How To Keep Crystal Red Shrimp Alive (9 Tips)

Crystal red shrimp (CRS), also known as the red bee shrimp are a favorite among shrimp keepers for their beautiful bright red and white pigments. They also double up as the best choice for shrimp lovers because they’re easy to keep alive. However, they are sensitive animals and require great care to stay alive.

Here are 9 tips to keep your CRS alive:

Keep water quality top-notch.
Use sponge filters.
Limit strength of water current.
Make ideal conditions for breeding.
Keep the diet balanced.
Keep carbon dioxide (CO2) away.
Find suitable tank mates to avoid preying.
Keep copper away from the aquarium.
Introduce the perfect lighting.

Keep reading this guide to find out the best way to care for your crystal red shrimps and ensure they live for up to two years.

1. Keep Water Quality Top Notch

Crystal red shrimp require highly clean water and specific water conditions. Soft, acidic water is ideal for these shrimps, similar to their bee shrimp ancestors.

They are more delicate than other shrimp breeds due to their rigorous selective breeding. Therefore, skipping water changes is not an option if you want to keep crystal red shrimp alive and healthy.

Here are the important water parameters you need to keep constant:

The Potential of Hydrogen (pH)

A slightly acidic of 6.2 – 6.9 is perfect for CRS because it ensures they stay healthy, preserves color, and heightens the rate of eggs hatching.

However, if the pH exceeds the neutral level, say up to 7.2, your shrimps will still survive. Maintaining this level of acidity is paramount to the health of your CRS.

Temperature

CRS don’t appreciate water that is too warm or too cold. The water needs to sustain a consistent temperature that helps your shrimp maintain their health.

The ideal temperature range should be 70 – 78°F (22 – 25°C). They have a shorter lifespan in warm waters, and occasionally, they can breed before dying, but it’s not the best condition.

General Hardness (GH) and Total Alkalinity (KH)

You also need another kit to monitor the kH/gH levels regularly. You have to be sure of the exact level in the aquarium water because if you assume this, you may be putting your CRS at risk of death.

kH of about 1 – 2 plays a vital role in maintaining other parameters at a stable level. If the kH level reaches 0, the water is more susceptible to pH imbalance. The gH should be kept between 4 and 6 by mineralizing.

TDS (Total Dissolved Solids)

For TDS, CRS has a vast scope of levels it can accommodate, from 100 to 200. However, maintaining a TDS of 120 does not guarantee that your water has the correct gH for shrimp to molt. To make life easier for you and your shrimp, purchase a TDS meter that can give you accurate readings on a regular basis.

Nitrites & Ammonia

As with all shrimp and fish, you shouldn’t put this species into an uncycled aquarium since it is susceptible to ammonia and nitrite. After cycling the water, you should maintain both nitrites and ammonia levels at 0.

You will require a test kit such as API NITRITE TEST KIT (from Amazon.com), which tests Nitrite, Ammonia, pH, and Nitrates to check and optimize their levels regularly.

Nitrate 20 < 0ppm

The ideal Nitrates level should be closest to 0ppm, but anything below 20ppm will not adversely affect your shrimps.

However, high nitrates levels may cause bacterial infections in the shrimps. Therefore, get rid of any decaying matter in the water or introduce aquatic plants, since these plants help to lower the level of nitrates.

Water Changes

You should change the aquarium water by about 30% weekly to replace essential minerals. The water you add should be dechlorinated before adding it into the aquarium.

However, you should never change all the water at once because their sensitivity to new environments may distress them over the change.

2. Use Sponge Filters

To clean the water, you’ll need the best filters that won’t damage shrimp babies and don’t produce a lot of garbage. You can go up to 6 or 8 weeks between water changes if you have a good filtration system.

The best filters for most shrimp aqua tanks, notably crystal red shrimp, are sponge filters like the Aquapapa Bio Sponge Filter (from Amazon.com). It’s affordable, easy to set up, and, most importantly, will not suck your CRS into the intakes.

If you decide not to replace your filtration system, make sure you cover the filter intake point with a sponge or soft clothing like a stocking.

3. Limit Strength of Water Current

Since your CRS requires filtration, you may wind up with a strong flow in their tank. In general, you won’t over-filter the aquarium, but you might end up creating a strong current in your crystal red shrimp tank, which could harm your CRS’s health or potentially drain/kill them.

Therefore, your CRS will thrive in your tank with a slow-moving current, exactly as they would in nature. Avoid using anything that will create forceful currents directly into their swimming space if you want to create mild currents for your CRS.

Additionally, if the flow in your crystal red shrimp’s tank is too weak, it may cause them stress as they struggle to adapt to the water’s low amount of dissolved oxygen.

4. Make Ideal Conditions for Breeding

Breeding ensures the species is constantly thriving and multiplying to increase the chances of survival.

CRS doesn’t have a set breeding season. Once you have the correct water parameters, creating CRS is as simple as breeding the cherry shrimp. Here are a few facts about CRS breeding habits:

They breed every 5-6 weeks.
The ideal temperature for breeding is 74°F (23⁰C).
The eggs will be ready to hatch in only a month (4 weeks).

Mating the crystal red shrimp is simple once you know what to look for in both genders. Here is what you should know about each gender:

Females have a considerable rounder underbelly than males, who have a less curled underbelly.
Males also have longer antennules than females (the shorter pair of antennae).
When a female reaches sexual maturity, a yellow saddle appears on her back (these are unfertilized eggs). However, the saddle might be difficult to see on strong-colored shrimp.

