Yes, this is another blog, but not specifically to just freshwater shrimp keeping. The purpose of this blog is to help all hobbyists, from amateurs to experts on keeping their aquariums happy and healthy.
I have been in the hobby for a while now and it bothers me that there is never really enough information that fully satisfies my queries. People will read general information off a book or from an internet source and pass it on like it's the ONLY truth, without doing experimental methods themselves. Because of this, there are many myths on the internet. Now, not all internet information and/or sources are false. Many are true, which is great, but they sometimes forget to tell you why you are doing certain things they tell you to do.
In example, some commonly asked questions would be:
"What's cycling a tank and why do it?"
"Can I keep Crystal Red Shrimp with other types of shrimp? ie. cherry/yellow/tiger/etc"
"How do I acclimate new inhabitants? What is the purpose?"
Most often times, you will get simple answers that kind of lead you to the right road.
In example:
Q: "What's cycling a tank and why do it?"
A: "Cycling the tank takes about 2-4 weeks. Add fish food, let it rot and check for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. When you no longer get ammonia or nitrite, do a water change and consider it cycled."
Q: "Can I keep Crystal Red Shrimp with other types of shrimp? ie. cherry/yellow/tiger/etc"
A: "No, they require different parameters and some can interbreed"
However, for people like me, these answers are not enough. They are simple and direct, but I want to know the WHY of it all. I want to know the science (the basics at least!) of it.
Now, let's try doing the Q&A again. Furthermore, lets debunk some fallacies.
Q: "What's cycling a tank and why do it?"
A: Cycling a tank is the process in which most aquarium keepers require to do during their set-up of a new aquarium. It's called a cycle because it's a cycle of chemical compounds that is created through organic waste (fish poop, shrimp poop, fish food and anything else that can rot). When organisms in your tank poop or release waste, the waste is then converted into ammonia/ammonium. Ammonia is toxic when ph levels are above 7.0, but becomes a harmless form of ammonium at levels under 7.0. Nonetheless, it is generally not a good thing to have in the tank because again, it is toxic in most people's cases. It is also an indication that the tank is not yet mature, especially when you have just set the tank up. Luckily, there is a bacteria that thrives off of ammonia. They consume ammonia and then convert it to nitrite. Nitrite, slightly less toxic than ammonia, will then be present in the tank. Now that we have nitrite, another bacteria will consume it and convert that into nitrate. Nitrate is the last stage of the cycle, before it repeats itself. When you test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, your results should show you have zero (0) for ammonia and nitrite and anywhere from zero (0) to twenty (20) on nitrates. Exceedingly high nitrate levels can become too toxic for fish and shrimp. So do a water change if it's past twenty (20). Nitrate is a compound plants vigorously consume to promote growth. Many planted tank keepers want nitrate to keep their plants healthy. A generally accepted range for nitrate is somewhere between five (5) - ten (10) ppm. More does not hurt but it does depend on what you are keeping in the tank. If you are keeping delicate inhabitants such as shrimp, you may want to keep the nitrates down as they can be slightly more sensitive than fish. In my experience, fish have a higher tolerance to the toxicity of ammonia/nitrite/nitrate than shrimp and other invertebrates.
In my own shrimp tanks, I prefer to keep nitrate levels from zero (0) to five (5).
Q: "Can I keep Crystal Red Shrimp with other types of shrimp? ie. cherry/yellow/tiger/etc"
A: "The answer is YES, you can keep shrimp of various species together! However, you must understand what you are getting yourself into. Some shrimp can and will interbreed with each other. Take cherry shrimp and yellow shrimp for example. These are two different colored shrimp but of the same genus and species. Putting the two together will result in the possibility of interbreeding and thus, you will eventually lose the pure red and pure yellow coloring of these shrimp's offspring. Instead, you will end up with their original wild colors of brown/black and anything in between. When putting two or more shrimp together, you should look into that shrimp's exact genus and species name, if possible. Or at the very least, the genus name. Shrimp of the same genus can interbreed with each other, so proceed with caution. ie. cherry and yellow are Neocaridina sp. Crystals (red and black) and Tigers (blue tiger, black tiger, tangerine and red tiger) are Caridina sp.
Furthermore, each species have their own water preferences. For example, red cherries are generally known to be more tolerable to a wide array of parameters. Ranging from ph of 5-8, though ideally somewhere between 7.0-7.8 ph with a temperature of 70-76 F. Crystals on the other hand, prefer somewhere between 6.0-7.0 with a temperature of 68-74 F. As you can see, there's a bit of a conflict as their overlap is rather small. So keep in mind of the shrimp's preferred parameters when choosing to mix.
Bottom line, you can mix. Just be careful with what you are mixing and be wary of what your parameters are.
*note* - I did not go too in depth with parameters with the shrimp. Lack of gh/kh/tds info. Those were very general guidelines.
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Yes, that was a long read but at least it goes into more depth. For me, I function better when I know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I never liked the idea of doing things just because others told me so. I want to know WHY I have to do it, because perhaps there are other ways of doing it. Perhaps easier ways at that!
So basically, take everything you read with a grain of salt and do your own experimentations. Push the limits and record your results.
And now, since everyone loves pictures. Here!
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