Up next in 10
Bad Shrimp Keeping: 4 Habits You Should Quit Today
4K views
Oct 2, 2023
Over the years I have picked up some really bad habits. In this video, I share those habits with you so you can avoid them. I also share with you another 4, good habits every shrimp keeper should adopt. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Be the first to know when my new Neocaridina Book is due for release https://fishkeepinganswers.com/bethefirst Links to products used in this video ? API Copper Test Kit - https://amzn.to/3nOZpWX ? Seachem Copper Test Kit - https://amzn.to/3plClzn ? Fluval Stratum - https://fishkeepinganswers.com/a7ub (Amazon.com) ? Hygrophila corymbosa - https://fishkeepinganswers.com/5rp6 (Amazon.com) ? Twisted Vallisneria - https://fishkeepinganswers.com/j5md (Amazon.com) ? Cryptocoryne wendtii - https://fishkeepinganswers.com/12no (Amazon.com) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Filter intake sponges ? https://fishkeepinganswers.com/tk1i (Amazon)
View Video Transcript
0:00
Over the last few days, I've been looking at my habits when it comes to shrimp keeping
0:05
and I'm hoping by sharing my good and my bad habits with you, it can make you a better shrimp
0:10
keeper. Hello friends, welcome back to the channel. If you're new here, my name is Richard
0:14
and I'm a shrimp keeper based in the UK. So let's start off by looking at some of the bad
0:18
habits I've developed over the years, and I think the first one of which is my terrible habit for
0:23
moving things between shrimp tanks. Now I'm terribly frugal, and if I can grow a decent
0:28
clump of plants, I'm inclined to then divide that clump and spread it amongst my tanks. When I set up
0:34
a new tank, rather than go and buy a fresh clump of java moss, I'll just go into one of my tanks
0:39
rip a clump out, put it in the new tank, put the original clump back. Everyone's a winner, right
0:44
I move rocks around, wood around, you name it. I'm forever shifting stuff around to try and build
0:49
the perfect shrimp tank. The problem is, whenever I move something from one tank to another
0:54
I typically end up transferring detritus worms or sea shrimp or I could move pests or diseases
1:00
In almost every single one of my shrimp pony tanks I suffer terribly A with detritus worms
1:05
and B with sea shrimp. Now if you keep a community tank with fish and shrimp then things like detritus
1:12
worms they can be a great part of an overall community. They can help create an ecosystem
1:18
them. At the end of the day, detritus worms eat detritus. They eat all of the rubbish that nobody
1:23
else will eat. And that is fabulous. The problem is, in a shrimp tank, there is nothing to keep the
1:29
detritus worms in check. The population of detritus worms can easily spiral out of control. When we
1:35
used to have the breeding tubs, we would feed our shrimp so heavily that the detritus worms would
1:40
get to the stage where they would actually compete with food. Unfortunately, I don't have any footage
1:45
of it. But if you've ever seen a lump of sinking food go in and then in 10 minutes be surrounded by
1:50
this mass of detritus worms, so many detritus worms, the shrimp couldn't even get near it
1:55
It was terrible. I know a lot of people say, oh, sea shrimp, they're good food for fish. Detritus
2:00
worms are great food for Corydoras and such likes. And they are. But I don't have any of those
2:04
in my shrimp-only tanks. A terrible, terrible habit that I have developed is moving stuff
2:10
constantly between my tanks. Now, I would always recommend treating each tank
2:15
as its own closed system. That way you're never introducing things from one tank to another
2:22
But in reality, how many of us are that disciplined? I'm certainly not, it's a terrible habit
2:27
Now bad habit number two has got to be overfeeding I constantly overfeeding my shrimp Feeding shrimp is the best part of the hobby for me I love to sit there and just watch them Whether they having an algae wafer sinking pellets bloodworms whatever it might be
2:40
I'm constantly putting in too much food. I can't help it, it's almost an addiction
2:45
Shrimp consume a tiny amount of food. Even if you have a large colony
2:49
you don't need to put that much food in. You really want to only put in as much as they'll consume in one to three hours
2:55
But I'm terrible for it. I put too much food in, and I'll typically feed more than once a day
3:01
Often I'll get up in the morning, sit and enjoy my shrimp, feed the shrimp. When I get home from work in the evening
3:06
again, I'm feeding the shrimp. I love it. It really is a bad habit
3:10
If you're overfeeding, you run the risk of detritus worms, as I've already spoken about
3:15
And overfeeding can also cause algae problems, but you can also pollute your water
3:19
Any uneaten food is going to essentially rot, which releases ammonia. And as we know, ammonia spikes can kill your shrimp
3:26
so don't follow that bad habit. In fact, feeding shrimp is one of the largest chapters in my
3:32
upcoming book on near caradina shrimp. If you haven't done so already, follow the link in the
3:36
description or click on the QR code and be the first to know when my book is released
3:42
Bad habit number three for me is not cleaning my filters regularly enough. On the aquariums I do
3:47
filter, I'll typically use sponge filters and sponge filters are so easy to maintain. I've got
3:52
no excuse on this one. To maintain a sponge filter, you literally remove the sponge from the tank
3:57
into a bucket of water you've drained from your tank, squeeze it a dozen times, ditch that water
4:04
get some fresh water from your tank, sponge in, squeeze it, and repeat until the water is more or
4:10
less clean after you squeeze the sponge. I've got no excuse for being bad at maintaining my filters
4:15
The better you maintain your filter, the more efficiently it will run. If your sponge filter
4:21
is absolutely clogged with detritus, then obviously as the air rises and tries to draw water in
4:28
it's going to struggle because the water will always take the path of least resistance
4:32
I've got no excuse. I'm really bad at it. I need to get better. Some of the tanks I've got are
4:37
hang-on-back filters, and I should, in those tanks, maintain the intake sponge. And occasionally
