Everything You Should Know Before You Get Shrimp! 7 Tips for Keeping Shrimp in an Aquarium

In this video, I give my top 7 tips for keeping and breeding shrimp in an aquarium.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
1:10 - Keep one type of shrimp per tank
3:47 - Focus on keeping water parameters stable
6:22 - Keep the pH below 7.6
7:57 - Keep planaria away
9:56 - Add some leaf litter
13:12 - Add some live plants
15:26 - Keep the flow low
Thanks so much for watching!
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[@Daveycrits]

I know he said oxygenation isn't a huge deal with the shrimp but in my planted tank we put in a little airstone and within a week my extremely lethargic shrimp are all over the place exploring, huge difference.

[@zim93boy]

I just did this yesterday with my shrimp and now they exploring everywhere. Another thing was adding mosses. The tank I have is very heavily planted but I recently added mosses and it's a game changer shrimp love that stuff.

[@Daveycrits]

@@zim93boy I've noticed too, java moss they love and I added I believe the name is monte carlo as a carpeting grass and even the extremely little I've got so far they pick at all day.

[@Saddammskii]

i have several shrimp tanks. my most successful tank by an absolute mile is a simple 10L tank with a small sponge filter and a decent amount of java moss and small hardscape to provide hiding places. i think the combination of oxygen, hiding spaces, and mosses is crucial to a successful setup

[@johncheetham4607]

Thought I'd purchased X3. Have X1. Tank is very happy. Might get a few more next. It's a communal tank (non aggressive fish). Fascinating to watch.

[@TalesByAJ]

I just use a sponge filter

[@chezlerq4478]

A lot of great info. Thanks for sharing. One thing I Really like is that you aren't using this as a continuous selfie like a lot of you-tubers. You actually show the things you are talking about, instead of your face. Very refreshing. Thanks for that.

[@khianidude]

Keeping 1 type of shrimp per tank is true for all Neocaridina. But keeping different types of Caridina can be a conscious choice if you want to try and breed your own Pintos or Mosuras by mixing bolts, tigers, and bees.

[@bobbydreams]

Sounds like an interesting experiment

[@mattbatcher802]

I was going to say, well I think he did a good job explaining about the brown shrimp, it sounds like you can keep a cardinal and neo Cardinals I hate autocorrect, but like the blue and the candy cane would not breed crosswise although they probably could.

[@exclusivelyssa]

I have a ghost shrimp, a blue dwarf shrimp, idk what they are called but they have a gold stripe on their back and they are clear,rili shrimp and mixed cherry shrimp and my tank is fine.their even breeding

[@robertcarlosllenarizas7987]

So what shrimps shall i have to keep... the cherry shrimps or any that you recommend to..

[@NinjaSushi2]

@@robertcarlosllenarizas7987 Cherry. They breed on their own usually. You'll have more fun with those.

[@OperationJackHammer]

Wow! You saved me. I was wondering what those tiny things were and had a hunch most of them weren't baby shrimp, it's Planaria! Just bought the removal stuff. Thank you! Cheers

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Cool!

[@wishiwasamuffin]

Yo it's a year later, did your shrimp tank survive the planaria?

[@OperationJackHammer]

@@wishiwasamuffin yes! They did

[@thomasashe2681]

@@wishiwasamuffin those weren't planeria. Those are water fleas or daphnia.

[@thomasashe2681]

Planaria is a species of flat worm similar to the tapeworm that humans get.

[@chadnguyen6332]

I just got my first crystal reds a couple weeks ago and now one of my females is now holding eggs. Great video👍

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Good stuff!

[@alifalif2205]

​@@KeepingFishSimpleMy shrimp cracked her exoskeleton....what should I do??

[@survivorturnover]

shrimps lowkey icing on the cake vibes additions in an aquarium tho

[@Evil_Genius_888]

I started with 11 cherry shrimp from another hobbyist and now have hundreds! I just took down my “shrimp” tank and divided the shrimp into 2 big heavily planted aquariums.

