Comparing Neocaridina and Caridina Shrimp! Which one should you choose?

[@coreywest1183]

One of the absolute best videos defining what each type of shrimp needs for water parameters. I love how you displayed in a graph the information as you were speaking. Great information!

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Glad it was helpful!

[@motomich3237]

This is a well put together video on proper water parameters. As stated there is a certain range all shrimp can survive in but and i cannot stress this enough is consistency is so important. Use this guide and find your happy medium that works for you.

[@namesbinge3073]

My father said to me once when I started to follow his hobby, whilst it is good to get deep into the technical stuff but never try to complicate things. He told me Caridina cannot tolerant hard water and Neocaridina can tolerant both, and as long as the room temperature is within 20c to 25c, both of the classes will survive just fine. I do see many people online, forum asking questions that shouldn't even been thought of in the first place. I am not an expert in technical stuff about planted tank hobby to argue with people. And I also post my methods and people would disagree, but it works for me. Maybe I hit a jackpot, but what I'm saying is there is no 100% certainty that the right way is the right way for your tank because every tank is different. As long as you have the correct fundamental, everything will click itself.

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

I think you sum it up completely when you say ‘if it works for me’. As far as I can tell, the vast majority of people offering ‘advice’ on forums etc have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Thanks for taking the time to share 🤜🏻

[@omusubibi]

This gives me so much peace of mind because I keep reading conflicting and and it's just stressing me out 😮‍💨​@@FishKeepingAnswers

[@BIBLE-UNBUTCHERED]

Great advice, keeping it simple always the best. I've kept the rarest marine fish for the longest part of their life expectancy - I have a huge strategy: live sand, live rocks, salt water, heater. End of.

[@spotalinia]

Whenever I have a question about my Neocaridina or Malawa Caridina shrimp, I just head straight for your channel and inevitably I find a straight forward answer. Many thanks from the US!

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Glad I can provide helpful information

[@ninab0bina]

This info was exactly what I needed. Thank you so much for all your details and input!

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

🫶🏻

[@thisbechris]

So glad I found your channel. Such great info!

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

🫶🏻

[@kjudestevens1519]

Thank you so much!! This type of breakdown is what I have been looking for.

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Pleasure 🫶🏻

[@BGN_Aquariums]

Great video mate. Great information. Cheers Richard 👍🏻

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Thank you 🙏🏻

[@Mateiisback]

After a while of being in the hobby and watching a bunch of videos I stopped watching them slowly and I recently lost a little interest in the hobby slowly and slowly until I felt like I regretted it but I started binging your videos again while in vacation and your channel really has helped me and I am back and super enthusiastic again after some time (: thank you and I really love your video style and what you do your channel really helped along with some others 😊 keep up the good work

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Hey! Welcome back. Thanks for the feedback 🫶🏻

[@Mateiisback]

@@FishKeepingAnswers thanks, happy to be back (:

[@namesbinge3073]

But how?

[@Mateiisback]

@@namesbinge3073 what?

[@BasedVidya]

My water is extremely soft and neutral PH. Pretty much 0 kh and gh and a ph of 7. I'm thinking Crystals are the way to go with some seachem equilibrium in the water. Just gotta find a way to lower the PH a little. Maybe Indian Almond leaves?

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Sounds like a potentially great set up. For Crystal shrimp info checkout @RWAquariumPages 👍🏻

[@Mrfish700]

A tour of the fish room would be amazing ❤

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Noted!

[@matthewray5954]

Absolutely Brilliant video mate thank you very much. This is an awesome channel 🎉

[@JoseGutierrez-pw2mi]

This chart will help very much thank you!

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

If it helps then the effort was worth it 💪🏻🫶🏻

[@TheAquaTopia]

Great video, Richard! Great information to know and helpful.

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ILIKEUALOT]

This was such a good video! Thank you!!

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

🫶🏻

[@ImzJustAGuy]

Richard, see, mate! I told ya your channel is gonna get 10k by September. I can see the future, lol. You are going to win the UKs version of the lottery next. 😂 Are youvon tiktok too?

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Your faith in me is appreciated. 👍🏻 Not on TikTok

[@hermionefinnigan]

Very informative video. I love your chart. It is easy to understand and compare the various shrimps’ water parameter preferences. But I just wish the chart with the white print has a darker background. Nevertheless, your shrimp video is very well put together; it’s full of well researched material. Thank you for sharing.

[@olthousem02]

Thanks so much for making this video

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Pleasure 👍🏻

[@kevinivey4471]

What TDS pen do you use? Couldn't find it in the description.

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

🤦🏻‍♂️. Forgot to add it. I will put a link in the description. Sorry.

