Air first: pump, airline and sponge filter
Most shrimp breeding tanks breathe through an air-driven sponge filter, so the monthly check starts with the air supply. Feel the pump's output with a fingertip at the airline, compare the bubble rate in the tank against last month's impression, and inspect the airline for kinks, perishing near the ends and a working check valve that would stop a back-siphon in a power cut. Squeeze the sponge gently in removed tank water only if flow has visibly dropped; a breeding tank's sponge is also a feeding surface for shrimplets, and over-cleaning it removes food as well as debris.
Heat and light: verify, do not trust
Check the heater against a separate thermometer rather than its own dial, because breeding shrimp are unforgiving of a tank that quietly runs a few degrees warm for a month. Confirm the heater cycles off as well as on. Then check the light on its timer: breeding tanks live or die on algae and biofilm growth, and a timer that has drifted after a power cut changes the colony's food supply without anything looking broken. Note the actual on and off times you observe, not the ones you set.
Water drift: the check that explains colonies
Evaporation topped up with mineral-rich tap water concentrates what is already in the tank, and a breeding colony feels that slow creep as failed moults and dwindling shrimplets long before a keeper connects the dots. Monthly, test ammonia and nitrate for basic safety, and general hardness to track drift against the level your shrimp breed best at. If hardness has climbed, plan a series of small changes with remineralised pure water rather than one large correction. Record the numbers in the same place every month so the trend, not a single reading, drives decisions.
Colony notes belong in the same round
While you are at the glass, count roughly: how many berried females, whether shrimplets of several sizes are visible, any unusual deaths. Written beside the equipment notes, these observations turn the monthly round into a diagnostic record — a dip in shrimplets that coincides with a drifting hardness reading is a solved problem rather than a mystery. Keep the round calm and brief around the tank; breeding shrimp stress at shadows and vibration, so do the noisy jobs, like pump maintenance, away from the glass.
Spares within reach
While the lid is off, mark the waterline against last month's evaporation and check the lid and condensation for the salt-creep and drips that quietly concentrate a small tank between top-ups. End the check by confirming the spares a shrimp tank cannot wait for: a backup air pump or battery unit, a spare heater, airline and a clean sponge. Monthly is also the moment to rotate nothing — breeding tanks reward sameness. KinsLe Care Teams can hold this whole circuit as a single monthly duty with each stage listed in order, so the air, heat, light and water checks happen as one unhurried round and the colony's record builds month on month.