Which shrimp should I get? Let me see your shrimp tanks!

[Alec]

I'm wanting to set up a shrimp tank but am torn on which shrimp to get. I either want red cherry shrimp, yellow shrimp, or blue shrimp. Which do you recommend? Can I see pictures of your shrimp tanks?

[Flumpweesel]

Sorry I can't help but my dilemma is between Blue and Yellow. 

[JettsPapa]

I have all three, and like all of them.  Do you already have the tank set up?  If yes you might let the substrate color help you decide.  Red and yellow shrimp look best on dark substrates, and blue ones look best on lighter ones, like natural colored sand.

[Mmiller2001]

I would pick shrimp that would work well with your source water parameters. What's your GH and KH?

[Alec]

On 12/20/2021 at 7:40 AM, JettsPapa said:

I have all three, and like all of them.  Do you already have the tank set up?  If yes you might let the substrate color help you decide.  Red and yellow shrimp look best on dark substrates, and blue ones look best on lighter ones, like natural colored sand.

I don't have it set up set. I was going to either use fluval or eco complete for my substrate. Any ideas for a light colored planted substrate?

[JettsPapa]

On 12/20/2021 at 9:31 AM, Alec said:

I don't have it set up set. I was going to either use fluval or eco complete for my substrate. Any ideas for a light colored planted substrate?

I use pool filter sand in all my tanks with light substrate.

[Griznatch]

I have all three of the colors you mentioned. Of the three, yellow and red show up the best on dark substrate. The blues are gorgeous but almost invisible on black or dark substrate.

The key thing to think about after you decide what you want in your tank, is to make sure your water temps, etc. are going to be compatible with your shrimp. Good news is Neos are pretty flexible. To have better success with starting out your first time with shrimp it's really helpful if the tank is "seasoned". A couple months of plants getting settled in, biofilm and some algae growth helps them get started. It also helps if they get established before adding fish.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Griznatch
typos

[Alec]

On 12/20/2021 at 11:49 AM, Griznatch said:

I have all three of the colors you mentioned. Of the three, yellow and red show up the best on dark substrate. The blues are gorgeous but almost invisible on black or dark substrate.

The key thing to think about after you decide what you want in your tank, is to make sure your water temps, etc. are going to be compatible with your shrimp. Good news is Neos are pretty flexible. To have better success with starting out your first time with shrimp it's really helpful if the tank is "seasoned". A couple months of plants getting settled in, biofilm and some algae growth helps them get started. It also helps if they get established before adding fish.

I think I am leaning towards yellow. I love the red cherry shrimp, but I do have a few of those in my main tank. I need to get a stand built and get it set up yet. The hardest part is waiting for it to be seasoned 😂. Thanks for your insight! 

[Griznatch]

You are welcome1

I started thinking to myself I could post an image of one of my shrimp tanks.. then I realized all my tanks are shrimp tanks!
 

 

[Maggie]

I've had yellow shrimp and currently have blue dreams. Most of these are still not full grown yet. 

[RonBFree]

On 12/20/2021 at 1:14 PM, Maggie said:

I've had yellow shrimp and currently have blue dreams. Most of these are still not full grown yet. 

I have six colors of neocaridina shrimp that I breed.  All survive well if kept in the proper water conditions.  My best luck and breeding them have been the Red Cherry, Bloody Mary, Orange and White.  Lesser luck with my Blues and Greens.

[JettsPapa]

On 12/20/2021 at 10:52 AM, Alec said:

I think I am leaning towards yellow. I love the red cherry shrimp, but I do have a few of those in my main tank. I need to get a stand built and get it set up yet. The hardest part is waiting for it to be seasoned 😂. Thanks for your insight! 

Since you're leaning toward yellow I'd definitely suggest a dark substrate and dark background.  They'll look much better.  Since you're new to shrimp keeping you might enjoy some basic info I posted on another thread a while ago:  

 

[Alec]

On 12/20/2021 at 1:47 PM, JettsPapa said:

Since you're leaning toward yellow I'd definitely suggest a dark substrate and dark background.  They'll look much better.  Since you're new to shrimp keeping you might enjoy some basic info I posted on another thread a while ago:  

 

Thanks! I briefly looked it over and there is a lot of good info. I will definitely read in more detail later. When looking at water type (Kh, Gh, Ph etc) for shrimp is it best to look at tap water straight from faucet and use those numbers to adjust accordingly?

[Ken Burke]

I luv the reds!  Especially on green plants

[JettsPapa]

On 12/20/2021 at 12:55 PM, Alec said:

Thanks! I briefly looked it over and there is a lot of good info. I will definitely read in more detail later. When looking at water type (Kh, Gh, Ph etc) for shrimp is it best to look at tap water straight from faucet and use those numbers to adjust accordingly?

Ideally you would let your tapwater parameters help determine which type of shrimp to keep.  Mine is hard, with 8.2 pH.  That's totally unsuitable for caridinas, and even higher then ideal for neos, but they seem to do okay in it anyway.

With that being said, there's certainly nothing wrong with starting with distilled or RO water and adding minerals to get it where you want, or doing the same with tap water if it's soft.

