Cycling Your Shrimp Tank Is Not Enough 

Truer words have never been spoken

Thank you for the kind words! We're gonna try releasing more videos soon but need to figure out how to streamline the process so it doesn't take 20 hours of work for an 11 minute video lol

Gots to be the best explaining I've gotten

I agree 100% . It’s one of the best shrimp videos I’ve ever seen

I just found him, and thought, "wow, another nerd building aquariums in momma's basement", but after listening, I'd say he knows his stuff, and how to explain it in a manner that anyone can understand it. Kudos to him, and I'm definitely a subscriber now.

Thank you so much for the kind words! It's a lot of work for each video but I'm gonna try to get more out!

Thanks for taking the time to say that! One of the most frustrating things about this hobby for me is that everyone seems to rely on anecdotal evidence to support their claims. I'm hoping to push in the other direction by providing more research. Let me know if you have any questions about shrimp you'd like to see answered in this way! Happy shrimpin' :D

@@shrimplyexplainedSo, so true, plus the anecdotal evidence just keeps getting repeated..

These sorts of videos do take me a TON of time but it's worth getting good information out there! The fact that you took the time to leave a comment means a lot and really encourages me to make more. Good luck with your tanks and happy shrimpin!

It's really encouraging to know the video was good enough for you to take the time out of your day to leave a comment and subscribe. Thank you so much and happy shrimping :D

I'm glad it was useful for you. Thank you so much for watching!

Thanks for the encouragement! We'll do our best to put out great content for you :D

We're glad you liked it :D Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or run into any issues!

We're glad you found it helpful :D Thanks for leaving a comment and taking the time to support the video! Happy shrimpin'!

Glad you found it interesting! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a kind comment and support the channel :) Happy shrimpin'!

@obduliomoronta4820 Thanks for the kind words and for taking the time to watch

@ellaaqua Thanks for taking the time to leave a kind comment! Happy shrimpin' :D

@shrimplyexplained Of course, keep up the shrimperrific work! 😊

Thank you so much for the positive feedback! That's really encouraging to hear :) Happy shrimpin!

SHRIIIIIIIIIMMMP!!!

@chrisbridle6827 We're really glad you enjoyed the video and learned something interesting from it! Our shrimp tanks are fascinating worlds :D

Glad you liked it! We really appreciate that you took the time to comment and support the video. Good luck with your eco tank!

Thank you so much! You're definitely encouraging me to make more videos :D Happy shrimpin!

We're really happy to hear that you learned something. The encouragement means a lot

We're glad you liked the video! It's really encouraging to hear. Good luck with the tank. Please reach out if you have any questions :)

@space_ghost_z941 Thanks - I hope you learned something interesting! Happy shrimpin'!

We're glad you liked it! Thank you so much for the support

We're really happy to hear that! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave an encouraging comment :) Happy shrimpin'!

Thank you so much! We appreciate the kind words :)

@@shrimplyexplained of course. Are you familiar with the product bacterae? I was thinking of putting a bit in my 20 gal tank to anticipate shrimp being in there, but the tank probably wont be ready for the shrimp for about 18 more weeks

Thanks for the support and happy shrimpin'! :D

We're glad you found the video helpful! Patience can be incredibly difficult when you want to see cute baby shrimp ASAP but it really does pay off :D Good luck with your new tank and happy shrimpin'!

There isn't much beneficial bacterial in the water itself, even in an established tank. It would be quite a bit better to add decorations, substate, or of course a sponge filter or other filter material from an established tank to your cycling tank.

@wtfzipcode Thanks for appreciating the effort we put in! Happy shrimpin'!

@karlat7880 I know the wait feels like a long time but your ecosystem is developing so you'll get to see some cool populations of microorganisms pop up if you look closely! The biggest mistake a lot of people make during this process is not putting in an ammonia source so, if you have that, then you'll see these signs within 6-8 weeks almost guaranteed. In some tanks, algae doesn't always grow in visibly during this time but it is in your ecosystem so don't worry! To answer your other comment, aquarium salts can be useful for treating certain pests/diseases but are otherwise not needed in shrimp tanks. Good luck and happy shrimpin'! Lmk if you have any other questions.

