I have been looking into other ways to feed my aquaponics fish and shrimp are a great way to do that.  I have also found a variety of shrimp called Mississippi Grass Shrimp (Palaemonetes kadiakensis).  Being native to much of the United States, unlike many shrimp they are very cold hardy.

The ebay seller I got them from, johns796 says he catches them to order from his own pond.  He is in northern Louisiana just barely south of the Arkansas border and that he has had ice on it 3 of the last 4 years.  Additionally in the Pond Boss Forum I have read accounts of them surviving over winter in Nebraska in ponds.

That said surviving in a 200 gallon steel tank is different then in a 100,000 gallon natural pond.  So I am not sure if they will survive my winters.  Hence I have four tanks they are going in outside, 20 each and I will keep 20 in this tank.

The system is explained in the video below but what I did was use a “kritter keeper” to make a very large bio filter which also pacifies the filter so the top vegetation doesn’t get beat up and destroyed.   For now the top vegetation is salvinia.  The wood is chola cactus wood with lots of hiding space for the baby shrimps.  The bottom is a thin layer of baked compost, then a layer of lava sand and last a layer of lava rock.

The shrimp should be here tomorrow and some java moss and marimo moss balls should be here this week, Friday at the latest.

Anyway enjoy the video and ask any questions you have.

Items Used in this Project…

• Tetra Whisper PF10 Ultra Quiet 3-Stage Filter
• Tetra HT10 50 Watt Heater
• Small Sized Kritter Keeper
• Chola Wood – I prefer to pick my own out but this is the stuff.
• NICREW BrightLED Aquarium Light – I really love this light
• The Shrimp Farm – where I ordered my plants