[@bobbydreams]

Damn... thank God I did watch your video because your statement of "You'll just end up with Brown Shrimp" hit different bc I dead ass was going to try a shrimp community tank BUT never mind lol.

[@wendygillard2133]

As a beginner aquarium enthusiast I enjoy your vlogs & learn a lot. Thanks from another Aussie.

[@moviemakerwannabe]

I found that putting shells in the bottom of the tank supplies the snails with the calcium/minerals they need without affecting the water as much as cuttlebone or other calcium additives can. The snails will work on the shells as needed so sooner or later the shells will be less attractive in your tank than they were in the beginning.

[@MsSkoodals]

What kind of shells? Sea shells, dead snail shells? And where do you choose to get yours? Just wondering because I had heard about cuttlebone causing issues with the water so I wasn’t sure what to do instead. Thank you!

[@MsSkoodals]

Thank you! Maybe I could boil them? I heard people do that with rocks. I did that with mine

[@gabriellahsdancingheart8808]

I rinse my egg shells thoroughly and dry/sterilize them in the oven. ​@@MsSkoodals

[@gabriellahsdancingheart8808]

How much/many shells do you add per gallon?

[@moviemakerwannabe]

@@gabriellahsdancingheart8808Usually 4 or 5 small to medium shells in a 5-10 gallon tank . I use them like tank decorations the snails will work on them as needed. You'll start seeing a change in the shells over time.

[@elyse1996]

I love shrimp so much, I can't wait to have all sorts of them one day!

[@sarahroper647]

I love this style of video! It is so calming and reflective, it makes me wanna fall asleep! Definitely keep it up 🥰 love you kfs 💘💘💘👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🦐🦐🦐

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thanks sarah

[@jefferybruce2332]

Lower filter flow tip: tried and it DOES help. Thanks

[@JohnnyRocknRoll]

Straight to the point and very relevant. Thank you.

[@mentalmortal299]

For mixing them to keep the colours the same and pronounced you can scoop out the ones that go darker and it will let you selectively choose the ones that breed and you won’t get dark ones if you do that every generation of shrimp or so

[@stormtrooper2k581]

what do you do with the scooped out darker ones?

[@melonbals5512]

@@stormtrooper2k581 eat them

[@phillip1beer]

Another great video. I enjoy your young enthusiasm and your vast knowledge at a young age. I am old and though my aquarium hobby has waxed and waned over the years due to many circumstances I have never lost interest. There is just no end to the directions you can go with this hobby. I am sure watching your videos that you will still be keeping fish when you are an old man. It just never gets boring.

[@bibubbletea]

This is such a sweet comment, I hope your fish are doing well if you have any :)

[@phillip1beer]

@@bibubbletea docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTYF12JjFod3Wj8Tz6UGX6v2mJT7AvvYxB0Vpip89qxScWidTcrioxPdlymiwhLYdIC9KJzjm_Gn9Ig/pub

[@knowthycell]

@@bibubbletea he recently poured beer in his tank

[@chocolatelily90]

So happy when you said we can use Eucalyptus leaves! Will definitely be giving them a go!

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Nice!

[@NinjaSushi2]

I'm going to try the leaf tip. Thank you. I've noticed that a number of my cherry shrimp love to hang out where my hang on back filter flows in. Of course there are shrimp down in the low-flow portions of my tank but I noticed a number of these shrimp will get right under the fast flowing water and sit there and eat any algae and what else they may find. You can get a sponge for your intake on a hang on back small enough to keep the shrimp out. Also if these shrimp come from rivers then more than likely they're used to some flow. I'm sure they love to hide and breed in the low flow areas but rivers aren't no-flow/low-flow. Creeks are low flow but rivers usually are not.

[@landensamazinganimals6488]

Thanks for the tips! I’ve been looking into getting some shrimp and this really helped!

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thank you

[@squamsh122]

Your vid quality continues to improve, really relaxing video

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thank you

[@CaptainSavageAquatics]

Great video! I found it very informative. Keep up the great work!

