How to Breed Shrimp – A full guide

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July 29, 2018

Pets

By McMerwe

Watch at: 00:00 / 00:00:20Today I'm going to show you how to breed freshwater shrimp. This video will coveralmost everything, from filters, water parameters, lighting, plants andeverything else. All of this just after this message from our sponsors.This video is sponsored by Dennerle in South Africa. They stock a wide range ofaquarium products and some fantastic shrimp food. If you're serious aboutbreeding shrimp then get your hands on the premium range food. Ask your local orWatch at: 00:20 / 00:40online retailer about their products. We will also be doing an internationalgiveaway where anyone could win a Dennerle hand towel, t-shirt and some oftheir great shrimp king food. I will also include a signed hat by Chris Lukhaupthe shrimp king himself. Please follow the link below to the Facebook competition and Rules.Watch at: 00:40 / 01:00What's up guys? Jacques here from McMerwe Farms and welcome to today's videowhere I'll share everything you need to know on how to breed shrimp. This video ismeant for novice or even advanced shrimp breeders. Please note that this video isWatch at: 01:00 / 01:20going to be extremely long as I'll be covering almost everything you need toknow to get you started in the hobby and educate you so you can get the bestpossible outcome for you and your shrimp. Now before we start we need to clarifythe shrimp specie that you would like to breed. You basically get three types ofshrimp. They're common names or neo caridina and caridina shrimpWatch at: 01:20 / 01:40and sulawesi shrimp. Some of them require different conditions in order to breed.To achieve these conditions you need to find out what shrimp you have and whatshrimp you plan on buying or breeding. In the caridina column we've got two typesthe tiger shrimp and also the crystal or B shrimp. Under them I will list the most commonWatch at: 01:40 / 02:00ones you can find in the market. Next up we have neocaridina shrimp. Under thenI'll also list the most common ones and lastly we have sulawesi shrimp. Now youare more than welcome to pause the video yet to see what shrimp you would like tobreed as this will impact what you've seen in the rest of the video. Please donote that not every shrimp is listed here but I did list the most common ones.Amano shrimp required different parameters in order to breed and theseWatch at: 02:00 / 02:20I will cover in a future video. Amanos are caridina shrimp andthey fall within this column. Okay guys, so now that the shrimp names are out theway, lets start. There are a few things that are essential or a necessity to getright in your aquarium in order to breed shrimp and then there are things thatwill only allow you to increase the survival rate of your young and makeWatch at: 02:20 / 02:40your shrimp more comfortable in the environment. But, the things on the rightmight not have as a big of impact as the things on the left that you shouldunderstand before trying to breed shrimp. So first we're looking at the things onthe left. Starting with a filter. The most important thing with the filter is thatit must not be able to suck up your baby shrimp. Baby shrimp are anything from oneWatch at: 02:40 / 03:00millimeter to three millimeters big. Most sponge filters will work great forshrimp, just make sure that whatever filter you use that the baby shrimpcan't enter your filter. You can use stockings and pantyhose to cover yourfilter intake if you are scared that your filter might suck up some babies.Just make sure that if you use stockings to clear it ofdebris every few days as the debris tends to build up and it might block your intakeWatch at: 03:00 / 03:20or burn out your pump. My honest advice is just to use a normal store bought spongefilter from the start with a high pore count. Normally anything from 25 pores perinch should be okay, but preferably 30 pores per inch. It is also very importantto understand why you have a filter in the first place. Most new people in theWatch at: 03:20 / 03:40Hobby believe that the reason we have a filter is to clean the water so that wecan see through it and we don't have to look at the dirty aquarium. Now guys thisis partly true, but the main reason for having a filter is so that we can breakdown the ammonia that our livestock produce. You see all our livestockproduces ammonia, when the shrimp poop the poop already started the decayingWatch at: 03:40 / 04:00process and this releases ammonia which is toxic to your shrimp. The same withfeeding all of the uneaten food can rot and it will cause ammonia. The bacteriathat builds up over time in your filter breaks down this toxic ammonia intoammonium and ammonium into nitrite and then the nitrites into nitrates.Please watch our video on ammonia if you don't understand what I'm talking about asWatch at: 04:00 / 04:20this is very important for the survival of your livestock. While we're on thetopic of filters just remember the shrimp need oxygen to survive. This iscreated by breaking the surface of the water either in the form of multiplebubbles breaking the surface of the water or just by rapid water movementclose to the surface most filters will create oxygen exchange but if you'relooking for the perfect shrimp filter you're more than welcome to go check outWatch at: 04:20 / 04:40our video on the Pat mini filter. Okay so now that you understand a filter