Crystal and bee shrimp care: soft water, active soil and Caridina basics

How Caridina differ from cherry shrimp

Crystal red, crystal black, bee, Taiwan bee (King Kong, Panda, Blue Bolt), pinto and tiger shrimp all belong to the genus Caridina. Cherry shrimp (Neocaridina) are happy in harder water around pH 6.5–7.8; Caridina need soft, slightly acidic water with almost no carbonate hardness, and they cope far worse with swings.

Most tap water won’t get you there, which is why Caridina are kept in remineralized RO water over active soil. Tiger shrimp tolerate somewhat harder, less acidic water depending on the line, while fancy tigers bred with bee lines need the same water as bees.

Caridina and Neocaridina don’t interbreed, but they need different water, so most sources recommend separate tanks. Crystal, bee, Taiwan bee and tiger lines, on the other hand, can interbreed, and the offspring often lose their line’s color and pattern. If you want to keep a line, keep it on its own.

Target water parameters

• GH 4–6 °dGH – calcium and magnesium for building a new shell; bee shrimp mineral makers aim for about 6,
• KH 0–1 °dKH, some sources allow up to 2 – carbonates push pH up and wear out active soil faster,
• pH about 5.5–6.8, and no source for bee or crystal goes above 7; the active soil keeps it low and steady,
• TDS 100–180 ppm, most often quoted as 100–150 – with KH near zero, it’s your main everyday check that the water isn’t drifting,
• temperature 68–75 °F (20–24 °C); some sources go up to 77 °F (25 °C),
• ammonia and nitrite at zero.

Sources and lines differ by tenths of a pH unit and tens of ppm of TDS. Treat the ranges as guardrails rather than targets to hit exactly: a sudden shift hurts even when the water moves between two values that are both “in range”.

In SUISO you log TDS under “More values” when you enter a water test. In the tank’s target ranges, “Suggest from livestock” fills in a rough shared range for pH, KH, GH and TDS based on the catalog species in the tank. These are starting numbers from the catalog, not a breeder’s advice, so check them against what your line is kept in.

RO water and GH-only minerals

Start with reverse osmosis (RO) or deionized water at a TDS of about zero. Add a bee shrimp mineral that raises GH while leaving KH close to zero. Makers aim for roughly 6 °dGH; how much that takes depends on the product, so start with the label dose and confirm with a GH drop test and a TDS meter. For water changes, mix to the tank’s TDS rather than to the number on the label.

Remineralizers made for cherry shrimp (GH/KH+) contain carbonates and raise KH, so they don’t suit Caridina. Tap water with KH wears out active soil faster, so don’t use it for water changes or top-offs.

Mix new water ahead of time in a separate container, let the minerals dissolve completely and let it reach tank temperature. Check the TDS before it goes in.

Active soil and cycling

Active soil strips carbonates from the water, holds pH low and damps its daily swings. Fresh soil also leaches ammonia for the first few weeks.

Add shrimp only once the tank has cycled. Sources give at least 4–6 weeks, and some prefer two months. Go by your tests, not the calendar: ammonia and nitrite at zero for several days in a row.

Soil wears out over time, usually after 12–18 months and at most about two years; water with KH exhausts it sooner. The signs are pH and KH creeping up despite RO water changes, and grains breaking down and packing together like clay. Exhausted soil has to be replaced, and new soil has to cycle again, so the shrimp need another tank in the meantime.

Drip-acclimate new shrimp, and more slowly than cherry shrimp: sources suggest roughly 1.5 to 3 hours. Measure the TDS of the seller’s water and of your tank – the bigger the gap, the longer it should take.

Water changes and top-offs

Change a little, regularly – sources suggest around 10–15 % every one to two weeks. New water should match the tank’s temperature and be as close as possible to its TDS, and it should go in slowly, for example dripped through airline tubing.

Evaporation takes only water and leaves the minerals behind. Top off with plain RO water without minerals, or TDS and GH will creep up. Top off little and often.

If TDS still drifts upward, don’t knock it down with one big change. Use new water only slightly lower in TDS and repeat over several days.

Molting, deaths and what to avoid

Shrimp grow by molting, and that’s when they are most vulnerable. Failed molts – the shrimp gets stuck in its old shell, sometimes with a white ring around the body – most often trace back to unsuitable or unstable GH and KH and to a sudden change in the water after a water change. What to avoid:

• a jump in TDS, GH, pH or temperature after a water change,
• ammonia and nitrite – from fresh active soil in a new tank, later from overfeeding,
• copper – copper-based medications kill shrimp even in tiny amounts; never use them in a shrimp tank, and before using a new fertilizer or additive, check that the maker lists it as shrimp-safe,
• pH-down products and acids – with KH near zero nothing buffers the water and pH can drop sharply; let the soil hold pH down,
• quick fixes – when something is out of range, bring it back slowly, over several days.

If shrimp are dying, test ammonia, nitrite, GH, KH, pH and TDS, then go through what changed in the last few days: a water change, a top-off, a new product or fertilizer, feeding.

What to log

TDS and temperature of both the tank and the new water, how much you changed, how much mineral went into the RO water, and every top-off. Test pH and KH now and then: when they start rising, the soil is wearing out, so note when you set it up and which soil it is. Log a death as a livestock loss with its cause; when you ask the Advisor, it sees the loss in your journal next to the water changes and tests from the days before. Note berried females and the first shrimplets too – they are the best sign the water suits your shrimp.