Keeping Shrimp

Shrimp were one of the first things I started breeding in this hobby. As simple as I thought they were, it came with a slew of learning curves. Throughout this blog I will describe each different species of freshwater shrimp and how to keep them and breed them.

Ghost shrimp were one of the first shrimp I started keeping in this hobby. There’s a large misconception about these invertebrates, though. Although very cheap, they are not great for keeping in your freshwater tank. They are primarily a scavenger feeding off leftover foods. Furthermore, they are very aggressive and may eat or pester other fish and shrimp. Many believe they are algae eaters, but this is not true.

These shrimp are actually native to the US in the southeast.  Ghost shrimp are very hit or miss on survival due to their short life spans of a couple months to a year max. I want people to understand when it comes to ghost shrimp; you may not be doing anything wrong rather you purchased them at a mature state close to the end of their life. The consensus with these inverts needs to be changed from a keepable invert to a feeder or scavenger for those that tend to overfeed.

Ghost shrimp aren’t impossible to breed, rather the reason you don’t see their babies after being berried for a month is because they eat their larvae. Therefore, if you intend to breed them you need to separate females after their eggs turn greenish and have them in a breeder box so the shrimplets can slip through and survive. You don’t see these bred in the hobby mostly because its not worth the time nor the money.

Parameters

• Temp 65-75

• Ph 7.0-8.0

• GH 3-10

• KH 3-15

Although their not ideal environment these shrimp can actually acclimate to salt water.

Ghost Shrimp

Amano shrimp are next on the list. These shrimp look very similar to glass shrimp but serve a greater purpose. Amano shrimp are a absolutely great algae eater and will combat anything from hair algae to black beard algae. These shrimp get quite large, hence having a harder impact of algae. Amano shrimp in my opinion do look a lot better because as they get older they get a speckled pattern to their body.

When it comes to breeding, it's not impossible; however, it is extremely difficult! Amano shrimp live in rivers and streams connected to saltwater outlets. In the wild, they go to these brackish rivers and release their eggs, where they dissolve, and the larvae thrive and grow in saltwater/brackish waters. They feed on phytoplankton at this phase, and one reaching half an inch travels back to freshwater, where they live out their life cycle.

This being said the exact needs to be done in the home aquarium. You must separate berried females and acclimate them to brackish waters, where like ghost shrimp, you put them in a breeder box so they can release larvae. Once larvae have hatched, you must religiously feed phytoplankton and then raise the larvae as such. Once done, gently acclimate them back to freshwater. This is a very time-consuming advanced breeding practice, and I recommend you try other shrimp and fish first before trying this.

Amano Shrimp can be kept in a wide range of parameters and being they get relatively large they can also be kept with several types of fish.

Parameters

• Temp - 60-80 degrees

• Ph - 6.0-7.8

• GH - 0-14

• kh 0-10

Amano Shrimp

A more exotic Shrimp to add to this list is Bamboo Shrimp and Vampire Shrimp. These freshwater shrimp get very large (up to 4 inches) and are more of a pleasure invert then that of a utility invert. These shrimp feed by filtering the water through their fan like hand. Therefore, making them a bit harder to keep. Since these some from fast moving streams they require a similar caring process. To keep them you will need faster flowing water, therefore, use of a powerhead or several powerful filters to keep food particulates suspended.

The key to success is heavy flow and powdered foods, however, this comes with its downside as these types of foods can lower water quality quickly. Thus its a tricky game to keep these guys well fed and thriving without causing fatal water conditions.

When it comes to breeding these shrimp are near identical to amano shrimp by which they need brackish conditions to hatch their eggs and special care and food to raise.

Parameters

• Temp - 74-84 degrees

• Ph - 7.0-7.5

• DKH - 3-10

Bamboo Shrimp

Neocaridina (aka cherry shrimp) are one of the most popular shrimp in the hobby and surely the one people often get misconceptions about or don’t know how to proper keep and succeed with. I have years of experience with these shrimp and have diffidently went through hardships and successions with them. Today I keep these shrimp in drastically different conditions to what I did years ago. I will go over some of my mistakes and successes so that you don’t have to suffer the consequences in the future.

Neocaridina have widely adaptable parameters, however, whatever you keep them at MAKE SURE ITS CONSISTENT. Consistency is the key to success with them. If you make drastic changes or chase numbers these little guys will suffer. Furthermore, when you bring them home be sure to acclimate them slowly. I recommend drip acclimation and floating to adjust temperature. I’ve lost whole colonies from rapid temperature changes. Just because they can be kept in a wide range doesn’t mean they can adapt quickly to it.

Breeding these guys is extremely easy as I stated before just keep them consistent and fed. My favorite food for these guys in Shrimp King Complete ( https://a.co/d/gv7qlnl ) Speaking of feeding be wary you can easily overfeed shrimp and being that shrimp are extremely sensitive to ammonia this can be detrimental to their life. Its better to underfeed as they will find food then to overfeed and risk spikes. 4

Once these have bred its incredibly important to have proper filtration in order to protect the baby shrimp from being sucked up from filtration. In the beginning I used HOB filters, with such I quickly learned that although I saw babies they were disappearing. Later I found many of these stuck in the filter. From there I installed a course piece of material over the filter which made all the difference. Later when I kept these guys exclusively by themselves I used oversized sponge filters, which made for great surface area for them to graze on and keep beneficial bacteria in the tank.

Parameters

• Temp 60-85

• Ph 5.8-8.0

• GH 4-14

• KH 0-10

As you can see parameters are wide but consistency is key. I will go further in depth in another post to talk about my parameters and other issues I have come across and how I got over them.

My Berried Neo

Lastly is Caridina Shrimp (aka Bee Shrimp), these shrimp have diffidently been the most challenging over the years as they require very specific parameters to live and breed in. These shrimp are known for their beautiful colors and patterns.

Now specifics, these shrimp require RODI water buffered with a GH solution to 4-6 dkh. Furthermore, they are a primarily vegetarian shrimp and don’t require as rich of a protein diet as neos.

These shrimp must have some type of buffering substrate to maintain a low ph. Being that substrate looses its buffering capability over time that also means you will need to change it out overtime. Like other neos these parameters need to be constant and overfeeding is detrimental to their health.

Parameters

• Temp 62-72

• PH 5.2-6.0

• GH 4-6

• KH 0-1

• TDS 120-200

Like neos I will be making another blog dedicated to caring for these successfully.

My Blue Bolt Caridina

Understand with all shrimp they are extremely sensitive to ammonia and nitrates. Ensure you maintain 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and below 20ppm of nitrates.