[@junkypearl]

Thank you for the good information!

[@fizzyplazmuh9024]

This is so fun! I never knew there where colorful varieties of freshwater shrimp. I live on the Texas Gulf coast and used to catch and keep Sargasso Sea shrimp and also pond reared commercial shrimp. These look like a ton of fun and way easier than marine tanks.

[@jawjagrrl]

There is a good shrimp seller out of Houston that I got mine from thru Ebay - the neos are easier to start and great if you have hard water like many Texans. Mine are in 7.6ph, 300+gh and breeding like crazy. Lots of north American leaves you can also use (almond leaves have some disease fighting properties though), mine love magnolia - just make sure they dried out naturally on the tree. I have 4 tanks but shrimp and crayfish bring me the most enjoyment- I have male endlers in with mine and they do well together, never hassle each other and never seen them predate shrimplets.

[@capuchinosofia4771]

Very informative and well made video! I have one question though: When you grab the eucaliptus leaves, do you put them in the tank "raw" or do you boil them first?

[@kevinnam322]

he boils them... there's a video of him collecting botanicals, also, not many people put them in "raw" because they can have unwanted pathogens and bacteria, and so on.

[@capuchinosofia4771]

@@kevinnam322 i figured but i sill wanted to confirm, so thanks for explaining Kevin!

[@drixxmarlo5398]

Love the vid man! Will definitely follow these tips for my new established shrimp tank. Thanks!

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thanks bro !

[@adrianradu2332]

Thank you! I will soon get my 20 L nano from Dennerle, I cannot wait! I am planning to do a nicely decorated, heavily planted tank with an HOB filter, CO2 and LED lighting. I will use black substrate with fertilizer underneath and a little bit of white sand for contrast. After I cycle the tank, (test the water to make sure the parameters are alright) I plan to start with a small population of shrimp to see how they'll do in their new environment. I love the idea of leaf litter, but I am not sure how well it will go in such a small tank (maybe I'll break the leaves apart). if things go well and the shrimp establish a population, then I'll add some microfish to the tank aswell (small fish that wouldn't interfere much or at all with the shrimp) Hope it's gonna go well.

[@voz5585]

How’d it go? I use a “hygger” brand (amazon) air bubbler and a sponge filter for my low tech nano shrimp tank. Its mini size and so neat for this set up. Sand. Planted. No HOB. Added cholla wood, spider wood decor & I have some small almond/catappa leaves. They love climbing the cholla wood. The only fish at the moment are Oto catfish they’re peaceful & won’t eat any shrimps just algae. I feed using Bacter AE & Shrimp Baby powder & some mineral pellets. But I need to cut back since I’m starting to see additional unwanted tankmates like rhabdo something worms & detritus. Trying to feed less now to avoid Planaria. Anyways, goodluck & enjoy 👍

[@aaliyahwhenan5029]

howd it go?

[@sigui.habana]

So nice to see family and genus Thanks

[@rb5337]

Panacur works great at killing planaria and hydra quickly. It did not harm any shrimp fish or plants. 1 pouch per 50ml of treated water. I added 1ml of well mixed slurry per gallon. I had to treat all six tanks because I moved plants around before discovering both planaria and hydra. (Panacur is dog dewormer) It killed a lot of bladder snails and all the nirites. The Mystery and Assassin snails were not harmed. The panacur disapates after 24hrs and after about 3 days the snails died in droves. The water goes milky white for a couple of hours. Two doses were needed to eradicate the leaches. Great video young man...too late for me I mixed my shrimp varieties already, oops.

[@multipletanksyndrome]

Thinking about getting a few shrimp. Thanks for the tips.

[@cadenfisher7701]

Nice vid! Keep up the great work! I haven’t kept shrimp but hope to in the future and I will definitely follow these tips!

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Nice

[@MrHillbilly]

I love this! Great work 👍🏻

[@barrylight3535]

Brilliant. Thanks.

