Shrimps (Neocaridina); an information guide

In our ”home” paludarium we have green shrimps; the Neocaridina Green Jade.
In an aquarium or paludarium shrimps are a very good addition. They are the cleaners of the tank and in our eyes therefore indispensable. They are very easy to care for, as they are quickly satisfied with the waste and algae in the tank. However, if you want them to have nothing to eat, it is better to give them some extra food. Neocaridina need a variety of ingredients for better health and more beautiful colors. To keep it organized, we chose to make our own food. This way we give exactly them exactly what they need.

The neocaridina shrimp is very easy to keep. It can withstand the most diverse water values ​​and temperatures.
temperatures between 16 and 30 degrees, ph between 5 and 8 and a hardness of 4-8 gh. Carbonate hardness 2-8kh. In short, almost any tap water in the Netherlands will suffice.

When you buy them, they are often still minuscule and therefore sensitive to water changes. It is very important that you let them get used to the new water slowly. The best way is the ”drip method”. This means that you use a piece of hose to siphon water from aquarium water from a bucket to the bag with the shrimps. You do this drop by drop.

The nice thing about these shrimps is their active behavior and that they are easy to breed. After 4 months, the females are usually sexually mature. They will mate with a male during the next molt, after which they carry 15-40 eggs with them for about 3 weeks. If you are observant, you can see this from the active behavior of the males, who are all looking for the female.

Shrimp farming

For breeding we have various colours. We find it important to maintain a healthy stable line. Any ”lesser” specimens that do not quite meet the requirements are selected out. We categorise them into high, mid and low grade. We only breed the high grade. This way the shrimps maintain their health and strong characteristics are retained.

The basis is our male shrimps. For this we have the Black Sapphire Neocaridina with orange eyes. These are beautiful specimens!

We cross these with females of other colours; red, blue, green, yellow etc. The orange eyes of the black sapphire father is a recessive gene. This means that the F1 generation inherits the genetics of orange eyes, but that this is not yet expressed until this F1 generation produces offspring again: the F2 generation. In this way they inherit the orange eyes and we have created a stable ”orange-eyed” strain. What we like about this is that we can select for ourselves on what we find the most beautiful properties.

For example, with the Bloody Mary shrimp, you can clearly see that the orange eyes have been beautifully bred and that the colour is also deep red. We are very proud of such specimens! We try to take into account the behaviour and wishes of the shrimps. It is in their nature to maintain a bit of a camouflage. We try to take this into account in the decorum of the aquariums. We prefer dark-coloured larger stones as the bottom.

It is always a surprise what will come. That is what makes it so much fun! We like to keep you informed about our new specimens.

We have described the construction of our required breeding tanks in this blog.