Shrimp - I Cant Keep Them Alive

I have kept fish for years but when it comes to Shrimps I don't have much experience!

I have tried keeping Red Cherry Shrimps through out my years of fish keeping and one time I went crazy with some blue velvet shrimp I saw at a store and spent tons of money getting them and those little guys did not last a week.

I haven't been very successful with them at all

I recently decided to give it another try.

Got 10 cherry shrimp and put them in my 10 gallon nano tank.
the tank is cycled
PH around 6.8
Heavily planted tank

woke up the next day to all shrimps dead.

After that I got a female betta and I have some sparkling gouramis in there and they have been in the tank for a while now and doing great.

What in the world am I doing wrong lol?? do I need a special vitamin or something to add to the water to keep shrimps?

 

What is the gH and kH of your tank

 

umm that's a good question. The API test kit I have does not have that. I never even thought of testing for it as I never thought it was really important

 

Welcome to fishlore!

I'm new to shrimpkeeping too - and will be following this thread, as a few of my new RCS have also died.

My understanding is that properly acclimating shrimp to your tank is critical - they're super sensitive to water parameters and any changes to them.
What are your water params? Also, the KH and GH is important for shrimp health too. I'm sure someone on Fishlore with lots of shrimpy experience will come along and make some suggestions!

 

Was this a newly set up tank? Shrimp really need a mature tank, as the algae is a key part of their diet.

 

I think that the problem might be the KH and GH as I have never even tested any of my tanks for it. My fish have always done very well so I figured the tanks were good enough for shrimps! ill be getting a test kit for the KH and GH this weekend and see.

What should a normal KH and GH should be for shrimps anyways?

the last batch I got I put them in my nano tank which is fairly new. Only two months

 

I keep mine in a kH of 2 and gH of 8. Also TDS plays a role, should be under 200 I believe

 

What should a normal KH and GH should be for shrimps anyways?

This depends on this shrimp, if you are keeping neocaridina varieties (like RCS and blue velvets) they tend to like some hardness in the water (this doesn't apply to caridina varieties for those you need RODI water). I keep RCS with a KH of 9 and a GH of 11 (my water is pretty hard). Some GH (4+) is required, but actually I find RCS pretty adjustable to a variety of hardness. But unlike fish they cannot torelate any swings in parameters. If you have even a little ammonia or nitrites that could easily wipe out a whole colony.

 

I have not been entirely successful yet either! Ironically I struggle with the shrimp only tanks, the shrimps in the community tank are doing alright on their own without any involvement from me. Here's what I have figured out so far: Cherries tend to like more alkaline water. You can try to raise your ph naturally with crushed coral or cuttlebone. Try to get juveniles instead of adults, they handle changes better. Use driftwood, cholla wood, or indian almond leaves, and live plants. Only use cold tap water for water changes and let it sit until it warms up to room temperature. A heater should not be needed.

I'm going to start trying something like this:

 

Yeah, good advice from SegiDream. I would also advocate for always having indian almond leaves in the tank (it's a food source for them), they also benefit from a moss or subswassertang. I leave algae on 3/4 sides of the tank (just not the front viewing panel) to ensure they have a good amount of grazing material.

 

Stability and consistency is key, along with a very mature planted tank. Do not use active substrate with neocaridina shrimp, as once the buffering runs out it causes a swing in pH and KH. Use inert substrates for them so you don't get those swings. I do, however, recommend SamuraI Soil, as it is an inert planted tank substrate that has, in my experience, produced good plant growth without affecting water chemistry. Shrimp also like to pick over the uniform grain size.

Let the glass on the aquarium get nice and grungy! Once you see it covered in green algae and brown biofilm, you know it is a good habitat for shrimp. Keep in mind that does not mean your tank is dirty, as pristine water is a must for keeping shrimp. It just means you've allowed biofilm to accumulate to a level that it can sustain a shrimp colony.

Add botanicals to the tank that will allow the growth of biofilm and release tannins. In small amounts tannins do not effect pH. Driftwood, cholla, alder cones, and dried leaves such as IAL or magnolia. Do not add green wood or leaves to an aquarium.

Cooler tanks are a better environment for shrimp. While they do breed faster in warmer water they also don't live as long and may molt more frequently, which can take a toll on their bodies. They also produce less waste and don't need to eat as much in cool water. My tanks stay around 74 F.

Test your water to ensure you have an adequate KH and GH. Neocaridina need a KH greater than 2 to thrive and a GH of between 4 and 8, ideally. It can be higher or lower, as long as the water remains consistent. TDS is also important, under 200 is ideal for most shrimp. My TDS was around 80-90.

For optimal breeding, keep them in a 5 gallon or larger. I noticed even though I was seeing berried females in my 2.5 gallon I saw very few babies. As soon as I moved them to a 10 gallon I had a population explosion, and now I have too many babies to count.

Live plants are a must, especially mosses. If you don't have a lot of moss, floating plants and stuff like hornwort will also be a good nursery for your shrimplets. Not only do these plants provide shelter and a food source, they help keep your nitrates low. I also highly recommend keeping snails with shrimp, such as malaysian trumpets. While they reproduce insanely fast, they keep the substrate aerated and also eat any leftover food the shrimp leave behind.

I have become addicted to shrimp, and have considered changing out my 29 gallon planted community tank into a huge shrimp colony!

 

thanks for the responses everyone! the substrate in my tank is the Fluval Plant & Shrimp Stratum Plant Care. I love it for the plants, they are doing great.

However I think I'm giving up the idea of Shrimps at least for now. My tanks are not mature enough and I don't want to start messing with parameters etc.. and mess up the whole tank (knowing how clumsy I am).

Question, doesn't driftwood lowers the PH in the tank?

 

Question, doesn't driftwood lowers the PH in the tank?

It does, but in order for it to be a measurable drop in pH you'd need quite a bit of it.

 

ohh I see! good to know

 

I just started a red cherry colony. There’s a lot of good info on this thread! I felt kinda bad cleaning the algae off the sides of the tank. It felt like I was insulting their cleaning abilities or something. Luckily there is plenty on the backside and the driftwood. I have a lot of floating plants which the shrimp seem to love. They hang upside down on it, and sometimes even crawl on top of it.

 

that's great! good luck with the colony! post some photos

 

Here they are hanging out on the prefilter!
I think the colony was originally “snowball” shrimp, but they have a decent amount of reds mixed in by now. I happily acquired them from a friend of a friend who was looking to rehome them, so I can’t say for sure.