Hi, I’m Alex and this is Tank Tested.
Today we are talking about Shrimp.
Not wine glasses.
Don’t keep shrimp in Wine glasses.
We’ll get into how to actually keep shrimp in just a minute.
We’re at the second International Shrimp Contest USA.
There are a hundred batches of shrimp here, competing for top prize.
I’ll be labeling many of the competing shrimp like this.
At the end of this video I’ll tell you who won, so write down your guesses in the comments.
And let me know which was your favorite.
Now I’m going to hand over the reigns to one of the co-organizers of this competition.
My name is Therese Neal and I’m the co-organizer of the International USA Shrimp Contest that
we have at the Aquatic Experience.
We had a hundred registered tanks and eleven categories.
With the hobby the way it is, there are constantly new additions to what everybody is breeding
and cross-breeding.
In order to make it fair for the people who are entering the contest, you’d want to
have categories specific to the type of shrimp that they’ve been breeding.
The Caridina have a lot more categories because there are different cross breeds using each
color pattern and you’re able to create more.
In the Neocaridina you’re really just limited to certain colors.
The shrimp are judged on a variety of characteristics.
Body shape, health, coloring, patterning and size are just a few of the traits each shrimp
is judged on.
These are top quality shrimp that are treated kind of like show dogs and carry a similar
price tag.
This contest we did an auction.
The smallest amount was probably 35-40 dollars fro the group.
And the highest seller to the individual directly was $5000.
So if you bought shrimp like this, how would you keep them healthy and happy.
A good jumping off point is how these shrimp
were kept at competition.
The competition tanks that we use are the Dennerle 2.5 gallon cube tanks.
We used two different types of substrate for this contest.
One was the buffering soil and that was used for the Caridinas, and we also used just an
inert black sand becase Neocaridinas don’t require any buffering for their water.
What we used for filtration is the corner filter that is sold in the 10 gallon kits
that we sell.
It’s your basic filtration.
The shrimp don’t need the water to move a lot, as long as the water is clean and is
being filtered.
But as with any pet, a long term home should be as spacious as possible.
Yes, you can have shrimp in a 2.5 gallon tank.
Yes you can keep shrimp in the size tanks we use for the contest.
I have them at home.
However in my personal opinion, I think those tanks are harder to keep the water stable.
So I would suggest a five to ten gallon tank, ten gallon being better.
If you’re interested in keeping shrimp, I’ve including a link to aquarium options
and some supplies you’ll need.
One thing to keep in mind is that shrimp do best alone.
Even the smallest fish will eat shrimp.
Both geniuses of shrimp in this competition are scavengers but there are some great shrimp
specific foods available.
I’ve also included some food options I use in the description.
But with feeding shrimp, I’ve found the key to be underfeed rather than overfeed.
Shrimp are sensitive to water conditions and you don’t want to foul the water with uneaten
food.
So if you want to get into shrimp, where should start.
I do recommend Neocaridina for starters, because they are a bit more flexible with water parameters.
And they can take a licking and keep on ticking.
The best places for purchasing your first starter group would be through other hobbyists.
And I say that because hobbyist tend to take better care of their livestock than anybody.
But I think there are two other major reasons why you should start by buying from local
hobbyists if you can.
First, their shrimp are used to your water conditions, which means they will probably
do better.
Second, many hobbyists cull their shrimp, which means they only keep the prettiest offspring.
If you’re just getting started, you can buy culled shrimp for cheap and give them
a good home.
And honestly they are just as fun to watch as these prize-winning shrimp.
Now that you’ve seen 26 competition tanks, which do you think deserves to win top prize?
So “The shrimp king, a.k.a.
Chris Lukhaup, he goes through and he looks at all the groups.
I keep the identity of the breeders from him so he doesn’t know whose shrimp he’s looking
at.
And he selects the one that appeals to him the most and that is the Shrimp King Aware.
And the second prize is the People’s Choice.
And we encourage anyone walking by to go through and pick their favorite one.
Number 16 won the Shrimp King award.
Sorry for the mediocre shot.
And the people’s choice, best in show aware went to number 6.
Which would you have picked?
My favorite was number 11.
They’ve just got such a striking pattern.
I hope you enjoyed this video, if you did please subscribe and hit the like button.
I will see you next time.