The popularity of keeping shrimp only tanks is sky rocketing right now due to their low price, ease of maintenance, and how good a shrimp tank can actually look even if you are brand new to keeping aquariums.
In addition to shrimp only tanks, more and more people are looking to add shrimp to their regular aquariums due to shrimp being excellent members of any aquariums clean up crew.
With so many people looking into keeping shrimp in their aquarium right now, we wanted to publish this dedicated article going over some tips and tricks that you are able to use to your advantage to make it as quick and easy to keep your shrimp in your tank without having problems.
Although there may not be any need to implement all of our tips below into your specific tank setup, we are confident that we have something for everyone no matter your level of shrimp keeping experience.
If you are brand new to keeping shrimp in your aquarium then you may be able to get a ton of value from our article and drastically improve the living experience for your pet shrimp.
This is due to so many people who are new to caring for shrimp making the same mistakes that we see time and time again that are thankfully, easy and cheap or even free to correct.
Use A Shrimp Substrate!
A high-quality shrimp substrate is a great way to improve your shrimp tank than by using a normal substrate of a similar price.
Not only are shrimp substrate products better for some types of shrimp to dig and burrow into but they also tend to help maintain a strady pH level in your shrimp tank helping to keep your shrimp happy as most types of shrimp can be sensitive to poor water parameters.
Thankfully, the shrimp substrate products on the market have decreased in price recently due to the spike in popularity of keeping shrimp increasing demand and making it easier to make shrimp friendly substrate in bulk.
Even just ten years ago these substrates could be around double the price of a regular substrate but these days, they are almost the same price.
Add Leaves To Your Shrimp Tank!
Many of the more colorful types of shrimp that are kept in shrimp tanks are from the Neocaridina genus from South East Asia and they naturally live in small pools with leaves on other plant matter in the pool.
Adding some cheap Indian almond leaves to your shrimp tank can be an excellent way to improve the living experience of your shrimp in your tank while the tannins from the leaves can also help to regulate water parameters for you too.
We would only recommend that you add these Indian almond leaves to your tank if you are keeping a shrimp only tank or a tank with betta fish and shrimp in it though as other species of fish can be sensitive to tannins in their water.
Most types of shrimp love to eat detretus too so as the Indian almond leaves start to decompose your shrimp will start to eat them.
Keep Planaria Out Of Your Shrimp Tank!
Thankfully, the majority of fish keepers shouldn’t have problems with planaria in their tanks but if you do notice small white worm parasites in your shrimp tank, they need to be removed as quickly as possible.
Planaria will burrow into your shrimp and start to eat them from the inside with the shrimp being defenceless against this pesky parasite.
Thankfully, Planaria Traps are cheap and very effective at trapping planaria making it very easy to quicky remove them from your aquarium before they can cause issues.
Unfortunately, if planaria have time to take hold of your shrimp tank then they can quickly infect all of your shrimp often resulting in you having to purge the tank and restock it from scratch so always keep an eye out for these tiny little white or brown worms shown in the image below that are usually between 1mm and 1cm depending on age.
Acclimate Your Shrimp To Your Aquarium!
Most species of freshwater shrimp can be very sensitive to changes in their water parameters, especially if those changes take place quickly so you should always pick up a cheap drip acclimatisation kit if you are planning to keep shrimp tanks.
This will allow you to slowly acclimate your shrimp to the water parameters of your aquarium with minimal problems for your shrimp.
If you never plan to remove your shrimp from a single shrimp tank then this tip can usually be ignored but the majority of people who start to keep shrimp tanks usually add more tanks to their setup.
Many beginners often fail to realise that two separate tanks in the same room kept side by side can often have very different water parameters and cause issues with your shrimp if you just drop a shrimp from one tank into the other.
Maintain Steady Water Parameters!
As we just touched on, the majority of freshwater shrimp species, especially those from the Neocaridina genus that are commonly kept in shrimp tanks are very sensitive to changes in their water parameters.
Ideally, you should be using a decent water test kit to monitor the water parameters in your shrimp tank every couple of days.
This will give you plenty of notice of any potential shifts in the norm for your tank and allow you to take the required counter measures to help you avoid long term problems.
You can often keep your water parameters stable in your tank by doing a ten or twenty percent water change weekly as well as regular tank maintinance to help keep your shrimp happy.
Keep A Single Type Of Shrimp In Your Aquarium!
We would always recommend that you only ever keep a single type of shrimp in your aquarium if possible.
As we covered in our article on neon yellow shrimp breeding with cherry shrimp, their offspring will usually revert back to their wild type colors of a shade of brown rather than take the bright colors of their parents when crossbread.
Within a year this can result in the brown colored shrimp over taking the tank and spoiling the overall look of it but if you keep a single type of shrimp in your aquarium then they shrimplets should keep the same color as their parents.
You may be thinking that you can keep Neocaridina and Caridina genus shrimp in the same tank as each other due to the two genus being unable to breed with each other.
As we covered in our article on keeping ghost shrimp with cherry shrimp, the ghost shrimp from the Caridina genus will usually eat the cherry shrimp from the Neocaridina genus due to the cherry shrimp being smaller and weaker.
Add Live Plants To Your Aquarium!
Live plants are an excellent addition to any shrimp tank and almost every type of shrimp tank should have some sort of live plant in it.
Not only can live plants help to maintain steady water parameters within your tank helping to keep your shrimp happy but they also produce detretus for your shrimp to eat too.
We have an article on planted shrimp bowl aquariums that can help you setup the perfect shrimp tank on a budget that contains live plants.
Keep The Water Flow Low!
The majority of shrimp species hate moderate and high water flow in their tank so always try to keep any water flow to an absolute minimum.
This is generally easy in most shrimp tanks as there is usually no need to add a pump for water flow.
If you are planning to add your shrimp to a community tank with fish species that require higher water flow be sure to include a shielded area behind rocks for your shrimp to live in but ideally, you shouldn’t be adding shrimp to a tank with water flow as they really don’t like it.
Keep Your Water pH Slightly Acidic!
Shrimp tend to enjoy slightly acidic water with most people aiming for a pH level of below 7.6 in their shrimp tanks.
This is not always possible in community tanks that contain fish though so you may have to work with what you are able to make work with all of the inhabitants of the tank.
If you are keeping a shrimp only tank though then you should definitely be aiming to keep the pH level below 7.6 if possible.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over keeping shrimp in an aquarium to an end and we hope that we have been able to help you better understand that shrimp can be an excellent addition to most aquarium setups. In most cases, they really are easy to care for, especially if you are only keeping shrimp in the tank without fish but they can also make great additions to a community tank too!
