I want to build a thread of personal experience and knowledge of shrimp success. What do you do to keep your shrimp happy, make them thrive, do's and don'ts. Both shrimp only tanks and community tanks. I don't have any experience with shrimp but am starting my research and I know that we could make a nice thread for everyone in the future.
Keys to Shrimp Success
- Thread starter Krogman
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Huro
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Following...Great idea btw Krogman
Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
My Amano shrimp.. I got 5 of them for my 20 tall low/med light planted 4 months ago to rid it if a bba outbreak. They did a great job of doing that! I've since added more plants and more fish, they would always be out and about working in tandem on any of the plants in my tank, since adding a gbr they seemed to be much more hidey.. Not that I don't see them at all but not nearly as much.. I've noticed they've colored up quite a bit after a few molts, nice red dots with a light mustard yellow stripe down their back..all in all they are great little tank mates! Favorite food is by far krill pellets, they will battle Pygmy Cory's and whomever else to get a hold of one pellet .. It's rather entertaining
ps. They tolerate moderate excel doses just fine..
ps. They tolerate moderate excel doses just fine..cfosgate
Aquarium Advice Freak
Sponge filters are awesome for shrimp. They like to hang on them and pick things off of the filter. A Hamberg Matten Filter is even better (more sponge area for them to hang on).
Mr Fisher
Aquarium Advice FINatic
From my experience
1. Sponge filters
2. Java moss for the shrimp to nibble and hide in
3. RCs seem to like it around 75-78 degrees
4. Keep ammonia at .25ppm or less preferably 0
5. Neon Tetras are NOt good tankmates
6. Endlers ARE good tank mates
7. They LOVE algae wafers every couple of day
8. Contrary to what I read elsewhere, RCS do not like Hikari Crab Bites
I'm sure I can think of some more stuff
1. Sponge filters
2. Java moss for the shrimp to nibble and hide in
3. RCs seem to like it around 75-78 degrees
4. Keep ammonia at .25ppm or less preferably 0
5. Neon Tetras are NOt good tankmates
6. Endlers ARE good tank mates
7. They LOVE algae wafers every couple of day
8. Contrary to what I read elsewhere, RCS do not like Hikari Crab Bites
I'm sure I can think of some more stuff
cfosgate
Aquarium Advice Freak
These are the folks I get my HMF from. Great to deal with. A little pricy up front but there is no maintenance involved, no filter material to change, and shrimp love hanging on and picking off the filter. Also good for fry as they won't get sucked up into a filter intake.
www.swisstropicals.com/filtration-shop/mattenfilter-shop/
www.swisstropicals.com/filtration-shop/mattenfilter-shop/
Coursair
Aquarium Advice Addict
I went from 15 to 100 RCS in my first 10g Shrimp tank with 3 Otos.
Sand substrate
HOB filter with Fluval prefilter sponge over intake
Screw in CFLs 6,500K for my plants.
They love live plants. PWCs every week. Use Prime in the bucket before adding new water.
I feed a variety. Spinach, Romaine, Zucchini, Carrot, Omega One is main brand, also specialized Shrimp foods. Current favorite is Rapashy Gel foods.
No heater. Tank stays in the 70's
Lots of Plants
I added CRS later and still have some. Breeding never took off, due to my only male dying.
Added a variety of Nano fish and now never see baby Shrimp, but see a few new juveniles that survive.
Some days I wish I'd stuck with Otos. I miss seeing the baby Shrimp.
Fish:
Cory habrosus
Threadfin Rainbows
CPDs
Scarlet Badis
Cory hastatus ( too young, didn't make it)
Snails; MTS, Pond and Ramshorn
Before adding Fish other than Otos
http://youtu.be/2dxCfQK6jBg
After adding fish, looks great , but not a Shrimp tank anymore. Adult Shrimp are fine. Babies are thinned out a lot. These are OLD vids
http://youtu.be/aptmdICahvM
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sand substrate
HOB filter with Fluval prefilter sponge over intake
Screw in CFLs 6,500K for my plants.
