# Tiger shrimp question



## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

I am new to shrimp-ing and would like to find out how does everyone take care of their tiger shrimp. my tap water is 7.6ph, 5kh and 8-9gh. to my understanding tiger shrimps will not survive these conditions. How would i be able to soften my water but still keep my ph at 7.6?

Does painted fire reds, orange sakura shrimp or yellow shrimp need soft water too?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

I have kept many tiger shrimps over the last 3 years, and PH 7.6 is just fine for them. They don't like soft water, so anything over 7 is better and colder water too, so don't keep lights on all the time.

Don't know too much about gh/kh etc as I never bothered with that, just ammonia. Any type of substrate like pea gravel, regular gravel, sand is good, but not soil for crystal shrimps like ADA, Netlea, Fluval etc as this will bring the PH down below 7.

Keep floating plants like duckweed, frogbit, anacharis, riccia and some mosses in your tank which will help with nitrate/nitrites/ammonia.

Neos (all the reds, yellows, blues, orange, greens) don't need soft water either, they can happily live in PH 7-7.6.

Hope this helps.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

i guess burlington and scarborough should have the same water chemistry right?



> They don't like soft water, so anything over 7 is better and colder water too, so don't keep lights on all the time.


 You mean they don't like acidic waters 

I assume your gh/kh is same as scarborough so i hope i dont have to mess with my water chemistry

http://www.planetinverts.com/Tiger Shrimp.html

i am guessing this website is stating the optimum range for the tiger shrimps to breed in but it is just a guideline and does not need to be followed to a tee and it seems like they are quite adaptable to water conditions


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## Ron (May 15, 2011)

I keep Super Tigers and OEBTs. OEBTs can adapt to many different water conditions. I've seen pH values as low as 6.2 and up to 7.8, what I keep mine at. Same goes for TDS, 160 ppm to 450 ppm. Just make sure you acclimatize properly when you get your new shrimp if your parameters are different.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

High ron do you test your gh or kh too for your tigers?


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## Ron (May 15, 2011)

xriddler said:


> High ron do you test your gh or kh too for your tigers?


Nope, just TDS.

I start with RO/DI water and remineralize.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

I wanted to used just aged tap water do you think i will run into any problems?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Nope...I bred 300+ OEBTs on straight PH 7.6 tap water on pea gravel with just sponge filter, hang on back for extra filtration and driftwood, moss, floating plants. Never changed out the water, just did top ups, and fed algae wafers, shrimp cuisine, some other shrimp foods (mosura I believe) and they just kept on breeding.

My tank developed a slow leak and I had to take them all out to fix it, so I counted them as I was catching them....gave up after I got to 300 
dark blues, mid blues, some blondes....I sold them all, cause I wanted to try CRS...wish I hadn't now 

Super Tigers are more hardier than OEBTs, so try a few to start, see how it goes with a simple setup and then if they start to breed and you get the babies to survive, then you know they are comfortable with the parameters and leave them alone. You can add more as you go along, but start out small first.

Most people (myself included) want to start off with the fancy looking higher priced shrimps, but unfortunately we all learned the hard way that you need to learn a few things along the way, get that experience under your belt and then go on to the more fancier shrimps later.

I LOVE Tiger shrimps....they are so funny to watch, move around a lot more than CRS/Taiwans do and you can have fun breeding them, sell off some babies to help cover your costs for more shrimps/equipment down the road.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

Hi betta i am going to use inert tahitian moon sand and just rock scapes no live plants. my ph is 7.6, gh 8-9, kh 5 i might add floaters only but i was looking to just have a bare rock scaped tank. Do you think i will run into lots of problems without plants?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

well shrimps like to pick over and hang off plants and babies like to hide in them.  I did have a super tiger tank with white sand and lava rock with some moss balls, but unfortunately I had a bacterial outbreak and lost a lot of them, so I moved the remaining ones to a pea gravel tank with moss, floating plants and they recovered and were breeding.

You could try the moss balls...they just stay wherever you put them and they don't grow fast or spread out, and shrimps like to pick over them.
Just a thought.

On the whole I find that the key to a balanced tank IS the plants! They provide cover, asthetic looks, food for the shrimps, and help keep nitrates/nitrites in check. Just my opinion, its your tank, your choice.

