There are two different species of grass shrimp which are completely freshwater inhabitants. The eastern grass shrimp which is a warm water species being found along the Gulf Coast mostly. The other species is the Mississippi grass shrimp which we sometimes refer to as PK shrimp as the PK stands for their scientific name.
The Mississippi grass shrimp is native to much of the Mississippi drainages from the Gulf Coast up to the Great Lakes. They are cold water tolerant. TJ and I sourced our grass shrimp from a breeder in Nebraska where ponds freeze solid in excess of a month. So, if you get shrimp from that source, they should be genetically adapted to cold winter conditions.
With grass shrimp, habitat considerations in a pond would be some shallow areas with vegetation, woody structure and/or rocky crevices for them to forage in and take cover from predation. They also seem to prefer more alkaline waters as opposed to acidic waters as most shelled invertebrates do.
