Did you know, I recently wrote the most comprehensive book ever written about keeping, feeding and breeding Cherry Shrimp. Check it out here neocaridina-shrimp-handbook.com
Chatted to you briefly about wondering if the oxygen stones were really needed a good few months to a year back and doing an experiment, not sure if you remember. Felt like everyone saying 'babies survive more' and similar just seemed like it was based on absolutely nothing. Can now say I have two tanks with equal shrimps to start (bought off of what I'd say is one of the main shrimp sellers on ebay in the UK), one with barely any surface agitation and one with loads and a strong bubbler on. They both breed loads and fine but there's a hugely noticeable difference in size of the shrimp. The tank that's had the reduced flow now has no big females at all when it used to have some huge females a year ago, absolutely tons of shrimps though as it's basically been left with no water changes bar top ups and not touched in most of a year. Tons of shrimps... but they're all small. My other tank with high flow has huge shrimps in it, not actually as many as the other one but still plenty and massive ones and again mostly been left planted and untouched. So size seems to be the only difference, not volume as the low oxygenated tank actually has more. Worth noting though the low oxygenated tank has way more algae in it and I've not really fed either tank much but just let them go off of what is in the tank. However the bubbler cut out for 2 days without me noticing on the high oxygen tank, and killed a bunch of shrimp and the rest were at the top on a pillar covered in plants just below the surface of the water trying to get oxygen this morning when I realised. So they can't adapt or go back to low flow/low oxygen suddenly even in a heavily planted tank (which could also be a reason they might die if large adults and sold to people that don't have an airstone). Whereas the low flow tank has been blocked a few times to the point of having almost 0 flow/agitation for extended periods and none of the shrimp are affected. Not sure if bigger shrimp live longer or actually less as that's been too hard to track. I actually also have two low flow tanks though one was an accident, and similarly the shrimp are all small.
I watched all your videos before getting my shrimp. It's been a massive success - they won't STOP breeding. First timer and the colony is thriving! Thanks for all the advice, you absolutely know what you're talking about.
i watched most/almost all your videos before getting my shrimp. yesterday i had a major nitrite spike becuase i cleaned my filter a few days prior. you should recommend not using single spongefilters, but using double spongefilters and clean only one at a time. like clean 1 of the 2 today and the other 4 weeks from now, to avoid all beneficial bacteria in ur filter to be removed. You might have said so before and i missed it or something, but its rly usefull for someone who is a newbie to the hobby.
If I travelled a mile every time an experienced breeder said to never do water changes to encourage shrimp to breed and travelled a mile back every time an experienced breeder said to do frequent and/or big water changes to encourage shrimp to breed, I would never have to leave my house! With all the conflicting advice from reputable sources out there, I am trying a few different strategies on various tanks and working out what works best for me and my colonies. I do have a near conditioned response to watching your videos now though. When I watch them, I inevitably think "That's right, when did I last feed blood worms to my breeding tanks?" and I go and unfreeze a block to add to the tanks. ;)
Richard, I have changed my profile in name, but I was a guy that was rooting for you back when you had five thousand subs, calling out your milestones for your subs. And check back on your channel after a while and see you have thirty five thousand subscribers.Dude, hell, yeah, i'm so happy for you🎉🎉🎉
@@FishKeepingAnswers quick question im struggling with a high ph as my tap water is about 8.2 and i dont have access to ro water and hate tannins any other options?
They really do love moss and rock piles. Cholla wood is great too. I started with six shrimp last March, and there are so many now I can't count them. I've started moving them into my other tanks.
Thank you for the video! I listened to you and started changing water only after abnormal readings. So far so good and lots of babies :) I do test with strips daily as I don’t feel confident in my ability to see if something is wrong. I continue to find your shrimp keeping journal very helpful! Thank you!
Thank you for the videos. I'm working in Korea at the moment and my 5 gallon shrimp tank is my best friend in my apartment. Thanks to your videos, I managed to build a decent home for them and get a somewhat diverse diet going. It's hard with the language barrier, but we do what we can. I got 10 cherry shrimp and besides the 1 that died randomly, the other 9 have been happily hopping around and exploring the tank. I usually only see around 6 at a time, so I hope the others haven't died and have ended up out of site. Should I test a 5 gallon weekly to see if there are any changes in parameters? Thank you again for your content.
