The Secrets to Breeding 1,000's of Cherry Shrimp! 

One thing to note is the temperature does have a big impact on the sex of the baby shrimp. One study found they are 50/50 male/female at 23°C. 3° hotter resulted in 80% males and 3° lower resulted in 80% female. Temperature also had an impact on how fast they hatch but it wasn't as significant. So ideally I would keep them at 23°C or lower to get more females and grow the colony faster (plus the females are nicer!)

I started out with 8 halocaridina rubra and within a couple of years, I literally had thousands! Put them in a tank with a deep coral-based gravel bed and left them alone, other than giving them a toothpick-amount of spirulina powder. Once the numbers were up, they were much livelier, fed better and much more sociable with each other. At one point, when I had too many for the tank, I had to slowly acclimatize them to fresh-water from the brackish water that they breed in, because I didn’t have any more tanks to expand their living environment. They stopped breeding entirely, in fresh-water. I then converted them back to brackish-water, as I prepared to sell them and sold every last one of them, including bonus packs of babies, over the next 6 months, at a price that rivaled the stores in my country and made myself a fair amount of money. That money is saved, so that in future, if I find them in my new country, I can afford a brand new tank and any necessary equipment, in order to set up a new breeding system again.

what are those pretty plants that look like coral? or little anemones or worms?

Its like every time I get something new in the fishroom you seem to do a relevant video 😂 thank you!

For me, I believe that this video was the best I have ever watched as yours. I enjoy the shrimp and you hit all the most information that does make keeping fish simple 👌

Do you mind sharing your water parameters of one of your shrimp tanks for reference pls. Like ph, gh, kh, tds... thanks Doug

I had minimal aeration in my tank when I started and I rarely saw my shrimp. Now that I added an airstone for something else they are out and about a lot more. I think it is a combination of more oxygen and flow, like the rocky streams they are found in the wild.

I found this video very useful and informative. I do want to mention the pH scale and how you mentioned the dissolving of the crushed coral is backwards. Otherwise I've learned my tap water will be perfect for water hardness

great video! i like how you pointed to keep things simple! i also find the less you fiddle with the shrimp tanks, the better they do! can't wait for the next video!

i can confirm: shrimp LOVE flow. in my small 7 gal tank, i m using a patmini pump with modified sponges to it and it blows. you can see all the plants waving in the flow and its pretty strong current, so much so that at first i thought it might be too much. but turned out, they love that. sometimes on certain times of the day, they literally gather up, and then climbing up the glass in a line as if they wait for the roller coaster up until they are directly in front of the pump and then they let go and got blown away around the tank and 10 seconds later they are right at it again to get blown away. its kind of bizarre but they keep doing that.

Great advice! I would also like to add: Unless u have decent equipment. Its all come down to luck with ur water, i had very little success with neocaridina with the water in my area. Even the shrimps in my local fish store are dying every now and then. Funnily enough, caridina are more comfortable to our water despite they are harder to keep than neocaridina. Also, the shrimps stock u buy is one of the factor to success, if they are bred around ur area, then u are more likely to have success in breeding them

Don’t tie a knot in the airline hose in order to control the flow rate! It can come undone while you aren’t watching it and flood/drain any tank you are using it with! You don’t want your shrimp in a big puddle on the floor! Buy a small plastic/metal adjustable valve to put in the end of your air hose and play it safe. They are very cheap and I keep a box full of miscellaneous pieces that I may need, on-hand. It is a wise investment.

Nick you'll find in your mixed colour breeding tank the colours will start to dull down and eventually they'll revert back to wild colouration.

The golden information here that everyone should stick to is that don't ever make and noticable change, whatever the change you want to do make it in very slow rate, let's say if you wakeup and found the heater is off and temperature is 12 degree, don't freak out, raise the temperature to the normal temperature in 3 or 4 days not in 3 or 4 hours. Every change make it in very slow rate ever if you are moving from the worst conduction to the optimal conduction, because the optimal 1st rule is the change rate

honestly love this video and the fact you are correcting information you previously put out there. you dont see people update users on their changed opinions in the freshwater space. see it alot in reefing due to the rapid advancement. but then you have really great aquarists like father fish who cant get his head around anything new and doesnt change his opinion on anything and his way is the only way. you are always updating people one what you learn and sharing your experiences. as for flow they definitely appreciate streamlike flow but do not like turbulence which many people dont differentiate. i didnt until i settled in to reefing. the turblance will pin baby shimp in pockets that dont provide for their needs and just generally bashes them in whirlpools. consistent flow is great though. and the whole thing about neglecting them is the best advice i did end up down to next to no shrimp i only feed if i want to bring them out for grading. i dont do water changes i just top off with RODI. keep making this video as each one is slightly different and demonstrates your growth as well as the growth in the hobby

@KeepingFishSimple do you ever use bacterAE, Nick? When you said "it's not about growing shrimp its about growing biofilm" it made me think bacterAE would be an almost essential addition. Great video btw mate! I've been a subscriber for a while and love the content you put out!