@@shrimplyexplained Thank you!!!

Awesome, thanks for letting us know! Have a great day :D

Absolutely! It's a shame that so many sources have hydra, planaria, or leeches since many of the treatments aquarists use to remove them before putting plants in their tank also affect the good microorganisms on the plants. Mind if I ask what (if any) treatment method you use before putting plants in your tank? Or if you have trusted sources for plants you know don't need to be treated?

@@shrimplyexplained i like using Tropical's 1-2-grow plants. They're snail free, pest free, algae free. Just pure plant. They come pretty small on the cup, but they grow insanely fast under the proper lights and nutrients

@@lemonlizard1 Those definitely seem like a safe way to go. Aren't they emersed tissue cultures though?

@@shrimplyexplained yeah. The only downside with them is that you can't get the microflora/microfauna I was talking about before. Other than that they're my go-to plant seller

@wan2shuffle Glad to hear it! Good luck with your tank and lmk if you have any questions :)

How (if at all) did you treat your plants before putting them in the tank?

We're working on more and appreciate your support :)

Thank you so much for the kind words and support! Happy shrimpin' :D

Sounds like you've got a healthy tank! If you see detritus worms when overfeeding then that means there's at least a small population around to help break down waste. Those population explosions from overfeeding don't always look good but they're better than the whole tank dying! When you look really closely at the glass and substrate you don't see any other tiny specks moving around? If not, do you have fish that might be eating other microfauna?

@@shrimplyexplained late reply. No I don't see anything on the glass, but I absolutely have fish that would eat the micro fauna. Unfortunately I've not had good luck with shrimp at all. I have two left from the ten I bought. They're doing great, not sure what's up with the 80 percent die off. Has to be something with my water, all my tanks are heavily planted and been running for over a year to cycle and mature before removing the fish to start my colony. Lucky I've been watching your videos and will have to test a few things

It can be difficult to find things locally in more rural areas. There are always online stores like Aquarium Co-Op where you can get plants shipped from, or you can try searching for local aquarist groups on Facebook!

There are a couple of options. The most common option is to use a bacterial powder like BacterAE. There are quite a few different ones on the market but BacterAE seems to be one of the most easily accessible in most areas. You can read more about what's in the product and how to use it in this article: www.shrimplyexplained.com/2022/09/29/what-is-bacter-ae/ If you know any local hobbyists or stores you trust don't have parasites, then getting plants and putting them into your tank without treating them is another way. Good luck and LMK if you have any other questions!

@@shrimplyexplained Thank you so much🙏🙏🙏 I really don't know how to appreciate it

I can think of a couple of things that might help here. First - Shrimp can be pretty shy when there are only 10-15 of them in the tank. They're great at hiding so seeing 5 at a time isn't abnormal. Second - Shrimp can take a while to adjust to a new tank. It's not abnormal for Neos like blue dreams to need up to 3 months before they start breeding, especially if they were young when you bought them. Of the shrimp you see, are you noticing any saddles developing, like what's shown in this image: www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Fgitsh%2F8657493968&psig=AOvVaw0WnbnU8TR_LMyB-mYUrSSA&ust=1692803211251000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CA8QjRxqFwoTCPiNzcLF8IADFQAAAAAdAAAAABAS Third - How often do you feed them? When you feed them, do they swarm the food or ignore it? That gives us an idea of how much food is present in the tank naturally. Fourth - How long did you have the tank set up before adding shrimp? As for your questions: If you know a trusted hobbyist who has a successful tank with microorganisms in it, then it might be worth asking for some small plant cuttings to seed your tank with more microorganisms. It could be worth buying some daphnia or copepods but it's better if you're also getting all the other fauna on the plants. You shouldn't need to diversify the gene pool right now. Maybe if you're doing a lot of cross-breeding and seeing problems in the future, but deformities from inbreeding are rare for most hobbyists. BacterAE could be a really good option to help your tank, as long as you use a small dose. Here's more information on it, if you're curious: www.shrimplyexplained.com/2022/09/29/what-is-bacter-ae/