Hi. Thanks for getting in touch. Testing regularly never does any harm. If the parameters are off, do a water change. If they aren’t, just leave the tank and try and build a stable environment 👍🏻
Glad youre still doing vids! I wasnt sure if you stopped. I seriously don't know why I can't get java moss to grow... I have such a black thumb... 🤦♂️
I was sent here by Russ @bgnaquariums I’m loving your channel and I’ve just bought your book. Now I’m looking forward to being a better shrimp keeper. Thank you!!😀
Hi, Richard. You mention in your book that you had success with keeping Otocinclus in with your shrimp. Did they eat baby shrimp at all? I’ve kept Bristlenose in with shrimp successfully, but thought I would try something different for my next shrimp tank. Love the book by the way and would highly recommend it. 👏🏻👏🏻 My only feedback is that I wish it was a smaller format, so that I could keep it on hand more easily as a reference. 😅
Hi. Thanks for getting in touch. Glad you are enjoying the book. On the subject of size, I made a rookie mistake writing the book and didn’t consider format. By the time the book was done, it was too much work to reformat the entire thing to a smaller size 😏 On Otocinclus, I would say yes, they are 100% baby shrimp safe. Otos really only want to eat brown, diatom algae 👍🏻
Love your content. I have a question, I recently started a shrimp only tank (RCS) and my population is exploding like crazy. I decided to try an open top to allow some floating plants to grow. So far I have seen 2 dead babies that have CLIMBED out of the tank. I've read that this is rare and it could mean they don't like my water, but if that is true then why do they seem so happy and breed like crazy? I have recently put a lid on the tank to prevent future escapes. Thank you for your videos.
Hi. It is rare for them to climb or jump out, but not unheard of. I have 3 or 4 open shrimp tanks and probably lose about 2 shrimp a year to them escaping. I wouldn’t worry too much unless it becomes a constant problem 👍🏻
What would you consider as high nitrates? What reading would prompt you to change your water? EVERYBODY on the internet has a different opinion. I went through a couple months where I just lost interest in my tanks. I fed them, but didn't do much "maintenance" at all. And my shrimp did great! However, I'm wondering your opinion on the nitrates. I've come out of my slump, and I'm back on top of things. I'm not big on a lot of water changes unless tanks need them. And my shrimp tank is very different than the ones with fish in them!
My tap water comes out at 40ppm nitrates. In the EU your water can legally be up to 50ppm nitrates. I don’t even bother worrying about nitrates until they top 100ppm, and even then, I don’t see any signs of my fish or shrimp suffering.
@@FishKeepingAnswers That's what I'm starting to hear from a few people. Just in the last couple days, I've watched videos by Father Fish, and I can't remember the other one. But they are citing scientific articles that have been done. And the amounts of nitrate that are in the water before trouble starts for the fish is in the hundreds! I know mine have been around 50 ppm for a while, and I am having no issues. I have added a bunch of live plants, and some floaters too. I guess I won't worry till I see something to worry about! I'll test of course. But I think my "panic mode" is starting to settle. LOL
I really hope you can help. I recently had an explosion of hair alge. I'm guessing it's because my water changes have sucked. I tried removing some of the hair alge by hand only to discover baby Cherries! Congrats on me for my first babies, but what's a safe way to remove the alge without possibly removing babies with it???
I have hair algae issues too, so frustrating trying to get rid of them. I tried turning off the lights for a couple days which worked but as soon as it goes back on it comes back
I have a swarm of babies, but my original bought stock of 10 adults seem to have mostly died off. Any thoughts on that? (Parameters all in middle of recommended ranges except pH often high at 8.2. Feeding mostly frozen blood worm. Too natural to see where dead ones end up. No filter, airstone 12hrs per day. Lots of plants, black lava rocks, even my Java moss is finally growing well. Tank 8 months old, shrimp introduced 5 months ago. No other stock except a few bladder snails and Sid the Ramshorn snail who was a plant stowaway and who is very beautiful.)
I had the same happening 3 times and other times I had no problem, sometimes the bought ones just have a hard time to adjust to other water then they came from is my tought but the offspring seems to have no problem to survive. 2 out of 3 of that shrimp dying here were almost sure imported ones from asia to europe and also the older the shrimp how harder it is for them to adjust to new water. If I move them from tank to tank it is always clear the older ones struggle much faster.
Did you know, I recently wrote the most comprehensive book ever written about keeping, feeding and breeding Cherry Shrimp. Check it out here neocaridina-shrimp-handbook.com
Chatted to you briefly about wondering if the oxygen stones were really needed a good few months to a year back and doing an experiment, not sure if you remember. Felt like everyone saying 'babies survive more' and similar just seemed like it was based on absolutely nothing. Can now say I have two tanks with equal shrimps to start (bought off of what I'd say is one of the main shrimp sellers on ebay in the UK), one with barely any surface agitation and one with loads and a strong bubbler on.
They both breed loads and fine but there's a hugely noticeable difference in size of the shrimp. The tank that's had the reduced flow now has no big females at all when it used to have some huge females a year ago, absolutely tons of shrimps though as it's basically been left with no water changes bar top ups and not touched in most of a year. Tons of shrimps... but they're all small.
My other tank with high flow has huge shrimps in it, not actually as many as the other one but still plenty and massive ones and again mostly been left planted and untouched.