The way you care for your shrimp is truly commendable. Great tips👌

I have a 125 litre tank in Scotland, it is very soft water here, almost like pure water. I bought 25 red cherry shrimp on Tuesday last week, I think I got 27 or 28 and added them to my tank with platys, corys, cardinal tetras and a honey gourami. After 1 day I added a teaspoon of calcium carbonate that I dissolved in a glass of water first, it turned the tank to like watery milk looking for a few hours but the shrimp seemed to settle better after it. It's been 10 days i've had them now and they mostly stay inside my java moss, I counted about 12 in there 2 days ago and I don't see them out much, occasionally I see 1 or 2 on wood or around the filter but half or most have survived at least 10 days so far which is a good sign. I haven't seen any dead ones either so most if not all might still be alive. I feel like they are maybe more hardy than people think. I am interested to see how they deal with water changes and stuff though, as I do 50% water changes and they are pretty hectic as I refill with a hose like blasting water on top and the temperature may change a couple of degrees.

Keeping it simple love it great to know anytime people talk about shrimp they always mention it’s hard to keep them you need specific substrate, thanks the for the info!!

I started with 7, now I have a colony of I don't know how much. I even moved them around when I rescaped my tank, they are super hardy. Those that are not coloring up well I feed them to my saltwater puffer.

The “drip acclimation” method is the way I’ve always acclimated my more delicate freshwater species as well as all my saltwater fish and invertebrates, sometimes over a 2 - 3 hour period. The rule of thumb that has worked well is to double/triple the amount of the original water they’re in (in the acclimation bucket.) I’ve never lost an animal to shock or disease related to acclimation.

I love cleaning the canister filters in my two big community tanks. (About twice a year)I have to dump them in a bucket and let the crap settle. Then I net all the shrimp that grew up in the filter housing. I have sponges on my intakes so the only way they get into the canisters is when they are tiny babies.

Thanks😊

thank you.

When can we get the shrimp colony in a jar update ??LOVE UR VIDS ❤❤

I know I'm a month late on this question but I have been hearing different things about crush coral and or cuttlebone. Which one would be recommend more to help with shrimp molting? is both an option, is one more effective? thank you!

Love the vids! Keep up the great work

Thanks so much! You have saved my shrimp, before watching you videos on shrimp all my shrimp would die and I didn't know what to do but now I have all the shrimp!!

What is the plant that is on the crushed coral that the yellow shrimp are feeding around?

I just put a heater on my shrimps and now they starting to breed like crazy and don’t do water changes offten I usaaly do them every 2 months cuz I have a lot of plants and lava rock

I've found hundreds of baby shrimp in all my cannister filters and they were quite happy

After 20 years of fishkeeping I think I’m finally ready to breed my stock. From watching this now I’m so excited to start. Thanks so much for your motivation 🤩🙌

great video im struggling to increase my colony, much thanks from Canada

can i keep shrimp without filter or air pump with plants ? and what should i feed them ? crushed pellets would work ?

Had no idea on the coral in tanks.. I had coral in my tank cuase it looked good and theres a lot nearby..

Great vid ! I would love to see a gurami breeding vid. My gurami just breed and I have microscopic fry in with my shrimp but I'm struggling with the fry.

Does each tank have its own heater, since you have different temperatures? Or you flow warm water from top to bottom so it cools off in the lower bassins?

Helloo ! Do you have any problems with planaria? how do you treat possible infestations with them? how do you avoid their appearance?

Can we get a update on the zebs pls😊

I agree, neocaridinas do well at lower temperatures. I mean below 20°C. But for example I have a tank where there is no flow at all with lots of plants and the shrimps breed and survive even in the company of neon tetra. Anyway, good point ANYWAY, you have drawn attention to the good points of shrimp breeding.

Awesome video, brother.🥳🥳🥳👏✌️🥳✌️👏✌️🥳✌️👏🦐🐞🦐🐞🦐🐞🦐🐞🦐🐞🦐🐞🦐🐞🦐🐞

i bought 5 cherry shrimp and started with a 5.5 gallon and a 10 gallon. i put all 5 in the 5.5g and they blew up! i started putting them in the 10g and soon had to start a whole 38g. after 6 months there were thousands in the 38g! i didnt know what to do so i put it up on craigslist and some guy came and bout all 3 tanks for like 500$. Shrimp are so easy to breed and very worth it

Can we used Limestone instead of crushed coral, please advise

What do you guys think I should get based off of my tanks rn?

Very Useful! Im breeding cherry shrimp right now as im starting a business!

What is that reddish coral looking thing at the 5 minute mark? At 5:01 you could see those tendril-like things moving about in the water? What are those? They look like freshwater living coral that I've never seen before

Hi KFS, would using seashells instead of crushed coral work too? I cant find crushed coral locally. Thanks for the tips!

