One way to keep white pearl shrimp

[milalic]

Hi there. It has been a long time since I post anything at all in the forum. It is time to do so. Here is some information on snowball shrimp and what has been successful for me in keeping and breeding them. They are a very active shrimp from the neocaridina family. Their scientific name is Neocaridina cf. zhangjiajiensis "white".

My tank parameters are as follow:

-Ph: 6.8-7.0
-Ammonia: 0
-Nitrites: 0
-Nitrates: 0
-GH: 5dKh
-KH: 3dKh
-Temp: 73-75F (I have air conditioning on all day long and this is the temp variation in the tank)
-No fertilizers and no CO2
-Lights are provided by two shop lights from Home Depot: 160watts

The shrimp are housed in a 75G tank and share the tank with:

-red and blue ram shorn snails
-olive nerites
-one bumble bee shrimp
-ten orange dwarf crayfish
-one orange-brown dwarf crayfish

The flora of the tank consists of:

-Different Hygros
-X-mas moss
-Najas grass
-Red Myrio
-Java Fern
-Ludwigia
-Egeria Najas

The substrate that I used was a 50lb bag of Soilmaster Select Red and ¼ of a bag of ADA Amazonia. Soilmaster select is used for golf courses and is an inert gravel.

What the shrimp eat?

-HBH Crab and Lobster Bites
-Shrimp Pellets
-Zucchini
-Occasional algae wafer
-Algae

Hope this information helps out in setting a tank for snowball shrimp. Enjoy the picks and hope to see questions and comments.

Cheers,
Pedro


Here are pictures of a pregnant white pearl shrimp in the tank:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/milalic/shrimps/snowball2/snowball_preg.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/milalic/shrimps/snowball2/snowball_preg2.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/milalic/shrimps/snowball2/snowball_preg3.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/milalic/shrimps/snowball2/snowball_preg5.jpg

These are photos of baby snowballs and other snowballs I have in the tank:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/milalic/shrimps/snowball2/snowball_baby.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/milalic/shrimps/snowball2/snowball2.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a297/milalic/shrimps/snowball2/snowball.jpg

[Frank]

Be carefull with the crayfish. This species is known for eating shrimps. Not that masses but the more you have they will eat more shrimps. That´s my own experience too.

[milalic]

Be carefull with the crayfish. This species is known for eating shrimps. Not that masses but the more you have they will eat more shrimps. That´s my own experience too.


Good to know. In my case they have been together for months and I have not seen a decrease in the shrimp at all or the crays eating any shrimp. I provide plenty of hiding spaces and feed them well.

Cheers,
Pedro

[Frank]

I´ve seen them eating molting adult shrimps.
Species like white pearl are good breeders so you don´t see the amount of shrimps sinking so much but without the CPO you should see a difference.
I´ve also read that in a german magazine and in the internet.
It´s almost the small crays (cambarellus) eating shrimps.
With cambarus or cherax there is no problem normally.

[silane]

milalic,

Thank for sharing.
Do the eggs remain white through out?


I´ve seen them eating molting adult shrimps.


Is it in a overcrowded tank?

[Robert]

Hi Pedro,
thank you for sharing with us these information and pictures! This shrimp becomes more and more popular here in Germany. It should be any easy to keep and breed species but I didn't keep tit yet, so I can't say that it is true or not.

BTW, I edited your post and the title of the threat. This shrimp is know also as "white pearl shrimp" and this name is more popular, at least here in Europe, where mutation appeared for the first time. There is a small Macrobrachium species which already got the name "snowball shrimp" (and we already had some threads about it). So I changed name to "white pearl".

best regards

Robert

[Frank]

Is it in a overcrowded tank?

I have had about 6 pairs CPO in a 300l-tank with cherries and bees.
All my tanks are full planted with many hiding places.
I´ve selled 100 cherries and I got problems to get the full amount.
Normally there are over 300 pcs. in the tank during the same period.

In a 50l-tank I saw CPOs (3 pairs in that tank) eating green shrimps wich were ready for molting.

[milalic]

I have had about 6 pairs CPO in a 300l-tank with cherries and bees.
All my tanks are full planted with many hiding places.
I´ve selled 100 cherries and I got problems to get the full amount.
Normally there are over 300 pcs. in the tank during the same period.

In a 50l-tank I saw CPOs (3 pairs in that tank) eating green shrimps wich were ready for molting.


I have not seen mine eating shrimp at all, even the ones that have molted or ready to. What I have seen, and it was just one time, was a bunch of shrimp in top of a cray that was molting. I will keep a watch on them. The white pearls that are with the crays breed at the same rate as the ones that are with tiger shrimp. No difference at all.

Cheers,
Pedro