How do you care for yellow shrimp?

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 9:59 am

A quick tank-census turned up a berried female. That was fast!

Congratulations lampeye and thank you for sharing your experiences.

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:45 am

congrats, lampeye!

I would say you've probably learned the 'right' way to keep shrimp. Most people probably don't need to take the precaution of carbon that I learned to do. You should probably check your local water report to see if it contains any nasties. If not, you ought to be just fine, what with yellows being one of the hardier shrimp varieties out there. My experience was just unique, so I didn't want everyone to think they have to do the same thing.

Based on my experience with the yellows, though, and my greens swimming a lot after water changes, I'm pretty sure I will take the plunge and use 100% RO/DI water brought back up to hardness. At least I'll do that in all my shrimp tanks. My fish and plants don't care at all and haven't shown any signs of stress the way the shrimp have.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 11:15 am

My fish and plants don't care at all and haven't shown any signs of stress the way the shrimp have.

I too have found this to be the case.

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 11:24 am

yup, nothing like breeding shrimp to expose the downfalls of one's municipal water, huh?

francis · Post by **francis** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 9:54 am

Baby_Girl wrote:hi, in my experience they are slightly more sensitive than RCS. Despite being technically the same species, perhaps that particular color strain is a little more susceptible to adverse conditions for whatever reason. I say that because I've had RCS breeding merrily for over a year. Yet this summer when I tried to start a yellow shrimp colony, they died over and over. I tried with three different sources of yellow shrimp (one in Asia, two in US) all with the same result: slow deaths. I had no immediate deaths due to stress of transit or poor quality animals, but they would live in my tanks for a few weeks to months before dying off one by one.

I was very frustrated and bewildered because like I said, my RCS have been breeding like there's no tomorrow. So I did a lot of searching, and discovered my local water report states our tap water has trace amounts (~0.5 ppb) of things like arsenic, asbestos, and industrial disinfectants. So I decided to run a power filter in that tank, along with the sponge filter. That power filter only contains activated carbon, which I am fastidious about replacing. This has allowed about 70% of my final shipment of yellows to survive Not only are they surviving now, but all 3 females are currently berried. I'm still waiting for the first sight of yellow babies, it should be any day now.

I'm playing with the idea of switching entirely to deionized water, reconstituted for hardness and alkalinity. My tap water is fairly hard and alkaline (pH = 8.0, KH = 8 deg, GH = 14) so I will bring the treated water back up to those parameters. I believe RCS, so most likely yellows as well, thrive under such conditions.

Other than being more vigilant with my yellow tank, I treat them exactly as I do my cherries. Because they're so rare right now, and based on my experience with no long-term survival in my water, I figure it's better to be safe than sorry with these guys. If for no other reason, I'd already wasted $200+ worth of yellow shrimp and can't continue to afford those kind of losses.

hope that helps!

Hi! Baby_girl

Just wondering what is the most suitable conditions for your RCS to breed?
I've not got any success at all!

My water parameters are as follows :
ph : 7.2 KH: 3 Nitrates : 10 Ammonia : 0 Temperature : 25 degree celsius.
Appreciate your advise!

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:14 am

hello francis. Your ammonia reading says it all. 10 is EXTREMELY high. Those levels are lethal to fish, so shrimp have no chance. Your tank should have 0.0 ammonia and nitrIte. That is how you know it is fully cycled. So it sounds to me like you did not properly cycle your tank.

Please test for nitrIte also. The next stage in the cycle is to convert ammonia to nitrite. That is also lethal to animals. When all the ammonia and nitrite gets converted to nitrAte (NO3), and therefore you no longer see NH3 or NO2, then the tank is safe for critters.

The best test kits to use are the liquid drop tests. Don't use the paper strip/dip tests as those are inaccurate, hard to read, and don't register toxic nitrogenous substances until it is too late. When using the liquid tests, if they ever register ANY ammonia (NH3/NH4+) or nitrite (NO2) you should do a water change to get levels down to acceptable. The maximum amounts I have seen shrimp tolerate is 0.25 ppm of either NH3 or NO2, which is usually the concentration at which liquid tests first register. In other words, you should keep ammonia and nitrite as low as possible.

You can do 50% water changes every day, or even twice a day, if that is what is necessary to keep those levels safe for your shrimp. That is of course assuming your tap water does not contain any ammonia.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 7:08 am

Very important information, thanks for sharing Baby Girl. This is must know information

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 1:18 pm

Baby_Girl- I think you mis-read the post, probably due to the spacing. The Nitrates were 10 and the ammonia was 0.

If the problem is breeding, you should try to get the nitrates and phosphates below 5. In my experience, high nitrates act as shrimp birth control, as do high phosphates.

Check your water supply to see if that is where the nitrates are comming from, if it isn't, reduce feeding and increase your water changes.

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:37 pm

badflash wrote:Baby_Girl- I think you mis-read the post, probably due to the spacing. The Nitrates were 10 and the ammonia was 0.

doh! you're right, badflash. I just looked at it again and it is nitrates=10, ammonia=0.

Still check for nitrite (NO2), though, just in case.

10 ppm NO3 isn't that high, is it? Mine is usually 7 ppm coming out of the tap and my shrimp are all breeding well now. I do use moss and oak leaves, though, which keep nitrates closer to ~3 ppm.

Baby_Girl · Post by **Baby_Girl** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:41 pm

Neonshrimp wrote:Very important information, thanks for sharing Baby Girl.

you are so generous, Neon

francis · Post by **francis** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:56 pm

Hi! All

Thanks for the recommendations. Will try to minimise feeding and nitrates accordingly.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 2:56 am

Baby_Girl wrote:
badflash wrote:Baby_Girl- I think you mis-read the post, probably due to the spacing. The Nitrates were 10 and the ammonia was 0.
doh! you're right, badflash. I just looked at it again and it is nitrates=10, ammonia=0.

Still check for nitrite (NO2), though, just in case.

10 ppm NO3 isn't that high, is it? Mine is usually 7 ppm coming out of the tap and my shrimp are all breeding well now. I do use moss and oak leaves, though, which keep nitrates closer to ~3 ppm.

It is the tank that is important. If you have a healthy system capable of absorbing notrates and keeping them low, the 7 ppm is OK. Many people just can't seem to do that.