Neocaridina Shrimp
If you are looking to get into the aquarium hobby for some extra money, breeding neocaridina shrimp can be the perfect option for you. These species multiply relatively quickly and are easy to take care of. Shrimp don’t require much space, some neocaridina types are worth more than others. Continue reading to find out how you can make money from selling shrimp!
Pick Your Neocaridina Shrimp
There are a lot of different neocaridina shrimp colors to choose from. The basic ones are red cherries, wild-type, orange and yellow. The more expensive ones can be the black, blue dream or green jade, or snowball neocaridina shrimp. You can choose whichever color you like, and what is available locally to you.
One thing that might make it easier for you to choose, is the availability in your region. If for example, there is no snowball neocairidna shrimp available in your town, maybe it is a good idea to drive to the next town to get some and be the only distributor in your local area.
Create The Right Conditions
There are a couple of factors, that could limit neocaridina shrimp breeding capabilities. One of those factors is their environment. You should get a bigger tank if you want to sell neocaridina shrimp for profit. A 15-gallon aquarium is perfect to start. Neocaridina shrimp can sense their environment, and will only breed so far as their environment allows them. The bigger the aquarium, the more neocaridina shrimp you can stock.
Another crucial thing is water parameters. Neocaridina shrimp are prone to sudden water changes, and bad conditions in general. These species of shrimp should be kept in the temperature range of 15–30 °C (59–86 °F), and the pH should be 6.5–8. Neocaridina shrimp are very small, and that indicates, that these species can’t handle sudden changes in water. The aquarium should also pass the nitrogen cycle (link is not my website, only for reference and knowledge) because ammonia can easily kill shrimp.
An air pump, filter, and light are also crucial in a shrimp tank. Filter helps clean the environment, while the air pump oxygenates the water. Light is crucial because you will need it to see your shrimp. Another important thing is live aquatic plants. You want to ensure, that the environment represents as much nature as possible so that shrimp would have places to hide and feel safe.
Have Enough Males And Females
Female neocaridina shrimp are usually larger and have brighter colors, while males tend to be slightly smaller, and translucent, not fully covered in color. You should aim to have a 3:1 female-to-male ratio in your tank. Too many males and not enough females can stress out your females, and cause breeding problems. Some female shrimp can easily be harassed by too many males, which can result in the shrimp not breeding at all. Sometimes it is hard to sex neocaridina shrimp, especially when they are so small, but you can adjust later when the shrimp reach adulthood.
Feed Proper Diet
Neocaridina shrimp are omnivores, which means they need protein-based and plant-based food in their diet. There are a lot of different food options, that shrimp can be fed. The most popular food options are:
- Algae wafers
- Sinking pellets
- Leftover fish food
- Blanched vegetables (zuchini, carrots, lettuce)
- Bloodworms
Neocaridina shrimp are also known for eating dead plant material or even algae. These species don’t stop eating and should be fed daily. Aim to feed neocaridina shrimp 1 time per day, this will ensure, that they are healthy, and good to breed.
Take Out Bad Shrimp
Neocaridina shrimp breed every 3-5 months, and there is a good chance, that you will start seeing babies pretty soon. If you are breeding a certain color, there is a good chance, that occasionally different color shrimp will be born, in most cases brown or grey. These are faulty shrimp, that just simply had bad genetics, and didn’t inherit their parent’s color. It is best advised to move these faulty shrimp to a different tank, because if they start breeding with the colorful shrimp, there is a high chance, that more faulty shrimp will appear. This can easily ruin your colony and the beautiful color of your shrimp.
Sell Your Shrimp
If you see, that there are a lot of juvenile shrimp running around, you can easily sell them for profit. Make sure, that you don’t accidentally sell all of your young shrimp, since you want your colony to keep going. Neocaridina shrimp live up to 2 years, be sure to have adult shrimp, that doesn’t look too old to breed. Another important thing is that don’t accidentally sell all males or females, because that can prevent your shrimp from breeding too.
Conclusion
To summarise, breeding neocaridina shrimp is very easy, and really doesn’t require too much knowledge to do so. You just have to know the basics of fishkeeping and be very responsible, since shrimp can easily get sick due to their size. There are a lot of cool neocaridina shrimp types, that a lot of people would pay good money for.
