Snow Ball Shrimp

 Quick Care Facts

• Care Level: Easy   • Temperament: Peaceful   • Maximum Size: 2"
• Minimum Tank Size: 10 gallons   • Water Conditions: 68-80° F, KH 3-10, pH 6.5-7.5
• Color Forms: White, Transparent   • Diet: Omnivore   • Origin: Selectively breeding
• Family: Atyidae   • Species: Shrimp   • Aquarium Type: Shrimp

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The Snow Ball Shrimp is a pure white selectively bred species of the wild Neocaridina cf. zhangjiajiensis of Southeast Asia. Ulf Gottschalk of Germany was able over a period of years to selectively breed two very attractive variants of the Neocaridina cf. zhangjiajiensis, resulting in the blue ice colored Blue Pearl Shrimp and the pure white Snow Ball Shrimp.

Thanks to the tedious breeding efforts of Ulf Gottschalk the hobbyist now has access to a brilliantly colored pure white shrimp species that stands out from other dwarf shrimps species via it's pure white coloration. Without a doubt, the Snow Ball Shrimp brings a unique appearance to the peaceful tropical community aquarium or shrimp nano aquarium that is truly special.

Snow Ball Shrimp should be kept with peaceful freshwater fish species in either a planted aquarium or a community aquarium with plenty of plants, rocks or driftwood to provide them with cover when threatened and a place to forage for algae. Like most freshwater invertebrate species, the Snow Ball Shrimp needs clean water with stable water parameters and very good filtration in order to thrive within an aquarium environment.

They do very well in community shrimp tanks or tropical community fish tanks with peaceful fish species. It is also important to not expose this or other invertebrate species to copper based medications as this can kill them. Snow Ball Shrimp should not be housed with aggressive fish species or with community species such as Loaches and Puffers as they eat small shrimps in the wild.

Snow Ball Shrimp feed primarily on freshwater algae, and are coveted for this as they make excellent tank cleaners. However, they will also consume detritus and uneaten foodstuffs that they come across in the aquarium substrate. If no algae is present within the aquarium, it is recommended to supplement the Snow Ball Shrimps diet with algae tablets as algae makes up a very large portion of their diet in the wild and will help them maintain a healthy immune system. They can also be fed blanched vegetables, sinking pellets and other sinking commercial foods intended for bottom dwelling fish and invertebrates.

Snow Ball Shrimp are one of the easier freshwater shrimp species to breed within the home aquarium environment. At approximately 2 to 3 months of age, Snow Ball Shrimp will become sexually mature, and the females will begin to carry a clutch of yellowish eggs under their tail.

If there are males present within the aquarium, the female will become impregnated and the clutch of eggs will hatch in about 1 month. The eggs will be carried by the female until they hatch into miniature replicas of their parents, as the Snow Ball Shrimp does not go through an intermediate plankton stage. At birth, the baby Snow Ball Shrimp are very small and are easily eaten by fish or sucked up into filters.

Therefore, they should be provided their own breeding tank with a sponge covered filter intake and no fish present that could eat the young. The babies should be fed a diet consisting of algae, algae tablets, baby brine shrimp or crushed flake foods. It is important to maintain the water quality of the breeding tank to high levels and make sure that ammonia and nitrite levels remain very low.

It is important to note that as a selectively bred species, the Snow Ball Shrimp has been engineered to produce the its blue coloration. What this means is that when they breed, they will produce offspring with the same pure white coloration as this is what they have been designed to do.

Crossing them with another species of Neocaridina will not result in an attractive color morph, but will instead create very unattractive offspring that essentially defeats the purpose of even keeping a selectively bred species.