I have medium hard water, pH7.6, kH5. Is there chance of success keeping crystal shrimp without augmenting with RO water.

That's a bit too hard for them. I wouldn't do it, personally. Even if you get them to survive in those parameters, they'll most likely never breed.

pH is 7.6
KH is 5

I don't see anything about the hardness of the water???? That would be GH.


Tiger, I can *ONLY* suggest this *IF* you can find someone who keeps Crystals in hard water to begin with. Otherwise, if you get Crystals raised in typical parameters and move them to your water, then they might live but there's a good chance that they wont thrive or breed.


Finding someone who has Crystals in hard water with higher pH can be difficult, too. I know that there's at least one person who has done it, but I don't know them personally. They acclimated an entire colony, over *years*, from Caridina parameters to "tap water" parameters. Now, there may be an issue that his Crystals wont do well in the average Crystal parameters when he sells them to other people.

Good point, @Zoidburg. It's the GH that will determine if they can molt successfully. That said, carbonates that high is always going to result in an undesirable pH for breeding. I wouldn't attempt to raise any caridinas with a KH of more than 1 degree, although many sources say they can survive in a KH of 2. That still leaves you with a pH that is probably more desirable for tiger shrimp breeding.

I don’t currently have a gH test kit, but previous measurement in my tap is around 10. My cherry shrimp are doing fine, but want to add some crystal for variety as the two won’t hybridize. I am afraid having the same water for both won’t work out. If shrimp don’t breed to sustain the population, it’s not worth keeping.

If that's the case, what about tiger shrimp?

They are typically raised in Caridina parameters but have the potential to adjust to Neo parameters. Might lose some color being kept in Neo parameters, but they might be able to breed and thrive in it at least.

They will eventually breed but not as much as in an ideal ph. But they will definitely breed once settled in. But most important thing is that if your GH is too high then there preffered GH than you can't keep them alive because of fail molts. Gh is the most important factor. If you don't want to go RO you can use bottled water sold in shops. Usually it has a Gh of 5 to 6 and low tds and low kh and ideal for crystal shrimps.

Can be done, but it's very hard to maintain long term stability (I use BDBS). I've had several colony crashes over the years due to various reasons. I would not recommend it unless you know what you are doing.

Having said that, I'm not sure if @clownplanted still hangs out here and has some. My colony is too small to send from at the moment, but he along with many others have some from me that were kept in almost your exact parameters (with a dGH of 5-6).

Gorgeous looking shrimp. By the way what is BDBS?

Thanks! It's black diamond blasting sand. A popular, inert (non-buffering) substrate.

Thanks.