[@Timsfreshwatertanks]

Excellent content again thank you. Don’t know if it was on my end but video volume was low

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Tried a different style. Wasn't overly pleased with how it turned out, but couldn't face starting agin :-(

[@Timsfreshwatertanks]

Pretty brilliant nonetheless. ✌️🦐🐟🤙

[@stefDB]

With a GH of 13, I assume my water is too hard to keep shrimp? 😢 Or is it doable as long as I keep it stable?

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Honestly, I would give it a go. Get a small group and see how they get on. I would suggest lots of live plants, which will absorb some of the calcium etc from the water. Add lots of catappa leaves and keep water changes to a minimum. Would love to hear how you get on 🤞🏻

[@innieplays]

Our PH tends to be a steady 8...do you think our blue neocardinia will be ok?

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

I think Neos will love that pH 👍🏻

[@all3n465]

youre truly amazing richard

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

You are too kind 🫶🏻

[@MandyJane123700]

This was very helpful, I think my water is best suited to neocaridina. I have some ghost shrimp, but I was hoping to get some more colorful ones eventually.

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Glad it was helpful! 👍🏻

[@McMartinVille]

I haven't seen all of your videos--do you address additives to the water (e.g. calcium) in any of them?

[@sairym3607]

Richard, thankyou firstly for this. Im in Wiltshire and ive run some tests as my new Neos are dying. My PH 7.8 KH 4 but i am sad to report my tank is GH 16 Cold tap 18 Hot (softened) 16. So my poor neos cannot molt due to too much calcium? I have 9 babies shrimplets 1 month old. Am I resigned to getting R/O kit? The aquarium is 230 litre aquascape, planted with aqua soil. The water changes are too big to consider supermarket or r/0. I have corys, neons, rummys & male guppies.

[@Fr3ddyFazbear87]

Hello, I've been following your very helpful videos for a while, and recently, my first shrimp got pregnant, but she isn't fanning her eggs. Is this bad?

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

She will. Just give her time. Would love ot hear how you get on 🤞🏻

[@easy_fishkeeping.]

Waiting time over :)

[@jmrgruiz6754]

In the colors of the neocaridinas you forgot to put the yellow golden back, and good video by the way

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Thank you 🫶🏻

[@petroboomn7491]

No mention of the Amano shrimp which seems to be a Caridina type, is it significantly different than other Caridina?

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Whilst Amano Shrimp ARE a Caridina Shrimp, they like conditions closer to those of Neocaridina Shrimp. They also breed in a differnet manner, so decided to leave them out of this one

[@jessicasinclair323]

If the parameters are off for neocaridina for each of these readings in a hard water area, how do you correct it?

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Hi. What readings do you have?

[@GravHits]

You know what I'd like to hear more about? Common shrimp disease and health complications! Ive been a shrimp hobbyist for bout 18months now and twice now I had issues with Scutariella Japonica. I spotted a few in my colony last week and am not sure how to go about dealing with it. Have you tried salt baths? Thanks!!

[@titobanerjee1085]

I have an important question I have both red cherry shrimp and bloody Mary shrimp and I also know that bloody mary have red color tissue and transparent exoskeleton and red cherry have clear tissue but red color exoskeleton here is my main question that when my bloody red After moulting her exoskeleton is transparent and it's normal i know but why my red cherrys exoskeleton also show transparent after moulting why?

[@alexwhittaker8267]

Thank you for the video, where can I buy your cherry shrimp from?

[@psy_99]

I saw from another video that a fish breeder used food grade muriatic acid to lower their PH for discus and cichlids. Can this work with shrimps?

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Hi. I have never heard of this so I can’t really share an opinion. Sorry.

[@psy_99]

@@FishKeepingAnswers how about API PH down?

[@anonymoose116]

​@psy_99 driftwood and almond leaves will lower the pH

[@BornAgainFarmGirl]

I’ll be watching this video repeatedly 😊, thank you Richard. FYI~ Your audio is needing to be turned up a bit.

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Yeah, the audio did not work out well on this one 😳☹️

[@BornAgainFarmGirl]

@@FishKeepingAnswers well you can’t get everything right 😉.