So size seems to be the only difference, not volume as the low oxygenated tank actually has more. Worth noting though the low oxygenated tank has way more algae in it and I've not really fed either tank much but just let them go off of what is in the tank.
However the bubbler cut out for 2 days without me noticing on the high oxygen tank, and killed a bunch of shrimp and the rest were at the top on a pillar covered in plants just below the surface of the water trying to get oxygen this morning when I realised. So they can't adapt or go back to low flow/low oxygen suddenly even in a heavily planted tank (which could also be a reason they might die if large adults and sold to people that don't have an airstone). Whereas the low flow tank has been blocked a few times to the point of having almost 0 flow/agitation for extended periods and none of the shrimp are affected.
Not sure if bigger shrimp live longer or actually less as that's been too hard to track. I actually also have two low flow tanks though one was an accident, and similarly the shrimp are all small.
Just bought your book and Shrimp Keepers Notebook. Excellent :)
Thank you. Enjoy 🫶🏻
I watched all your videos before getting my shrimp. It's been a massive success - they won't STOP breeding. First timer and the colony is thriving! Thanks for all the advice, you absolutely know what you're talking about.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I am glad my work is proving useful 🫶🏻
i watched most/almost all your videos before getting my shrimp.
yesterday i had a major nitrite spike becuase i cleaned my filter a few days prior.
you should recommend not using single spongefilters, but using double spongefilters and clean only one at a time.
like clean 1 of the 2 today and the other 4 weeks from now, to avoid all beneficial bacteria in ur filter to be removed.
You might have said so before and i missed it or something, but its rly usefull for someone who is a newbie to the hobby.
Welcome to the hobby. You make a good point about the sponges. I will bear it in mind. 👍🏻
If I travelled a mile every time an experienced breeder said to never do water changes to encourage shrimp to breed and travelled a mile back every time an experienced breeder said to do frequent and/or big water changes to encourage shrimp to breed, I would never have to leave my house! With all the conflicting advice from reputable sources out there, I am trying a few different strategies on various tanks and working out what works best for me and my colonies.
I do have a near conditioned response to watching your videos now though. When I watch them, I inevitably think "That's right, when did I last feed blood worms to my breeding tanks?" and I go and unfreeze a block to add to the tanks. ;)
Richard, I have changed my profile in name, but I was a guy that was rooting for you back when you had five thousand subs, calling out your milestones for your subs.
And check back on your channel after a while and see you have thirty five thousand subscribers.Dude, hell, yeah, i'm so happy for you🎉🎉🎉
Thank you. It’s always nice to connect to some of those people who offered their support back in the early days 🫶🏻
Thank you for your great tips, they all are muss to have in Shrimp tanks.
You’re welcome. Glad they help 🫶🏻
thanks for this u have helped me so much!
Pleasure. Glad to be of service 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers quick question im struggling with a high ph as my tap water is about 8.2 and i dont have access to ro water and hate tannins any other options?
Cheers Richard ❤❤❤
🫶🏻
They really do love moss and rock piles. Cholla wood is great too. I started with six shrimp last March, and there are so many now I can't count them. I've started moving them into my other tanks.
Good point about the Cholla Wood. That’s great for shrimp 👍🏻
I second what Jammy said, I was about to give up. Now there's loads of them. And that is in a guppy tank
Thank you for the video! I listened to you and started changing water only after abnormal readings. So far so good and lots of babies :) I do test with strips daily as I don’t feel confident in my ability to see if something is wrong. I continue to find your shrimp keeping journal very helpful! Thank you!
Thank you for the videos. I'm working in Korea at the moment and my 5 gallon shrimp tank is my best friend in my apartment. Thanks to your videos, I managed to build a decent home for them and get a somewhat diverse diet going. It's hard with the language barrier, but we do what we can. I got 10 cherry shrimp and besides the 1 that died randomly, the other 9 have been happily hopping around and exploring the tank. I usually only see around 6 at a time, so I hope the others haven't died and have ended up out of site. Should I test a 5 gallon weekly to see if there are any changes in parameters? Thank you again for your content.
