Neocaridina care

[oogabooga]

I was wondering if neons need a certain lvl of kh as iv seen mixed answers. I have a tap and tank kh of 2. AND i wanted to know if all neos have the same care reqs or do like cherrys and blue dreams care differ slightly?

[Sacah]

In the wild they like high KH, but I bought my Neos from a local store who's been breading them on local water, so they have been fine on my water with a KH of 2. They've had about 10 babies so far, so they must be doing alright.

I have started adding a little KH buffer each water change just to give them some extra trace elements, but my KH levels in the tank still hover between 2 & 3, so I'm not adding enough to actually change it much.

I also use food specifically for shrimp with trace elements helping them molt.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

My cherries I started with a few years ago were bought locally and thrived right away. Definitely get them locally bred if you’re able to. 
 

Several months ago we got some blue diamond from an LFS, and they’ve taken a lot longer to get established. I think it was several things, like them not being bred locally, I had a Pygmy Cory in there (egg came over on plants when we set that tank up, hatched and grew up in there) that was definitely snacking on any shrimplets they could find, and we got Planaria in that tank. After moving the Cory, getting rid of the Planaria, and giving it more time they’re finally starting to thrive. I’m getting those next generations born in my water that are doing better, and in a couple of months we should have a stable/thriving colony. It definitely wasn’t the instant success the cherries bought locally were. 
 

I also should probably mention that my water is super soft, lower pH, and little to no buffer. Parameters wise I should probably be keeping Caridinas, but we’re just a little bit away from having multiple colors of thriving colonies. 
 

Edited May 13 by AllFishNoBrakes

[Tony s]

On 5/13/2024 at 1:22 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

My cherries I started with a few years ago were bought locally and thrived right away

@oogabooga I think that’s key. If you can find them locally,they’ll do fine. The important bit is to get them growing in your water. Believe me,it’s a pain to have to constantly adjust your tank water. If you’re not forced to, by all means don’t.

[oogabooga]

thx for the information! i will se what i casn do

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/12/2024 at 9:02 PM, oogabooga said:

I was wondering if neons need a certain lvl of kh as iv seen mixed answers. I have a tap and tank kh of 2. AND i wanted to know if all neos have the same care reqs or do like cherrys and blue dreams care differ slightly?

Each line can be sensitive to different levels, yes.

I use GH of 8-10 and KH is 4.  I have bloody Mary shrimp.  Blues tend to be more sensitive and reds tend to be more prolific.  That being said, none of that has to do with KH.  There are things that come into play apart from water parameters that result in stress, stress causes molts, molting issues in a variety of forms cause deaths.

There is a ton of misinformation out there with shrimp and shrimp parameters.  I understand the struggle.  I've looked up water parameters from rivers in Taiwan and a lot of the experts out there would be a bit surprised by what they suggest and what actuality might be.

I think the shrimp themselves will tell you a lot about what they like and don't like. Food is critical, what you're feeding and the rate of food, but everything with shrimp is about stability. Water in = water out.  Once you run into KH > GH or other variables and you're using buffers, then things can be unstable. That leads to issues.