They love live plants. PWCs every week. Use Prime in the bucket before adding new water.
I feed a variety. Spinach, Romaine, Zucchini, Carrot, Omega One is main brand, also specialized Shrimp foods. Current favorite is Rapashy Gel foods.
No heater. Tank stays in the 70's
Lots of Plants
I added CRS later and still have some. Breeding never took off, due to my only male dying.
Added a variety of Nano fish and now never see baby Shrimp, but see a few new juveniles that survive.
Some days I wish I'd stuck with Otos. I miss seeing the baby Shrimp.
Fish:
Cory habrosus
Threadfin Rainbows
CPDs
Scarlet Badis
Cory hastatus ( too young, didn't make it)
Snails; MTS, Pond and Ramshorn
Before adding Fish other than Otos
http://youtu.be/2dxCfQK6jBg
After adding fish, looks great , but not a Shrimp tank anymore. Adult Shrimp are fine. Babies are thinned out a lot. These are OLD vids
http://youtu.be/aptmdICahvM
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Smudger
Aquarium Advice Regular
I find white clouds are good tankmates I have the golden wcmm's and the high end of their temp range (25°) is perfect for the shrimp. My rcs have just had babies, havnt seen any eggs inside of the 2 pregnant females i had for a couple days and noticed the 2mm babies pottering around this morning
My tanks is a 5.5ish with a small int filter, 25w heater, substrate/small gravel, 2 anubias, a moss ball and a handful of java moss, I also have a plastic hollow log and a floating plant which im yet to find the name for.
Sent from my SM-T310 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
My tanks is a 5.5ish with a small int filter, 25w heater, substrate/small gravel, 2 anubias, a moss ball and a handful of java moss, I also have a plastic hollow log and a floating plant which im yet to find the name for.
Sent from my SM-T310 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Smudger
Aquarium Advice Regular
Fishdude3233
Aquarium Advice Addict
Here's my opinion
1. For RCS tanks
1. If your serious about breeding, and selling start with good grade shrimp
2. Have at least a 5 gallon
3. Sponge filters are a must, even hobs with tights suck the smallest of shrimp up
4. Live plants are a must, especially java, christmas, Taiwan, and flame moss
5. cull your poorly graded shrimp otherwise your grades will fall.
Ill post more in a while I'm off to baseball but wanted to bookmark this.
1. For RCS tanks
1. If your serious about breeding, and selling start with good grade shrimp
2. Have at least a 5 gallon
3. Sponge filters are a must, even hobs with tights suck the smallest of shrimp up
4. Live plants are a must, especially java, christmas, Taiwan, and flame moss
5. cull your poorly graded shrimp otherwise your grades will fall.
Ill post more in a while I'm off to baseball but wanted to bookmark this.
DragonFish71
Great white snark
Mine is a 33g long shrimp only, except for an ABN pleco. I have RCS and Malawa Sulawesi. I keep mine shrimp only because I didn't want the shrimplets being eaten by the fish. ABN plecos won't eat a shrimp unless it's dead already.
I use low flow HOB filters that come with sponges to cover the intake. I also use the Fluval Shrimp Minerals additive. I only use two capfuls with a water change. I do water changes weekly with "aged" water. I have 55g food safe barrels fit with heaters and pumps to keep the water circulating, they auto-fill using a float system just like for swamp coolers. I of course turn off the refill while filling the shrimp tank, then turn it on again to fill the barrels once done. Sudden pH swings will kill shrimp.
Feeding is a variety of foods. Fresh veggies, Fluval Shrimp Granules, algae wafers, shrimp pellets.
Decor is plenty of live, easy care plants, some driftwood and rocks. Nothing fancy.
I use low flow HOB filters that come with sponges to cover the intake. I also use the Fluval Shrimp Minerals additive. I only use two capfuls with a water change. I do water changes weekly with "aged" water. I have 55g food safe barrels fit with heaters and pumps to keep the water circulating, they auto-fill using a float system just like for swamp coolers. I of course turn off the refill while filling the shrimp tank, then turn it on again to fill the barrels once done. Sudden pH swings will kill shrimp.
