What are Neocaridina Shrimp? Neocaridina Shrimp (Neocaridina davidi) are one of the most popular and available freshwater invertebrates in the aquarium hobby. This species is naturally found in Southeast Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam, where they inhabit bodies of slow and fast-moving fresh water. Wild-type individuals are less sought after and have much duller coloration than their ornamental counterparts. These individuals are predominantly clear, with portions of their body being slightly brown, black, gray, yellow, or even slight hues of red or green. Individuals can also have a dorsal yellow stripe from head to tail, which is also commonly seen in ornamental varieties as well. Ornamental Neocaridina Shrimp occur in a wide range of colors due to selective line breeding for coloration over time. These lineages started with individuals with some coloration or none at all that later produced offspring. In order to produce the most colorful shrimp, or the best expressed desirable traits, only individuals that met those criteria were selected to breed, whereas the remainder are considered "culls". This practice occurs even to today's standard of breeding aquatic species, especially when it comes to potential genetic defects, malformities, or animals with an expected low quality of life as they age. Many shrimp breeders who have "cull" shrimp often give them away to hobbyists or use them in other non-breeding set ups such as community aquariums. Because of the selective breeding process, many grades and colors of shrimp exist including blue dream, black rose, carbon rili, green jade, orange sakura, and cherry. All of these colorations are the exact same species; however, their genetics do not necessarily work as one may think. How to Care for your Neocaridina Shrimp: Neocaridina are well-known for their versatility towards various water parameters and their ability to survive less favorable environments. However, we have noticed three main aspects of shrimp care that can go unnoticed that can be detrimental to your aquarium's health and shrimp well-being: 1) Overfeeding 2) Water Hardness 3) Nitrogenous Waste Quick Guide to the Minimum Parameters to Ensure Your Neocaridina Thrive Tank Size 10+ Gallons Water pH 6.5-8.0 Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate 0 ppm *These are three main parameters to ensure that your shrimp will thrive under your care, but do not need additional details. The parameters/criteria below require additional explanation and detail. Water Hardness: Water hardness pertains to the number of dissolved solids and minerals in your aquarium's water column. Particularly minerals such as Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), and Carbonate (CO3)/Bicarbonate (HCO3) ions and molecules. The following measures that define water hardness are gH, kH, and TDS. Calcium and Magnesium ions within your water column are measured through gH. For invertebrates, Calcium and Magnesium are crucial elements/minerals needed for exoskeleton development, growth, and molting. The ideal value range for gH is between 4-8° gH for Neocaridina. These API Test Strips can provide you a fast kH test for your aquarium. Carbonate and Bicarbonate ion presence is observed through kH. These ions act as a buffer, minimizing the fluctuations in pH that your aquarium may endure as time goes on. The ideal value for kH is between 1-4° kH for Neocaridina. These API Test Strips can provide you a fast kH test for your aquarium. TDS is a measure of total dissolved solids. It is the total number of dissolved minerals, organic waste, ions, and other organic compounds within your aquarium's water. The ideal parameter range for TDS is between 150-250 ppm (parts per million) for Neocaridina. If your aquarium water is too soft (low gH/kH) for Neocaridina, we strongly recommend purchasing an aquarium remineralizer like Brightwell Aquatics Remineraliz-P. Filtration: For Neocaridina Shrimp and a lot of other species, we recommend using only sponge filters. Although not as aesthetically pleasing, sponge filters are 100% biological filtration and cost only a fraction of what internal, and hang-on-back mechanical filters do. Sponge filters also consume significantly less power, being ran by an air pump. Many air pumps that are used for 1-3 aquariums are generally low wattage. Sponge filters are invaluable to shrimp and other biofilm grazers. They provide significant surface area to allow for additional biofilm growth. There also is not technically a specific size for aquarium sponge filters too. A sponge filter marketed to be for 20–40-gallon aquariums can work extraordinary well in a 10-gallon aquarium with the proper airflow. Managing the airflow properly prevents excessive evaporation, mineral precipitation on outer aquarium surfaces, and allows for adequate, but not excessive water circulation that would increase dissolved oxygen content. You can use a mechanical internal or hang-on-back filter for your shrimp however, you must be certain that it is safe to use with them. Specifically, look for an adjustable flow feature, or a sponge over the intake to prevent small animals from being taken into the filter like shrimp. If that is the option for you, we recommend this hang-on-back aquarium filter with adjustable flow and a sponge over the intake! We recommend purchasing these sponge filters and this air pump together to get all the needed supplies to operate your sponge filter without hassle and worry! Substrate: Choosing the correct substrate is important for your Neocaridina, especially considering if it is a high-tech planted aquarium. Aquarium-safe sand is a suitable option for Neocaridina. We offer fine sands that do incredibly well as a part of intricate aquascapes. Aquasoils and nutrient-rich substrates work for Neocaridina as well. However, many soils may initally leach nutrients into the water column, affecting water quality. Once an aquarium is very established, then it would be safe to add shrimp. Fluval Stratum and CaribSea Eco-Complete are nutrient-rich substrates that have been successfully used with Neocaridina Aquarium Decorations: Using natural aquarium decorations and some artificial ones are best for Neocaridina. Using rocks and driftwood positively correlate to biofilm availability and water quality with Neocaridina. Porous stones such as Lava Rock increase surface area for nitrifying bacteria to consume ammonia and nitrites and convert it to nitrates. Many aquarists choose dense, easy-sinking