# Relative difficulty of shrimp species?



## Michael

Experienced freshwater shrimp keepers, how do you rank the commonly available species by difficulty? A list of easiest to most difficult would be very helpful.

Thanks!


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## asukawashere

How would you judge difficulty? Ease of care? Ease of breeding? i.e. Amano shrimp are extremely easy to care for, but almost impossible to breed without multiple setups, careful monitoring, and a hefty dose of luck. If the list is based on ease-of-care I'd put them at the beginning, but if it's based on breeding I'd stick them at the very end.

Anyway, generally speaking, anything in the genus Neocaridina is easy to keep. Cherries are cheapest, so I usually recommend those as a starter shrimp, but no one strain of neos is particularly more difficult than any other. They thrive and reproduce in anything between 55 and 85 degrees, soft to hard water, high and low pH, etc.

After that, I'd tend to say Malawa shrimp (Caridina pareparensis parvidentata) are easy to care for. They prefer warmer, higher pH conditions, but are still quite adaptable and breed readily.

The less inbred C. cf. cantonensis strains (low grade crystals, tigers, etc) aren't difficult if you give them proper conditions (slightly acidic, relatively soft water, cooler temps, etc.) but they do often require cooling in the summer and a power outage in July can do in whole colonies quickly.

Similarly, blue bees (Paracaridina sp.) are quite easy to breed if their basic needs are met (similar to crystals, but they're a_ little _more tolerant of warmer temps). On the other hand, they're tiny little things, maybe half the size of Neocaridina species.

The filter-feeders (genera Atya, Atyopsis) aren't difficult in terms of parameters, but you have to have a means of feeding them. That means well-established tanks, decent water flow, and spot feeding in some cases. They'll starve to death in a new or poorly circulated tank.

Sulawesi shrimp are generally the most difficult - fragile, picky about water parameters, and hard to breed. Their price tags reflect that difficulty... but they sure are pretty! 

Also somewhere at the end of this scale are the Taiwan Bees - they're so inbred that they're extremely delicate and require strict conditions to keep alive. Fertility rate is lower than their wild counterparts, adult size is smaller, and genetic deformities are common.


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## Michael

Great answer, thanks!

By easy, I was thinking primarily of normal care and maintenance, not necessarily reproduction. It seems that many people want to set up nano tanks with shrimp, but often start with more difficult species. When the shrimp die, everyone is discouraged.

Of course I'm also asking for myself. _Neocaridina heteropoda _have been relatively easy for me, and I'm thinking about which species to try next. I had not considered Malawa shrimp, but they might like conditions in my tanks.


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## Bananariot

Michael said:


> Experienced freshwater shrimp keepers, how do you rank the commonly available species by difficulty? A list of easiest to most difficult would be very helpful.
> 
> Thanks!


Here is a list of the ones IME in rank of difficulty, with 1 being the easiest. Also A to whatever with A being the easiest (subcategories). If they're repeats of letters and numbers, it's cause they're the same difficulty.

1. Neocaridina Species: 
a) Red Mutations (Rili, PFR,)
a) Blue Mutations
a) Snowball
b) Orange Mutations (Sakura, Sunkist)
c) Yellow Mutations 
1. Malawa
1. Caridina Babaulti
2. Tiger (regular)
2. Tangerine Tigers
3. CRS (A, S, S+, SS, SSS+)
4. OEBT
4. BTOE
5. Taiwan Bees (BKK, BB, Panda, WR)
6. Sulawesi Cardinal


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## Michael

I get most of the acronyms, but what is BTOE?


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## asukawashere

OEBT = Orange Eye Blue Tiger, as opposed to BTOE = Black Tiger w/Orange Eyes. I think the idea was to try and avoid the inevitable confusion between blue/black by changing up the order, but really it just baffles people not used to the acronyms. Personally, I'd have used "K" to abbreviate black, which is the common practice in process color mixing to avoid that same confusion. Or maybe called them OEBD (after the German name for them, "black diamond" shrimp). That said, I wasn't in charge of making these things up LOL.

I forgot about the C. babaulti complex. The only commonly available variant thereof is the green babaulti, which isn't difficult to keep alive. They like similar conditions to Malawa shrimp, but are tougher to breed (Malawas are like guppies - their only flaw is that they're not terribly colorful)...

Also, "sunkist" shrimp can refer to two distinct species of orange shrimp - one is a Neocaridina morph (aka "orange sakura" or "pumpkin" shrimp) and its care is on par with other neos. The other is a low-order Caridina (C. cf. propinqua), also called a "mandarin" shrimp. While care of the latter is reputedly not that difficult (can't say for sure as I've never owned any), breeding is next to impossible.


