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InvisiblefeeversM
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How to breed ornamental aquarium shrimp (And make a profit) * 7
    #28265188 - 04/06/23 12:33 PM (9 months, 18 days ago)




There are many different varieties of shrimp that hobbyists keep and breed. Amano, neocaridina (cherry) and caridina are the most common freshwater varieties. I'll focus on Neocaridina here because they're the most beginner friendly.

What you need:
-Fish tank - 20gallon long is a great starter size that can fit hundreds of shrimp, and is easier to maintain than a smaller tank. Avoid any high tanks as they are much harder to clean, scape, and catch shrimp in.
-Substrate - Sand is best for shrimp and easiest to keep clean. Pool filter sand can be found for ~$10 for a 25lb bag which will be more than enough. Just rinse thoroughly in a bucket until the water isn't cloudy, then layer it in the tank about 2 inches deep.
-Filter - A sponge filter is preferred, but a hang on back works fine. You will just need a pre-filter sponge to put over the intake so the baby shrimp don't get sucked up.
-Heater- unless the room they're in is consistently in the 70s. Shrimp do fine in most temps, 68-74 is preferred. Higher temps will promote breeding but shorten lifespan
-Driftwood - can be found at most pet stores. It allows for biofilm to form which the shrimp will feed off of. It also gives them places to hide which will reduce stress
-Plants- Live plants also develop biofilm and also will give the shrimp some decaying plant matter to munch on, as well as providing hiding spaces. Mosses are also really good for shrimp, java moss is commonly used
-Light- As long as you get low-light plants (java ferns, anubias, water sprite, wisteria, val etc.), any light will be fine (even a desk lamp). One with a timer makes things easier, aim for 6-8 hours per day of light. Too much will usually cause an algae outbreak.
-Water dechlorinator - to be used at every water change.
-Around 10 shrimp. You can get many more if you want to turbostart the breeding, but 10 is a good size if you want to cut initial costs
-Test kit. Strips are fine if you get ones that measure ammonia as well, but a liquid test kit is preferred and will be cheaper in the long run.

The initial investment will be anywhere from $100-$175, cheaper if you can find deals on craigslist/facebook marketplace.

To start, you want to fill the tank, dechlorinate the water, and dose with an ammonia source. You can use any type of ammonia that doesn't contain chemical additives, or simply add a pinch of fish/shrimp food every day which will decay and produce ammonia. You can buy aquarium-specific ammonia which will tell you exactly how much to dose.

What this does is establish the nitrogen cycle. A colony of bacteria will develop that consume the ammonia and turn it into nitrites. From there, another bacterial colony will develop and turn the nitrites into nitrates. Ammonia and nitrites are extremely toxic to fish and shrimp, which is why you should never add them to the tank until your nitrogen cycle is established. Nitrates are removed by plants and by water changes. Shrimp have a low bio load, so you should only need to do small water changes every few weeks. This process can take from 2 weeks to a month and half, but 3-4 weeks is average. This time also gives the tank time to develop biofilm and algae which will greatly improve survival and reduce stress. There are ways to make the process happen faster, like adding bottled bacteria (fritz turbo start is the only one I've seen actually work) or getting bacteria from an established tank, usually through filter media.

Once you can dose the tank up to 1ppm of ammonia, and have no ammonia and nitrites detectable within 24 hours, you're ready to add the shrimp. This shows that you now have a bacterial colony large enough to easily handle ammonia produced by the shrimp and any decaying matter within the tank.

Nitrogen Cycle overview:
Day 1: Dose ammonia (and bottled bacteria if desired)
Week 2-3: Ammonia levels should start to decline, as nitrite levels start to rise (time will vary)
Week 3-4: Nitrite levels will start to decline, as nitrates begin to appear (timeframe will also vary)
Once you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and a reading for nitrates, your tank is likely cycled enough to add shrimp. Don't do any water changes during the cycling process, complete a 75% water change before adding shrimp. Feed lightly for the first week.

Cherry shrimp can survive in all sorts of water parameters, but cannot handle quick changes. This is also why you don't want to do large water changes in shrimp tanks when there are shrimp in there. A process known as "drip acclimation" is recommended when adding them to the tank. You can also simply float the bag they're in inside the tank, and gradually (one small spash at a time) add tank water into the bag. The goal should be to have the bag filled with 75% tank water and 25% the water they came with by around an hour. Then you'll need to use a small net to remove them from the bag and plop them in the tank. Never empty the bag water into the tank since it will likely contain a lot of ammonia and who knows what else for the tank they came in.