@@shrimplyexplained Thanks for replying. Yes I would agree I'm not seeing many as my numbers are low. I guess I was hoping the population would have increased by now. Timeline was: July 2022 - bought 10 Feb 25, 2023 - caught 16 July 7, 2023 - caught 14 I changed tanks in Feb as my original tank was a tall octagonal tank and the narrow panes made viewing hard without distortion. When I caught the 16, some were shrimplets. Changed tanks again in July as I would have expected an increase in population to the point where I would see a dozen at any one time but rarely could see more than a couple. As you can see, my number actually dropped by a couple in those 4+ months even though, once again, some were babies. Each tank build had the shrimp going straight in (after drip acclimatised) using the same sponge filter and hardscape, so tanks were cycled (obviously not matured though). Current tank has algae on glass. As for feeding, I crumble one or two fish food flakes so they settle over things (mostly end up on top of sponge filter). They don't swarm to anything but will check out new food such as zucchini or snowflake. In fact, I have a small pile of snowflake in the corner which they occasionally go to. It has bio film growing on it. I guess I could not feed the tank for a week and they wouldn't starve. There's an almond leaf that's been in there for about a month. As for saddles, I just went to look and had to turn the light on. In that instance I saw a shrimplet about 1.5mm long on the white pebbles at the front but it soon scurried into the dragon stone. So I must have had some breeding. Of the 5 shrimp I could see, only 3 were close enough to determine they were males. I guess I was hoping they would populate like my yellow shrimp have done. I had about 28 shrimp 3 months ago and now would have at least 3 times that many. There are shrimplets of varying sizes everywhere. If you interested, my channel is youtube.com/@bitsandbobs356 Thanks again for replying. I really appreciate it.

@@madmax1412 If you're seeing shrimplets in the tank then that's a good sign! I'd suggest just leaving them alone for a while, and potentially even taking out the snowflake food if you notice a spike in ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. Can you think of any differences between your yellows tank and this blue dream tank? For example, did you get the shrimp from a different supplier, wait a bit longer to add shrimp, add plants from a different source, or pre-cycle your filter in a different tank? Also, what's your maintenance routine like?

@@madmax1412 By the way, your yellows tank looks fantastic! That's a beautiful piece of driftwood.

@@shrimplyexplained I got the Blues and Yellows about 8 months apart. With all my shrimp, it was basically just aquasoil, driftwood, rocks and plants (mostly Java Fern and some grass like plants such as hair grass or Lilieopous), in a layout I thought looks nice but gives hiding spots for babies. Maintenance is basically just water top ups. I'll leave my blues alone. BTW, I've heard snowflake didn't foul the water which is why I had left it. I will take it out.

The higher nutrient levels in aquasoil typically increase growth rate of algae and bacteria that rely on those nutrients, so you may see some of these signs sooner. That being said, the populations of different microorganisms still take time to settle into their respective niches so waiting 6-8 weeks is still a good idea. In addition, there's also the concern about ammonia leaching from aquasoils for that timeframe or even longer. Are there people who put shrimp in earlier and have success? Absolutely - We'd just argue that waiting 6-8 weeks significantly improves the chance of success.

Lol do you mean the goofy song??

@@shrimplyexplained nah, right off the bat when I clicked the video

@@jasonyang5296 Haha a bit different energy level than how a lot of shrimp videos start out right? Trying to keep it fun :D That sort of feedback is super helpful so I appreciate you taking the time to leave it!

That can definitely happen if they find a food source out of view. Do you see them come out when you add food to the tank? Mine normally sense it immediately and rush out to steal it away from all the other shrimp lol

Thank you so much for the kind words!