let'stalk about water or rather water parameters. Once again this is one of thetwo necessities that you need to understand properly when breeding shrimpand this is most likely THE MOST IMPORTANT THING to understand,thats why I'm gonna take my time explaining water and water parameters to you.Watch at: 04:40 / 05:00Water parameters for each species of shrimp differ and next to having a good filterthe most important thing here is to keep your water parameters correct as well asconstant. The first water parameter we're going to look at is pH. pH stands forpotential of hydrogen and is measured on a scale from zero to fourteen. Closer toWatch at: 05:00 / 05:20zero meaning the water is more acidic, seven meaning the water is more neutraland closer to 14 meaning the water is more alcalinic. pH test kits arerelatively cheap and can be found at most pet shops. But whatpH do shrimp require? Well, starting with the Caridina shrimp, they require pH ofbetween 6 and 7. Bee shrimp require a pH of between five point eight and sixWatch at: 05:20 / 05:40point eight Neocaridina shrimp require pH of between six point five andseven point five. Sulawesi shrimp require pH of between seven point fiveand eight point five. Next up we have gH. gH stands for the general hardnessand is basically the amount of calcium and magnesium ions in the water,measured in parts per million. GH test kits can also be bought at most pet stores.Watch at: 05:40 / 06:00Caridina shrimp require a gH of between four and eight Bee shrimp betweenfour and six Neocaridina shrimp between six and eight and Sulawesi shrimp between fourand six. The next factor to consider is KH. KH stands for carbonate hardness.All that this means it's the ability for the water has to buffer or the ability thewater has for the ph to change very quickly.Watch at: 06:00 / 06:20The older the aquarium is the lower this figure tends to. Caridina tigershrimp require a KH of between two and six. Bee Shrimp between zero and four.Neocaridina shrimp between one and four and then Sulawesi Shrimp between two and four.Next up we have TDS. TDS stands for total dissolved solids. This is basicallyeverything, all the solid particles that is not pure h2o molecules in the water.Watch at: 06:20 / 06:40From minerals, chemicals, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and all sorts of other particles.You can measure the TDS by using a TDS pen. Most pet stores sell them.A lot of people put too much focus on TDS, but basically I only use TDS asan indication of when to do water changes. When the TDS gets a bit highWatch at: 06:40 / 07:00I'll do a water change. Caridina tiger shrimp require TDS ofbetween hundred and 220, Bee shrimp between hundred and 180, Neocaridina shrimpbetween 150 and 250 and Sulawesi shrimp between 200 and 260. And then the lastwater parameter we need to talk about is temperature. This is where everyone willhave a different opinion, but the general recommendation is between 21-24 degrees celsius.Watch at: 07:00 / 07:20Only Sulawesi shrimp require a higher temperature between 26 and 29 degrees.Now when it comes to temperature, consistency is the most important factorif there are temperature changes you want them to be slow, not dramatic and quick sowatch our video about heaters to get a better understanding of temperatures.Watch at: 07:20 / 07:40Bigger aquariums are always better for temperature control as thisnormally creates more consistency. Bigger aquariums take longer to cool down andlonger to warm up, this is why I will always suggest a two feet aquarium forbreeding shrimp in a one foot things just go wrong too quickly. Now if youkeep shrimp outside of the 21 to 24 degree recommendation, which a lot ofWatch at: 07:40 / 08:00people do - this is how it will affect your shrimp. Higher temperatures meansshorter lifespan, quicker breeding and they will eat more, but this might have aslight negative impact on the quality of the offspring. Lower temperatures on theother hand might give your shrimp a longer lifespan, their breeding cycle mightbe longer and they will most likely eat less. I will always recommend to peopleWatch at: 08:00 / 08:20to try and keep the temperatures at 21 to 24 degrees, because this will giveyour shrimp the perfect balance. You are more than welcome to deviate from thisbut not more than two to three degrees. Okay guys, so now I covered the waterparameters that your shrimp require. Now some shrimp especially the Neocaridina Shrimpcan survive outside of these parameters, but they most likely won'tWatch at: 08:20 / 08:40thrive. I know a few breeders who deviate from these figures and at the end of theday it comes down to what works for you. These are your pets and you areresponsible for creating the right environment for them. To understand howto create this perfect environment we further have to discuss where watercomes from. So let's talk water sources. You get tap water which obviously comesWatch at: 08:40 / 09:00from the tap. Borehole or well water, which comes from under the ground,rain water, well it's rain, so it obviously comes from the sky and thenreverse osmosis water, which just means that the water has been filtered and hasgone through an RO membrane. RODI water is as close to clean h2o as possiblewith almost nothing else in it. A video explaining RO water will be out withinWatch at: 09:00 / 09:20the next month so. For the most part neocaridina shrimp - the easier to keep shrimpcan survive