# One way to keep snowball shrimp



## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Hi there. It has been a long time since I post anything at all in the forum. It is time to do so. Here is some information on snowball shrimp and what has been successful for me in keeping and breeding them. They are a very active shrimp from the neocaridina family. Their scientific name is Neocaridina cf. zhangjiajiensis "white".

My tank parameters are as follow:

-Ph: 6.8-7.0
-Ammonia: 0
-Nitrites: 0
-Nitrates: 0
-GH: 5dKh
-KH: 3dKh
-Temp: 73-75F (I have air conditioning on all day long and this is the temp variation in the tank)
-No fertilizers and no CO2
-Lights are provided by two shop lights from Home Depot: 160watts

The shrimp are housed in a 75G tank and share the tank with:

-red and blue ram shorn snails
-olive nerites
-one bumble bee shrimp
-ten orange dwarf crayfish
-one orange-brown dwarf crayfish

The flora of the tank consists of:

-Different Hygros
-X-mas moss
-Najas grass
-Red Myrio
-Java Fern
-Ludwigia
-Egeria Najas

The substrate that I used was a 50lb bag of Soilmaster Select Red and ¼ of a bag of ADA Amazonia. Soilmaster select is used for golf courses and is an inert gravel.

What the shrimp eat?

-HBH Crab and Lobster Bites
-Shrimp Pellets
-Zucchini
-Occasional algae wafer
-Algae

Hope this information helps out in setting a tank for snowball shrimp. Enjoy the picks and hope to see questions and comments.

Cheers,
Pedro

Here are pictures of a pregnant snowball shrimp in the tank:





































These are photos of baby snowballs and other snowballs I have in the tank:


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## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

congratulations!! They are beautiful indeed! HOpe to get some of these...
thanks for sharing your experience!


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## Neon Shrimp (Apr 26, 2006)

I agree, great photos and guide on how to keep snowball shrimp. Thank you for sharing with the rest of us Hope to see more pictures in the future:wink:


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Thanks!


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## Musket (Jun 7, 2006)

milalic nice work!
She looks like she is going to eat that ramshorn snail.


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## raven_wilde (Nov 16, 2005)

Free reign of 75 gallons... those are some lucky shrimp! Thanks for the info and the pics, much luck with your future shrimp endeavours!


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Not that free...they have to share it with the crays and snails...


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## Neon Shrimp (Apr 26, 2006)

It must be a wonderful site, 75g with just inverts and plants


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Anyone keeping these shrimp can share their experience and setup?

Thanks,
Pedro


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Mine are housed in a much more basic setup. For those of you who saw my setup in the thread regarding wire rack shelves..you may have noticed five 5.5 gallon tanks on the top shelf. The snowballs are in one of those with a Hydro mini sponge filter and some christmas moss. They eat homemade snail cookies (from aquabid), Hikari Crab Cuisine, HBH Crab and Lobster Bites and Tetra Tropical Crisps. Lighting is a basic 2 x T8 shoplight w/ Phillips daylight bulbs (goes accross all 5 tanks).

I hardly ever test water parameters. My KH is low...2 or less and GH is 12 from the tap. pH from the tap is about 6.4 or so.


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## mrbelvedere138 (Jan 18, 2006)

I have heard snowballs (as well as all Neocaridina) will thrive in high pH water. Mine is around 8, and my cherries are doing wonderful. They are always having broods, and all my mature females are pregnant. 

Will snowballs do okay (and by okay I mean breed) in this alkaline water?


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Yes, they will breed in alkaline, hard water.

Cheers,
Pedro


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Anyone else that wants to share their snowball tank with us and what has been successful for you in keeping them?

Thanks


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## oceans0516 (Jul 23, 2006)

*my first preggo snowball*

This thread got bumped in the perfect time. I came home from work yesterday and found that one of my snowball shrimp was carrying eggs. I've been eyeing on her for a week and she finally layed eggs.  
My experience with the care of snowball shrimp is pretty much the same as red cherries. Clean water is key. I house my snowball in a 10g with tons of willow moss. They used to be in a community tank but i recently switched over to a 20g. They are now alone with my livebearer fry. They seem to be getting along quite well and don't mess with each other except when trying to snatch food from each other. The fish babies will soon be moved into the 20g once the water is stable and plus i don't want them to snack on my snowball babies once its born! :biggrin:


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## Neon Shrimp (Apr 26, 2006)

Congratulations on the eggs! Just keep them healthy and your tank will be crawling with baby shrimp soon


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I'm glad to see they're starting to breed for you. My experience has been pretty well the same as cherry shrimp, though not quite as prolific, I would say they are just as hardy.


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## oceans0516 (Jul 23, 2006)

yep yep. Thx Aaron for ur healthy cute snowball shrimps!! can't wait till they're crawling everywhere. 
Do have one question thoe. Do first time shrimp mommies tend to drop some of their eggs?? My snowball seems to have dropped a few eggs and the same happened to one of my cherries before. Inexperienced or some aren't fertilized???


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

oceans0516 said:


> yep yep. Thx Aaron for ur healthy cute snowball shrimps!! can't wait till they're crawling everywhere.
> Do have one question thoe. Do first time shrimp mommies tend to drop some of their eggs?? My snowball seems to have dropped a few eggs and the same happened to one of my cherries before. Inexperienced or some aren't fertilized???


Might not be fertilized, too many eggs, or was stressed.

-Pedro


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