Are all shrimps alike

[davdandy]

As the title says, are all shrimps alike, apart from colour and size, do they all suit a planted aquarium. I know Amano get mentioned a lot but today I saw some beautiful red shrimp at Pier Aquatics so pondered the question .

 

[Little]

The two main types for aquariums are Neocaridina and Caridina.
It’s very important to know which group you’re getting as they have different water requirements.
For example…
Cherry shrimp are Neocaridina and need harder water. Bee shrimp are Caridina and need soft / acidic water.
Definitely good to do some research before buying livestock 👍

 

[LMuhlen]

do they all suit a planted aquarium.

Ornamental shrimps found in the hobby are mostly fine with planted aquarium, but they have some important differences between themselves. Other than their requirements for water parameters and hardness/softness, some shrimps are considerably more delicate than others and may suffer from small variations in water quality. This could be counterproductive for tanks where you expect to do large water changes.

Also, some shrimps will breed in fresh water, while others have a more complex breeding cycle that probably won't work in a planted tank. The amano shrimps are the most important ones in this category, despite being widely used in planted tanks, they won't breed in them.

Then there is the matter of their effectiveness as algae eaters, some do better than others. Amano are known as a good algae eater, while neocaridina may only eat them more sparsely. They may still help fight algae by consuming eventual left over fish food.

The neocaridina are probably the most common ones because they aren't too fragile and they come in a large variety of colors. They breed effusively when in good conditions. They do appreciate some carbonate hardness in the water, though, so they probably won't enjoy a reverse osmosis tank.

 

[MichaelJ]

Cherry shrimp are Neocaridina and need harder water. Bee shrimp are Caridina and need soft / acidic water.

They do appreciate some carbonate hardness in the water, though, so they probably won't enjoy a reverse osmosis tank.

They do, but a tiny bit of dKH (carbonate hardness) is probably a good thing, but it's mostly a plant and pH consideration. I run my shrimp tank (both Neocaridina and Caridinas - picky bee/crystal shrimps) tank at near 0 dKH ... probably 0.25 dKH or so ... around 6.0-6.2 pH ... I do keep the dGH around 4 (3.5:1 Ca:Mg ratio) to make sure there is enough calcium and magnesium to support the development of their exoskeleton and of course they get a good deal of the minerals from the food I provide as well. I must say though that although the Cherries are thriving, the Caridina's seems to have gained the upper hand on the procreation in my tank, so there is probably some merit to what @Little says above, but its definitely possible to keep and breed both species in moderately soft acidic water. I can't comment on Amano's as I never kept them - they do tend to prefer harder water and is not trivial to breed as the fry needs brackish water to develop.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

For what it’s worth, I keep Cardina and Neocardina in the same water and both breed. I don’t test the water and I don’t do water changes. I top it off with rain water.

Your mileage may vary.

Edit: that’s not to say that the above advice is wrong, just that I seem to be having success by ‘leaving it alone’. Shrimp like stability.

 

[MichaelJ]

Shrimp like stability.

For sure. As long as the water you replace roughly matches the essential parameters of what is in the tank your good and can change as much water you like - not changing ANY water and only topping off is a recipe for accumulation of waste - which wont evaporate. Water change is a good thing regardless of life stock - the optimal WC frequency and amount depends on the specific tank conditions - plant density, livestock load etc. it’s wrong to think that shrimps are better off without water changes. I think the reason that misconception got a foothold is because some hobbyists would induce wildly varying water parameters during water changes with catastrophic results.

Cheers,
Michael