nabokovfan87

yeah. I have the same stuff. The splashless is supposed to be slightly more concentrated so you can use less. I saw one video where it was recommended to use 1/3-cup of thin bleach or 1/4-cup of the splashless kind. (Something along those lines) Either way, yes it's the right stuff to use. no scents or anything like that, just plain bleach.

Right there with you. If I look real fast it's a female. need an unobstructed view though. Much line amanos, the females are a lot larger than the males. Males always tend to be a bit more active and moving around the tank as well. Females typically graze more.

Agreed! I think what in finding is that the flex of the material and the movement when trying to close the jaws ends up with mine often in a V shape as opposed to II which just means it's not holding the plants. It's not that I'm trying to have too much pressure or misusing them. I pretty much only use mine for plants or holding in frozen food at the surface. I noticed it (in my testing so to speak) that there is a lot of play or movement and it's akin to using something that you think is as straight as an arrow, but it's curved and not true. That sense of going to take your glasses off and they aren't there. I am holding the plant, go to plant, plant in place, plant floats away. It happens far more than I would think it should. I look at the teeth and it's that V shape. Try to straighten things out or fix things and that's when I go back to the material being too easy to deflect or something. It is what is it, and honestly it might just be the way these things are. I have been eyeballing shorter ones, maybe that is the fix.

Given the stocking, it is something to just be aware of and look for so to speak. Neon Tetra Disease. So, in terms of all of the fish and the CPDs do you see any washed out colors, is one species not coloring up? Is there any behavior that stands out? Flashing? Basically, take a moment when you can and sit in front of the tank for ~30 minutes and just watch and see what you see. After 20 minutes, go ahead and drop a little food to see behavior. You'd want to see everyone going for food and make note of anyone who is getting really outcompetted for food. Something like the danio might not have the activity level of the tetra and maybe it's that's simple. As always, one of the best places to start would be salt. 1 tbsp per 5G as just a dose to boost up gill function and a few other things. You can also add in some botanicals if you have them.

That moment when you wake up, maybe the fan is on during summer, and then you notice the room seems eerily quiet. You don't see the lights on and you just sit up and try to hear the silence. .....ok cool, the filter is still running.

Yeah. The baby shrimp love to hide in that sponge. I end up doing it in a bucket because the sponges, course especially, always dumps a lot of the debris back into the tank, but I just do a similar method as mark where you lift the sponge in and out of the water and the have to get off. Second tip is to use light, a bright one like a flashlight because that is usually going to encourage them to leave the filter material.... Eventually. The third tip is that you really have to be thorough and check the inside of the sponge too and not just the outside. The shrimp love to get in there and treat the inside opening the same as the outer opening. Marineland has prefilters as well, they might work a bit better with shrimp. I have one on my tank and it will have baby shrimp soon, but the other shrimp don't get stuck in the material as easily so far.

I know a lot of people keep saying this and in my use of ~5-6 different ACs and a plethora of power outages and maintenance sessions, I have almost never had an AC restart for me. You kind of have to have the water level very high because of the design of the box itself and the pump location as well as lean it backwards so that some of the water stays in the tank. Honestly, the uplift tube always siphons out for me. Water level being where it needs to be what ends up happening is that the pump has a lot of air to pass through the impeller and it's very hard for it to do so and to start the flow back. You end up hearing that "classic" noise of an AC struggling to pull water through the tube over and over and over and over and over and over until you go and mess with the intake tube or do something to knock the air out. The trick I used was to just adjust the flow from low to high and back and forth to knock the air out..... And that is all assuming the impeller actually spins when you hit go. Needless to say the rose tinted glasses on the AC, I don't understand. I get that people love it, but it has a lot of issues.

Welcome welcome! Ghost shrimp aren't easy sometimes! I know I couldn't do anything with em. Your setups sound great. Looking forward to seeing the clown pleco.