and reproduce on tap or wall water caridina shrimp that which is theharder to keep shrimp might survive for a few months on tap water but they tendnot to do well and only slowly die off within a couple of months so theWatch at: 09:20 / 09:40alternative to tap water for the harder to keep carried in ashram is generallyfiltering the water and then filtering it through an RO membrane to turn itinto RO or even rrdi water Ora water is almost nothingPAH two out so the tedious of our water should be between zero and five partsper million now please don't think that shrimp will like PR a water shrimp needWatch at: 09:40 / 10:00magnesium calcium and other minerals in order to survive and thrive sonormally with RO water or rainwater you need to remineralize this means addingthe right minerals back to the water that will create almost the perfectenvironment for your shrimp to live in this is done by adding any single ofWatch at: 10:00 / 10:20these products each of them for a different shrimp we refer to theseproducts as salts please note that this is not the same salt that we use insaltwater aquariums brackish water or as a treatment for fish diseases v saltmainly contain calcium and magnesium and a few other elements that your shrimpneed this is almost the only way known to us on how to create the perfect waterWatch at: 10:20 / 10:40quality for ornamental shrimp and it is by far the easiest I also do a video onhow to remineralize Ora water and this will also be out soon okay guys sohaving said all of this about water I have read near caridina shrimp on tapwater a lot and you don't need remineralize RO water for neo caridinashrimp but something was always missing I could tell that the shrimp was notWatch at: 10:40 / 11:00100% happy by looking at the number of babies and the number of random deathsif you get less than 20 babies with your near karenina shrimp a few times youshould know that your water quality or feeding routine might not be perfectwhen I switched over to Ora water with added minerals and proper food I sawremains improve money baby numbers good solid malt longer lifespan of the shrimpWatch at: 11:00 / 11:20and the shrimp actually grew a bit bigger okay so now a quick summary nearcaridina shrimp with tap water yes caridina shrimp with tap water nothis IGAs caridina shrimp are way more sensitivethan the addition to water parameters and require our water and shrimp saltsbut there is still a problem if you keep caridina shrimp shrimp salts and OraWatch at: 11:20 / 11:40water can help you get to the ideal TDS gauge and gh but pH is still a problemwhen it comes to caridina shrimp you see even if the remineralized water that youhave made has a pH of between 5 and 6 when you add that remineralized water toyour aquarium the pH goes up to 7 7.5 or even 8 within the first month or two weneed something to keep the pH lower for the carotene ashram so that they canWatch at: 11:40 / 12:00thrive this is done by using a substrate that buffers the pHthat this means is that this substrate should keep your pH at a constant ofbetween five point five and six point five if using a two to four centimeterlayer of the substrate a DI Amazonia is proven to be hands down to the bareWatch at: 12:00 / 12:20substrate in this category and I believe the reason for this being that itcontains trace elements that benefit your shrimp but IV I sometimes come at ahefty price compared to something like akadama but I would say that it'sdefinitely worth it if you see the number of extra babies you'll receivefrom a DI compared to something like akadama just remember that thisbuffering or lowering of the pH only lost about nine months to two years andWatch at: 12:20 / 12:40sometimes even three years if you are lucky there are other in bufferingsubstrates like shrimpking SWA which is discontinued fro the bio and a fewothers that you can use and some of them work extremely well just do you researchbefore using any of them okay guys I am more than halfway with this video andWatch at: 12:40 / 13:00since this video is very long and I know it's hard to concentrate for extendedperiods so we're gonna take a short break and I'm gonna tell you a shortstory of my life I'm ashamed to say this but women used to call me ugly when Igrew up they literally said I'm ugly that was very hard for me but somehowthey all find out about all the money I'm making out of my shrimp Barbie andWatch at: 13:00 / 13:20now they call me ugly and poor lame jokes aside let's move on we spoke aboutthe two most important things that you need to get right when breeding shrimpwhich is your filter in your water before we move on to the least importantthings on the right let me quickly answer the question I get asked the mostabout keeping Trump what fish can I keep with my shrimp so I have answers for twoWatch at: 13:20 / 13:40different types of people we get shrimp keepers and then we get shrimp breedersso let me answer the shrimp keepers first you should be able to keep yourshrimp with nano fish like Otto Sinclair as Boris guppy scuba ty unless tetrasand so forth with this being said they will eat baby shrimp and sometimes theyWatch at: 13:40 / 14:00will even pick on the weaker adult shrimp so yes you can keep them togetherbut you will lose some baby shrimp and sometimes even adults ramp so provideyour shrimp with enough hiding places and you should be able to keep yourshrimp baby survival rates high and have a thriving community tank now