How To Take Care Of Bamboo Shrimp? [Beginner’s Guide]
It can be a nightmare for beginners to own something new for their aquarium, especially when it comes to bamboo shrimp. From their food habit to their lifestyle, everything can be different than your typical fish and creatures of water tank. So, it’s pretty common to ask – how to take care of bamboo shrimp?
The best way to take care of your bamboo shrimp is to maintain the water parameters, learn the basic way of tank setup, and collect essential tools. Furthermore, you should maintain the water tank properly so that your species can find the spot clean and comfortable.
Are you still finding it clear as mud? Well, it happens to those who are very new in the field of keeping bamboo shrimp. Today, I’ll share an “A to Z” beginner guideline on taking better care of it.
So let’s dig deeper!
Bamboo Shrimp Appearance
Eyestalks and the antenna are noticeable around the head’s top of every bamboo shrimp. They basically assist in holding both eyes and sensing their surroundings. Talking about the body, you’ll find abdominal segments and a hard carapace. Both come in handy in terms of bending the physique and forming their tails.
Because of the existence of fan-like hands or structure, most people these days tend to call them “Fan Shrimp” as well.
For beginners, it’s a confusing part to learn the difference between female and male bamboo shrimp. Female species mostly consist of large-sized abdomens compared to males. In addition to that, the pleopods of a feminine shrimp are also longer than the masculine.
By easily differentiating the gender, you can easily find out the right species you’re looking for. Moreover, if you have a deep knowledge of its appearance, then it’ll become a snap for you to take better care of their health. There is no rocket science, I guess!
4 Ways To Take Care Of Your Bamboo Shrimp
Taking care of a bamboo shrimp isn’t a difficult task. Still, it’s necessary to get familiar with detailed guidelines so that you can perform the task in the best way possible. So let me cut to the chase:
1. Checking The Water Parameters
Sometimes, bamboo shrimp appear to be kind of sensitive when it comes down to water parameters. In fact, it’s known to be a prime factor to consider because if the pH level, KH, and temperature seem imbalanced, then your species may get ill or even die!
So, go through the following things to maintain the water parameter in a proper way:
- pH Level: Depending on the amount of water, experts recommend maintaining a range between 7 to 7.5 pH.
- Temperature: Whether the water is excessively cold or hot, both can be one of the core reasons behind shrimp dying. In this case,around70 to 78 degrees F is the ideal temperature range you should maintain for.
- KH Range: Among the seasoned and beginner aquarists, 0 to 10 dkH water hardness is known to be suitable.
- Nitrate and Ammonia: Talking about the ammonia level, it shouldn’t stand under 2 ppm. To maintain it, make sure to eliminate excess waste from the water tank. When we talk about Nitrates, they shouldn’t cross 0 ppm as it is quite toxic for your bamboo shrimp.
2. Collecting Essential Tools
You must set up the water tank after collecting some specific tools. Some of them will add icing on the cake and keep your species safe and sound. So, check these out:
- Heater: As the name suggests, a heater plays a significant role in keeping the temperature of water as warm as needed, especially during the winter.
- Sponge Filter: Hands down, a sponge filter assists in offering mechanical filtration and trapping debris in terms of keeping the water clean.
- Wave-maker: Since bamboo shrimp require adequate water movement to survive, it’s a good idea to spend on a top-notch wave maker. It adds a bonus when you don’t have a powerful filter.
- Bushy Plants: Plants are considered part and parcel of every aquarium, especially if you have bamboo shrimp. Basically, your species will find it the safest spot in terms of sleeping, exploring, and hiding.
- LED Lights: Lighting should be adequately strong in case you’ve owned live plants. Moreover, it gives your water tank a more aesthetic look and lets you observe the inner conditions smoothly during the night.
- Smooth Stones: This is where the fish poop stays stuck. As a result, you won’t find any debris floating away, as rocks or stones will play a role in capturing them at the bottom.
3. Tank Setup For Your Bamboo Shrimp
Getting familiar with the ideal tank size and characteristics is necessary if you want to take care of your bamboo shrimp. The larger the size, the more food your species is going to get to meet its daily requirements.
For instance, I’d always recommend choosing at least a 20-gallon tank for your single shrimp. Here, your species can get as much leftover food and algae as needed to ensure excellent growth.
Alongside it, enlarged aquariums are far better than deeper ones as they make the process of finding food way easier for your bamboo shrimp.
After collecting all the nooks and crannies regarding the tank setup tool, you must follow the given steps to set up the tank all by yourself:
- First, the gravel should perfectly be cleaned up. Afterward, using a piece of cloth, wipe off the tank straight away because the water shouldn’t be cloudy at all.
- Let’s put the filter, gravel, and heater one by one inside the aquarium. During the setup, you mustn’t switch on your heater.
- Cycling the water is necessary before incorporating bamboo shrimp and other species. For this, I’d suggest putting a couple of ammonia drops and a wee bit of fish food from other well-established aquariums.
- It’s time to include the decorations in the way you want. For instance, set up the live bushy plants and LED lighting units gradually. And need to mention, those aquarium plants should get a minimum of 8 hours of light at a stretch.
- After a long-term waiting session, you’re allowed to switch on your filter and heater. Let the water cycle for around 8-10 days. Throughout the period, I’d recommend observing the water on a daily basis.
- The tank should include a balanced amount of nitrate and ammonia. For example, nitrates shouldn’t cross 20 ppm, and the ammonia level requires to be 0 and not more than that.
- Once you find everything okay, feel free to add species to your water tank. If I talk about myself, I’d want to wait a couple of days more in terms of adding bamboo shrimp.
