Many shrimp hobbyists believe that their favorite pets need a heater. Some of them even replace an aquarium filter with a heater to give the shrimp some more comfort. However, there is one more thing that you might forget about:
one day, while I was looking for information on this topic, I found out someone saying they noticed that he had more shrimp babies when the water temperature was higher. I was surprised since I didn’t know that shrimps can rather get too hot than cool down.
As you might know, most of the time there are two main reasons why people buy a heater for their aquarium:
The first one is to provide enough warm water – around 25C (77F) – for the tropical fish;
The second one is to create a warm environment when having shrimps since they come from a relatively warmer place in nature (although it might sound strange that people struggle to fulfill their natural homes in this way since we’re trying to simulate their habitats).
However, I’m not going to talk about these reasons, since I’m going to talk about another one – a reason why people don’t buy a heater for their aquariums:
The third reason is that many of us believe that shrimps can rather get too hot than cool down. And as you might have already guessed from the title, I’m going to focus on this third reason. But before going any further, let me mention a few things about shrimps that might give you a better understanding of their natural habitat:
As you probably know, most of the time shrimp come from the warm water regions – if they would live in colder places, then they wouldn’t survive there long because it would be too cold for them to live in. However, there are places where shrimps and fish survive in cold and warm water at the same time.
There’s no need for me to mention that many of us, shrimp hobbyists, tend to buy shrimp from the shops since they’re so adorable. That would be OK if we knew how these little creatures lived in nature; however, most of us are seeing shrimps for the very first time which might lead to a few misunderstandings.
The most common misunderstanding is that people think that shrimp is a hardy creature – they survive just about any place and any temperature. As for the water temperature, it’s worth mentioning that shrimps love staying at the place where the water is warm – around 25C (77F).
But they love this place because it’s their natural environment. In other words, if you would take a shrimp from its natural habitat and put it into a colder place, then the chances are that they wouldn’t survive since the water is too cold for them to live in.
However, most of us don’t know about these facts – we believe that they’re hardy species, so we take them from their natural habitat and put them into our tanks. In other words, if you were to take a shrimp from its natural habitat (which is warmer than 10C / 50F) and put it in your tank (which is colder than 10C / 50F), then the chances are that it wouldn’t survive for too long.
This brings me to another question – can shrimplets properly develop inside the water which is less than 25C (77F)? Interestingly enough, many people don’t realize that this might happen – these creatures would start developing at the same time when the water temperature reaches 25 – 26C (77-79F).
Some of us tend to redecorate our aquariums in the winter, in other words when the temperature in our houses reaches 10C (50F).
As you can see, there’s no need for me to say that these creatures would die when the water is cold – they would either die or develop improperly. But are shrimps this sensitive? The answer is yes. And if someone told you otherwise, then he/she doesn’t know much about shrimp keeping.
However, it’s worth mentioning that shrimp hobbyists believe that shrimps are hardy creatures since even an inexperienced owner can create a comfortable environment for them with proper filters and a perfect aquarium design.
This means that people do understand how significant these little creatures are which is why they try their best to create a comfortable living environment for them.
However, there are still people who don’t know how to properly maintain their aquariums – they might be beginners or people who would rather believe that shrimps can survive in just about any condition.
As you can see, this last case is the most important one which is why I’m going to focus on it even though there are other cases too. And now let’s talk about this third reason why people don’t buy a heater for their tanks: lots of us believe that these little creatures aren’t able to handle temperatures above 20C (68F) – many of us think that they can get too hot instead of cool down.