my answerfor shrimp breeders is no fish fish will tramp the room is if it fits in theirWatch at: 14:00 / 14:20mouths they will eat it even auto-sync less which is known to beshrimp safe eat shrimp babies accidentally I have seen this with myown eyes so if you are serious about breeding shrimp then this questionshould not even be on your mind don't keep fish with shrimp that being said IWatch at: 14:20 / 14:40personally do keep or two Sinclairs in almost every single aquarium this is tohelp me clean and maintain my aquarium they are the only fish that are 99%shrimp safe all of the others that I mentioned earlier are around 60 to 80percent from safe in my opinion so now that you understand the most importantthings when it comes to breeding shrimp let's move on and talk about the thingsWatch at: 14:40 / 15:00that will increase the survival rate of your shrimp and give you more babies thefirst thing is moss and plants moss and plants gives hiding places for yourshrimp it makes them feel more comfortable and lay strengths they needsomewhere to hide after molting or when they've had a very bad day think aboutstanding outside in the Sun the whole day most of us won't like it so giveWatch at: 15:00 / 15:20your shrimp some shade and hiding places away from your light moss or plants alsogives extra surface area for biofilm to grow which is vital in your shrimp dietand your shrimp will be grazing on the plants quite often France also helpedwith the breakdown of ammonia my favorite plants for shrimp or he MientusMicron's my toes also known as bull weed suffice a flag and also Crips and noWatch at: 15:20 / 15:40shrimp do not eat healthy plants next up is driftwood once again it provideshiding places and extra area for biofilm to grow just make sure you don't add toomuch to your food because as the wood decays over time it will promote algaegrowth and we all hate cleaning algae wood can also increase the TDS of theWatch at: 15:40 / 16:00water so overall just be careful of how much wood you and driftwood can also beused to slightly lower the ph as it releases tenants the tenants can also bevery beneficial to your shrimp I try to put in a small piece of tofu in everytank next up we have leaves the leaves that we most commonly use in the shrimphobby or Indian almond leaves nettle leaves guava leaves mulberry leavesWatch at: 16:00 / 16:19walnut peppermint leaves and spinach out of all of those leavesI only use spinach that I feed once a month and you will always find an Indianalmond leave in every Hank I don't use any of the other leavesthe spinach leaf up well for three minutes and I feed a five point fivecentimeter piece in every aquarium I remove whatever is not eaten after 24hours Indian almond leaves on the other handWatch at: 16:19 / 16:40has more or less the same benefit as driftwood but I prefer using Indianalmond leaves more than driftwood if you want more info on Indian almond leavesalready did the video and you can check that out just note that Indian almondleaf should be natural fallen leaves and not plucked from the tree and this istrue for most of the other leaves as well next up we have snails snails formWatch at: 16:40 / 17:00a vital part of the ecosystem that I tried to create for my shrimp I've donea video on Malaysian trumpet snails which you can check out and I also did avideo on Rams on snails I use Malaysian trumpet snail in all of my tanks theyare at my substrate they eat algae they eat dead plants and in their shrimp eatthe snail poop which gives them another source of food snails are generallyWatch at: 17:00 / 17:20considered as a best but I like them just be careful with Malaysian trumpetsnails and something like across well as they tend to break it down to mush nextup we have quality food I did a video on cheap food that you can feed your shrimpif you want to check that out but I'm currently busy with videos on top crossfoods from dinner lay and glass garden and in my experience the more expensiveWatch at: 17:20 / 17:40food works out much better and technically cheaper I have lessrandom deaths healthier malts and just better looking shrimp overall back toayyy shrimp dinner pads shrimpking complete shrimp king mineral and merlejunkie are just a few to start with and these are my favorite at the moment theone thing that i can say was english from food is please don't overfeed iWatch at: 17:40 / 18:00feel way less than the food container suggests and i don't have any problemswhatsoever feeding dishes also helped to see ifyour shrimp are actually eating the food that you feed them this helps to preventover feeding as the leftover food don't go into the substrate but rather spreadthroughout the feeding dish feeding dishes also create a cleaner and safeWatch at: 18:00 / 18:20environment for your shrimp we also made a video on feeding dishes which you cancheck out on our YouTube channel next up we have water changes don't ever believethe mess that water changes are not necessary if you feed your shrimp theypoop the boot gets broken down by the bacteria in your fault and ends up asnitrites in the water and large amount of nitrites can be toxic to your shrimpWatch at: 18:20 / 18:40if you nitrates level are more than 20 youshould do a water changes by doing weekly or bi-weekly or even monthlywater changes you can at least smooth some of those nitrates so that theydon't cause harm to your shrimp you can check out our video about ammonia andnitrates if you