# How many RCS can I feasibly fit in a 3 gallon?



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

The berried female RCS I stuck in my 3 gallon in hopes of making babies has made babies, and a LOT of them at that.

How many RCS can I have in a 3G without worrying about overcrowding? Obviously the majority will be going into my main tank once they are big enough to not become snack food for my bloodfin tetras, but I'd like to leave a sizable colony in the 3G so I can increase my numbers further. Anybody have any thoughts on this?


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

So far I've read that 2.5g is the smallest tank they should have and you should start off with 10 (so you're most likely to get both male and female). Around 2-3 months old they start to breed. So, the original 10 may soon become 100, lol.

a 10g tank can support 100-150 shrimp easily, (LFS guy said he knows someone with 300 in a 10g tank). 

They love plants! And little caves to breed and molt in. Java moss, java fern, moss balls, they love them!

Hope this helps.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Thanks holly - I'll aim for 10 in the 3G tank, but right now there's about 40 in there, though they are infinitesimally small still (and growing fast). I'll relocate 3/4 of them to my 29 gallon once they're big enough to net out and transfer.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

I'm sure 40 would be fine, but you would probably have to supplement lots of food.... and they would keep breeding, lol.

You're lucky! I can't get mine to breed! My nitrates are too high - from our water source - I'm working to bring them down though. Brought 2 berried females home and have seen a few teeny tiny babies. You're right though, they grow fast! Last week they were pin head size or smaller, and this week they were just under 1/2 cm. My females have yellow saddles, but they never get to the berried stage. *sigh*..... Oh well, I'll keep trying. (Maybe they need some 'mood music', lol).


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

What are you feeding them? I give mine algae tabs twice a month, they also get decaps brine shrimp eggs and golden pearls, mine breed constantly.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I feed my RCS shrimp pellets and algae wafers, alternating. I also keep a healthy supply of live algae in the tank for them to chow on (which, due to the army, is now diminishing).

holly - RCS don't like nitrate, but they also don't like copper (very much so), or phosphate. I would look at water tests for these if you're not getting good results at low nitrates (which I've read in another post you attained). Also, cover your filter inlet as the babies will get sucked up. Buy some porous sponge material (Haagen sells a great filter inlet cover), or build your own prefilter from yellow dish sponge from the grocery store.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Thanks gtm and susankat! I feed them shrimp pellets and algae wafers. (I'm sure they are also getting natural algae, left over flake food and left over glass worms and blood worms as well.... probably frog pellets too). I'm going to start giving my snails and ottos zuchinni, so they'll get some of that too. I'm growing some algae for the ottos and snales too, so I'll bet the shrimp will love it.

I have a Fluval pre-sponge on my fliter intake so the baby shrimp don't get sucked up into the filter. I know that copper will kill shrimp, so I'm pretty sure I don't have it in my tank water, lol. Nitrates have just come into the safe level, so maybe the shrimp just need some time to adjust. Some of the females have yellow saddles and some have black.... do they have cycles where they have eggs in the ovaries and then if no breeding takes place the saddles are empty?


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Not that I'm aware.

How many males vs. females do you have? And keep in mind almost all fish LOVE baby RCS as snack food.


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