What kind do you have? What are your water parameters and your methods? The goal is to basically treat the tank like any other community tank with a few modifications for shrimp specifically. Ideally. Tank needs: -Sponge filter (fine is best) -LOTS of air -Wood (mopani is my choice) -Some kind of rock, seiryu or dragonstone both have advantages. -I use low demand plants, maybe some fast growing or floating. -feeding dish -botanicals preferred, but optional -hides also help (i.e. dragonstone, plants, etc.) Regiment: -Feeding shrimp specific food, daily complete food every 2-3 days. (at least 2x a week if you want to sub in something else during a feeding) -Siphon the substrate as need be, preferably every time you do maintenance. This can be done weekly if you just need to. -Water change (this is the key) is about building up a tolerance, but mostly understanding how shrimp live in the wild. (notes below) -Water changes, 30-50% (yes 50 can be done) every 2 weeks. I am trying to stick to 30% every 2 weeks and the key is to monitor GH and KH over time. Water in has to be similar to water out. Ideally, KH = KH, GH can vary a little bit from what I know, but I also do have evidence to the contrary. As an example, the water in my tank was ~15 degrees as my GH has climbed on me from the SJ treatment and limited WC. My tap has GH at much lower rate. I did my 50% wc and the GH ended up being around 11-12 after testing. (I have the notes, just not on me right now). For the sake of clarity, let's say GH needs to be within ~1 degree or so (maybe 2). Meaning, If the water in the tank is at 9 degrees, you'd optimally want the water going in the tank to be 8-10 degrees. I do not drip the water back in the tank. I use buckets, just like you normally would for a nano community setup. Add in the water slowly and make sure you don't crush / scare the shrimp. My technique has been to use a sheet of 3/4-1" styrofoam that is only used on this tank. I lay it across the surface and slowly pour the water back in via the top surface of the styrofoam. It takes a little practice, but it's extremely easy once you get the hang of it. Because my use of GH/KH buffers is not regular, I am only adding GH as a need be (essentially the same way you would feed in a mineral based food for the shrimp). If the GH is below 7 then I will add in a little bit of buffer to get things back up to ~8. KH for me is around 4 degrees, but I don't think matching KH between tanks is as critical as the long term stability of said KH. It's very easy using a KH buffer to have the PH fly up on you because the KH skyrocketed. That has absolutely caused some issues with my amanos and it's something I would avoid with neos entirely. In the case of someone who has very soft water and uses a KH/GH buffer, my method has been to add that buffer to the bucket, mix it up a few times, wait 15 minutes and mix it some more, and then go ahead and add the water in. I don't pre-stage water because I just don't have the space or setup to do so. Not saying it isn't advisable, but it's just not been necessary. If you're using a hose to fill. you'd have your buffers ready to go and then just add it as the tank fills. (this might not be possible if you are using a lot of buffers, using very small amounts it has been fine) Please feel free to ask questions. I am more than happy to show things in more detail if need be, photos, etc.

Given what you have to house, a gladiator rack might be a good choice. The 75G I have is pretty good. There's no room for sump, but the quality is pretty good. It's an aquarium branded 75G stand, wood, made by a company called sauder. You might be able to get it off of amazon, but I do believe it's out of Currently I run and really appreciate the price (when on special) of the petco brand imagitarium brooklyn stands. They are basic, they work, and you can add whatever need be via magnets. It's a really affordable option, like I said, if you find a sale or something. Petsmart also just released a few new brands/styles of stands, they look really awesome.

what size tank? There's a lot of very beautiful little fish or single species that might fit. when you're ready be sure to make a thread for ideas 🙂

