to all my shrimp colonies and have wonderful luck.
Calcium and molting. I have never had to add calcium to their diet to promote good moult's.
My advice is place a small amount of crushed coral in the tank or the filter. Cherry shrimp prefer slightly harder water than most shrimp, and the coral will help buffer the ph when doing water changes etc.
ADA substrate, seachem's flourite substrate...any fracted clay substrate intended for planted tank's work's very well in maintaining a lower ph. But as has been mentioned already...isn't really neccesary for cherry shrimp. They are not only very forgiving of water parameters but they also prefer harder water than most shrimp.
Everyone uses different methods, something that may work for me may not work for other's. But my fire red's, yellows and G/W bee's (sold my super tiger colony) are thriving and I have ton's of berried female's.
Red cherry, Bue pearl, Snowball and Yellow shrimp are basically the same in regard to care and ease of keeping. Just remember they will all hybridize so keep them seperately.
