Jump to content

Shrimp Substrate


mumofthehoarde

Recommended Posts

Do you mean shrimp sand? there are many shrimp substrates on the market, it is basically like gravel sized substrate that keep your ph stable at 6.5+-, I have used UP shrimp sand and benabachi shrimp substrate. They both do the same job but I have found that the benabachi brand tends to last longer (takes longer to break down), this with mineral balls/powder will make your shrimp very happy and will breed like crazy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you really don't need shrimp substrate for cherries, I never needed them and before I put fish in the tank I had hundreds in a 25L tank! In fact I breed my crystal red shrimps bare bottom tank. Although I add a hand full of shell grit, half a piece of cuttlefish bone occasionally some Epsom salt for hardness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

red cherries no you dont need it (recommended though as it buffers and stabilises water) but for the other rarer colors (yellows, blues, oranges, etc) it is a must.

You've been misinformed, it is not needed or a must for any of the the N. heteropoda varieties, they prefer a neutral to slightly alkaline water and these substrates make the water acidic. They will do well on a normal gravel and tap water is usually fine, I include something to buffer the water such as coral or limestone usually.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

not misinformed but speaking from personal experience, I had yellow cherries that were dying from the water until breeder I purchased from told me to get shrimp substrate, they then settled and started breeding. The main issue is not the soft/hardness of water as they can do well in ph 6-8 but the buffer/stabilising properties of the substrates not to mention the elements that shrimp require as the rarer colors don't cope well with changes in water. Could be just the Sydney water though. So what you are saying is that they won't do as well in a substrate especially designed for them because it makes the water acidic, doesn't make sense to me.

Edited by Chi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The other colours are just as hardy as cherries, like cockroaches. I would recommend the salty shrimp Sulawesi minerals over a shrimp substrate because they're designed for soft water shrimp, cherries can live in a wide range of parameters but will do will do better in some conditions than others. I'm not saying that, but those substrates are designed for shrimp that hail from soft water, usually Caridina cantonensis, not Neocaridina heteropoda, they come from harder water than the crystals and you can buffer them with coral chips or the Salty shrimp minerals. The thing that the shrimp substrates would do that those can't is bind heavy metals often present in tap water as they have a lot if carbon compounds that bind them up, IAL and soil will do the same thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am just speaking from my personal experience with the rarer colors of cherries, reds are hardy because they have been in Australia for ages but these other colors are just being introduced into the country. If you visit shrimp forums you will see that 9/10 cherry shrimp breeders or those who have the rarer colors are all using some sort of shrimp substrate because they have problems without it. If you read the package/bag it even has a picture of cherries and says specially designed for cherries and other shrimp. Maybe you have had success without the substrates (I know reds will breed in almost any water, I am talking about the other colors as from personal experience they are not as hardy) but as for me I can't do without.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, one would think the reds are less hardy because they have been inbred here longer, the gene pool in Australia is far smaller than the gene pool overseas. Even though it says that that does not mean it is completely true, how can a substarte be spherically designed to give optimal conditions for two species when the optimal conditions are different for both. You see people using it with them because they also keep crystals with them or because they have been told by someone selling their products that it is best. Many overseas breeders of high quality cherries use the salty shrimp minerals, the Bossaquaria site even recommends that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why would anyone think that, reds have gotten use to the australian water conditions, where as the newer strains are just being introduced. Like fish after breeding generations you can get them use to straight tap water if you wanted. I think the Australian shrimp breeders would know what is best for them and what works from experience not because someone told them, like me I like to keep it cheap as possible so I would do without if it worked. As I mentioned earlier I was getting casualties with my yellows and no breeding until I used the shrimp substrate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

You can keep shrimp with or without soil, I have personally kept shrimp with ADA soil, up aqua soil and bare bottom tanks for about 6 years now. They all breeding fine for me but using shrimp sand or soil will definitely make the shrimp color better. There is no right or wrong to this, its more about what you wanted to achieve. Personally I would highly recommend keeping shrimp with substrate because It makes the shrimp color better and provides more bacteria (Food) too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...