I'm glad to hear your shrimp are happy. The tanks don't have to be complicated! How long did you wait to put shrimp in after adding the substrate and moss?

Good question! Shrimp of all sizes play around in floating plants and eat biofilm on them so it's totally possible babies are there. I usually go in and wiggle a net around to knock any shrimp off before netting the floating plants out.

@@shrimplyexplained thank you for the advice. That's usually what I do. Also, I keep the removed floaters into a little holding jar over night to see if anything sinks down. 😁 love your content. Keep it up!!

@@BigFadZ Good call to put them in a holding jar just in case! Have a great day and happy shrimpin' :D

I do a 1 gallon water change once a week and my tank is a 20 gallon high. My plants are healthy. The only issue I have is my IR plants are being eaten by ram snails lol.

Do you have any idea what the parameters were before and what they are now, including pH, GH, KH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temperature, and TDS if you have it? Also, I'm not familiar with IR plants. Could you explain what those are?

I'll do my best to help!

Check the gh and kh of the water you are using and if it's within parameters for your shrimp. The one a day dienoffs are the weaker ones that aren't able to adjust to the changing water parameters fast enough

@ricardosmythe2548 Honestly, I agree with that sentiment more and more as I continue to test different shrimp setups. If you add enough plants - especially ones that don't get treated and have their biomes destroyed - then you can set up a tank pretty quicklyy. I do think there's something to be said for taking your time if it's your first shrimp tank though - at least if you don't have access to a good ecosystem culture from a fish tank. Like if someone is trying to set up a tank and has to put a bunch of sterilized plants in that have lost all of their surface microorganisms, then I suspect waiting a while to let those redevelop and let everything establish will lead to a more stable tank that's easier for first-timers to keep. What do you think about that theory?

@@shrimplyexplained yeah I totally agree. If someone doesn't have access to matured planted tanks it will be a much longer process. If I was in that situation I'd probably be inclined to test the water to to be honest. When I first started I wasn't removing the chlorine sufficiently from tap water and that had a detrimental effect in terms of balancing the tank. For people just getting into the hobby there are multiple factors that could be causing them problems that they will identify as they gain more experience. Slow and steady is certainly the safe option to start with.

Cool, I'm glad we're on the same page! I do pretty much the same thing of just throwing in a bunch of plants, maybe testing ammonia and nitrates once after a week or two, then adding shrimp. I tried to make a generalized video that could work for pretty much everyone. It didn't address all the subtleties it probably should have though, so I appreciate you taking the time to point this out. Happy shrimpin' :D

@iwagunroku10 Good question! I currently use a MegaHome Distiller. As my tank collection expands though, a higher throughput RO system is starting to look like a better and better investment.

@madhuempranthiri2803 Sure, I'd love to hear what you're working on! Do you have discord? If so, please send an email to contact@shrimplyexplained.com with your discord name or an invite link and we can chat there.

(I know it's pretty neglecting but major car issue and I moved almost an hour away. Plus work 6 days out of the week). Tank is moving in the next month and coming back home don't worry!

Whoops, thank you for the correction!

@user-ef6cm7vu4m Yep, it's certainly possible to add them earlier but just makes things harder. I'm glad it worked out in the end for you at least!

Great - In the end, it's whatever works best for you! Mind if I ask how often you do water changes without any plants? Do you ever notice nitrate building up?

Nitrates are low but not 0 due to the algaes on the back and driftwood, this is a good sign. 0 nitrate is not good for your tank especially with macroalgae present. I am mainly a reef aquarist with macroalgae so I am just applying what i do with my reeftank. I don't really have to do water changes if I want and let nature take its course. The only reason why i would is when i see dirt when i mildly blow the gravel surface.

@dictionaryguy5521 I know what I said in the video but, honestly, if you've had the tank up and running for 2 months and don't see algae growth but do see healthy plant growth and some microorganism activity, then I wouldn't worry too much about forcing algae to grow by adding extra light.