Like I said before, keeping shrimps is a learning curve and one that each person needs to go through by themselves....I could tell you what I do/did
and it worked for me, but it might not work the same way for you, so in the
end its all up to you! Make the tank the way you want it to look and try it out...if you fail, then you will have learned something along the way, if not great your own your way to becoming an ADDICT like the rest of us


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

having plants or live worts/mosses are the most efficient and natural way to increase surface area on which biofilm will accumulate. It is the essential food for baby shrimplets. Without plants, your tank would be kind of bare, like the surface of the Moon


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

What is the pea gravel you are using? Is it just the one from the building supply?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

I bought mine from 2 different places....Menagerie and Dragon Aquarium, came loose by the lb
some small and some med sized, just mixed it all together. 

When I emptied the tanks I put it into my 120 gallon where it still is today


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## camboy012406 (Jun 11, 2010)

xriddler said:


> I am new to shrimp-ing and would like to find out how does everyone take care of their tiger shrimp. my tap water is 7.6ph, 5kh and 8-9gh. to my understanding tiger shrimps will not survive these conditions. How would i be able to soften my water but still keep my ph at 7.6?
> 
> Does painted fire reds, orange sakura shrimp or yellow shrimp need soft water too?


I have akadama still in bag brandnew perfect for breeding tigers and neos. bought 45$ + tax almost 50$. selling for 40$


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

that soil will make the water too soft for Tiger shrimps...they like PH 7.2-7.6
it would make the water under 7 and they won't like it.


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

I use Akadama with tap water and get Ph 7.8 for my tigers.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

OK then maybe it will work. As long as the PH stays above 7 they should be happy little campers.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

i was thinking of using almond leaves to feed my shrimps but i dont want yellowish water. Is there a way to prepare the leaves to not leech lots of tannins? should i boil it? I want to just feed them wafers, barley pellets and almond leaves. Occasional washed frozen kale and spinach for snacks also. is that enough variety for them?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

unfortunately IAL do leech tannins, but those tannins are very beneficial to your shrimps health. It doesn't make the water that dark..I have dosed my tanks with straight IAL tea and the water wasn't even yellow!

The leaves themselves make for good biofilm for babies and adults alike to pick over....fussy shrimps like Taiwans will eat off the leaves before anything else.

You can feed vegetables like zucchini, spinach, kale, bok choy, seaweed, nettles, dandelion leaves etc...all good once blanched in microwave or boiling water for 1 minute to kill off any insects, nasties etc.

I would not boil the IAL.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

can IAL be presoaked to release most of the tannins first like for a week or so


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## Ron (May 15, 2011)

xriddler said:


> can IAL be presoaked to release most of the tannins first like for a week or so


That's what I do. I change water every day for about 10 days to 2 weeks.


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

I just rinse them off and put them in. They don't really discolour the water much.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Anna, do you know if that pea gravel you got has a coating on it ? I kind of object to coating on gravel. I know it's the only way to get some of the crazier colours.. but on the natural gravels I prefer them not to have any. It does wear off with time, which bothers me a bit. So, just curious. 

My guess is they coat it so they can say with a straight face that it won't affect water parameters, since they probably don't know or can't be bothered to find out just what sorts of stones make up the gravel. But since I don't care if it leaches a bit of calcium, I do prefer it 'au naturelle ', so to speak.


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## Ron (May 15, 2011)

Fishfur said:


> Anna, do you know if that pea gravel you got has a coating on it ? I kind of object to coating on gravel. I know it's the only way to get some of the crazier colours.. but on the natural gravels I prefer them not to have any. It does wear off with time, which bothers me a bit. So, just curious.
> 
> My guess is they coat it so they can say with a straight face that it won't affect water parameters, since they probably don't know or can't be bothered to find out just what sorts of stones make up the gravel. But since I don't care if it leaches a bit of calcium, I do prefer it 'au naturelle ', so to speak.


I use natural gravel for my OEBTs, I just set up a 40 gallon breeder tank today using Hagen Black Beach gravel.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

gravel is natural white/yellow/cream color. Its not coated, my gravel has algae growing on it now too, and I put some of it in my Amazonia tank setup for my Taiwans. I added several snow whites, 1 CRS mischling and that was a week ago....they are all still alive and enjoying crawling all over this tank.

Its now ready for the bulk order of Taiwans Im waiting for


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