4. Add Tank Mates For Your Bamboo Shrimp
Don’t you want to keep your bamboo shrimp cheerful? Well, thankfully, they are quiet, not aggressive, and very friendly with some specific species. Moreover, shrimps are free from claws or sharp teeth, meaning there is very less chance of harming other creatures in your tank.
But in case other species harm your bamboo shrimp, they may offer similar feedback at times. As a result, you should highly avoid keeping some specific fish inside your shrimp tank, like goldfish, crayfish, Oscars, Arowanas, Discus, and such creatures. Indeed, they might appear aggressive with your shrimp and are prone to eat!
Talking about the tank mates of your bamboo shrimp, go through the chart to get a better idea:
Tiny Gourami | Opaline Gourami & Dwarf |
Catfish | Otocinclus Catfish & Corydoras |
Other Shrimp | Ghost Shrimp, Amano, & Cherry Shrimp |
Snails | Trumpset Snails (Malaysian) & Ramshorn Snails |
Tiny Species of Tetra | Ember Tetra & Neon |
Are Bamboo Shrimp Hard To Keep?
Keeping bamboo shrimp in your water tank isn’t a tough job, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned aquarist. Unlike the mainstream, it can smoothly pass its life having none other than leftover fish food, green algae, and such things. This means it won’t break your sweat in terms of feeding.
For more information, feel free to click here to get more knowledge on why it is easy to keep bamboo shrimp.
What Should You Feed Your Bamboo Shrimp?
Leftover fish food, green soft algae, powdered algae flakes, and such things are just enough for your bamboo shrimp. So there is no need for the extra effort of feeding your species as they will have their own desired meal from the bottom of your water tank.
That said, you can additionally incorporate clamshells, microbes, and other organic matter because they are rich in nutrients. By doing so, you can ensure the best growth of your species.
Bamboo Shrimp Breeding Information
If you’re thinking about bamboo shrimp breeding, it’s mandatory to maintain a ratio of 1:1 male to female. Female shrimps with a size of 4 cm are able to hold up to 2000 tiny eggs underneath their abdomen area for about 40 days.
Afterward, they start hatching by floating larvae, and each come 1mm in size. Keep in mind that larvae won’t live in clean water for more than 3 days. This means it’s a must to transfer them ASAP into the tank filled with brackish water.
Ideal Spot For Your Bamboo Shrimp Breeding
Bamboo shrimp breeding is almost impossible in freshwater as its larvae are unable to survive in a tank. As a result, it’s mandatory to pick up the spot that is filled with brackish water. Once they start getting into a mature form, feel free to convert them into fresh water.
How Many Bamboo Shrimp Should Be Kept Together?
A single bamboo shrimp is just enough to clean your tank that is of 20-gallon. Keeping multiple shrimp together isn’t a bad idea at all. But for this, the space requires to be large enough so that they can meet their daily requirements easily in terms of feeding.
In this case, if you’ve owned a tank of 75 gallons or more, you can easily keep 2-3 pieces of bamboo shrimp together. Here, your species can get plenty of soft algae and leftover food to fill their needs.
Since bamboo shrimp don’t take or eat up any extra food, their daily requirement is to have as many algae as possible. For this reason, the spot requires to be adequately large.
So yes, I’d like to go for the rules of “bigger, the better” when it comes to keeping bamboo shrimp. Because they find a large space suitable to feed, sleep, and hide.
How Can You Tell If Bamboo Shrimp Are Stressed?
There might be a couple of noticeable symptoms of a stressed shrimp, like loss of color, lethargy, decreased or imbalanced growth, inadequate appetite, and issues regarding molting. And sometimes, it’s tough to detect the actual reason behind unexpected stresses.
Probable Causes Of Bamboo Shrimp Stress And How To Get Rid Of It?
Toxicity in water (e.g adding copper), too frequent water changes, improper water parameters, and overfeeding are some of the common reasons why your shrimp get stressed. By overcoming these significant issues, you can eliminate the stress level of your species within no time.
How Long Do Bamboo Shrimp Live?
Generally, bamboo shrimp can live for up to 2 years. They can also live less than a year if you don’t offer adequate care and maintenance. Inappropriate diet, less or too frequent water changes, and imbalanced water parameters are some of the basic causes behind their early death. For more details on the bamboo shrimp lifespan, click here straight away.
How To Maintain Your Bamboo Shrimp Water Tank?
Of course, your shrimp deserves to get a well-maintained place to live peacefully. So here, I’d like to share some tips to help you maintain your species’ water tank –
- Every 2 weeks, clean up the water at least once by eliminating around 25% of water and replacing it with clean and fresh water.
- After a certain period, it will become necessary for you to replace the filter media. For this, take suggestions from the manufacturer about the filter media’s longevity.
- While incorporating any chemicals in your aquarium, make sure they are free from copper. If not, then your bamboo shrimp will get die as it can’t withstand copper for being toxic.
- Dirty gravel is a great resource of waste or debris. It can turn the water excessively dirty, which will eventually make your shrimp sick. So, cleaning up the gravel as deeply as possible is the best way to keep the water spick-and-span.
Final Words
If you’re fond of keeping bamboo shrimp, it’s a must to learn how to take care of bamboo shrimp, especially when you’re a beginner. Without proper care and maintenance, it’ll be literally impossible for you to keep them alive in captivity. So hopefully, this article can help you look after your loving species in the best way possible!
About Author
Hello, I’m Muntaseer Rahman, the owner of AcuarioPets.com. I’m passionate about aquarium pets like shrimps, snails, crabs, and crayfish. I’ve created this website to share my expertise and help you provide better care for these amazing pets.
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