# Help please



## jenesis (Apr 12, 2005)

Hi I am attempting to try to raise Bumble bee shrimp again. The first and second time. Resulted in failure. I didnt receive them yet but I am waiting for the order to come in. I also am ordering blue shrimp. I have a 55gal. With a outside filter, canister filter, receive for diy co2 and I think 160 lighting system for my planted tank. I have fish in which I will be taking out. What do I need to do to raise these shrimp and can they live together?

Thank you


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## IndianaSam (Mar 25, 2005)

Bumblebee shrimp need soft acidic water to thrive and reproduce. Blue shrimp (I'm assuming it's a Neocaridina sp.) prefer moderately hard water. Therefore, it can be difficult to keep both species in the same tank.

I hope that helps.

Sam


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

I think your most important thing is water quality. Make sure that the tank they are being raised in is already cycled -- there should be no detectable Ammonia or NitrItes in testing, and NitrAtes should preferably remain very low, i.e. 10 or less.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I must respectfully disagree with Sam's requirements for keeping Bumblebee shrimp. 

Bumblebee shrimp require neutral to alkaline water to thrive. 
Bee shrimp require softer acidic water to thrive. 

Bumblebee shrimp have brown heads.

Bee shrimp have white heads, orangish tails and rostrums (noses), and four white spots on the top of their tails.

Are you certain it is Bumblebee shrimp you are getting?


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

AaronT said:


> I must respectfully disagree with Sam's requirements for keeping Bumblebee shrimp.
> 
> Bumblebee shrimp require neutral to alkaline water to thrive.
> Bee shrimp require softer acidic water to thrive.
> ...


Well I have to agree and disagree with Sam and Aaron. I had some bumblebee with orange rostrums and tails. They are indeed bumblebee. Also, I had manage to reproduce bee in hard water.

There is the bee/diamond shrimp.
There is the bumblebee shrimp.
There is the new bee shrimp.

Depending on what part of the worl you are in they might have the same name.Check the link below...

http://www.shrimpnow.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewcategory&cid=2

Requirements between the three are pretty much the same. PH can varied but I would not recommend a ph higher than 7.2. If the shrimp are wild caught, and there is a high probability they are, figuring out the ph is going to be rather difficult. In my experience these different bee shrimp are very hard to keep alive because they are more sensitive to ph and other parameter swings like lets say cherry red.

One very important aspect we are forgetting is the tank temperature.
These shrimp prefer water to the colder side. I will keep the tank at 72F at most.

I have had the three of them and they have survived for months and reproduced, unfortunately the tank there were in crashed and I lost all of them.Sad but true.

My tank specs where:

ph: 6.6-7
nitrates: 10ppm
GH/KH: whatever comes out of the tap water. I am in Texas, so I assume is hard.
Substrates I recomment: Florabase/Ec0-complete/ADA Aquasoil Amazonia
Plants: Low light plants. Tons of moss!
Fertilization: If you have a planted tank, you might want to tweak with it a little. That meaning, I recomment you fertilize less.

I have found that the tanks where all these shrimps did better had driftwood in them.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Cheers,
Pedro


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Regarding the blue shrimp, if they are related to the cherry red, they will tolerate a wide range of ph, temp and higher nitrates than the bumblebee.
At lower ph and lower temps they will reproduce slower.

My advice, set up the tank for the bumblebee and your blue shrimp will be fine in there.

Cheers,
Pedro


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## jenesis (Apr 12, 2005)

Thank you everyone. Yes they are bumble bee shrimp or that is what I bided on. I think I am in for a much bigger challenge than I thought. I will try and keep in mind what everyone had posted. If anyone else has any secrets for me please let me know. Once again thank you


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

The other issue you may have run into is simply one of unhealthy shrimp to begin with. Imported shrimp generally have a high mortality rate compared to the healthier ones obtained from fellow hobbyists.


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

I breed Bumblebees and I do not do anything special for them. The only thing that I would recommend is to put a nice chunk of driftwood since they seem to eat it... I would say that in MY experience, they are just as easy to keep as Cherries except that they don't have many babies each time.

Most important thing to keep in mind is the water quality. I change 50% once a week in order to keep things very clean.


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## ja__ (Oct 14, 2005)

milalic said:


> Regarding the blue shrimp, if they are related to the cherry red, they will tolerate a wide range of ph, temp and higher nitrates than the bumblebee.
> At lower ph and lower temps they will reproduce slower.
> 
> My advice, set up the tank for the bumblebee and your blue shrimp will be fine in there.
> ...


hey what do you mean with related? will interbreed related or just in the same family related?


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