Does anyone have any experience keeping shrimp in super hard water

[Nermer_pepper]

Shrimp are kind of a white whale thing for me currently as I’ve tried keeping them twice but didn’t succeed either time. The first time I believe was due to molting issues and the second was really unexplained. My water is very hard at about 17 degrees gh and 15 kh. Now the first time I used only my water and lost all the shrimp and did see molting issues. The second time I used 50/50 RO to my water. I still lost all the shrimp and still saw molting issues although less. I did daily tests with the second batch and was sitting around 8-9 gh and 7 kh. Has anyone ever kept neocardinia in hard water. If so what were your experiences?

[shkote]

Mine are kept in about 10-12 kh and anywhere from 20-30 dgH  without issues. It helps if you purchase them from someone who already keeps them in similar water parameters, or start with culls. They tend to be healthier and a little more bulletproof.  

[Nermer_pepper]

Thank you! When I lost them I have a sneaking suspicion that there might have been a bacterial infection of some sort as I didn’t exactly get them in the best of condition anyways.

[shkote]

Quite possible. The initial acclimating period can be rough if they aren't strong and healthy to begin with. People always label neo shrimp as hardy, but usually fail to mention just how sensitive they can be especially in the beginning. Once they are used to your water, they will take over 😊

[Tinyfellows]

@shkote How long would you say the initial acclimatization period is My rcs colony is struggling as well

[Schwack]

My water is fairly hard and keeping neos has been a bit of an experience. When I introduce new shrimp, regardless of acclimation, I seem to lose 20-30% over the first two weeks to mystery ailments. The remaining shrimp all seem healthy and are breeding like rabbits. The shrimp bred in my tanks are bulletproof though. 

I'd second starting with some culls. People typically don't ask much for them, so you can buy a large colony to start with and absorb some losses. Last time I purchased shrimp I ended up buying close to 25 lost seven or eight over a few weeks and now many of them are berried with the first generation to live entirely in my water.

I typically only feed them once a week, the rest of the time they get to scavenge fish food and plant detritus. I will occasionally put in a banquet block so they can get some minerals which may not be present in my water.

[shkote]

Mine are generally good once they make it past the first molt. A stable and well established tank is really the key to keeping them alive and healthy. 

[SWilson]

It might be helpful to know your acclimation process and how long your tank has been established.  I honestly don't have a ton of experience, but those seem to be the 2 most important factors with shrimp from what I've researched and with the bit of experience I do have.  (home-keeping of course, since retailers and large scale hobbyists seem to be able to just temperature acclimate before dumping the shrimp in).   I have also heard that the red cherry shrimp are hardier than the other colors and it's a good idea to start with them vs. the colors that have been line bred.  I second also buying from somewhere with similar water if you can.  I think the neocaridina do much better in hard water than crystals.  

My water is liquid rock with near 8 pH, the first time I tried neocaridina from a local breeder I found on reddit about a 1.5 hrs away from me it was a total disaster.  They all died within the week with molting issues.  I had discussed water parameters with the breeder and we had pretty similar water.  So I think I screwed up acclimating them or there was something very wrong with my water that didn't show up on the test kit.  I didn't have a very good drip system then.  Also my tank was also only about 1.5 mos old at that time so it was not very stable.  They were green jades and probably pretty delicate.

After my tank had been running 5 months with fish and snails, I tried again.  I bought from someone on Aquabid who is about 3 hours away from me.  I took about 2-3 hours to drip acclimate them.  And testing the water to make sure that the parameters were the same in the holding container and in the tank I was trying to put them into before I introduced them.  This time it seemed to work much better, though I bought 20 and I only see about 5-6 at a time, ever.  I'm sure I had losses but I have only ever seen one mysteriously dead, about 2 months later.  They aren't prolific but I am pretty sure they're breeding because I see small ones every once in a while.  I think my endlers are eating most of the babies, even with hiding places.   

I'm curious if you've tried amanos or ghost shrimp, or another type that are less expensive/delicate than cherry shrimp, and if that works out?

[Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics]

Having an established tank is half the battle. How long has your tank been set up?

[Streetwise]

I have somewhat hard water, and use tannins from wood to drive the pH down a bit. Wood also provides a nice surface for biofilm and algae. My organic soil also provides tannins. My Neocaridina are happy, but I might have to do more work if I were to try Carinidina.

I also make sure that algae is growing as a constant food source, and I leave all the mulm.

