Things I never figured out...

[OhNo123]

Do shrimp need a higher hardness for better survival? I know some shrimps like lower hardness, but what are the benefits of a higher hardness? Same with pH. What does a high pH offer shrimp and snails? How do I lower hardness or raise it? Where can I get access to peat?

 

[Danimal62]

oHno,
That question is hard to answer. There are many shrimp that like hard water, but then there are many shrimp that require softwater with a low pH.

All depends on the species!

 

[Hooked Newbie]

:iagree:

All will do better with a calcium source however.

 

[OhNo123]

What are some that require hard water and what are some that don't?

 

[Danimal62]

All will do better with a calcium source however.

And that Calcium source should be the food they eat! There is no evidence that any shrimp take calcium from the water column, and plenty of circumstantial evidence that they do not!

Here is a quick list of shrimp and their water preferences.

Soft/Acidic Water
- Crystal Red Shrimp
- Bee Shrimp
- Tiger Shrimp
- Bumble Bee Shrimp

Moderately Hard/Neutral pH
- Cherry Shrimp
- Yellow Shrimp
- Blue Pearl Shrimp
- Snowball Shrimp

Hard/Basic Water
- American Glass Shrimp (often called “ghost shrimp”)
- Pearl Shrimp (aka Sand Shrimp)
- Red Nose Shrimp (aka Rudolph Shrimp)

That is not a comprehensive list, but just some examples. Most shrimp can acclimate to the water conditions above or bellow the preferred water conditions above, but to have optimal growth and breeding they should be kept in their preferred water conditions!

 

[Notophthalmus]

I have to take issue with American Ghost Shrimp preferring hard water. Most populations live in quite soft water coastal plain wetlands and streams, even blackwater systems. They tolerate hard water just fine, but I wouldn't say they prefer it.

 

[Danimal62]

Notophtalmus,

The American Glass Shrimp (Palaemonetes paludosus) is often collected here in Florida in water that can be described as liquid rock! When getting my Bachelors Degree in Marine Biology that is one of the species we studied.

They are native to North American from as far north as Jersey all the way down to Florida, they do not naturally occur much west of the east coast states (other than a few Gulf Coast States).

When we collected them in the everglades we found them in water that ranged from a ph of 7.3-7.5 with a TDS of about 400-1000ppm. When we collected them in rivers around Florida we found them in water that had pH as high as 7.9-8.0.

In all the experiments that I have conducted in aquariums the shrimp grew faster and bread much more prolifically in water that is considered hard with an alkaline pH. The larval survival is also higher in hard/alkaline water.

These shrimp can adapt to black water (black water is much more rare in North America than South America, but it does happen) but all the studies I have done and have read says they do much better in other water!