Remi de Groot

Had a job interview in a local "Home Depot" for the fish and aquarium departement. So fingers crossed 😉. (Don't know the actually word for a place like Home Depot other then the company name?)

I've never seen neo shrimp eat enough algae to notice a difference. Mostly they eat the bacteria living in the algae. I'm on the same level as @nabokovfan87 on this one and would add some oto's. Nice fish anyway to have in your tank and with them i actually notice a difference.

For the ph both neocaridina and caridina could work. So as @nabokovfan87 already said it comes down to the KH/GH levels of the water.

The 'fancy' ones with white, red and/or stripes are caridina. Not neocaridina. As for neocaridina i think you've had most of the interesting ones already. I've had red, blue and still got a group of black atm. Al the others are together in a mix tank. Got some yellow and green ones from the above shrimps as well. Must say that i find the yellow ones the most attractive atm. If i would go for a new neo group (got 1 now + 4 groups caridina) i would look into rili. Just not the best shrimps to sell, because most non shrimp nerds would go for a full colored shrimp.

The color the shrimp has on the picture has nothing to do with the reason it's death. Is just the way they color when dead. They turn this brownish, yellowish or pinkish. If you leave them in the aquarium longer the whole body will get this color. I don't know about the 'parasite' dip. What i do know is that some plants may have poison in them that farmers use to get rit of snails and parasite. For example the Cabomba stores the poison in it's stems. When cutting or damaging the stem the poison gets released in the water and kill the shrimps. How high is your KH?

You could add a sponge on the intake so the shrimps won't get into the canister. The pre-filtering also makes it so you have to clean the canister itself a little less because no big leaves and stuff will go in and clog the canister.

Changing the soil with is actually quite common with shrimps. The PH lowering soils need to be replaced every few months/years and the shrimps get way more stressed from the netting then it is to replace the soil.

Have to agree with the others above. Never had problem with found rocks after washing them (and the vinegar test). I got a big pond in the backyard and if i don't use a rock i put them around the pond. Everytime i set up a new tank i go back out to collect some nice rocks from around the pond. Don't really need to go further then my backyard anymore for rocks. Just be carefull with boiling them, if there is some air trapped in the rock it might break or 'explode'.

Maybe you could post a picture of the "white stuff" on the silicone. Makes it easier for people to see if its harmfull or not.

As Tolstoy is saying the TDS probably won't be exactly 0. Mine comes out at 6/7. Just tested the outcome of the waste water for you (never did it before). And it is 280 where my tap water is 240. So actually not that much higher, which suprises me a bit. My RO unit is outside next to my pond. So i've always been using the waste water to refill my pond. Kind of with the idea that the rain water is softening the water, so adding extra hard water would balance this out a little bit. Never really tested the parameters of the waste water though. Wasn't to worried that a few gallons of waste water would make a big difference in a 46.000 gallon pond.

Both of the above options seem legit. Other option could be distribute the weight by plank or board underneath the rack.

I actually installed lids on all my shrimp tanks last week after running them for over a year without. Main reason to get lids is that i had a lot of evaporation. This gave us problems with the humidity in our living room (mold) and the parameters of the water weren't stable. (Water gets harder after evaporations. Softer after a refill with RO water etc). Shrimps prefer water as stable as possible. So lids seem to be the better option for both us and the animals.

Most companies are only working to earn money, not to make the aquarium hobby better. How do you make money? By selling your product. When do you sell a product? When people use it. When does a customer use it? If the company tells you so on the bottle. As @Fish Folkalready said. If you got a healthy tank, you don't need quick start with your water change. Only something to get the chlorine out of your water.

I probably forget about them once of twice every week. To busy with going to work as soon as i'm awake and coming home late at night. Does that count as 'fasting'? Just quit my job because of the unhealthy balance between work and my private live. So hoping to get back to a more normal schedule and being able to spend more time with the fish and shrimps te next couple of months.

You still have this set up? Would love to see a picture. Was planning on making a fish room next year. But the energy and gas prices here are insane at the moment.

I found shrimp to be a bit more sensitive when it comes to changing water parameters. So I wouldn't "only temperature acclimate" them. Drip acclimating is more the way to go with shrimp (Def with caridina).

Online time I might quarantaine shrimps is when they go in a tank that already has shrimp. Never had a problem with shrimp doing harm to a fish tbh.

I guess it's really personal. I still got the most fun out of shrimps. Just love they way how they are 24/7 looking for food and moving around the tank, on top of each other or using the snails as a ride when they are tired. 40 gallon is a bit big for shrimps though. On the upside: that means a lot of room for lot of shrimps 😉

Of you have a dead shrimp, you Will know. Turns into a weird color, starting wit a pinkish one as @lefty o is saying. But can also be different like a yellowish color. This is a molt. I find that they molt more often just after a water change. You can just leave it in the tank and it will be eaten by the shrimp for the calcium. If it's from a female: they most likely to get eggs just after molding. So if you see a lot of shrimp going through the tank like crazy, this might be because they are smelling that the female is 'ready'.

With the high energy costs in Europe atm i had to make some choises about the heaters as well. Not every tank is heated at the moment and at night the temp in my house drops to about 61 degrees. Only the betta tank for now is heated. Not heated tanks include shrimps, cory's, endlers and diamond tetra. Any temp you've all found as really the lowest temp untill you see your fish get affected by the cold? For now i don't see any chance in behaviour yet. Ofcourse keeping an eye on it every day.

I think the rule about the caridina shrimps and low ph works in most of the times. But def. not in all. Never had Amano shrimps, but i have different kinds of caridina and neocaridina shrimp at the moment. Some of the caridina shrimps are actually better of in harder water with higher ph, like the Caridina Dennerle (Sulawesi). So as for every rule there are exceptions and you should read the info before buying a new line. Also always good to check the parameters of the breeder they come from if possible. The Crystal Reds/Blacks are known to be a sturdy line that is able to survive and breed in harder waters to. Here in the Netherlands that means we can use tap water for them instead of RO water. This are lines tho that are born and grown in tap water. Doing this to shrimps that are born in RO water gives problems. I've tried both and on the long term i found less problems with the Crystals on softer water tbh.

I've got them here in a dark water thank. Never realised they turn a red/pinkish color. XD In the same tank i have a male betta, albino cory's and my culled shrimp.

Any updates on the shrimps? As @tolstoy21 said, the GH is a bit high. Not sure if that's the reason for the climbing, but def something to keep in mind. Chances are they are born and grown in water with much lower GH. In my experience the older shrimps can have a pretty hard time when it comes to changes water parameters. When i'm buying new shrimps i prefer the younger ones for that reason. Best is to drip acclimate them and take your time. And even then it's hard to keep them all alive. As soon as you got shrimplets you should be fine.

Kind of makes sense they won't ship the product if it's just a normal shop that normally doesn't do shopping either. We now and then have to ship something at our company (not a store) and it's always a pain if you don't have the inventory for it. Getting a box, tape, something to fill up the empty space... Then go to a Post Office (takes a lot of time)... Having to deal with issues if the package gets missing... I spend an hour easy on just sending an package. So on top of the delivery costs you have to calculate the salary. Selling stuff in a store is just a totally different job then sending stuff around.

I always steal the towels from the kitchen. So when finished they go in the laundry like all the other towels. Never had a problem with it, not even after a short dip in the aquarium (accidentally).