Shrimp and Ammonium

[Ameise]

Hello,

I know a post about it a lot, but I'm curious in this regard.

I have a jar setup (1G) that is currently still awaiting livestock. It's getting plenty of light, and has several wisteria plants, java moss, and glossostigma, all growing. The only animals in there right now are substrate worms and copepods, none introduced intentionally.

That said, the substrate is aquasoil, and it both reduces pH and leaches ammonia.

At present, my pH is 6.4, Total Ammonia is 3ppm, nitrate and nitrite are both 0ppm, and GH is around 2-3. I presume that the nitrogen cycle is inactive due to the pH being so low. Ammonia has dropped in the past, but I culled some plants which weren't very healthy and it spiked. However, at a pH of 6.4, nearly 100% of the total ammonia should be ammonium (NH4+).

Total Ammonia itself has been steady yet dropping gradually. pH has been steady. GH has dropped, but I can (and should) buffer it. The various inverts (as said, copepods) are doing spectacularly from what I can tell.

Given ammonium, what's still needed for cherry shrimp in this jar? My understanding is ammonium shouldn't be toxic at those levels, but I'd still like to drop it a bit more. I'm currently doing daily or every-other-day water changes of 40% (to leach the AS more).

 

[Fishfur]

HIgher GH. They need it to be at least at 4 to moult properly. Seachem makes a test that reads ammonia and ammonium separately, if you want to be certain. Neos, which are the cherries and all the other colour forms, also do best in alkaline water, not acidic water. Crystal shrimp are the ones that like acidic water, and the ones that type of substrate is used for most often.

 

[Ameise]

Aren't crystal shrimp a bit less hardy than cherry shrimp?

I have seen a lot of mixed information on RCS; while everyone agrees that GH must be above 4, some people say they breed like mad in acidic water, some in hard... they seem to be a very variable species.

 

[Fishfur]

Crystal shrimp are less hardy than cherries. They do require acidic water, some of them, like Taiwan Bee shrimp, a very low pH.

But there's a shrimp commonly sold as an Orange Bee shrimp which is actually Caridina propinqua, and it needs hard water, alkaline water, just like Neos and Amanos and Stone shrimp and many other Caridina species need.

It really depends on the actual species, and the colour names don't always tell you the species, and it's not always the fault of the seller, they often buy from commercial producers who sell them under whatever name they like, or so it seems sometimes.

Neocaridina heteropoda, the cherry shrimp, and it's many colour forms, like white [ Snowball], yellow, orange, chocolate, blue, etc., come from different native waters than Crystals and Bees. They do best in harder, more alkaline water, to maintain their shells, and moult properly.

They are more adaptable than Crystals, so it's possible some have managed to breed populations that have adapted to less than ideal conditions. That can happen, especially over time. Getting young shrimp helps, they're much more able to adapt than adults are. Many fish are like this, able to adapt to a wider variety of parameters than the ideal from whence they first came. But I always think it's better to try to give them what they evolved to flourish in, if possible.

If you get info from shrimp breeders, you'll get better info. For example, check the site for Shrimpfever. He's got a store, imports and breeds shrimp, and has done for years, so he has great information. Canadian, don't know if he ships to the US. I've had some really nice shrimp from him, always very good advice, and he's a really decent guy too.