Shrimp Keepers: "I didn't realize until keeping shrimp that..."

[nabokovfan87]

This is a generalized statement, but I was thinking about how fascinating learning about the Neocaridina shrimp has been for the past few months. Ultimately you can do research to your hearts content, but there are certain things you just won't learn until you see it in person.

That's what the question here is. Be it amano, Neocaridina, or Caridina species in your care, what is something that you learned, but didn't quite understand or expect until you had the shrimp in the tank?

For me....

I didn't realize until keeping the neos exactly how to feed them or how small they were. That's been one of the biggest conundrums is trying to fight the urge to feed too much and keeping the size of them in perspective when doing so.

I probably watched 50+ videos on "don't overfeed" and saw how little it really takes, but seeing it in person, it's definitely a skill to master over time when it comes to how much food you place in the tank (and how often).

[TheSwissAquarist]

I didn’t realize that green jade shrimp are darn hard to find if your tank is an algae farm. 
A shrimp: 

A picture of a shrimp:

[Guppysnail]

I did not realize they would take over tanks and become armies. I did not realize they would groom slime coat on fish that are supposed to eat them to the point they are a nuisance. I did not realize they would overrun every morsel of food until fish could not get to it. 
I did not realize they could live on a damp sponge filter for and hour and invade other tanks. I did not realize they would build entire colonies inside canister filters. 
 

I did not realize they would climb up my arm above the water line while working in tanks. That’s almost creepy. 🤣

[The endler guy]

You can keep them with most small (under 4 inches) 

 

 

heck I have a surviving cherry shrimp in my 40 gal with spooky my Bolivian ram who LOVES to eat shrimp

[KittenFishMom]

If you have fish in the tank. feeding the fish tends to feed the shrimp, so buying expensive tiny containers of high end shrimp food is not really needed.

Edited April 3, 2023 by KittenFishMom

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I learned that bucket water changes, even just 10% can have an adverse impact on Neocaridina shrimp. Returning the water to the tank via drip greatly increases survival rate.

They adore Repashy Soilent green. It is the one food I feed that draws the largest number of customers.

Their activity level increases, very noticeably, when bacter ae is added.

Females may fan even when they have no eggs. In my experience they were getting ready for the real thing.

They eat green hair algae for sure. 

It seems common, based on conversations I’ve had here on the forum, to have dieoff when first starting out with neos. Once they reproduce it gets much easier.

Its very doable to have a colony of tap water shrimp without using any of the fancy stuff (RO water + additives). At least in my area. My tap water has high tds and is hard water.

[Cmike15]

On 4/2/2023 at 5:22 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I learned that bucket water changes, even just 10% can have an adverse impact on Neocaridina shrimp. Returning the water to the tank via drip greatly increases survival rate.

" "

It seems common, based on conversations I’ve had here on the forum, to have dieoff when first starting out with neos. Once they reproduce it gets much easier.

Its very doable to have a colony of tap water shrimp without using any of the fancy stuff (RO water + additives). At least in my area. My tap water has high tds and is hard water.

I also noticed losses at the beginning. My smallest shrimp survive if my water parameters are different from the store in livable ranges while the full sized ones in my experience die off most often. 

If only somewhat hard i add calcium, coral or ground up clean shells (oyster) to supplement and the shrimp don't have molt problems like before. 

[Lennie]

I didn't realize until keeping shrimp that I love them as a part of an ecosystem tank and find them a beautiful and exciting member of the whole community tank, but shrimp only tanks seem a bit dull to me.

It feels no different than keeping snail only tank, or any sort of species only tank even. I guess I just like combinations that reflect the nature more.

Sad enough, it is hard to sustain a good shrimp colony in a community tank.

[Mojie]

If multiple berried females hatch their eggs out in your quarantine tank you’re going to have to keep it running for months longer than planned because catching  1 million speck-sized babies one at a time with a pipette just isn’t going to happen. 🤠

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/2/2023 at 3:17 PM, Mojie said:

If multiple berried females hatch their eggs out in your quarantine tank you’re going to have to keep it running for months longer than planned because catching  1 million speck-sized babies one at a time with a pipette just isn’t going to happen. 🤠

Research amano shrimp breeding.  They typically (not all) will gravitate towards the light similar to brine shrimp.  Something I've done is draining off water until there's enough and then just pouring the rest into a tank as gently as possible to go ahead and move them when I need to if I'm afraid to net them.  I would imagine using dean's trick of a paint strainer is another elegant way to handle it as well.

On 4/2/2023 at 2:42 PM, Lennie said:

I didn't realize until keeping shrimp that I love them as a part of an ecosystem tank and find them a beautiful and exciting member of the whole community tank, but shrimp only tanks seem a bit dull to me.

I am very upset for you that you can't experience having amano shrimp!  What an amazing thing to add to any tank.

[Lennie]

On 4/3/2023 at 7:56 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I am very upset for you that you can't experience having amano shrimp!  What an amazing thing to add to any tank.

I would rather get your king shrimp than any amanos! 😄 

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/2/2023 at 10:50 PM, Lennie said:

I would rather get your king shrimp than any amanos! 😄 

One day I will have baby shrimp!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/3/2023 at 12:56 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Research amano shrimp breeding.  They typically (not all) will gravitate towards the light similar to brine shrimp

Re: Neocaridina 

In my experience neos flee from the light. I use a bright LED flashlight at times to inspect shrimp color and it startles them.

Edited April 3, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/3/2023 at 6:10 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

In my experience neos flee from the light. I use a bright LED flashlight at times to inspect shrimp color and it startles them.

Yep! I only mentioned it because it is commonplace to move shrimp that tiny in some capacity using brine shrimp sieves and other things.

[JettsPapa]

I was surprised that I could be perfectly content with a tank with just plants, shrimp, and snails, without fish.