Do you slowly drip in the water when doing water changes as well?

@KeepingFishSimple Do you use RO water for your shrimp?

Mate.. good video as always! Quick question- I’ve got 2 male amanos in an aquascaped tank.. its 7 litres roughly.. it also had 12 ramshorn snails.. but now I’ve got over 40-50 ramshorn snails at different sizes (I overfed the tank a few times hehe).. would the snails be finishing all the biofilm that’s formed daily on the rocks, wood and plants in the tank? Is daily feeding necessary in this case?

What are those tendrils at 5:03? Is that some type of macroalgae? Is that a saltwater tank?

what is your kh, gh, and ph levels? im having a hard time and i think its my water.

So, I have lots of chickens and as a result, many egg shells... Would egg shells do a similar job to crush coral? I'm guessing it's best to bake the shells first to make sure any microbes on them are neutralized.

What size of aquariums are in ur fish room ?

Have you ever tried with Sulawesi shrimps? Super nice videos you made btw❤

Hey Nick amazing vid definitely gonna pick some of those beautiful shrimp up.I know you are already so busy doing your amazing work but could you make a saltwater tank.i believe it would be a good challenge since u have pretty much masterd freshwater fish.😅😊🎉🎉

Thanks you for being the best FY out there honest and full of advice, have great day and thanks onec agin !😊

What kind of light do you use for your tanks?

Bro do you need ah heater in your fish tank?

Hi, my chery shrimps have a brown eggs, its bad or good?

So many shrimp! Ive got at least 4berried females right now and cant wait for babies.

What is the growth on the crushed coral at 6:45?

Good background music chief 🔥

Best video I've seen on shrimp. Super straightforward. Thank you. I hope to use this information to regrow my colony as I haven't had a shrimp tank for 6 years since the big earthquake in Alaska.

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Is there a good trick to catch the smaller shrimp to sell or give away and keep the larger ones?

I have noticed that my neos in my pond and cold water tanks grow bigger than in my heated tanks, don't know if that's a thing but it's something I've noticed 🤔 I'm in the Northern rivers and our water is a little softer than Brisbane but they still breed like roaches 😂

What are the anemone like tentacles at 1:09 ?

Do you think I cab make a little snowball shrimp colony in a 5.5

Do you sell your L046 and do you have any L134?

4:57 what kind of red plant is this?

I know of a creek or stream with thousands of caradina shrimp here in Australia

As shrimple as that!

I had red cherries and blue cherries a few years ago. They were my favourite tanks. They bred like wildfire. I could sit and watch them for hours. Sadly we can't have them here in Tasmania. Such a shame. 😔

What are the tentacles in the yellow shrimp tank?

Blue rams breed yesterday, any advice?

What does he mean by high oxygenation? The sponge filter is enough?

I had a look at my 5 cherry shrimp and they've produced 1 offspring how do I get them to breed more

what kind of plant is that at 4:58?

What is the live coral that you have going in one of the shrimp tanks? I thought coral had to be in salt water

Can you update your shrimps breeding project?

There is no secret to breeding Neo's. They'll happily live and breed in temps from 15c - 30c, i keep them in tubs outside during the summer and they breed like crazy. Out of my 38 tanks, 32 of them are shrimp tanks, only 6 of them being for Neo's. You are lucky that your water parameters are naturally good for Neo's, but here in the UK, its MUCH too hard for them. You've really got to use RO and remineralise it with shrimp salt over here, and theres tons of crap in our tap water too so thats a big no-no. I mostly breed caridina though, and you're right, they do need more care, but once you get them going, they dont stop!

How do u sell all of your fish\shrimp

Great video Actually, I’m learning to breed crawfish, but I have a Fahaka baby puffer So I want to breed crawfish later an start with red shrimp Great video bro Fahaka likes to grub on

Köszönjük!

can i still have neocaridina if i have soft water? i live in northern sweden so i have watere from the river running by the town, its incredibly soft like my water tests show its less than 3 in gh. and th eph is about 6.8- 7.5

“These guys like it hard” 😂

0:29 Hi, can I use any type of wood? And is there special treatment before I can put it inside the tank safely?

2:45 today we are going to talk about how to breed them him: 😂

I started with 4 blue dreams, never lost 1, now have thousands

Great information thanks for sharing

At 5:35 there is a shot of a yellow neocardinia next to, what appears to be, an Anemone. How is this made to happen? Please! Is there such a thing as a freshwater Anemone?

Hey when will you have some Betta fish for sale on your page

it is hard to find shrimp in nz

I guess I'm lucky I've got water comin from a natural aquifer ive never had water issues

What are all those little clear things that looks like anemone tentacles growing around the coral?

when did you start breeding and selling fish? i want to breed and sell fish for fun

Are these shrimp from glenn's?

so many people complicate taking care of neocaridinas, tho the only thing you have to do aside from the basic setup is "leave them be"

It's true. People overcomplicate everything about keeping and breeding shrimp.