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

True 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@BornAgainFarmGirl]

@@FishKeepingAnswers 🫶🏽

[@BreakerInc]

Thank you so much for the in depth info. I just got a few shrimp, and they were supposed to be cherry shrimp.. only 2 were, the rest look a LOT like the bumble bee shrimp, but they have more of a pattern.. They called them candycane shrimp when I asked, but the only one like that I can find is a salt water species, and it's not this size. If anyone can tell me what I have, or if I just ended up with a couple of female shrimp with a unique pattern, PLEASE message me. Our water here is super hard, but they seem to be doing fine, and the store uses the same water source, so I'm just confused.. I know someone will ask.. so.. The reason I couldn't see them until they got them out, is because I'm in a wheelchair, and the tank was far too high for me to lift myself up and see. Once they were out, I couldn't just leave them even though they weren't what I came for, these idiots had already put fish in the tank since most of the shrimp had been sold, and not nano fish x.x

[@Sebbb666]

hey! what do you do with shrimp /fish you are not able to keep and are not selling in time to have the right amount in each tank?

[@ijl-cy9pp]

I have a PH 7.0-7.8, KH 8-10, GH 12-14 and have both neocaridina (RCS, yellow fire, blue jade) and caridina (amano and sunkist). All healthy and no molting issues. I think tables like that are not useful as it will only take a Google to find completely different recommendations. Some list the water parameters in their natural habitat some list the extremes of what they can survive in. The shrimp you're buying are unlikely to be wild caught and have never been in their natural habitat. Most shrimp breeders don't use RO so will likely have used their local water. Your lfs probably does the same. Great video though, you have a natural ability of explaining things simply. Something I lack completely 😅.

[@TottisTM]

Let's see if you can help me understand what happened to me. I've been keeping 3 crystal reds, 3 Amanos and 1 neritina snail in my Guppy fry tank for almost two years. pH: 8.15 (from my tap), GH: 4.5, KH: 5. I got a few guppy deaths when I got 2 new into the tank. So I added some salt and reached a TDS of 320. Then, all of a sudden my only CR female got berried, and I got 15 shrimplets. The bigger Guppies got a few of them as snack but 6 of them made it and are now about 5mm long. I changed 15% water twice/week to get the TDS down. When I got it down to 160ppm, I noticed that she's berried again... Why the hell are they starting to reproduce when I mess up the "preferred" water parameters even more..? 🤣 I don't get it. I'd be glad if you can give me your thought/input about this situation. 😘

[@GravHits]

I hope you're a teacher IRL because you're really good at this stuff! Great video

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

I wish!

[@naegwut]

So good🎉

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

🫶🏻

[@KarthickRaja-i6l]

Can u explain about its size length

[@HypnoNett]

I was thinking to get neocardinia. I’m in a hard water area

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

Do it :-)

[@HypnoNett]

@@FishKeepingAnswers I will, the aquarium is getting set up. Where can I buy from you?

[@noseyboy6334]

thanks for your videos - really are helpful. Id like to strart breeding cherry Red / Blue Neo shrimp. Id like to start with x10 (5male and 5female Red) / (5male and 5female Blue) Could you send me a url for this. Can you provide this as i cannot see on your website

[@anonymoose116]

Be aware that if you put them in the same tank, they will cross-breed. We differentiate the color, but they do not.

[@jazzkatt1919]

I've watched this and it's very informative. Unfortunately, I am still at a complete loss as to what shrimp is best for my water. It's not you. It's the water. I've always thought I understood that while soft water and acidic water are not the same thing, they might as well be, because one usually goes with the other. Not here. Our water comes out of the tap with a pH of 8.2, KH and GH of 2 degrees, and 43 TDS. 43! What on earth do I do with this mess? I know the most important thing for shrimp (and fish) is stability, but how do you stabilize alkaline water with almost no buffering capacity? I've had the pH in a couple of my tanks drop as low as 6. Not only does that make a water change a drastic shift in pH, it puts my nitrifying bacteria in a coma. I always hear it's best to leave your water alone - not to mess with hardness or pH to much, but how on earth do I reconcile that with the need for stability?

[@AgxntAqua]

If your tank is under 10 gallons you could try distilled water and a mineral supplement like salty shrimp kh+gh. Would be perfect for neos and you could very easily pre-treat all of your water and have it ready to go for water changes with the exact same parameters. Will obviously be pricier than tap water but it’s manageable in a small tank. If you want to have many tanks or large ones, it might be worth looking into a small R/O system for your home.

[@Cleeon]

Your water conditions is better suited for crystal shrimps, you just need shrimp soil and then your ph dropped to bellow 7 and that's shrimp happy will all of your water parameters

[@MudmisfitzATV]

For water changes have you tried a seperate clean bucket and test and set your water before putting in tank like a pre-treat in bucket first

[@Alex-so5si]

Don't you use the metric system in the uk? or maybe the majority of your viewers are american

[@FishKeepingAnswers]

We do, but as you say, 40% of my audience is US based 👍🏻

[@charliemunger7221]

This man is a legend!