Keeping shrimps alive, what so difficult about it? In a very broad stroke it is actually fairly simple and straightforward. However, there have been many methods to keep shrimps alive, some easier than others and eventually it is people who made a simple linear keeping more difficult.

While the building blocks of shrimp keeping such as water parameters (soft and hard), biofilm, source etc helps prop up the success rate of keeping shrimps alive, but because there are many possibilities in between where the norm is deviated.

This is where the complexity starts.

Where does the complexity starts? It all start with adding more things than we should and also looking at short term/low unproven methods adds up to the equation.

Soil:

Here we talk about using active soil which have the capability to alter the pH and KH of the water parameters, there are certainly a lot of soil in the market. Generally, active soil with trusted brands are slightly more costly and normally most active soil react similarly. All active soil releases Ammonia, however, we may know the level of release, we don’t normally know how long it last as it differs batch to batch.

For me it’ is rather straightforward and it is inexpensive for us in Singapore to get ADA soil because of the nature of competition, prices are often kept low.

There are repackaged type but would recommend to purchase a 3L or 9L original bag rather than any repackage type, who knows what they are in there.

Filtration:

There is a myriad of filters on the market, there isn’t one best filter as everyone have their own budget to get it through. To give a bit of a background of filtration and why are some of the larger scale operation have to use simple filtration vs why hobbyist are doing things differently.

Large scale operation usually for breeding purposes have north of 50 tanks and some having 800-1000 tanks in a couple of facility which is why expensive filtration cannot be utilize. It doesn’t make business sense. So the most efficient filtration in such setup is sponge filter.

Then we have the Lift filter (HMF) with sponge on the side which essentially is air driven. This is by far the sponges be it dual or lift are the most economical and have great biological filtration.

In addition, there is also non-box UGF filtration within the tank itself and has been also quite well accepted however regular maintenance is required for that to happen.

i’m also aware that there are renowned Taiwan breeders large scale using external cannister filter which is high cost but overall does a very good filtration system for the tank.

Hobbyist on the other hand with more budget to spend can opt for above the top filtration to get additional benefits such as external filters, hang on filters and motor driven ones.

Key: Filtration is key to keeping shrimps alive as it is to clean the water and provide a safe haven for them. Providing beneficial bacteria to turn harmful ammonia to less harmful nitrate.

If you are looking for a budget filter, just go with Sponge or HMF, i think that will be in my opinion among the better ones. This decision here does however impact the later part of the guiding principle. So if you want to be successful later on to breed great looking shrimps, this right here is key. If not you will get stuck at step 2-3 and can’t progress to step 4

Personally for my own collection, they are run with Totto filter so it helps remove Nitrate as well which means fewer water change even on higher bioload. However, a good filtration does not replace water changes.

Reminerizer:

A general rule here 3GH per 90TDS. Any deviation from it, may result in higher than required TDS which will then create issues with molting. Again yet another key component.

Food: 

High Draw factor: food that shrimp goes towards and having a couple of food type is sufficient and not to add to the complexity. As food decompose in the tank and having too many types of food becomes difficult to pinpoint the issue later on.

Biofilm:

This is important for later stage 2-4 and if in absence of this, most will get stuck at level 3 (selective breeding).

Bacteria:

As beneficial bacteria is important for good water parameters, an optional top up of bacteria products to replace it can be considered. This should be used in older tank when the ammonia source is depleted from the soil and beneficial bacteria are not reproducing (how do we know, it’s unmeasurable – hence it’s a soft value). There are bacteria products that are of natural elements such as bacteria with composition of bacillus subtilis var. natto.

Once you get the basic right, the chances of shrimp survival will be much higher.

• Thin soil (1cm) laid in the tank as i have move away from UGF. Reason for doing that is because the time needed to reset a UGF setup takes a much longer time. Resetting a tank with thin soil setup only takes 30 mins per tank.
• Feed a good staple food and supplement with a reliable grazing material
• weekly water change using RO water

• Every few months i’ll give the Totto filter a wash and change 10% of the filter media to allow new colonization of beneficial bacteria

With that, even with the busiest schedule i’m able to at least still keep the hobby going. So for those out there who are feeling that you don’t have time to continue on this hobby, i would urge you to try another process that will suit you rather than being slave to the hobby. The product/process you use will determine how much time you need in the hobby to keep it going. There are methods/products that lengthen the time required for maintenance so that you be able to allocate lesser time on it and spend more time on enjoying the hobby.