[@joyrice1350]

I plan on adding 12 cherry shrimp to my community tank (3 red, 3 orange, 3 yellow, 2 blue, 1 black) I honestly don’t care whether they breed or not and hope their fry creates a nice snack for my fish 😄

[@insolentstickleback3266]

That’s the spirit, home grown live food for the tank!

[@goransasic4079]

Bro I bought 10 pcs and my fishes ate them all in less than 2h 🤦‍♂️😂

[@jamesowen418]

​@@goransasic4079 😂 oops!

[@zenzeus4351]

@@goransasic4079 what fish were they? i want to add 6 shrimp to a tank with 6 zebra danios and 5 4cm tetras

[@goransasic4079]

@@zenzeus4351 zebras 😂

[@jojocool555]

Jam packed with info ! !

[@taylorhillard4868]

Looking forward to getting some shrimp for my nano tank. A little worried they might breed and overpopulate the tank. Hopefully mine we be happy, yet chaste. Lol

[@dougwalker6064]

Great video thanks for sharing

[@elianapena8310]

Very good information, detailed, I think I´m ready for keeping shrimp :)

[@chrissforza6405]

Well done! Thank you!

[@Everything-dr1wb]

Thank you for sharing this video 🙂👍

[@williamkreth]

Very helpful video dude thank you

[@VitorCoelho6]

15:10 Happy to see that. I have cabomba's since the very beggining just because I liked them, and I rarely see them anywhere.

[@anamariapittman661]

i just asked my LFS to order some cherry shrimp, so this was good timing

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Nice!

[@mharsenpai5419]

Thanks for sharing ❤️

[@pipeyto7]

At the end of the day. You want to have stable water conditions and temp with neos. If you're doing this strictly as a light hobby, don't worry about listening to videos like this. They will breed given time and the colony will get used to their parameters, water flow, tank mates, etc..

[@Jcharp12]

So true

[@kzookid2051]

Good info, thanks.

[@WorldAquariumSingapore]

super nice and good advices there thanks

[@choogiesaur]

Amazing, thank you!

[@reggiehammer8170]

Thank You for a Great Video.

[@AnusConqueror]

The time stamps in the description is 🔥

[@KingsAquariumsAndAntWorld]

Awesome video buddy, thanks for a very informative video, keep up the amazing work buddy

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thank you

[@ratsaremagic]

Enjoyed your video - thanks

[@lachlanisaac]

Awesome video. Great job on cranking out the vids. Keep it up..... 👌👍😁

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thanks Lachie

[@adriyen1944]

I’ve never had shrimps I really want them they are so adorable!!

[@stubbsaquatics6080]

Great as always

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thank you

[@thizzobishi]

This is an awesome video.

[@donathszamosi1596]

It is a really great video!

[@Bob32328]

Thanks for sharing!! :D

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thank you

[@FireflyXOXO1]

Thank you so much

[@markl2352]

Thanks for the tips, Just getting started in my fish breeding hobby and learning alot from you.

[@paulcampbell353]

sponge filter makes a perfect nursery for baby shrimp too 🙏

[@jamielingenfelter5206]

I have three different types in my tank and now they’re coming out red and white pretty cool looking

[@juamperuiz]

Thanks for the tips!

[@harmonylight4677]

Thanks!

[@guitarprophetyt7164]

I don't know if you have figured it out, But your videos in past have helped e a lot. for yellow C Shrimps, Neo Caradina (Soft water), If you can get hands on some RO water then fill a tank full of it, and try to stabilize it according to Care Guide that you are doing. Try with few. as they like Soft water they will slowly adjust. Just something I tried. I have a RO here in my house and I used it and it worked but took around 2 weeks for them to get all healthy and Free swimming and Happy till the started breeding. I have only 1 seller here and they get very less of any shrimp so I started with only 3. 2 males and 1 female, but I was left with only the male, later I bought 1 more female and did what I mentioned above and it worked.

