Soft Water Shrimp in Hard Water
There has been a lot of debate lately among Dwarf Shrimp hobbyist about weather or not some of the “soft water” shrimp can be kept in hard water. Well, I have plenty of experience with hard water as I live in the Orlando area of Florida and my water is basically liquid rock. It has a pH of 8.4 and is extremely hard.
“Soft water” shrimp, as I am calling them in this blog post, are basically those shrimp that have ideal water conditions that are soft and slightly acidic such as the Tiger Shrimp and the Crystal Red Shrimp (both have very similar optimal condition requirements). For the sake of this argument I will use the Tiger Shrimp for an example.
Tiger Shrimp optimal water parameters are fairly soft water with a pH of about 6.4 and a temperature of about 72. They can be acclimated to different water, but it has a large affect on life span and on breeding.
I will be conducting an experiment here to show the effect of acclimation to sub-optimal conditions.
First let me tell you about my current experiences.
I have kept Tiger Shrimp in water that has a pH of 7.8 and was moderately hard. They lived about a year and bred once. My Tiger Shrimp that I keep in water that has a pH of 6.4 and is soft they seem to live about 2 years and breed often.
- Helpful Resources:
- Breeding Tiger Shrimp
- Crystal Red Shrimp
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