Caring for them is pretty simple, there are pellets made specifically for shrimp and you can also look up different veggies/greens that can be blanched and added to the tank. It's very important not to overfeed as it'll lead to ammonia spikes and pests. A powdered food is recommended when you start getting shrimp babies as it increases their survival. Bacter AE is a popular product that promotes biofilm growth and can be eaten by the baby shrimp.

There are lots of different colors of cherry shrimp you can get, but if you want to breed them you'll need to stick to one color per tank (or get a divider). If you mix colors, they'll breed and you'll quickly have mostly brown "wild type" shrimp. It's possible to keep different color caridina together with neocaridina since they won't breed with eachother, but you'll need to understand a lot more about your water parameters, specifically pH, GH, KH, and mineral content. It can be a lot of work to keep your parameters in a range where both types will survive and reproduce. Amano do fine in neocaridina parameters, but are difficult to breed since the offspring require brackish water and a specific process.

The price you can sell cherry shrimp for varies. Pet stores in my area will pay .25 to .50 per shrimp. If you sell them privately on reddit, facebook or local online aquarium groups it's usually more in the range of $3-4 per shrimp with discounts in bulk. Caridina are usually pricier, from $5 a shrimp up to $500 per shrimp if you get the "fancier" types.

I started a 10 gallon tank in January with 10 green jade neocaridina and 15 tangerine tiger caridina, and currently have about 80 shrimp with many more on the way. I'll likely be seeding a couple dozen of the most colorful ones into a bigger 20g tank and using that for breeding and selling, while using the 10g as a "cull" tank to keep any of the shrimp who don't have as much color to them, since they'll sell for less and weaken the desired gene pool.

Unless you get a multi-tank operation going, or learn how to keep caridina and go for the more expensive varieties, you won't make much money off of it. But you can still pretty easily pull in $100 or so a month from one small tank with very little effort. It's pretty cool to be able to make a small profit off of a fun hobby.

Some of my shrimp:

Tangerine tiger (caridina)


Green Jade (neo/cherry)


Amano:




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InvisiblefeeversM
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Registered: 12/28/10
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Re: How to breed ornamental aquarium shrimp (And make a profit) [Re: Land Trout]
    #28511810 - 10/20/23 01:29 PM (3 months, 6 days ago)

Quote:

Land Trout said:

Just wanted to share a pic of one of my planted tanks. I get around 30-50 shrimp out of this one every time I clean the filters. 40 gallon tank with two sponge filters run off the smallest usb pumps. I don’t know if it’s just my water, but cherry shrimp multiply quickly for me, but some of the folks who buy them off me have a lot less luck, I don’t know what the difference is. This tank is pretty soft, but I’ve got another tank with young African cichlids in that I make the water pretty hard and the shrimp are exploding in there also. Pretty soon the cichlids will be big enough to start hunting them.  I really like cherry shrimp for cycling a tank, when the culture is young and maturing they do really well on the early stages of biofilm.




Super delayed response... sweet tank. Love the val, I've seeded all my tanks with one or 2 small sprigs of it since it multiplies so quickly. What's that other tall plant you have growing everywhere? Edit: it looks like I actually have one of them in my 40b, I don't remember the name though. It never multiplied and it grows super slowly for me though

I think shrimp are just super sensitive to changes, especially ones that have lived in a certain tank for awhile. I just switched over one of my shrimp colonies to a new tank last weekend, drip acclimated over 2 hour period, still had a few deaths and the whole colony has been sluggish since the move. And that's with the exact same water, I'm guessing the pH in their other tank was a bit lower though since it was a darkwater tank

Are the shrimp still in with your cichlids? I'm sure the fish would appreciate the snacks :lol:

My 20 long shrimp tank with a breeder box filled with 50+ peacock gudgeon fry


My 40 breeder betta community that has a handful of amanos


55g rainbowfish tank


Considering the rainbows love picking snails up in their mouths and spitting them out, I've decided against adding shrimp to that tank. The rainbows will be going to a new 90g soon so I'm still deciding what to do with the 55 after, I might just convert it to a low maintenance shrimp and mystery snail tank. Mysteries breed like crazy in my water and my local store pays decently for them. Between gudgeons, shrimp and mystery snails I could actually start pulling in a few hundred a month if stop being lazy about it


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