Yellow Shrimp

 Quick Care Facts

• Care Level: Easy   • Temperament: Peaceful   • Maximum Size: 2"
• Minimum Tank Size: 10 gallons   • Water Conditions: 65-85° F, dkh 3-15, pH 6.5-8.0
• Color Forms: Yellow   • Diet: Omnivore   • Origin: Selectively bred
• Family: Atyidae   • Species: Shrimp   • Aquarium Type: Shrimp

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The Yellow Shrimp has become a hobbyist favorite as it is one of the few freshwater invertebrates species to display a bright yellow coloration. Yellow Shrimp are a selectively bred variant of the wild Red Cherry Shrimp, that has been cultivated to bring out the yellow color morph.

They have become so popular within the hobby that there production has become very widespread, with breeders all over the world now producing them in large numbers. Overall the Yellow Shrimp is an excellent aquarium species that brings vibrant color, is easy to keep and breed and is easily attainable within the aquarium hobby trade.

Yellow Shrimp are a very hardy species that can easily thrive and breed within the aquarium environment when given stable water parameters and a steady food source. They 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 Yellow Shrimp needs clean water with good filtration in order to thrive within an aquarium environment. It is also important to not expose this or other invertebrate species to copper based medications as this can kill them. Yellow 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.

Yellow 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 their 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. Yellow Shrimp will also readily consume sinking pellet foods intended for bottom feeding fish and invertebrates; as well as, cleaned and blanched (lightly boiled) vegetables.

Yellow Shrimp are very prolific breeders that will readily breed within the home aquarium environment. At approximately 2 to 3 months of age, Yellow 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 Yellow Shrimp does not go through an intermediate plankton stage. At birth, the baby Yellow 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.