4:43
I would need to maintain the sponges inside the hang-on-back. But the intake sponge does prevent
4:48
and too much rubbish getting sucked in. But again, I really should maintain that more
4:53
If you're using a canister filter, you probably have the same thing. You hopefully have a sponge over the intake
4:57
and on a regular basis, you need to take that sponge, squeeze it out in a bucket of old tank water
5:02
so you don kill all the beneficial bacteria and put it back on Cleaner you keep your filters the more efficiently they run and the better it be for your shrimp Bad habit number four has got to be changing water without
5:15
testing. Changing water out of habit. So many of us do it. I always change my tank water on a
5:21
Saturday morning. Why? Why do we change water out of habit? It's not great for the stability of the
5:27
tank. It typically is a waste of water and it can be an absolute waste of time. I know deep down I
5:33
would be far better on a Saturday morning to test my tanks and then any that are showing elevated
5:41
nitrates or if they're showing any signs of ammonia or nitrite then carry out a water change
5:46
But if the parameters are where I want them to be why do we change water out of habit? I think we
5:52
could all save ourselves a lot of time probably money and certainly water if we only change water
5:58
when we needed to. It's far better for the stability of your tank and let's be honest
6:03
shrimp love stability. Now fortunately over the years I haven't just developed bad habits. I've
6:10
developed some good ones as well. So I thought I'd take some time to share with you the good habits
6:14
in the hope that maybe you adopt some of those and you become a better shrimp keeper. So the first
6:19
of my good habits is the fact that I'm a foodaholic. I love finding new foods to feed to my shrimp and
6:25
that means I have great variety. I typically feed my shrimp algae wafers, tetracolor crisps, bug bites
6:33
I feed them flake food, I feed them frozen bloodworm, I feed them rapache, I feed them
6:37
frozen Daphnia and brine shrimp. I just love feeding my shrimp and I love to feed them different
6:43
foods. If I go into my local fish store, I sometimes look at the food section before I
6:47
even look at the fish and the shrimp. I can't help it. Feeding your shrimp variety of foods
6:51
helps give them a balanced nutritious diet, meaning they won't be missing any of the crucial
6:56
vitamins or minerals or nutrients they need to become a big, healthy, colourful colony of shrimp
7:01
I think that's a great habit. Good habit number two is my habit of sitting here watching my shrimp tanks
7:07
I try and take half an hour to an hour every day just to sit and look at my shrimp
7:12
The more time I spend looking at my shrimp, the more time I spend staring into those tanks
7:17
the more in tune I become. The easier it is for me to spot a disease or a problem
7:22
Maybe I can notice that there's uneaten food. Maybe I notice we've suddenly got an algae bloom when we've not had that before
7:26
to really be in tune with your shrimp, you've got to take the time
7:32
not necessarily every day, but you've got to take the time to sit and observe your tank
7:37
The more you do that, the faster you will react when you notice the shrimp are acting a bit differently They don normally do that They not normally all hanging at the top of the aquarium They not normally all hidden behind that pile of rocks What going on What changed You got to test the water
7:53
Has the heater broken? Has something gone wrong with the filter? The more time you spend looking
7:58
into your shrimp and observing that little tiny wet world, the better shrimp keeper you'll become
8:04
That's a habit I'm really proud of. A good habit number three is my habit of constantly
8:09
wanting to learn more about the shrimp. I spend hours on YouTube watching shrimp related content
8:15
I love to read articles on the internet. I have a collection of books just about shrimp. It's
8:20
a habit of mine to sit and research far more than I should and far more than my wife would like me
8:27
to. When we do research, we don't just find out one person's way of doing things. We might learn
8:34
five, 10, 15 different opinions on how something should be done, which allows us to form a big
8:39
a picture and hopefully become better shrimp keepers. The problem with the world we currently
8:45
live in is anyone can create an article on the internet. They can write a post on Facebook. They
8:50
can create a YouTube video. They don't have to back up what they're saying with experience or
8:56
credentials or anything. And if we only ever take one person's opinion, that opinion may not be right
9:02
It might not work for us. If you only ever do what I say, well, I might be some loon with half a dozen
9:06
and shrimp tanks. But if you take my opinion and then you compare it to someone else's and then you
9:10
read an article and you can build up the big picture and you go, oh Richard, he knows what
9:14
he's talking about. He's a good egg. I can listen to him in future. Now the fourth habit that I think
9:20
has made me a better shrimp keeper is my constant desire to try new things. Now sometimes that might
9:25
be looking at ideas I find from other people and trying them for myself saying, do they work? And
9:30
sometimes it's taking someone else's idea and adapting it or changing it or taking it to the
9:34
step. I'm constantly trying new things to make me a better shrimp keeper. At the end of the day
9:40
we'll never know whether or not we could be doing things better unless we try new things
9:45
Now, if you just have a single tank with five red cherry shrimp in and they're your first shrimp
9:51
and you're loving it, I wouldn't necessarily start trying new things. But if like me, you've got more
9:55
than one tank and you're quite happy with what you're doing, your experience levels, and you want
9:59
to start experimenting, then try new things. It's a great habit. One new thing I tried recently was
10:05
building this tank with a built-in feeding dish. This is an idea I copied from Shrimp Mania. If
10:11
you want to see how I made that tank, watch this video next. Thanks for watching
#Aquaculture
#Fish & Aquaria
#Pets
#Pets & Animals