Amano shrimp

Hi there, I'm quite new to the whole invert scene (although I have kept but not bred a tank of cherry shrimp in the past!) so please go easy on me!

I was just wondering what I could do to help my shrimp out. They are kept in low ph ~6 and very soft water (~5-7dKH). I am just a little concerned as I have had one pass away whilst moulting. I know this can occur but I just wondered if this is maybe due to the water being a little too soft and they cannot get the necessary nutrients to mould successfully.

Are there any additives or something that I can add to my water to boost the levels without affecting my water quality and is this a feasible and worthwhile effort?

Many thanks for the help!!

Hi stickthin2k and welcome .

I also have very soft water, and unfortunately experienced the same thing in the past with keeping Amano shrimp at a pH as low as that - in two separate tanks.

My advice would be to try and put as much tufa rock (or similar rock from the LFS) as you can into the tank, if you don't like the look of it, bury it in the sand or gravel. Even put it in the filter.

This will raise the pH, GH and KH of the water to suit the shrimps needs.

Adding liquid calcium didn't seem to help much for me, but if you can do so, it's probably worth a shot on top of raising the other stats.

Right now I successfully keep Amano and other shrimp at pH 6.6-7 (depending on time of day), GH 80ppm and dKH <2.8.

That is with coral sand mixed into ADA aquasoil underneath playsand as the substrate, and about 5 small pieces of tufa rock at the back of the tank.

Cheers mate, I'll defo look into that. I wouldn't want to harden the water too much though. How much lb/gal would you recommend (bearing in mind I want to make a slow and steady increase - I wouldn't wanna kill them all with a ph shock!!

this Tufa Rock sounds interesting, I'll need to research it...

Nice tip