# levels of shrimp care... easy to hard



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

I suppose the easy, lack of thought, answer would be to rank them by price?


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## johnny313 (Apr 15, 2011)

diwu13 said:


> I suppose the easy, lack of thought, answer would be to rank them by price?


 so the more expensive, the harder they are to keep???


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

^ seems like it would be true... but for some types of shrimp it might be wrong because even if they are easy to keep their grading would also determine their price.

So price might not correlate to whether or not they are an easy or hard shrimp to keep

Because I would think:

Neocaridina heterpoda var. yellow has the same hardiness and care as Neocaridina heterpoda var. red but they have a big difference in price.

http://www.theshrimpfarm.com/shrimp/yellow-shrimp.php

http://www.theshrimpfarm.com/shrimp/red-cherry-shrimp.php

p.s: Also think about the grading system of red cherry shrimp and that their grade increases the price of the shrimp (even though they require the same care)


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

I think in general cost -> amount of care



shrimpzhu said:


> p.s: Also think about the grading system of red cherry shrimp and that their grade increases the price of the shrimp (even though they require the same care)


The thing with the fire reds and sakura's is that you HAVE to cull and introduce more fire reds/sakura's or their color will start to diminish. In my opinion that makes them harder to care for 

But totally agree with you about some exceptions and yellow costing more than reds. But the difference isn't as huge as on the site you linked. At the SnS here you can find yellows at $1.20 each whereas RCS are $1 each.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Yellows and cherries have the widest range of parameters, so to me, that makes them one of the easiest. ph 6-8, hard water, soft water, etc and therefore it makes them more hardy, they can live in a variety of tanks with no special substrate, tap water, etc.

lower grade crystals have a more narrow range of parameters but still have some leeway. 

The Taiwan bees, King Kongs, Pandas, Red wine have a lower pH need, ie, 5pH, and different params which are bit harder to get a pH that low.

On the other end, you have the Sulwasi breeds which need a high pH but also low TDS, which again is harder to get than just adding some tap water. They also need warmer water and rather specific params to live and breed.

Some of which my be easier to keep like amanos, sunkist, etc are very hard to get to breed because of the saltwater needs of the babies, so they could be considered very difficult as many people on here try and can't get viable babies, so a $2.00 shrimp could be considered "difficult" because of the needs of the babies.

JPRL. The pinnacle of crystals, they are very sensitive. As mentioned in another thread, a min of a 40gal tank is required for them in order to keep the params as steady as possible as even minute params shift isn't good for them.


So I guess it depends on what you consider difficult? Maintaining a pH of 5? pH of 8? Saltwater for babies? Keep a large tank in exact params?


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

Any of them can be "easy" to keep if you know your tank params and pick inhabitants based on what will work with what you are able to provide.

Knowign teh species, doing research, and being prepared to provide for their needs is always the best bet.

Neocaridina are generally the most accomodating to a wide range of parameters.


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

Easy - Neos 

Med - Tigers, CRS

Advanced - Taiwans, Higher Grade CRS

The Medium and Advanced Shrimps aren't really THAT hard if you have a proper tank and well controlled water parameters.


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## theemptythrone (Sep 5, 2011)

arent babautis somwere betwean neos, and tigers?


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## Rainer (Jan 30, 2011)

How about Dark Greens?


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

If you want them to reproduce successfully without a ton of work in a variety of water conditions then cherry shrimp, yellow shrimp, blue pearl shrimp, and ghost shrimp are a good bet. If you want them to live and don't care if they breed, amano shrimp, Hawaiian red shrimp, and orange sunkist shrimp would work. These are all shrimp that accept a fairly wide range of pH, temperature hardness, and KH.


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## A.M. Aquatics (Apr 9, 2011)

Question- where do blue bees fall under?


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

A.M. Aquatics said:


> Question- where do blue bees fall under?


Seems fairly hardy I think for the most part and idea params as low grade crystals.


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## A.M. Aquatics (Apr 9, 2011)

That's good to hear.:icon_smil


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

i don't think its as easy as saying "what is easy or hard", to be honest.


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## PC1 (May 21, 2010)

A.M. Aquatics said:


> Question- where do blue bees fall under?


I keep my blue bees in R/O and room temp they do great.


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## mcqueenesq (Aug 29, 2011)

Caridina cf. spongicola = impossible.


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