[Okkie]

So I'm not new to Shrimp keeping. I've "kept" thriving colonies in planted tanks but my selection has always been limited to shrimp that can survive the hard/high tds. I installed a RO unit for my planted tank and that has been a revelation to say the least.

But now I'm starting to think about a dedicated shrimp tank and although I've been in the hobby for over a decade I'm unsure of where to begin.

I have a 50L aquarium ready to go.
A filter that will be seeded with long established media.
A I want to keep blue bolt shrimp

But beyond that, especially in terms of water parameters I'm not sure what I should be aiming for. Also, I'd like to keep two species that won't interbreed.

Advice needed.

 

[latchdan]

I'm not familiar with that type of shrimp but looks like it's a caridina species. I recently started a 10 gallon CRS.
From my experience your gonna need RO DI water and then remineralise your water. You can just add it on.
I previously had a red cherry tank before the crystals and noticed the cycling is very different. I can only assume the difference is the ph since nitro bacteria prefer a higher ph.
I ended up cycling my tank with ammonia for 3 months and still wasn't a 100% sure it was cycled unlike the rcs it was obvious.
My tank right now is 100tds
5 gh
0 kh
Ph 6.4
I'm using salty shrimp gh

 

[AVN]

Blue Bolts are a very nice strain to keep, their patterning and color gradient is fantastically vibrant.

If you want it to be a dedicated Bee shrimp tank I personally wouldn't mix them with Neo shrimp. While you can achieve a comfortable middle ground, one of the two species will be getting the short end of the stick as Neo and Bee shrimp have differring optimal parameters. You can keep both together, but at the expense of the other.

 

[Sam the Slayer]

Blue Bolts will breed with all other soft water shrimp so be aware of interbreeding. The blue bolt is simply a color variant of the rest of the Caridina group just like Neos have different color variants as well. Nothing wrong with mixing them, just be aware.

You can use Salty shrimp gh+ bee formula which is just; calcium sulphate, magnesium sulphate, potassium sulphate and a small mix of micro nutrients. Simple enough to mix up a concentrated solution of it if you already have everything you need from fertilizing the plants or just buy a pre-made powder mix like the one mentioned above. There are many to choose from. I do both but I just make a mix myself when I’m not being lazy.

Target
4-6 gh
0 kh
90-125 tds
Use a buffering substrate (I have used landens aqua soil and fluval stratum shrimp soil, I prefer fluval because the ph is about 6.4 and Landens ph is about 5.5 and I get better results out of the higher ph).

Let the tank mature not cycle. The shrimp will need lots of biofilm and micro organisms to graze on not to just be able to process ammonia. Allow a decent amount of algae to grow before adding the shrimp. Not to an ugly point but allow it to grow on glass and decor.

Good luck!


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[Okkie]

Hey guys I really appreciate the feedback.

"Salty shrimp gh+" looks like a good way forward. Any other tips and snippets of advice you can give?