[stowcenter93]

I have super hard city water. High buffer and GH. Zero issues when I've gotten any Neos. My issues arose when the tank was new and unstable.

Have them in with guppies and pygmy corys and I still get them to breed

[Alexa]

Hard city water here with lots of calcium and magnesium. No matter what I seem to lose 25-50% of new shrimp during the first molt, but if I manage to get any shrimplets out of the survivors, they are bullet proof.

I will echo that the more seasoned a tank is the better they do. Keep that algae and mulm! #STT

 

[Dirtydave]

I'll say on thing;I got mine from aqua huna and their doing great.Breeding up a storm

[Nermer_pepper]

7 hours ago, SWilson said:

It might be helpful to know your acclimation process and how long your tank has been established.  I honestly don't have a ton of experience, but those seem to be the 2 most important factors with shrimp from what I've researched and with the bit of experience I do have.  (home-keeping of course, since retailers and large scale hobbyists seem to be able to just temperature acclimate before dumping the shrimp in).   I have also heard that the red cherry shrimp are hardier than the other colors and it's a good idea to start with them vs. the colors that have been line bred.  I second also buying from somewhere with similar water if you can.  I think the neocaridina do much better in hard water than crystals.  

My water is liquid rock with near 8 pH, the first time I tried neocaridina from a local breeder I found on reddit about a 1.5 hrs away from me it was a total disaster.  They all died within the week with molting issues.  I had discussed water parameters with the breeder and we had pretty similar water.  So I think I screwed up acclimating them or there was something very wrong with my water that didn't show up on the test kit.  I didn't have a very good drip system then.  Also my tank was also only about 1.5 mos old at that time so it was not very stable.  They were green jades and probably pretty delicate.

After my tank had been running 5 months with fish and snails, I tried again.  I bought from someone on Aquabid who is about 3 hours away from me.  I took about 2-3 hours to drip acclimate them.  And testing the water to make sure that the parameters were the same in the holding container and in the tank I was trying to put them into before I introduced them.  This time it seemed to work much better, though I bought 20 and I only see about 5-6 at a time, ever.  I'm sure I had losses but I have only ever seen one mysteriously dead, about 2 months later.  They aren't prolific but I am pretty sure they're breeding because I see small ones every once in a while.  I think my endlers are eating most of the babies, even with hiding places.   

I'm curious if you've tried amanos or ghost shrimp, or another type that are less expensive/delicate than cherry shrimp, and if that works out?

So this is a tank that I tore down about 8 months ago after it crashed. But when the shrimp were added it had been running for roughly 3-4 months as an on off quarantine tank and snail refuge. Long enough that all the plants were overgrown and jungle like. I was posting this mainly because I’m now in a position to try shrimp again and wanted some either encouragement or someone to tell me not to.

[Nermer_pepper]

7 hours ago, Mitch Norton said:

Having an established tank is half the battle. How long has your tank been set up?

This was a tank which I got rid of a while ago and I’m just now in a position to try shrimp again. The tank in question though had been running 3-4 months before any shrimp were added mainly housing quarantine fish and snails that were permanent residents. If I try again I’ll let the crypts grow out in my betta tank for a couple months and once I think there’s sufficient plant cover I’ll get a small colony, just looking to see if my water was the issue or if it might have been something else.

[SWilson]

Ah ok! I definitely encourage you to try again! Who knows, whatever the mix - different source of shrimp, different set up, different practices - could mean a different result!  I was just talking to someone at my lfs today about keeping shrimp and he suggested the small pieces of cholla wood as well which serve both as cover and as a food source for them.  

[Ryan F]

I'm starting my RCS journey as well. If you do a short look about for shrimp acclimation, you'll find a lot of guides. They mostly tell the same story S. L. O. W. slow. Just take everything slow. 

I think 3-4 months is a bit too young of a tank for shrimp. But you might get lucky. Maybe an autofeeder that can do 6 tiny meals a day will keep them going. Shrimp are grazing constantly. Maybe if you have a lot of green or brown algae growing for them to snack on. They wont eat beard or hair algae unless it's dead/dying.

[Marc]

Where are you getting your shrimp from? I have fairly hard water and they do fine.

What is you pH?  

[Andy's Fish Den]

My water is hard, between 12-15 on both GH and KH scales. No issues with neo shrimp for me in my water. When I first get new ones from someone I drip acclimate them over a couple hours, and I never put them in a tank that hasn't been up for at least a few months. I have found that even when I cull shrimp, if I have a fairly new tank and throw the culls into it, I will have die off, even with same water parameters.