Some shrimp do better than others with hair algae. For example, amano shrimp demolish most kinds of algae, whereas we find neocaridina and caridina don't have much of an impact until the hair algae starts to die off.

Should I stop feeding my caridina so that they will go for the hair algae?@@shrimplyexplained

I'm really sorry to hear that! If you'd like, I can try to help diagnose the problem for you. 1. How long was the tank set up? 2. What's your pH, GH, KH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates? 3. How did you cycle the tank? What was your ammonia source? 4. How soon after putting them in the tank did they die? 5. Where did you get the shrimp from? 6. How did you acclimate them?

@shrimplyexplained tank was set up for 6 weeks after the fry were added I don't quite remember my values now as I've stripped the tank down but all were in normal range from the research I have done apart from the spikes I had that let me to strip the tank down and reset it see my last paragraph The tank was cycled with about 12 platty fry after it was stable for the fry to be in the tank and then 6 weeks before I put shrimp in. I used fry that were two weeks old and free swimming my fish shop recommended it as a good way to get the nitrogen cycle going and were removed a few days before adding the shrimp I lost one or two within a few days but expect some loss as they settled. Then lost one to two every couple of days. I got 24 in two batches from my local fish shop about 3 weeks apart (a good chain type here in the uk called maidenhead aquatics) 12 I received from a supplier online hoping if I mixed sources I'm not putting all eggs in one basket. I drip acclimated them over a one hour period at roughly 3 drips every couple of seconds. Two weeks ago, the nitrate and nitrite levels spiked. I did the recommended 15-20% water change daily until the levels dropped to a safe level, but 24 hours later, it spiked again to the point I thought it safer to reset the tank and hope they survive in the breeder basket in the main tank than watch them die off Out of 36 bought I have roughly 8 left Hope this helps

@shrimplyexplained also some looked like they had white ring of death and some just layed on their back and died so a bit lost at what I'm doing wrong

@@karlgriff8 A few things come to mind after reading your comments. First, it sounds like you've put a lot of time into trying to make this a good tank, and I'm sorry you're going through this frustrating experience. Second, it sounds like something disrupted the cycle two weeks ago. Did you do a water change or modify anything in the tank at that time? If not, then have you noticed anything like a build-up of uneaten food or unhealthy plants? Third, how frequent were the deaths? Did some happen before you added the second batch? Did they all happen after the nitrite/nitrate spike? Fourth, good observation the white ring of death. It's possible the shrimp aren't getting quite the right food or water, even if the parameters seem to be in range. You can learn more about GH and why tap water with GH in the right range can still be a problem here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--Igp6tTu8BM.html Fifth, what are you feeding your shrimp, if anything?

@shrimplyexplained nothing seemed wrong up to the point I noticed a white powdery substance in the tank appeared overnight only on a piece of wood that had been in the tank from day one hence the reason for the test, which showed the spike in the bad stuff The deaths we a couple of days apart some were multiple in a day there was no pattern to it I'd say I lost about 8 before the spike but most over the course of the following 2 weeks after the spike. I don't think it was due to adding the other shrimp as they seemed to do really well until the tank spiked, and the same with the third batch they were added roughly a week apart to allow the tank to adjust. Food I let them mainly focus on the bio film but I did supplement the tank twice a week with about 6 shrimp sticks the tiny ones and some other food about 6 tiny pellets as I was recommended alternating between the two to give them a varied diet. I have a 160 liter main tank with bamboo and giant African shrimp thriving as part of a community tank on the same foods as the cherries I really am at a loss with it

Don't worry - It happens! Losing some shrimp in the beginning sucks but you're learning so you can give the next ones a great home :)

According to the study cited in this video, the microorganism populations started to take off after around 4 weeks so that's right on time. Good luck on your shrimp keeping journey!

That's a great way to give them a nutritious food source

Thanks for the feedback!

Just up the speed yourself on the video?

@dillkillbill That sounds a bit ominous... JK, of course, just lmk what questions you have!