Breakwater Shrimp Breeders

12/17/2022

Well friends, we apologize for leaving you all hanging for so long. Life got in the way and adding sales to our hobby proved to be too much. We've cancelled our website and email address, and are slowly downgrading from 34 tanks to hopefully 7 or so, so Breakwater as it once was will sadly no longer be.

When we have time to go through our extras, we'll make a post to liquidate all of our unsold botanicals and supplies. We may even have enough bulk food made up to bottle a few more food shakers.

In the meantime, to those asking about our shrimp food, we highly recommend Critter Crumbs which can be purchased here in Saint John by contacting Shankan Aquatic Plants (possibly Summit Pets too but not 100% sure). Our shrimp and bottom feeders love it.

Thanks everyone for your patience while we figure out which direction this current is taking us. Cheers and happy sh*****ng!

08/14/2022

Over the past few months we've had some major life changes; so we will be taking the next month off to think about what direction we want our little hobby business to go in. We'll be back in September with an update. Thank you everybody for your support thus far, and enjoy your summer!

05/03/2022

The Bedford order is all packed up and ready for a road trip! For those who missed out on this order, we will be doing another NS delivery next month. Stay tuned!

04/29/2022

We heard you, Nova Scotia friends, and this Tuesday May 3 we are offering FREE DELIVERY to Bedford!

Any size order qualifies, but the catch is you must be able to pick your order up between 7-8 pm at the CIBC Bedford highway (same building Aquarica is in, but the side facing Sunnyside restaurant).

We have plenty of caridina in stock and several neocaridina as well - orange and blue neos are on sale! So check out www.breakwatershrimp.ca/shop and select the "local pickup > Bedford" option at check out.

Orders must be in by 5pm Monday May 2.

04/26/2022

We're expecting another baby boom this month in our orange and mixed grade blue tanks! As a result, we have adjusted our prices until the end of the month (maybe a bit longer if this continues). They're starting to organize! 😬Help us make some room!
https://www.breakwatershrimp.ca/shop/neocaridina

04/12/2022

Microalgae and biofilm are two of the most important food sources for young shrimp. Who else keeps at least one algae wall in their shrimp tanks?

04/05/2022

So excited to receive these beautiful Green Jades from Shrimp FX! They're so dark they're almost black and already have the blue tint common in Emeralds. We cannot wait to see how great they'll look when they get older. Thank you Mich, you were awesome to deal with!

https://shrimpfx.ca/

03/31/2022

Neos are back! We just added a limited quantity of a few different types to the website and will continue to update weekly as more become available but I know quite a few of you have been very patiently waiting. We greatly appreciate it. Check 'em out!

https://www.breakwatershrimp.ca/shop/neocaridina

03/25/2022

At long last, we've just added 3 Neocaridina surprise packs to our website for our local shrimp keepers! Free local pickup at Maritime Aquatics/Summit Pets tomorrow 12pm-8pm. When they're gone, they're gone! Bear in mind these are not the pageant winners of the shrimp world. They are wilds/culls or have inconsistent or undesirable colouring that we want to remove from our higher grade colonies. If you're looking for vibrance and specific colouring, the rainbow pack would be your best bet, but if you're just looking for some cool, inexpensive shrimp to help tidy your tanks, these guys are for you. Oh, and each pack of 10 comes with a free gift!
https://www.breakwatershrimp.ca/shop/p/neocaridina-surprise-pack

03/17/2022

Who says culls/wilds can't be beautiful? No one here I hope!

03/02/2022

Did you know we offer FREE SHIPPING on orders over $300 regardless of which shipping method you choose? Just use the discount code SHIP300 at checkout. And because we are a small, hobby business, there's never tax on any of our products! Happy sh*****ng everyone!

https://www.breakwatershrimp.ca/

02/13/2022

Six berried blues on one stone and 3 batches of babies already growing. Looks like we'll need a bigger nursery in a month or so. Who else loves blues as much as we do?

02/10/2022

Back by popular demand - Breakwater Food Shakers! We took the best ingredients from our favourite shrimp foods and added essential supplements to create an all-in-one daily food shaker great for all shapes, sizes and feeding styles. Limited quantities. https://www.breakwatershrimp.ca/shop/p/powdered-shrimp-food

02/03/2022

Well guys, we never thought we'd say this, but we are completely sold out of Neocaridina. We have several batches of babies in all of our tanks so we will start updating the website again when each type becomes available (starting in about three weeks or so). You can also sign up for email notifications when the stock list is updated if there's a specific type you've had your eye on.

The good news is that we still have lots of Caridina available and even more on the way! If you're not familiar with Caridina, they have a bad reputation for being high maintenance and requiring remineralized RO water. This does offer the most control over your parameters, especially if your water is on the alkaline side, however it depends entirely on what your parameters are to begin with.

