Freshwater shrimp are a great addition to most aquariums and do best in a planted tank. They graze algae and biofilm off surfaces nothing else will clean, and once a colony starts breeding on its own it is the clearest signal you will get that your water is stable.
The numbers that actually matter
Forget pH as your primary reading. For shrimp, TDS and hardness are what determine whether a colony thrives or slowly fails. Neocaridina want harder water and are comfortable in the range San Diego tap water naturally sits in. Caridina want soft, low-TDS water, which here means starting from RO and remineralizing to a target rather than treating what comes out of the faucet. Buy a TDS meter before you buy the shrimp; it is the cheapest piece of equipment in this hobby and the one that tells you the most.
Why shrimp die in the second week
Almost never the parameters they arrived into — almost always the speed of the change. Shrimp tolerate a wide range of conditions but very little swing between them, and a fast swing does its damage slowly enough that the losses show up days later, long after the acclimation that caused them. Drip acclimate over an hour at minimum. Match TDS between your change water and your tank water. Copper in any form is the other common killer, and it hides in general fish medications and some fertilizers.
Breeding is the point
A shrimp tank that is working produces more shrimp. Neocaridina will breed readily in stable water with no intervention beyond leaving them alone — you need plenty of cover for the babies, a sponge over any filter intake, and the patience not to keep adjusting things. If your colony is holding steady but never growing, something is eating the shrimplets, and it is usually a fish you thought was peaceful.
Stock changes weekly and color lines vary by shipment. Call ahead if you are after a specific grade or line.