[Maggie]

On 12/20/2021 at 1:47 PM, JettsPapa said:

Since you're leaning toward yellow I'd definitely suggest a dark substrate and dark background.  They'll look much better.

I agree! My yellow shrimp all but disappeared on natural color river rock pebble substrate. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Neocaridina don’t mind hard water and are quite adaptable especially if they are young. Try to get juveniles not adults. I would setup your tank for a minimum of 12 weeks to build up the necessary biofilm to sustain them. A mix of surfaces rock piles, wood and plants are needed for them to be successful. I like to have a good size clump of moss and or subwassertang for the babies to hide in. They are constantly eating off surfaces within the tank. They need a decent kH and gH so this can be supplied by crushed coral, regularly placing wonder shells, or adding a supplement like salty shrimp gh/kh+ to r/o water. 
I’ve had skittles tanks, bloody Mary’s, yellow, orange, greens and blue dreams presently keep a large breeding colony of blues and a smaller group of green/yellows. Yellow is your best bet to show up in a planted tank. You’ll see some sellers advertising golden backs which are shrimp that are selectively bred to have a darker yellow gold stripe down their back. It’s really just your preference whether you like the stripe or not. You can see it to some extent in the pics I’ve posted. The greens are essentially camouflage I have to really work to see them. The blues I keep on a white aragonite sand so they stand out. 

[Alec]

@JettsPapa

Do you gave a suggestion for a heater for a 10 gal? I have only used preset heaters, but since the shrimp are best at a little lower temp, I will need an adjustable one. One that is maybe not too expensive. 

[JettsPapa]

On 12/21/2021 at 8:19 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Neocaridina don’t mind hard water and are quite adaptable especially if they are young. Try to get juveniles not adults. I would setup your tank for a minimum of 12 weeks to build up the necessary biofilm to sustain them. A mix of surfaces rock piles, wood and plants are needed for them to be successful. I like to have a good size clump of moss and or subwassertang for the babies to hide in. They are constantly eating off surfaces within the tank. . .

Pearl weed is another good option.

On 12/21/2021 at 9:00 AM, Alec said:

@JettsPapa

Do you gave a suggestion for a heater for a 10 gal? I have only used preset heaters, but since the shrimp are best at a little lower temp, I will need an adjustable one. One that is maybe not too expensive. 

If the tank will be inside your house, and you keep the temperature comfortable for you, you don't really need a heater for just shrimp.

[Struggle]

I don’t have anything else to add to the above but thought I could give a couple of different type of shrimp tanks we have. These are PRL Caridina but you could do the same type of setups with neos as well. If going with neos I’d recommend using a inert substrate and not the buffering type as used with Caridina type shrimp.

This first pic is of our 40G bow front before it crashed last week and is currently being reset. 
The second pic is our newly setup 10G breeding tank.

The third is just a shrimp pick.

[Alec]

@JettsPapa

I tested my tap water with the co op strips. This is what I came up with. 

 

Nitrate- 0

Nitrite- 0

Hardness (GH)- 150-300

Buffer (KH) - 80

pH - 7.6-8

Chlorine- 0

Ammonia- 0

If I am correct, both GH and KH are in a good range for neos. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Alectemp fluctuations of a few degrees don't seem to bother Neocaridina. So as @JettsPapaindicated if you keep your house around 68-72 during the winter and 75-80 in the summer won't bother them. In the PNW in the areas around sea level I have friends that keep them outside and Garden of Eder is in Florida and keeps most of his outside year round. You can use the temp to control their breeding - ie when colder their metabolisms slow down, they breed less and eat less. When hotter that is all reversed. 

Those parameters are excellent for neos. I don't think you need any supplements like salty shrimp or RO water. You could do some crushed coral but I would not do more than a pound or two under an inert gravel substrate. That will further buffer your water and keep you from having wild fluctuations of your parameters. 

Caridina like @Strugglehas need a constant temp and need either a room set at a certain temp or a tank heater. Beautiful crystal shrimps by the way @Struggle. Sorry to hear about your reset. I have had a few of those over the last year with my 11 g bowl. My sympathies. 

[JettsPapa]

On 12/21/2021 at 10:30 AM, Alec said:

@JettsPapa

I tested my tap water with the co op strips. This is what I came up with. 

 

Nitrate- 0

Nitrite- 0

Hardness (GH)- 150-300

Buffer (KH) - 80

pH - 7.6-8

Chlorine- 0

Ammonia- 0

If I am correct, both GH and KH are in a good range for neos. 

 

Yes, those numbers are fine for neos.

[Alec]

On 12/21/2021 at 11:36 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@Alectemp fluctuations of a few degrees don't seem to bother Neocaridina. So as @JettsPapaindicated if you keep your house around 68-72 during the winter and 75-80 in the summer. 

I have a 26 gal tank that is currently cycling and I unplugged the Heater to see what the water temperature was like. It has gotten down to about 70. Is this still a good water temp for the shrimp as far as breeding goes?

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Alecthe key is stability and preventing big fluctuations in temp. Keep an eye if it stays within a couple degrees you should be fine. 

How long are you planning to cycle and season the tank?