All of our Caridina are at least third generation, born and raised in Saint John tap water. Because our tap water is neutral to begin with, we can lower the ph slightly using only a buffering substrate for some types of Caridina, or keep it neutral for types such as our Orange-Eyed and regular Tigers (shown in pics) who perfectly bridge the gap between typical Caridina and Neocaridina parameters. We made this decision early on hoping to make Caridina more accessible to a wider range of people and in our case, we actually find them much easier to keep compared to Neos.

If you'd like more information about our parameters and acceptable parameters for each type, check out our website. And if you know your Ph, Gh, and Kh (very important for keeping any type of shrimp) and would like some advice on what types you can keep or how to get your parameters where they need to be, feel free to message us anytime.
https://www.breakwatershrimp.ca/

02/02/2022

Red Rili with bright blue eggs in a tank with only red rilis. That's a first for us. 🤔🤔

02/02/2022

01/25/2022

Great news! Sean Barrett is making a trip from Oromocto to Saint John on Thursday, February 3rd and has offered to pick up some orders for folks in Fredericton and bring them back with him. Pick up on the Fredericton side would be 5:30pm at Petsmart. Delivery would be free but give this guy a big round of applause or buy him a beer or something if you see him. So great of him to do this. And as always, feel free to message us if you have any questions.

01/22/2022

Our very first Cardinal Sulawesi baby! Look how cute it is!! And it already has its mother's dance moves down.

01/17/2022

We had one cancellation for our Fredericton Bus delivery tomorrow due to the weather, so we have room for a bit more if anyone would like to make a last minute order. Pick up is 6-6:30pm at Petsmart. Let us know by 9 tonight. Thanks!

01/12/2022

Power outages are stressful when you have 30 aquariums! Here's how we manage :

Step 1 - get oxygen to your filter bacteria. We run our shrimp tanks with sponge filters powered by Nicrew rechargeable air pumps (photo one). When the power goes off, they automatically switch to low power mode, and can run for at least 6 hours on the built in battery. For our larger tanks, we run an air stone into the filter or float the filter media in the tank and add an air stone directly to the tank. We've also used Penn Plax battery operated pumps, which last a long time but take C batteries and ONLY run when the power goes out.

If you don't have a battery air pump, float your filter media in your tank and every half hour or so scoop some water out of the tank and pour it over the sponges.

Step 2 - heat is the next consideration. Cover your tanks with blankets and towels to slow heat loss. If you have any temperature-sensitive species (like our Sulawesi shrimp) you can heat water on a camping stove and float bottles of hot water in the tank to keep it consistently warm. Rapid temperature swings are stressful, so don't dump hot water directly into your tank. Remember not to use your camp stove indoors!

When the power does come back on, make sure your hang-on-back filters have enough water and that all equipment is working properly. It's not a bad idea to leave your emergency air hooked up until the weather improves!

What do you do to keep your fish comfy during a power outage?

01/09/2022

How about a little colour on a dreary day? Neocaridina and Caridina Rainbow packs! PM for details.

12/24/2021

If I could have one wish for Christmas, I would go back in time and never put duckweed in any of our aquariums.
Coincidentally, if you're looking for the perfect last minute gift for your worst enemy, we have just the thing!

12/24/2021

We are driving to Fredericton tomorrow afternoon (December 24) and to Enfield Nova Scotia on December 25 - so free delivery to either location this weekend!

Please message us by 11am on the 24th for your Fredericton order, and 9am on the 25th for your Enfield order.

Merry Christmas!

12/22/2021

Black King Kong (1 Stripe - Shadow) fanning her eggs.

12/22/2021

If you've ever seen newborn shrimp, congratulations, you probably don't need glasses. After her eggs are fertilized, a female shrimp holds the eggs in her swimmerettes until they are fully developed, miniature versions of adult shrimp at which time she releases them from her clutch to live their lives. The process takes anywhere between 20 and 30 days depending on the temperature of the water.

12/13/2021

12/10/2021

Breakwater Shrimp Breeders (finally!!) have a page! We're still working on our website, but in the meantime, feel free to like our page, check out the 34+ types of shrimp we breed, and message us if you have any questions.

12/07/2021

Homemade food shakers coming soon! Only the best for your shrimp and ours! We took our favourite parts from all our favourite shrimp foods and made a shrimp super food great for all shapes, sizes, and feeding styles.

12/07/2021

Tigers (Assorted Colours)

Our Caridina water parameters are:

PH 6.4-6.8
GH 3-4
KH 0-1
Temperature 20-23oC

Please note we always try to breed our highest grade shrimp, but variation is common and shell opacity/colour can change over a shrimp's lifetime. For these reasons, we cannot guarantee grade or pattern unless specified.

12/07/2021

Black King Kong (Panda)

Our Caridina water parameters are:

PH 6.4-6.8
GH 3-4
KH 0-1
Temperature 20-23oC

Please note we always try to breed our highest grade shrimp, but variation is common and shell opacity/colour can change over a shrimp's lifetime. For these reasons, we cannot guarantee grade or pattern unless specified.