Last month, I bought a 10 gallon aquarium from my cousin Ryan. It was stocked with a bunch of plants and a HUGE colony of cherry shrimp (Neocaridina davidi). Seriously, there are a lot of shrimp in there. My cousin said he’d started with just 5 or so shrimp. Now, there might be 100.

At first, the shrimps were mostly hidden in the Java moss at the bottom of the tank, but then, they started swimming around in the upper parts of the tank. To help them out, I added some tall Java ferns for them to climb on. Soon, they filled all the spaces in the aquarium.

But, with so many shrimp, I had a lot of mouths to feed. I mean, aside from blueberries, what do cherry shrimp eat anyways? Fish food? Plants? Cocktail sauce? Nope. These tiny crustaceans aren’t very demanding. They eat a lot, but a lot of what they eat can be found in the aquarium. They mainly eat algae and this stuff called biofilm, which is a layer of microorganisms that grow on surfaces inside an aquarium.

Throughout the day, I’ll see my shrimp eating algae and biofilm off the the substrate, the plants, and even the aquarium glass. They’re so tiny that they can literally grab onto the tiny dots of algae and graze like miniature cows. I’m not gonna lie; it’s pretty cute.

(Oh yeah, they also molt and eat their old exoskeletons. It might seem gross, but they get a lot of calcium from it, which helps strengthen their little red shells.)

That said, it’s important to provide them with additional foods every few days, so they have a well-balanced diet and get all of their nutrients. Shrimp pellets are probably the most convenient, but boiled vegetables are another good option. Just make sure you remove the vegetables from the tank after a few hours, so you don’t risk polluting the water or spiking the ammonia levels. I had to remove these boiled zucchinis after a few hours because, even with an army of ravenous shrimp, they barely made a dent in them.

The cherry shrimp won’t be the only species in this tank for long. Soon, I’ll be adding more interesting creatures, so stay tuned for updates! If you liked this article, please give it a like, leave a comment down below, and follow Tidewater Teddy. Thanks, and have a great day!