# New to keeping shrimp



## Krystal907 (Oct 18, 2011)

Starting up a 10g planted and want to add shrimp eventually. Will keep the temp around 72F, water around here is hard and around 7.8-8.0 pH, but I use peat moss in the filter to soften and lower the pH. Its hard to tell, but it looks like I've gotten the pH down to around 7.6 because it tests as 7.6 on the reg. pH scale and looks to be around 7.4 on the high pH scale. I plan on dosing with excel and leaf zone.

My question is how do I know if my tank is ready for shrimp? Do I have to specifically test for copper?
Any help is appreciated as well as species recommendations. Figured I'd start with red cherries though because they seem easy and cheap.


----------



## Coursair (Apr 18, 2011)

Careful with Excel around Shrimp. As long as your tank is cycled and stable you should be fine with Shrimp. RCS are very hardy. I have mine in a 10g and they've thrived. 














Once my colony was well established I added CPDs and Threadfin Rainbows and one Scarlet Badis for population control.

I have 2 Otos and MTS as well.


----------



## XMX (Feb 17, 2011)

You'll need to make sure the ammonia and nitrate level are as close to zero as possible. Cherries are very hardy, but if you want to do something more sensitive, then you'll have to research that specific type before tossing it in. For example, CRS likes the PH below 7.


----------



## Krystal907 (Oct 18, 2011)

Awesome, thanks! I keep reading about shrimp being so much more sensitive than fish I got worried that I was going to do something wrong. Should I look into special foods for the little guys? Like color enhancer stuff or complete nutrition foods?


----------



## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

Avoid the excel, its too easy to overdose and the glute in it is totally toxic to shrimp. If you absolutely need C02, run either a DIY pop-bottle, or get pressurized. As has been mentioned, it depends on what species you plan on keeping. If this is your first shrimp tank, I *highly* recommend cherry shrimp. They're pretty, active, bold, easy to get, and easy to keep. I've been keeping them for about 2-3 years now and still love them.


----------



## Krystal907 (Oct 18, 2011)

Wait, holy crap! Youre in Anchorage?! I was born and raised there! In WA for college now, but will be graduating in 6 months and have been thinking of how I could try to get involved in a club or something when I go back.
I will make sure not to put any excel in the tank and just run DIY CO2 which I've been interested to try anyway.
Also, sorry for all the questions, but ONE more! If I were to get yellow/green/blue shrimp and put them in with the cherries, would they interbreed? To my limited knowledge, they are just color variations of the same species right?
Thanks again to everyone!!


----------



## Nat N (Jun 6, 2010)

Hi,
On shrimp interbreeding - you cannot mix shrimp from the same genus (e.g. RCS is Neocaridina, so is the blue and yellow ones). However, the green shrimp is a Caridina and can be housed with any of the above. Have a look here: http://www.planetinverts.com/Will These Shrimp Interbreed.html this will tell you what shrimps you can keep together. Also, the site has quite a good selection of articles about different shrimps and their requirements. 
You also have to remember about inbreeding - this means you have to "refresh" your shrimps genes from time to time to keep them in top condition. And yes, I totally agree with the previous posts about RCS being an excellent choice to start with.


----------



## Krystal907 (Oct 18, 2011)

Thank you so much!


----------



## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

Hey! There are very few of us up here keeping legitimate planted tanks, but there are a couple of us who do. No clubs yet, but if we can get enough people doing it, we definitely should start a club. I think other anchorage/eagle river people up here who are also on the forum here are 61*North, and sonaps, there may be a few others, but those are the only ones I've talked to. When you get back, check out Alaska Coral Fanatics, sweet little fish shop on International.


----------



## Krystal907 (Oct 18, 2011)

Good deal, I definitely will! Just joined alaskafragswap.com because there were rumors of someone from there starting up a club for freshwater setups. They have a tiny place for freshwater and I'm hoping if more people from here and plantedtank.net get together and start talking, the club thing could really happen.


----------



## sampster5000 (Jul 24, 2010)

Yellow and blue pearl shrimp, which you are probably thinking of, are neocardinias and will interbreed to form ugly offspring. There are several different kinds of green shrimp out there as well as blue shrimp so make sure that the seller can tell you exactly what they are.


----------