aquarium woods such as mopani and pacific driftwood for shrimp. The downsides to driftwoods such as mopani, pacific, and even spiderwood is that they leech tannins into the water column when you place them directly into your aquarium. Tannins are a substance that adds a brownish-yellow color to your aquarium water and lower pH. It is best to soak your driftwood for 2-3 days to remove a significant amount of tannins and to waterlog your wood to make sure it sinks in your aquarium. Boiling your driftwood before adding it to your aquarium is also a suitable option to remove potential bacteria, fungi, and tannins altogether. Another natural decorative item that is also somewhat of a nutritional supplement is botanicals. Botanicals are plant derived materials that are usually dried and added to aquariums to create a more naturalistic environment, enhance water quality, and provide enrichment to your fish and shrimp. They are very commonly used in blackwater aquarium set-ups. Among the most popular are Indian Almond Leaves, Alder Cones, and various seed pods. Once they are added to your aquarium, detritivores such as Neocaridina shrimp will consume and graze on the leaves and associated biofilm. Similarly to driftwood, botanicals tend to release tannins into your water column. If you are not the biggest fan of tannins, we recommend soaking them in water for 2-3 days, or boiling and cooling them before adding them to your shrimp tank. As far as artificial decorations, you can be quite creative with Neocaridina Shrimp. If you are keeping them with other fish species (see tank mates section), you should provide a space the shrimp have to themselves. We recommend these cool 3D printed tunnels that can go into your aquarium substrate. They allow you to look at your shrimp and other fish from a whole new angle! Live Plants: Live plants are an absolute necessity for Neocaridina. Aquarium plants provide natural hiding space for both adult and baby shrimp in addition to constantly aiding in nitrogenous waste removal from your aquarium. Neocaridina can also graze and consume decaying/melting aquarium plants to prevent excess ammonia into your water column. Plants such as Amazon Swords will shed outer leaves occasionally as they grow new ones from the center of the plant. Neocaridina do quite well with most species. Using a combination of fast-growing floating, rooted, and epiphyte plants will best ensure that your shrimp welfare and aquarium water quality are optimal. For shrimp, we recommend these aquatic plants below: 1) Java Moss 2) Subwassertang 3) Water Sprite 4) Hornwort 5) Pearlweed If you wish to purchase multiple plants for your aquarium altogether, we recommend this Beginner Plant Pack offered by our partner distributor who supplies our aquatic plant catalog. Feeding Neocaridina Shrimp: Neocaridina Shrimp are omnivorous. This means they consume both organic plant and animal matter. Shrimp will graze on biofilm, algae, detritus, commercial fish food, frozen brine shrimp/bloodworms, and even deceased fish/shrimp. If you are keeping Neocaridina with other tank mates, you may not need to directly feed your shrimp at all! They will graze on algae, biofilm, and leftover fish food/feces. This prevents over feeding your shrimp which can cause shrimp deaths. If you do plan on keeping shrimp in their own aquarium, we recommend only feeding them a small portion of food no more than twice weekly. This Calcium fortified food designed for bottom feeders and invertebrates will ensure that your shrimp will have all the essential nutrients to grow and breed. We recommend feeding one tablet per 10-15 shrimp. Aquarium Tank Mates for your Neocaridina Shrimp: Neocaridina Shrimp do best with the most peaceful tank mates that add a bio-load to your aquarium and are non-aggressive. Some of these tank mates will also consume detritus worms and planaria that would interfere with shrimp health. 1) Chili Rasbora 2) Clown Killifish 3) Pygmy Cory & other Corydoradinae Catfish 4) Mystery Snails 5) Nerite Snails 6) Bristlenose Pleco 7) Neon Tetra 8) Ember Tetra 9) White Cloud Mountain Minnow Breeding Neocaridina Shrimp: Breeding Neocaridina shrimp is very simple and requires no additional work other than maintaining stable water parameters and keeping male and female shrimp. Copulation (mating act) usually occurs shortly after molting, when shrimp shed their old exoskeletons. Once a shrimp molts, you will see a white semi-transparent shell in your aquarium. Females that are nearing breeding condition will begin developing eggs near their head and dorsal part of their body. In most Neocaridina lineages, these eggs are yellow in color. A female that is developing eggs is what breeders call "saddled", since a yellow saddle-like shape appears inside the shrimp. After copulation and the eggs are fertilized, the eggs will be carried under the abdomen of the female. These eggs are attached to her pleopods, or swimmerets. They act as fans, keeping the eggs well oxygenated and developing properly before they hatch. Incubation is between 2-4 weeks long. Once the eggs are ready to hatch, independent shrimplets that do not require parental care are ready to grow in your aquarium. This is when Neocaridina are most susceptible to predation in your aquarium, due to the small shrimplet size. Providing ample dense plant coverage and hiding spaces will mitigate even the most peaceful tank mates from consuming shrimplets. As far as breeding different shrimp colors, if you plan on line-breeding for specific traits such as cherry shrimp, it is not recommended to breed them to blue, chocolate, orange, or any color shrimp except for cherry. When different shrimp colors crossbreed, wild-type shrimp or duller colored shrimp of the parental colors are the resulting offspring. However, if you are having shrimp for just having shrimp, let them breed! You will see some interesting outcomes. Where can You Order Neocaridina Shrimp? Scholarly Exotics in partnership with a distributor offers a few varieties of Neocaridina Shrimp such as Cherry, Yellow, Chocolate, and Snowball with fast UPS Next Day Shipping and live arrival guarantee, when all bases of the shipping policy are met. Conclusion: Thank you for reading this article on Neocaridina husbandry, breeding, and aquarium set up. If you have any questions, please contact us at our email address: scholarlyexotics@gmail.com; we will respond back as soon as possible! Shop for essential Neocaridina Shrimp and other Aquarium Supplies through Scholarly Exotics!