Feeding is a variety of foods. Fresh veggies, Fluval Shrimp Granules, algae wafers, shrimp pellets.
Decor is plenty of live, easy care plants, some driftwood and rocks. Nothing fancy.
Attachments
Nice pics guys. Really like that 3 tank display. Glad to hear ABN doing well with shrimp. I have gara flavatra that I will be putting shrimp with and may be getting an ABN. Gotta build my shrimp numbers though so if my tetras attack they will be outnumbered.
Coursair
Aquarium Advice Addict
Most Shrimp breeders that I know start with 10g tanks. Easier to keep stable. Sponge Filters are good. But for esthetics I prefer my HOB with sponge over the intake. Never had Shrimp in my filters. I do use part tap/part distilled as needed for water changes.
TDS meters are a cheap tool that can be a huge help.
I feed wide variety and enjoy my Shrimples ?
http://youtu.be/2dxCfQK6jBg
Smoke signals from my iPhone using Tapatalk
TDS meters are a cheap tool that can be a huge help.
I feed wide variety and enjoy my Shrimples ?
http://youtu.be/2dxCfQK6jBg
Smoke signals from my iPhone using Tapatalk
RookieFishOwner
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2014
- Messages
- 60
I have neon tetras with my amano and ghost shrimp, they don't bother each other as long as I feed them enough
Noticed that I stopped seeing baby shrimp in my tank even though I have seen many berried shrimp. Assumed from predation even though have only little fish in that tank. What I did was put a net breeder in the tank with a nice clump of java moss. Then found two really red berried females and put them in the breeder. Figured a way to get some more babies. So far one just hatched hers. Never realized how small the babies are. Easy way to increase your pop if you have fish that eat your baby shrimp
Superfish425
Aquarium Advice Regular
Wow I'm new to the site and just found this thread and all I can say is wow sooooooo helpful!!!! I love shrimp but was never very good at breading them. I'm totally gonna move some to my spare 5gallon when it sucked and add a sponge filter.
Thank you thank you to you all for this advice!!!!
Thank you thank you to you all for this advice!!!!
Darkseid76
Aquarium Advice FINatic
One thing I wanted to added. If your aim is to breed shrimp for high grades, which involves culling( not a fan personally ), I would suggest making sure to buy shrimp from other keepers.
That way you can keep some fresh genetics in your stock. Too much inbreeding can and will cause developmental problems and weak shrimp.
My RCS (55g) live in a tank with swordtails, cories, and a few rummy nose tetras. But because it pretty heavily planted I still have a nice population and occasionally see a shrimplet here and there.
I have 2 HOB's with women's hose as prefilter, they eat any wafer thrown in, and I have every grade possible without culling.
Occasionally I sell a few packages off and import fresh blood. Anybody who visits my home are always amazed by the tiny "lobsters" in my tank. One the best purchases I ever made.
That way you can keep some fresh genetics in your stock. Too much inbreeding can and will cause developmental problems and weak shrimp.
My RCS (55g) live in a tank with swordtails, cories, and a few rummy nose tetras. But because it pretty heavily planted I still have a nice population and occasionally see a shrimplet here and there.
I have 2 HOB's with women's hose as prefilter, they eat any wafer thrown in, and I have every grade possible without culling.
Occasionally I sell a few packages off and import fresh blood. Anybody who visits my home are always amazed by the tiny "lobsters" in my tank. One the best purchases I ever made.
WyAqua
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Glad to see this thread! I'm new to shrimp, and am trying them (red cherry, dwarf blackberry) for algae control (with some olive nerites) in a heavily planted tank 9 gallon with a variety of fish (rams, curviceps, pygmy ras, dwarf cories). So all an experiment in progress for me. Appreciate the information posted above, and look forward to more to come. Thanks for starting and posting!