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## TarantulaGuy

This is actually a great thread, if we could get more information on each species, i.e. water params, temps, breeding ease, etc, this would be a *fantastic* sticky.


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## Michael

Thanks for the clarification.

I don't mind acronyms, but they really should be spelled out the first time they are used in the post or thread, as in "black tiger with orange eyes (BTOE)". This is similar to the rules for scientific names, where the genus (and sometime species) may be abbreviated the second time they appear, as in "_Neocaridina heteropoda_" then "_N. heteropoda_".


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## Bananariot

Michael said:


> Thanks for the clarification.
> 
> I don't mind acronyms, but they really should be spelled out the first time they are used in the post or thread, as in "black tiger with orange eyes (BTOE)". This is similar to the rules for scientific names, where the genus (and sometime species) may be abbreviated the second time they appear, as in "_Neocaridina heteropoda_" then "_N. heteropoda_".


Sorry, I'm too used to using the invertebrate limbo xD


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## Bananariot

TarantulaGuy said:


> This is actually a great thread, if we could get more information on each species, i.e. water params, temps, breeding ease, etc, this would be a *fantastic* sticky.


http://shrimpkeeping.com/

That site has relative params for each. I would say breeding is never an issue, but the durability of offspring is the greatest issue. The gaps represent a change in difficulty that would be misleading if numbered consequentially.

However, some may say TBs are easy and aren't hard for example. I still believe the effort as well as the ability to regulate aquarium conditions far exceed the expectations needed to keep something like a neo or reg tiger.

1. Neocaridina Species, Malawa
2. Caridina Babaulti, Tiger (regular)
3. Tangerine Tigers, Aura Blue Tigers

(insert gap here)

4. CRS (A, S, S+, SS, SSS+)

(insert tremendous gap here lol)

4. OEBT (Orange Eye Blue Tigers), BTOE (Black Tiger Orange Eye)

(insert tremendous gap here lol)

5. Taiwan Bees (BKK, BB, Panda, WR)
6. Sulawesi Cardinal


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## Michael

Thanks for the link!


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## xenxes

The more inbred the harder to keep, i.e. OEBT/BTOE; Taiwan Bees. Sulawesis are just hard to keep given the specific lake conditions.


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## ShrimpUSA.com

I keep a lot of shrimp and gather info from others experience's as well as from my experience with the factors being how much is needed in regards to water conditions and temperature , and also the inevitable factor of neglect , heres what I have found . Oh a note EMS shipping creates more ammonia buildup and damage to the shrimp and can be a huge factor in how easy they can be and their reproduction in the future , so I am not taking that into account , nor not being properly shipped such as overheating etc. . Cooler temp is not as much of a factor as their metabolism slows . Age you receive the shrimp at is another big factor . Anyway just the main groups here 

Neocardina 

Fire Red
Chocolate
Sakura
Cherry
Painted Fire Red
Rili all Grades
Yellow 
Orange 
Snowball 

Cardina Easy Grades

S and SS CRS CBS as well as Snow white /Golden

Cardina Medium Grades

SSS CRS CBS , Tb's , S-SS Pure Line

Cardina Hardest

SS , SSS Purelines . Tigers and Hybrids ( Temperature sensitive and not very tolerant but worth the effort ) 

Captive bred Sulewasi ( a rarity )

Sulewasi and many wild caught shrimp with some exceptions Amano , Ghost , Malawa etc. Shrimp which I have no experience with but many people succeed easily ( Just don't want to take anything out of their natural habitat )

A couple note's wild caught tigers and babaulti are difficult but if you can find captive raised become much easier likely this is true in general . 

Difficulty has all the common factors and also take's into account what type of prep is needed and length of time before addding shrimp safely

Likely experience's can be different due to shipping issue's and preparation of the shrimp prior to shipping ( Who sent them and where they came from ) 

And another factor is experience of the shrimp keeper what may be easy for some can be a nightmare for others

But considering all that , a beginner could use these suggestions and work their way up the ladder as experience grows or by doing their homework and properly preparing and cycling / aging the tank 

Any suggestions or comment's are greatly appreciated as this is a work in progress .


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## eco

Maybe this will bring some light to being "east to care for": I have a 30 gal trash can, which I never did use for trash, in my back yard. I filled it the top with tap water and covered it loosely For almost a year now I threw in red cherry cull along with what ever aquatic plants I didnt want. Plants that was almost dying or just got too big. I would trim back the moss from my aquariums and toss those in too. Anyway whenever a friend would ask for a couple of shrimp I'd get out my old scoop net and catch them some. I never ever fed the shrimp but every time I look they seem to be doing good! But just saying  e


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