If you have a mature male in your aquarium, sexing occurs after the female molts and her body becomes much softer. In a few days, the eggs will go down to her abdomen, where she’ll keep them moving using her pleopods (the mini legs under her belly).

The baby CRS will be born as little versions of their parents, eager to eat algae and other foods you give them.

When baby shrimp are hatched, they require very high water quality and hiding places. You should remove any fish because the babies will be a quick snack. It would also be best to use an air filter that prevents the sucking up of the babies at this stage.

Due to the selective nature of shrimp breeding, it’s conceivable to put together two low grade CRS to generate higher grade shrimp.

The Various Crystal Red Shrimp Grades

The crystal red shrimp are classed into seven grades based on white and red patches distribution. These are grades SSS, SS, S+, S, A, B, and C, arranged from the most expensive and demanded to the least desirable grades.

SSS has the whitest hue, while C is primarily red with only a little white visible.

Color striping is the only difference between classes of red crystal shrimp since size, health, life duration, and demand are all the same.

5. Keep the Diet Balanced

As omnivores, CRS require a balanced feeding schedule and diet. Controlling their diet is simple.

CRS feeding habits will help them maintain their vibrant color. Algae, boiled veggies, and bloodworms are some good food alternatives.

Additionally, they scour the tank for any signs of algae, and they’re filter feeders.

Feed them commercial food once each day, such as pellets, powder, or algae wafers, which should be sufficient if there is some plant waste or algae for your CRS to feed on. Broccoli, zucchini, peas, and cucumbers are blanched (boiled) veggies that CRS like to feed on.

Try adding Christmas moss to their routine diet as it has microorganisms they love to feed on.

Don’t overfeed them. Overfeeding them can impact their overall health and perhaps gradually kill them. Keep the shells of molten shrimps in the aquarium because it provides calcium, which is an important mineral in their growth.

6. Keep Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Away

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is one of the most hazardous elements to the existence of your CRS. It can cause CO2 poisoning. This is particularly true for CO2 systems made at home.

When CO2 is introduced to aquarium water, it dissolves and is absorbed by the plants, which allows them to perform photosynthesis. CO2 is not used by the plants when there’s no light source (such as at night) and instead creates carbonic acid in the water.

This can cause the pH to drop and swing substantially from day to night. Although resilient, red crystal shrimp are often unable to cope with the pH swings or the lack of oxygen.

Here are the signs that tell you there may be CO2 poisoning:

Shrimps are swimming while staggering.
Shrimps stop moving all of a sudden.
When the shrimps are lying on their backs/sides.

7. Find Suitable Tank Mates to Avoid Preying

Crystal red shrimps are prey for large fish and will fare much better with non-aggressive tank mates.

While it’s best to keep your CRS alone in one tank, introducing tetras, love bearers, or other non-violent species would not do any harm. However, introducing bee shrimps may lead to wild offspring, which you may not like.

In aquascape tanks, they’ll often thrive. You should include plants like Java fern, Vallisneria, dwarf lilies, Anubis, and water wisteria.

If you add several plant species it also enhances the aesthetic appeal. The plants not only provide cover and hiding places, but they also provide food for the animals.

The Best Tank Size for CRS

Crystal red shrimp can be raised in a small aquarium with a capacity of 5.5 – 20 gallons (20L – 75L).

It’s preferable to have a smaller tank because they don’t need a large aquarium. Additionally, you can better handle them and keep track of their whereabouts in smaller-sized tanks. For a smaller number of shrimp, a smaller tank is preferable. About 2-5 shrimps for every gallon would be best. A smaller aquarium makes it easy to care for your crystal red shrimp individually or count the shrimp from outside the aquarium if they become ill or go missing.

However, if you want to keep a shrimp colony, you’ll need a bigger tank. It will be more difficult to control the shrimp individually in a larger tank, but at least they’ll have enough room to spread out.

As aforementioned, there should be plants like java fern, Vallisneria, dwarf lilies, Anubis, and water wisteria inside the tank. The plants not only act as shelters/hiding places, but the shrimps also feed off these plants.

CRS dislike being seen in open water because they may feel threatened. Therefore, you can use driftwood and rocks such as SunGrow Shrimp Rocks (available on Amazon) to provide nice hiding places while preserving their color and enhancing development.

8. Keep Copper Away From the Aquarium

Any copper or heavy metal is extremely detrimental to the health of your crystal red shrimps. Therefore, make sure you always check for any additives in the fertilizers that you add into the aquarium to ascertain that there are no additives present. Be aware of everything you’re putting into the aquarium, and always double check the ingredients as an extra precaution.

9. Introduce the Perfect Lighting

Aquarium lighting is critical for aquarium plant growth and the health of your crystal red shrimps.

LED lights have become more readily accessible, inexpensive, and widely accepted for aquariums. LED lights use cutting-edge technology, enabling less wattage use while maintaining the same performance.

I recommend the Current USA Satellite Freshwater LED (from Amazon) because it’s easy to install, comes with a remote, and the effects are realistic.

Key Takeaways

Crystal red shrimps are an amazing addition to any aquarium. Their aesthetic appeal is unparalleled, and although their care is a bit complex at first, it gets easier once you get the hang of it.

Here are the important tips to remember:

Water quality is everything – do not second guess anything.
Be wary of any dangers that may kill the shrimps such as CO2 poisoning and hard metals..
Introduce the right tank mates to prevent preying.
A balanced diet equals a healthy shrimp.
Use sponge filters, and keep water currents low.