Keeping an attractive mix of creatures—like Cherry Red Shrimp and Amano Shrimp—in your home tank helps create a homelier and serene atmosphere in your space. But you must ensure these creatures can coexist in the same tank and conditions to prevent predation, poor yield, aggression, and even stress. So, can you have Cherry Red Shrimp living with Amano Shrimp?
You can’t keep Cherry Red Shrimp with Amano Shrimp in the same tank. With the slight difference in size and notable disparities in aggression and feeding, Amano Shrimp can prey on Cherry Red Shrimp. Additionally, Amano and Cherry Red Shrimp thrive in different water environments.
Read on to learn more about whether or not Cherry Red Shrimp and Amano Shrimp can live together.
Amano Shrimp Might Prey on Cherry Red Shrimp
One of the notable differences between Amano and Cherry Red Shrimp is that the former is slightly larger than the latter. Accordingly, there’ll be a predation risk, even though this doesn’t occur in all instances.
There’s no shortage of online forum posts claiming that the Amano and Cherry Red Shrimp can coexist just fine. However, the evidence suggests that the larger Amano Shrimp will prey on the smaller Cherry Red Shrimp and their youngs on some occasions. According to Animal Pictures Archive, Amano Shrimp can feed on Cherry Red Shrimp they don’t get an adequate meaty diet.
You could argue that if you provide your Amano and Cherry Red Shrimp with adequate food, you can prevent this from happening. However, there’s always a risk of forgetting to feed your shrimp or failing to provide sufficient rations.
The Amano Shrimp could feed on smaller Cherry Red Shrimp in such an event. As a rule of thumb, it’s better to be safe than sorry. I would therefore not recommend placing Amano and Cherry Red Shrimp together because while the risk may be low, there’s some likelihood of predation.
Are you willing to take that risk?
I also made a super post on Can Amano Shrimp Live in Brackish Water?
Amano and Cherry Red Shrimp Have Different Water Needs
Amano and Cherry Red Shrimp thrive in different environments—a factor worth considering if you plan to keep them together. Environment quality is crucial since it can affect breeding and even the shrimp’s lifespan.
According to Aquarium Info, Amano Shrimp thrive in brackish water. On the other hand, Cherry Red Shrimp can thrive in freshwater aquariums. By this mere fact, these two types of shrimps shouldn’t be placed in the same tank if you want to provide the best conditions for breeding and feeding.
Additionally, it can be challenging to raise Amano Shrimp in captivity. Even if you can mate the shrimp without problems, you’ll face difficulties rearing the fry in captivity conditions.
It requires a significant degree of human intervention to successfully rear the fry in these conditions, including ensuring that your water meets the required PH, temperature, and salt requirements.
In contrast, the Cherry Red Shrimp doesn’t require any level of human intervention. They can thrive just fine in aquarium conditions.
Thus, to provide the optimal conditions for either shrimp, I recommend placing them in different tanks.
Amano Shrimp Can Be Aggressive During Feeding Time
Another concern you might face when keeping Amano and Cherry Red Shrimp in the same tank is ensuring that both types get adequate food. As explained in ukaps.org, Amano Shrimp exhibit greater aggression during feeding time when compared to Cherry Red Shrimp. But is this something you should worry about?
The answer is yes if you want to optimize living conditions for both types of shrimp. Because of the higher level of aggression, Amano shrimp can grab all the food during feeding time, leaving little to no feed for the Cherry Red Shrimp in the tank. As a result, you have to take extra precautions when feeding, ensuring that you provide additional feed after the Amano Shrimp have had their fill.
Admittedly, this means that there’s a risk that your Cherry Red Shrimp won’t get adequate food, which may undermine their breeding and even growth. Once again, this means that the cherry shrimp will likely be in sub-optimal conditions, a problem you can easily avoid by placing them in a different tank.
Conclusion
While you can elect to place both types of shrimp in the same tank, this article shows this scenario may favor one over the other. The risk of predation, however small, coupled with Amano and Cherry Red Shrimp thriving in different environments, is worth taking into account.
I recommend having two tanks, allowing ample flexibility in creating ideal conditions for both species. The risk, in my opinion, isn’t worth it.