[@baikia777]

15:08 that's actually Limnophila sessiliflora. Cabomba has finer leaves and a bit harder to keep. If you want something easy like guppy grass, try hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum & Ceratophyllum submersum). You can just float them because they don't have roots.. And mosses, I prefer pelia moss or susswassertang (they're liverworts, not actually a moss) since they grow slower and not as messy looking as normal mosses. These are great since baby shrimp love to hide in them and provide tons of surface area for grazing.

[@DreacoPlays]

I'm a new aquascaper and canova seems pretty easy to keep for me

[@ROCCATEER92]

I've got L. sessiliflora in my Neocaridina tank. It's a incredibly fast growing plant.

[@waterlover]

Good info

[@shellyworks5606]

Great show, I'm having problems with my Shrimp, so Thanks..

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thank you

[@CoconutsGlow]

Planaria... I had a month where I probably over fed my shrimp and these things were everywhere floating around in my water streams. The boom in population seems to have subsided, but I discovered there is actually a Planaria trap you can put in the corner of the tank. I've yet to try it, but thought I'd put the info out there in case anyone wants a less scary alternative to meds. Great vid clips. Nice info and Good vid!

[@christinaturner6883]

Thank you

[@crowchaos.]

I'm getting cherry shrimp soon! This video is great! The tank is actually acclimating right now, 5 more days, the tank even has a waterfall filter! It's my first tank. And would yellow cherries and red cherries be well together?

[@shrimptastic-life]

What a cool idea! I have been searching out breeding options for shrimpy. This one never occurred to me.

[@muhammadazim4657]

Nice tips👍🏼

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thanks

[@Desi-qw9fc]

Oh wow, great to know that Eucalyptus leaves are okay!

[@riskuyat]

THANKS !!!

[@Chompchompyerded]

All neocaradina davidii come from areas in eastern Asia. There is one neocaradina, the neocaradina palmata for which the wild type comes from Japan. It is the subspecies from which the pearl varieties of neocaradina come from. Neocaradina palmata don't generally crossbreed well with neocaradina davidii, and for that reason, along with the fact that they are separated from the davidii by an entire sea, it has been speculated that they may in fact be an entirely different species. From these they have got the white pearl, the blue pearl, and the amber pearl. The wild type is a light grey with a brown stripe running down its back. The neocaradina davidii came from four wild types and one wild type variant which were a black abdomen with a grey carapace with black speckles, a solid dark brown, a light brow with a darker brown stripe down its back (and its variant which is entirely clear), and a grey with tiny reddish-brown spots on its carapace and on back on it's abdoment. You often here people say that if you breed mixed colours they will revert back to their wild type colours. This is not true. They will create a browning coloured shrimp which can best be described as a mutt, but which almost never bares any resemblance to the wild types. The wild types are colours all of their own, and unfortunately you almost never see them in aquaculture. The wild types are definitely on my wish list, but some of them have become extremely endangered, so getting them is not likely to happen, and you can't get them by back-breading. It just doesn't work that way. The other neocaradina which I would love to have are equally as difficult to find. I'd love to have some topaz, some red rili blue, royal rili/extreme red rili blue. If anyone has a lead on any of these, I'd sure appreciate a shout-out. Thanks.

[@ThuanNguyen-ne9jr]

planaria can grow back in full if you cut them in half and sometimes into smaller sections

[@flower_bone8122]

How long do the eucalyptus leaves take to break down and how long do you leave them in for? :)

[@johnnypants1215]

I keep crayfish, so this video was helpful

[@19befera]

@KeepingFishSimple Thank´s for a great video. How do you clean the gravel in shrimp tanks without siphoning up the shrimps?

[@boojablegoogle1245]

"Shrimp are probably one of the most sensitive species in the hobby" Me counting all my new baby shrimp while watching this video 👁👄👁

[@1.8millionvolts87]

Damn, lucky tou haha. What kind of filter are you using? I'm trying to keep one

[@cantaloupez]

@@1.8millionvolts87 Just use a sponge filter! you can buy them on amazon

[@muzzammilmazlan3958]

How your baby shrimp now? Bc i just started to keep shrimp

[@TheCutiePatrol]

i used to have one of those canister filters you put in the tank, jets water out of the top part and all the shrimp used it to live inside, when i would clean it out, i had to first open it in a bucket, so i could get all the shrimp out.

