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Neocaridina in a high tech tank.

Adumlee

Adumlee

Member
Joined
22 Oct 2021
Messages
48
Location
Oxford
Hi all.
I'm sure this has probably been covered in other threads but im struggling to find some advice. I'm looking at adding some neos into my community tank ideally I would like them to breed. But I dose fertiliser and has co2 Injection. Can anyone point me to a thread that covers this subject as I understand people successfully keep them in high tech tanks.

All the best ☺
 
Hi
can't pinpoint any particular threads but I have kept them in high tech tanks and they kept breeding and breeding like rabbits.You shouldn't have any issues with them.
Regards Konstantin
 
CO2, I started with 12 a couple of months ago.
20220123_172115.jpg
 
Thanks brilliant thanks I will give them a try. Looks like you have a healthy population there @pat1cp, looking good
 
Adumlee said:
Thanks brilliant thanks I will give them a try. Looks like you have a healthy population there @pat1cp, looking good
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About the only thing I've had success with, not sure if the water suits them, but I chuck a dozen in then in a couple of months got loads.

I'd put a cover on your filter intake to prevent (most) babies getting sucked in.
 
@pat1cp think they are generally pretty hardy I've kept them before in a low tech and my water is very hard and they still bred. I was more worried about the ph swing of co2 on a high tech tank. A filter guard and alot more plants will be on order I've got a few changes I want to make and see how the plants react then I will buy some. I want it as stable as possible with plants growing well before I add them in. 😀
 
@Hufsa Thanks bud, anything else anyone knows to watch out for in a high tech? I'm guessing they won't breed as fast as in a low tech shrimp only tank.
 
The only thing I've noticed helps me is the hardness of the water for them. In tanks with rock that raises water hardness from my normal 070ish TDS, they are far more prolific
 
Adumlee said:
@Hufsa Thanks bud, anything else anyone knows to watch out for in a high tech? I'm guessing they won't breed as fast as in a low tech shrimp only tank.
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Do we have any evidence that Neocaridina actually breed slower in high-tech tanks? Neocaridina thrive with GH > ~6 and a wide range of KH levels (Caridina need low KH). Maybe breeding will be limited with high CO2 concentrations, but I am not sure if there is a correlation. Another potential issue is the stronger water flow and circulation in a high tech tank, but I do not know if that is detrimental to shrimp as well.
 
The only thing I have found to noticeably disturb the neocaridina is large water changes, but then again some people report no problems with this. Maybe they have harder water than me though, and that alleviates the problem a bit? Mine is soft out of the tap, I have to remineralise a little bit to get it up to the lower tolerance of neocaridina.
 
Hufsa said:
The only thing I have found to noticeably disturb the neocaridina is large water changes, but then again some people report no problems with this. Maybe they have harder water than me though, and that alleviates the problem a bit? Mine is soft out of the tap, I have to remineralise a little bit to get it up to the lower tolerance of neocaridina.
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Two reputed shrimp breeders in my region suggest 50% weekly water changes in neocaridina and caridina tanks... another reputed shrimp breeder says that large WCs should be avoided and that small gradual WCs are ideal. One of them says that breeding is most successful in RO water with an dGH of 6-7. Another is breeding "A+" neocaridina species in tap water with a dGH of ~15. One advises not placing shrimp in tanks with CO2. Other breeds shrimp in heavily planted tanks with CO2 injection... so, there is a lot of common ground... :rolleyes:
 
I have no problems with Red Cherry Shrimp in my Co2 injected tank and me regularly adding osmocote to the substrate.
They breed easily and they are my favourite clean-up crew, more so than Amanos that like to eat certain plants.
I've recently added 8 cheaper lower grade Bee Shrimp and they seem to be doing ok. Will be looking to add more.

The unanswered question is what you mean when you say you want to add them to a 'community' tank. That could be a far bigger obstacle compared to CO2 and liquid ferts. :p
 
Hufsa said:
The only thing I have found to noticeably disturb the neocaridina is large water changes, but then again some people report no problems with this. Maybe they have harder water than me though, and that alleviates the problem a bit? Mine is soft out of the tap, I have to remineralise a little bit to get it up to the lower tolerance of neocaridina.
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Ive been thinking about this for awhile.

When you do a large water change in what way are the shrimp disturbed? I have no problems with following guidelines on things like drip acclimating, and drip the top up, but where is the actually data, and science behind it? Like lots of things aquarium we do these things out of habit with nothing concrete to back these things up.

I use Bacter AE, and baby shrimp because some shrimp keepers swear by it. I do make my own food, and prepare greens for them, but keepers say their shrimp love it...what does that mean, and how can they measure if their shrimp would have done the same without any supplements at all?
 
@Hufsa I've found a breeder of neos and caridina locally he said 25 percent a week water change. Which brings me to the next issue if your over dosing ferts somewhat you will need to dilute this to reset the tank is my understanding. I currently change 50 percent a week sometimes more as I've been moving the tank around at the moment. Should this be split into 25 percent twice a week 🤔 I don't want to spend 30 quid on some nice shrimp and kill them all!
 
Hi Adam
I always kept my tanks with large weekly waterchanges and all my shrimp did fine.
When you do it regularly your tank water chemistry wont alter much in between and should be fairly stable even if you change 50+%.
Having said that I haven't kept or bought any high end Neocardina shrimp that have been raised or kept under specific parameters and has possibly weaker genetics.I usually get them from other hobbyist or my LFS that keeps Cardina(low grade) and various Grades of Neos in tap water so acclimatised and hardy.
Regards Konstantin
 
Adumlee said:
@Hufsa I've found a breeder of neos and caridina locally he said 25 percent a week water change. Which brings me to the next issue if your over dosing ferts somewhat you will need to dilute this to reset the tank is my understanding. I currently change 50 percent a week sometimes more as I've been moving the tank around at the moment. Should this be split into 25 percent twice a week 🤔 I don't want to spend 30 quid on some nice shrimp and kill them all!
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I keep relatively high grade Blue Dream neocaridina, which I think is inherently more inbred and slightly more sensitive than regular cherries, but I could be wrong.
I have noticed mine do better with 25% water changes than 50%. But 50% changes daily back to back over several days is the worst for them, and I usually have some deaths then of the oldest individuals, which are less adaptable than the youngins.
Keep in mind that two 25% water changes is not the same as one 50%, even though it may seem that way. If you do two 25%, your second 25% change will be removing some of the new water from the first 25% change, leaving you with slightly less new water in total. This can be a positive or a negative, depending on what your goal with the water change was.

I would hold off on shrimp until your tank is fairly stable, and you have the majority of the usual growing pains out of the way. Meaning making sure you have actually stable CO2, there has been no misunderstanding with ferts and the dosing you are doing is right for your setup, gotten clear of the worst of the algae roadbumps which might require large frequent waterchanges, these kinds of things most people need to go through. Some people add shrimp pretty early to help with algae but if the goal is to make sure there are no chances of shrimp fatalities, I think it makes sense to wait, but thats just my personal opinion.

From my observations on the forum it seems I am among those who have more issues with water changes and shrimp than the majority reports, which is why I was wondering about the water hardness factor. Most of the forum members are from the UK after all, and have harder water than I do. If you also have harder water, and youre planning to keep regular red cherries, I would take their advice over mine, as their experiences would seem more applicable to you.
 
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