From an Uncycled Betta Tank To 1000+ Shrimp: The Errly Aquatics Story
Owner of Errly Aquatics, Dallas Davis
Errly Aquatics
Every aquarist remembers their first tank. For most of us, it wasn’t pretty. For Dallas Davis, the founder of Errly Aquatics, it was a 3-gallon betta tank with no cycle, no patience, and no knowledge.
That’s exactly the point. Dallas didn’t start with rare shrimp and a fish room of shrimp. He learned like the rest of us: making rookie mistakes and asking other local hobbyists. Fast-forward 1.5 years, Errly Aquatics runs more than 20 tanks with over 1,000 shrimp and has started to build a real name for itself in the Neocaridina breeding world.
Scaling without Cutting Corners
Most people buy their shrimp from big box stores or online breeders without thinking twice about where they actually come from. A lot of that stock is imported, passed through multiple owners, and pulled from operations juggling dozens of different species at once. Volume is the priority, not the individual colony.
Errly Aquatics runs differently. Every shrimp comes from Dallas’s own tanks, bred and raised in-house rather than imported and resold. When demand for his shrimp outpaced what his colonies could sustainably produce, he made a call a lot of sellers wouldn’t: he paused sales entirely. Not because anything was wrong, but because he refused to let short-term orders thin out his breeding groups and weaken genetics down the line.
Errly Aquatics’ Shrimp Breeding tanks
Keeping Shrimp Simple
Errly Aquatics’ motto is “keeping shrimp simple,” and it shows up in how they teach, not just how they breed. Errly Aquatics runs a free classroom shrimp program for teachers, giving shrimp to classrooms so kids can get hands-on with the hobby early. It’s part of the bigger goal for them: making shrimp keeping feel less nerve-wracking, whether it’s for a little kid or an adult setting up their first tank.
The goal for Errly Aquatics is not to turn a profit; it’s to educate. Errly Aquatics is built around blogs, care guides, and wanting to prepare people to succeed.
Pushing the Genetics Forward
What makes Errly Aquatics special? Beyond educating and breeding, Errly Aquatics is chasing something that other breeders couldn’t dream of: new genetics. Errly Aquatics has built out dedicated Orange Eye Neocaridina lines, and they aren’t just maintaining the trait; they are trying to push past it. Their goal is to discover new eye colors that haven’t been established in the hobby yet, something that takes generations of selective breeding and lots of patience.
This just reiterates Errly Aquatics’ quality-over-speed philosophy. The same colony-first, quality-over-quantity approach is what makes genetic discovery like this even possible. You can’t randomly come across a new line of genetics for shrimp. It takes time and a little bit of genius—something that is here at Errly Aquatics.
Why This Story Matters
It’s easy to look at an operation with 20+ tanks, over 1,000 shrimp, and its own genetics program and assume it started with money, years of expertise, or a secret most beginners don’t have. Errly Aquatics is living proof that it usually starts smaller than that: a 3-gallon uncycled tank, a lot of trial and error, and a willingness to ask questions instead of guessing.
The scale came later. It came from patience, from treating every shrimp like it mattered, and from a genuine want to help other people succeed instead of just making a quick buck.
For anyone building their own shrimp colony, that’s the part worth remembering. You don’t need a ton of money or expertise. You just need to start and be ready to ask questions.
"Most people look at shrimp and just see tiny aquarium pets. I see years of genetics, selective breeding, and the opportunity to create something that doesn't exist anywhere else. Every generation teaches you something new. That's what keeps me hooked."
— Dallas Davis, Errly Aquatics
Follow Dallas and Errly Aquatics on TikTok and check out his shrimp lines at errlyaquatics.com