[@JeffMuhlbach]

I enjoyed this video as well as the one of raising shrimp in bins. Any chance you have done or could do a video of setting up a shrimp tank that can be left for a week if I have to travel for work or go on vacation. Seems the raising in bins sorta did this. (2 week even better)

[@mountaingreenery]

Very nice ❤

[@anuragbaghele8287]

I just love your videos , they are so informative & satisfying..

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thanks

[@josep7gs925]

Hi 👋I love your channel so much and I have some glowlight and silver tip tetras and I was wondering if you could do a video of how to easily breed one of those species😁😊😲😁

[@tribalrhino]

Are you using active substrate for your neos? Your snails seem to be having disolving shells... Active substrate will strip KH and then buffer the water down to a pH of 6 to 6.6... Most neos (and snails) won't like that a whole lot, so might be where your yellows are struggling? I have Bloody Mary going bonkers in active substrate with a pH of 6.4, so what do I know :)

[@KeepingFishSimple]

I’ve taken it out

[@-8_8-]

Thanks for the tip with the banana leaf and acid without discoloration. Any thoughts on oak and magnolia? Because free near me.

[@liamstapleton6722]

Some nice shrimp there nick cannot wait until there on the website

[@Bobby11]

It looks like there are some shrimp on the site :)

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thanks bro

[@imaginalfoto2729]

Thanks for the video, really nice tips regarding the maintenance of an aquarium with shrimp :)

[@alfredoghost2306]

If all else fails, coral magnesium additives gave saved alot of shrimp lives. They need magnesium the same way coral does to absorb the calcium and minerals.

[@theonghantan862]

Thanks🍒🍓🍓

[@BarbaraYetzer-si7bs]

She's full of glamour ⛱️

[@PureShrimp]

Cool video

[@alecthomas33]

You definitely saved me. I have cherry shrimp right now and was that guy that wanted to dump a whole bunch of different colors in there. If I understand this right though, you could put the cherry shrimp with crystal shrimp and they won't interbreed correct?

[@typicallyusual6984]

Yes you can. In case you’re not familiar enough yet, crystal shrimp can be quite finicky/sensitive like he said, so you might want to do more research and look into an RO/DI unit. Fluval stratum is good for maintaining the right pH for crystal shrimp. The cherry shrimp should be able to adapt to crystal shrimp parameters as long as you acclimate them.

[@call_me_mrhate165]

I got shrimp and they keep me and my cat very entertained 🤣

[@iceyywithit]

First thank you for all the info and I might breed betta’s

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thank you

[@iceyywithit]

@@KeepingFishSimple no problem

[@squa_81]

Thanks :D

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Thanks 🙏

[@megazillasaurus]

I first got shrimp when i was 13 and now im becoming 14 in 2 months and so far i own 2 shrimp species, ghost shrimp and cherry shrimp.

[@Saltiren]

How're the shrimp doing

[@megazillasaurus]

@@Saltiren they are doing pretty good and now i have alot of shrimp

[@Saltiren]

@@megazillasaurus glad to hear and hope you keep enjoying raising them!

[@abfmkarin]

I keep mine in community tanks in Blackwater and they are doing well because the male betta isn't bothered to hunt them so these ones with the male betta and dwarf rasbora, kuhlis and ottos are doing very well and I have all sorts of colours.No brown ones yet. The second tank with the female bettas, Harlekins, kuhlis and ottos are a lot less because the female bettas hunt all the baby shrimp. So the colonies in both Blackwater tanks with 75-80% of plants are very healthy and active.

[@ninathompson6756]

Hi. Enjoying your videos. Please do one on how much to actually feed the fish. I saw another you tuber that fed 20 times what I do. Have I been under feeding my tank? I was alway so cautious, just a pinch.