When choosing exactly which amazing creatures you would like to have in your home tank it is very important to know whether or not the two will get along. Will they fight? Will they eat the same food? Will they even eat each other?
Certainly, if you choose creatures that are amicable, then you will have a lot less to worry about. Many people choose to add shrimp to their home aquarium as they can be both colorful and beneficial. Their incredible appetite means that they are not fussy eaters. They will eat almost anything.
This means that they make excellent cleaners, happily eating any leftover bits of food, meat, fish waste, and excess algae in your tank. Amano shrimp in particular will eat almost anything, including black beard algae! But can you have more than one type of shrimp in your tank?
Can Amano shrimp live with Cherry shrimp?
Thankfully, yes, Amano shrimp can indeed live in the same tank as cherry shrimp. However, it is important to keep the temperament of both species in mind. Amano shrimp can be very possessive of their food, meaning you may find that your cherry shrimp are not getting their fair share of the food.
In this case, you will need to ensure that there is enough for both – add a little extra to feeding time if you must! Other than this the two types of shrimp will get along just fine without any problems.
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Unfortunately, Amano shrimp and cherry shrimp cannot crossbreed. However, if you find that you have baby shrimp in your tank (if you have both Amano and cherry shrimp) then the odds are that they are baby cherry shrimp. This is because Amano shrimp offspring will have a very difficult time surviving in saltwater.
Amano shrimp are famous for being very hard to breed. Even if you are lucky enough to have your Amano shrimp breed it is then very unlikely that their offspring will survive until adulthood, often dying around the larvae stage of life.
Amano shrimp breeding is particularly problematic because the larvae require saltwater whereas the adult Amano shrimp need freshwater. As an adult, even the slightest encounter with saltwater can be fatal.
This breeding process means that even if you were successful in getting your Amano shrimp to breed you would have to provide the utmost care, love, and attention to your shrimp offspring to be able to raise them to adulthood. The toxicity of saltwater to adult Amano shrimp means that you will need to keep an incredibly close eye on your shrimp larvae.
However, unfortunately, they cannot breed with cherry shrimp. Cherry shrimp, on the other hand, will breed with other varieties such as ghost shrimp. They will even do so without any intervention whatsoever on your part.
What shrimp can be kept together?
Although you may think that keeping a variety of different shrimp together in one tank is beneficial, you would be wrong. Certain types of shrimp can be particularly aggressive towards others. So, it is best to know exactly which types of shrimp you can house in the same home aquarium and which pairings to avoid.
Examples of good shrimp pairings:
- Amano shrimp and cherry shrimp
- Amano shrimp and any other type of shrimp
- Bamboo shrimp and blue velvet shrimp
- Bee shrimp and blue pearl shrimp
- Tiger shrimp and yellow shrimp
There are many other pairings of shrimp that will live in perfect harmony together. If you are unsure about adding a different type of shrimp to your tank, it is always better to do your research before you invest in them. Simply search online about which types of shrimp are compatible with what you already have. Alternatively, you can ask in a forum or consult a specialist.
Examples of bad shrimp pairings:
- Bee shrimp and crystal red shrimp
- Blue pearl shrimp and blue velvet shrimp
- Green shrimp and crystal black shrimp
- Orange sakura shrimp and yellow shrimp
- Red rili shrimp and red cherry shrimp
As with the good shrimp pairings, there are many more bad shrimp pairings than the list above. Before adding any shrimp to your tank ensure that they will make a good fit with your preexisting fish, creatures and environment.
What shrimp can live with cherry shrimp?
Red cherry shrimp are not particularly aggressive in their nature and can easily live many most other varieties of shrimp in your home tank. However, there are a few types of shrimp that you should not pair with red cherry shrimp.
Bad shrimp to pair with cherry shrimp:
- Blue pearl shrimp
- Blue velvet shrimp
- Neocaridina heteropoda
- Orange sakura shrimp
- Red rili shrimp
- Snowball shrimp
- Yellow shrimp
If you already own red cherry shrimp, it is best to avoid adding the above types of shrimp to your home tank. Although some of the shrimp varieties certainly have a bit of an aggressive streak in them by nature, you should not find that they kill each other.
If you have placed any of the above types of shrimp in the same tank as red cherry shrimp and you find dead shrimp you should look for another cause of the problem. You may need to look at the other fish and creatures in your tank as well as the salinity levels and other tank specifications.
Conclusion
To conclude we reiterate that yes, Amano shrimp can live in harmony in the same home aquarium as cherry shrimp. However, they will only live side by side and will not interbreed. If you are looking to breed varieties of shrimp then another pairing would be more suitable.
Although Amano shrimp can become a little aggressive where food is concerned they are not generally bullish in nature. This means that as long as you provide both types of shrimp with sufficient food, you will not have any problems. Your Amano shrimp will simply take their fill, leaving the cherry shrimp to eat the rest.