Hi. Thanks for getting in touch. Testing regularly never does any harm. If the parameters are off, do a water change. If they aren’t, just leave the tank and try and build a stable environment 👍🏻
Glad youre still doing vids! I wasnt sure if you stopped. I seriously don't know why I can't get java moss to grow... I have such a black thumb... 🤦♂️
I was sent here by Russ @bgnaquariums I’m loving your channel and I’ve just bought your book. Now I’m looking forward to being a better shrimp keeper. Thank you!!😀
Welcome, and thank you for buying the book. I hope you enjoy it 🫶🏻
Hi, Richard. You mention in your book that you had success with keeping Otocinclus in with your shrimp. Did they eat baby shrimp at all? I’ve kept Bristlenose in with shrimp successfully, but thought I would try something different for my next shrimp tank. Love the book by the way and would highly recommend it. 👏🏻👏🏻 My only feedback is that I wish it was a smaller format, so that I could keep it on hand more easily as a reference. 😅
Hi. Thanks for getting in touch. Glad you are enjoying the book. On the subject of size, I made a rookie mistake writing the book and didn’t consider format. By the time the book was done, it was too much work to reformat the entire thing to a smaller size 😏
On Otocinclus, I would say yes, they are 100% baby shrimp safe. Otos really only want to eat brown, diatom algae 👍🏻
Love your content. I have a question, I recently started a shrimp only tank (RCS) and my population is exploding like crazy. I decided to try an open top to allow some floating plants to grow. So far I have seen 2 dead babies that have CLIMBED out of the tank. I've read that this is rare and it could mean they don't like my water, but if that is true then why do they seem so happy and breed like crazy? I have recently put a lid on the tank to prevent future escapes. Thank you for your videos.
Hi. It is rare for them to climb or jump out, but not unheard of. I have 3 or 4 open shrimp tanks and probably lose about 2 shrimp a year to them escaping. I wouldn’t worry too much unless it becomes a constant problem 👍🏻
What is the best filter for shrimp?
A sponge filter 👍🏻
Do you ever keep yoyo loaches with your cherry shrimp?
I have kept YoYo loaches, but never with shrimp 😕
What would you consider as high nitrates? What reading would prompt you to change your water? EVERYBODY on the internet has a different opinion. I went through a couple months where I just lost interest in my tanks. I fed them, but didn't do much "maintenance" at all. And my shrimp did great! However, I'm wondering your opinion on the nitrates. I've come out of my slump, and I'm back on top of things. I'm not big on a lot of water changes unless tanks need them. And my shrimp tank is very different than the ones with fish in them!
My tap water comes out at 40ppm nitrates. In the EU your water can legally be up to 50ppm nitrates. I don’t even bother worrying about nitrates until they top 100ppm, and even then, I don’t see any signs of my fish or shrimp suffering.
@@FishKeepingAnswers That's what I'm starting to hear from a few people. Just in the last couple days, I've watched videos by Father Fish, and I can't remember the other one. But they are citing scientific articles that have been done. And the amounts of nitrate that are in the water before trouble starts for the fish is in the hundreds! I know mine have been around 50 ppm for a while, and I am having no issues. I have added a bunch of live plants, and some floaters too. I guess I won't worry till I see something to worry about! I'll test of course. But I think my "panic mode" is starting to settle. LOL
Give it a few weeks for them to adjust and acclimate. Once they start breeding they is no more stopping them
Agreed 👍🏻
Hi, the catappa leaves do I need to boil them before putting in tank? Is it better to used a dried one or a fresh leaf?
Personally, I never boil them. Just check them in and leave them for a few days. They will sink when they are good and ready 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers Thank you so much Richard!
Oof! I bought 10 painted fire reds and there wasn't a single male in the bunch. Now I'm on the hunt for a few solid males to add to the colony. 😵😅
😢
Crankin tips for this newbie
I really hope you can help. I recently had an explosion of hair alge. I'm guessing it's because my water changes have sucked.
I tried removing some of the hair alge by hand only to discover baby Cherries! Congrats on me for my first babies, but what's a safe way to remove the alge without possibly removing babies with it???
I have hair algae issues too, so frustrating trying to get rid of them. I tried turning off the lights for a couple days which worked but as soon as it goes back on it comes back
I have a swarm of babies, but my original bought stock of 10 adults seem to have mostly died off. Any thoughts on that? (Parameters all in middle of recommended ranges except pH often high at 8.2. Feeding mostly frozen blood worm. Too natural to see where dead ones end up. No filter, airstone 12hrs per day. Lots of plants, black lava rocks, even my Java moss is finally growing well. Tank 8 months old, shrimp introduced 5 months ago. No other stock except a few bladder snails and Sid the Ramshorn snail who was a plant stowaway and who is very beautiful.)
I had the same happening 3 times and other times I had no problem, sometimes the bought ones just have a hard time to adjust to other water then they came from is my tought but the offspring seems to have no problem to survive. 2 out of 3 of that shrimp dying here were almost sure imported ones from asia to europe and also the older the shrimp how harder it is for them to adjust to new water. If I move them from tank to tank it is always clear the older ones struggle much faster.
Please video horse hair worm in ghost shrimp. I bought 10, now I see a long worm in my tank. Very common ghost shrimp associated issue.
Hi I can't seem to find you on eBay 😔
Sadly, we no longer breed shrimp to sell. Sorry 😔
Caridina shrimp handbook when?
Mark from @marksshrimptanks has this one covered. Check it out here 👇🏻
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