Storm Lake teen launches pet shrimp business at candy store

A shelf inside Ruth Whitmore’s Storm Lake Candy Company has become the home base for one of Storm Lake’s quirkiest new microbusinesses: Cora Whitmore’s pet shrimp venture, Cora’s Aquatics. Since she started selling on April 2, Whitmore said the young business has averaged about one sale per day, an early sign that curiosity can turn into cash in a town that knows how to support homegrown ideas.

The tanks are simple and relatively affordable, priced from $20 to $50. Each setup holds one or two dwarf shrimp, a snail and aquatic plants, giving buyers a living desk-sized pet that does not require the kind of upkeep most aquarium owners expect. Whitmore said the shrimp feed on algae, help clean the water they live in and fertilize the plants with their waste, so customers do not need to deal with regular water changes or heavy maintenance. Feeding takes just a tiny pellet or a pea-sized piece of cooked vegetable about once a week.

Whitmore built her own 40-gallon tank to grow aquarium plants and raise neocaridina shrimp, the fast-multiplying dwarf shrimp variety behind her display. One of the best-known color types she keeps is the Red Rili, which has red heads and tails and a transparent middle. Even with animals this small, Whitmore said they still get names, a detail that gives the business its playful, personal feel.

The venture also fits neatly into a bigger transition in Whitmore’s life. She is taking a gap year after studying environmental science at Iowa State University in Ames, a program built around an integrated, quantitative approach to environmental systems. Back in Storm Lake, she is working at the candy store at 510 Lake Ave. N., a longtime local business that sells homemade ice cream, chocolates and candy and has been identified in business listings as a Small Business Start-Up Award winner in 2022.

Whitmore said she found the shrimp trend online and saw a product that could appeal to office workers, teachers or anyone who wants a small, low-maintenance living companion. In a county where many young entrepreneurs start with familiar goods and services, Cora’s Aquatics stands out for turning a novelty into a workable side business, one tiny tank at a time.