measure a TDS as well as your nitrites and find that it fallswithin the acceptable parameters then it's okay not to do water changes forWatch at: 18:40 / 19:00that week or month not doing water changes over extensive periods can leadto bad bolts stressed shrimp and just random shrimp deaths so please checkyour TDs and nitrate levels if you are not doing water changes and just doingboth tops next up we have lines your shrimp don't really need light if youWatch at: 19:00 / 19:20have a line just make sure that it's not on for 24 hours of the day your shrimpneed raced away from the lines so also just make sure you give them enoughhiding spaces especially when the lights are on your light will also promotealgae growth the shrimp won't really eat the algae except for ammonia and solutewe see shrimp but your shrimp will graze on the algae for biofilm and otherWatch at: 19:20 / 19:40particles that they can eat I keep my light on for seven hours a day just togrow a few plants and mosses inside of the tanks next up we have mineral stonesyou can use mineral stones as it is beneficial but they only lost a shorttime and they are very expensive our much rather used criminalised Ora waterwith some good quality food at least once a week and then the mineral stonesWatch at: 19:40 / 20:00will not really be necessary I don't use them but you are more than welcome totry them some breeders believe that they have a great advantage I have not hadany problems without them and I have not seen the benefit with them so I won't beusing them anytime soon and lastly I just want to quickly talk about blondsupplements so a lot of people keep planted aquariums the plants needWatch at: 20:00 / 20:20nutrients and some of us those certain plant feeding supplements aren't reallydoes any of the planted shrimp tanks that I keep as the health of the shrimpare more important to meet in the health of the plants all I want to say is thatsome of these supplements especially the liquid supplements have trace elementsof iron that can be harmful to your shrimp I have not noticed any of theseWatch at: 20:20 / 20:40liquid fertilizers or plant supplements that are used to be harmful but I willmuch rather be on the safe side so I don't regularly use themokay guys I'm always done with this video but I would like to give you threetips tip number one mix all different sorts of shrimp if youwant to breed they will interbreed and you will get some dodgy unstable dodgycolors which most people won't like and over a long period of time they willWatch at: 20:40 / 21:00revert to a light dark brown shrimp in the case of near caridina and in thecase of caridina they'll just look dodgy but sometimes a bit funky which can be agood thing depending on what you would like to keep if you are breeding shopfor profit don't waste your time doing this rather stick to a species specificWatch at: 21:00 / 21:20or a line specific shrimp that you want to breed a clean line get that breedingand then solve that wasting your time trying to prevent shrimp takes a lot oftime it takes a lot of effort and most people fail doing that ends up numbertwo don't think that breeding shrimp will make you a lot of money it mightget you a very small income every so often but very few people actually makeWatch at: 21:20 / 21:40money from breeding shrimp most people just end up giving it up as I can't getthem sold and lastly tip number three if you're new to the shrimp hobby and wantto get into the hobby please don't buy expensive shrimp get normal cherryshrimp get them breathing once you have raised the babies and theyhave had babies then you can go for more expensive from you can always sell theWatch at: 21:40 / 22:00cherry shrimp or the less expensive shrimp at a later stage if you reallydon't want them or want to go for more expensive ones when I started the RBAntenor as we know him professor aquaria a link to his YouTube channel will bedown in the description told me that I should draw the go for chili shrimp andget them breeding and to my regret I did not listen to him not only did I kill aWatch at: 22:00 / 22:20few good-looking shrimp I threw away a lot of money down the drain and I mean alot I really wish I listened to him at that stage so please trust me on thiseven if it does not make sense now when you start go for the easy to keep NewYork origination get in breeding until the first batch of babies or adults andwhen they are breeding then you can move on from there if you've had greatWatch at: 22:20 / 22:40success then you will most likely thrive most of us will kill our first batch ortwo of shrimp that's just fact but guys in closing the most importantthing for shrimp is consistency try to keep everything as stable aspossible with each temperature kgh pH keep everything as stable as possibleWatch at: 22:40 / 23:00that's the best step I can give any shrimp breeder consistency is- shrimp breathing okay so after all of this if you still have questions drop mea comment down below and I or someone else will try to give you some adviceplease remember to go check out our Facebook competition link down in thedescription as I mentioned earlier but that's it for this video guys if thisWatch at: 23:00 / 23:20video sucks you know what to do but if it was awesome get subscribed press thatlike button and check out other videos I really hope you guys learned somethingtoday and as always keep it simple

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