hey what's going on everyone welcome back to Shrimp Mania. Today i'm going to give
you my 10 tips that I've learned from keeping shrimps over the past eight years
this video is going to be very informative and it should be very useful for you guys so make sure
you stay around to the end of the video. so tip number one is to start with an easy shrimp. if
you are new to aquarium shrimp hobby it's better to start with an easy shrimp like neocaridina.
they're much hardier than other species and they will forgive you some mistakes plus they don't
require an active substrate and they can thrive in a higher ph range than caridinia species.
So tip number two is to buy RO unit. Keeping shrimps is all about water quality and it's
important to create ideal water parameters for your shrimp. Tap water in most cases is not ideal
for keeping shrimp and RO unit will strip your tap water from all the minerals and salts making
you pure water. Once you've got your RO water you can then re-mineralize it with shrimp salts. You
can find different salts for different type of shrimp so make sure you use the right one. So
tip number three is to do regular water changes. To maintain good water quality you require regular
water changes in your aquarium. The shrimps are very sensitive to any changes in the water
parameters and it's better to change only a small amount of water more often rather than a large
amount less often to avoid the big swings in the water parameters. When you change your water it's
important to do it slowly by dripping new water back to the tank during the time the water will
evaporate from the tank and it's important to do water top offs to keep the level of the water the
same. Always do your top offs only with RO water. I would recommend installing an auto top off
system in your aquarium and if you want to know how to do it check out this video on my channel.
Tip number four. I would recommend to age your RO water for at least two days prior your water
change and mix your salts 24 hours in advance. I normally run an air stone in my RO water container
and it helps to fully mix your salts plus it injects the water with plenty of oxygen.
Tip number five. Add some plants to your tank. Plants are very beneficial for shrimps. They
suck nitrates from the water and they provide your shrimps with plenty of hiding spaces.
I would recommend adding two types of plants into your aquarium mosses and floating plants.
Mosses like for example Java moss will provide your tank with plenty of surface area which
you need for growing more biofilm and often you will find your baby shrimp grazing on the moss
and that will increase their survival rate. The second type of plants are floating plants. They
are the best plants to suck up nitrates and will definitely increase the quality of your water.
Tip number six - use sponge filter in your shrimp tank. Sponge filter is the best for
your shrimp tank. This filter not only provides you with a good filtration, polishing your water,
it also provides your shrimp with large surface area to graze. Your shrimp will definitely love
to hang on it and eat that beneficial bacteria and microorganisms growing on the sponges. You can use
it on its own or as a secondary filter. Tip number seven - always use an active substrate for your
Caridina shrimp tank. Caridina shrimp thrives in low ph and active substrate will buffer your water
and lower your ph, so before you purchase your active soil make sure you do some research because
not all of the active soils are the same. Some of them are not be able to lower your ph low enough
so try to find the soil with ph 6 or below. I personally prefer to use undergravel filtration
for my caridinia tanks. The soil inside the undergravel filter works as a media and it buffers
your water much better this way because the water is constantly running through the substrate.
Active soil is not cheap and it allows you to use much smaller amount of soil in under-gravel
filtration compared to traditional methods when your soil is just soaking in the water
at the bottom of your aquarium. It's a huge saving if you have many tanks like in my case.
Tip number eight - don't overfeed. You need to understand that the main diet of the shrimps
is microflora and fauna which is growing on the surface of your tank and the food you feed your
shrimps is only supplementary. If you have a well-established tank with plenty of algae and
biofilm and not many shrimps you don't need to feed them very often. When you feed your shrimp
always observe how they eat. If they don't come to eat or if they are not very active and eating
very slowly that means they are not hungry so you better wait for a few days before you feed them
again. They have to attack the food and fight for it so that's mean they are hungry. Always remove
on eating food from the tank in two hours if you leave it for too long it can pollute the water.
Make sure you check the nitrate level regularly and try to keep it below 10 parts per million.
Shrimp can die if your nitrate is above 20. If your nitrate level is high that's mean you'll
probably overfeed your tank so feeding less will help to reduce it. Tip number nine - always wash
your hands before you do something in your tank. Shrimps are very sensitive creatures and have a
very simple immune system. They can die from a simple infection which can be present on your
hands so before you do something in your tank always wash your hands. I would recommend doing
it even before you start feeding your shrimp. Try only to put your hands in the tank if
it's absolutely necessary and if you want to move something in your tank you better to use tweezers.
Tip number 10 - keep it simple. There are a lot of products and shrimp supplements on the market
and they all promise to help your shrimps to thrive. What i learned from the past is that
i don't need to spend that money, I don't need that products to keep my shrimps happy. So let me
explain - here I have a Bee Balls, it used to be quite popular product and if you add these balls
into your tanks they will quote 'enhance water quality and shrimp health' so I paid like 30
bucks for them they must be doing something good. right? I believe that in shrimp keeping less is
more. If your shrimps are not breeding don't force them just be patient. Sometimes it takes a few
months for new shrimps to breed. Just make sure you maintain a good water quality in your tanks
with stable parameters, change your water regularly and I'm sure one day
your shrimps reward you with tons of babies. Thank you so much for watching
and if you enjoyed this video please drop me a like I would really appreciate your support!