I just got done with the maintenance on the tank. I couldn't remember the last time I was able to sit and really spend time on the tank. I took my sweet time and siphoned the sand, got a bit of the junk up and it was really nice to be able to do that for the shrimp. I ended up finding an anubias surprise as well and tried to fix a bunch of their plants. The shrimps were being a bit funny today. There was all these female shrimp that kept chasing my hand while I was trying to move things and clean the tank. I was putting anubias on the rock and I see a few shrimp, then 5, then 10, then 20. It was just fun. Pure joy. I am really enjoying spending time with the colony and watching them do their thing. I had to use some ice to match the temp in the tank as it's a bit hot outside today. Yesterday they got some mysis shrimp and I think they did well with it. I'll have to find a method to get it "sort of" in the feeding dish. It blends in with the white sand and so that's just a bit difficult to really keep track if they don't eat it. Anyways, nothing too fancy, nothing too deep, just wanted to post about those moments so I remember to appreciate them in future. Here's a bit of George for your entertainment. 🙂

Hello @JE47 welcome to the forums! You might have some luck finding a journal or breeding project thread about white clouds. I swear I've seen one before, but let me try to help out.

Awesome setup. 🙂 If you can, check the local shops for some types of anubias and it should look / do really well in the tank for you. It's an epiphyte so you don't have to bury it in the substrate or anything. This is a larger tank with a lot of types of anubias and a pretty tall piece of wood. The nana won't overgrow the tank, but should look really good. They also have a slightly smaller nana petite version.

Very sorry about your loss. It sounds like she had a good life though! What does the tank look like?

Are you able to "refresh" the air in the jar so it doesn't just turn into CO2 on them?

Well, I was checking on the shrimp tank and this little thing did not look quite right. I think a lot of hobbyist might look at this and either run to throw it away because of fear of anubias rhizome rot or look at and just think the plant itself is drying. If you look at the main, thick rhizome that is a very pale color you can see that all the leaves were removed. Because of this the plant has to grow new ones. Well, it actually decided to grow new plants instead! I ended up having 3 pretty small little anubias pieces on the rhizome. Each one grow outside of the rhizome, grows a few leaves and starts a new rhizome of their own. This is unique and cool, and something I really enjoy with epiphyte plants because it makes me feed like I salvaged something. 🙂 The main plant is probably coffeefolia or anubias nana. The little plants have a long way to go! This is also why sometimes you'll see a section of the rhizome that looks a bit off / pale. The plant has decided to abandon that section of rhizome. It's best to actually cut it off and remove it so you don't develop rhizome rot!!!

A bit of an update / final thoughts on all of this. I've been trying to use the fluvals for a while now and I'm still not happy with the situation. The spring tension on them, the metal selection, a lot of the more affordable pinsettes are so flexible that they deflect on themselves a bit too easily. Let me explain.... When you have the cross section of the tweezers and you have certain shapes they will behave differently when the end of the tweezers touch and apply force to one another. Think of it like trying to take two dry spaghetti noodles as your pinsettes and what "shape" would be optimal. The common layout I've seen is on the left with a more rectangular profile. This leads to deflection because there is nearly no restriction on the metal. the metal will deflect as hard as you push it. At the end of the tines you might have a more circular shape like you see on the right, but the actual arms of the pinsettes themselves are rectangular. There is no "backbone" so to speak. Triangles lead to strength that is why on a lot of structural designs you will see triangles. So if someone was ever to make a more rigid design on a pinsette it would have that middle profile. Realistically you would use something with a more finished feel to the user, which is the shape on the right. Some examples: Fluval: Cheap amazon ones: High end ones: (profile is still rectangular on these) Once you get to ADA I think these have a bit of a rounded profile to them, it's very hard to tell though. The upper section is that normal flat spring / rectangular profile. I'm not sure what to do with the information, but ultimately, that's where it's lead me trying to find some hand tools I can work well with.

I believe marina makes one, let me check pump location. https://www.amazon.com/Marina-A285-S10-Power-Filter/dp/B0032G8TPW/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=marina+nano+filter&qid=1692306554&sr=8-2 Aqueon also has the quietflow series, internal and external. Some of them have the smartclean feature which makes maintenance extremely easy for kids.

Aqueon has a new set of filters that is pretty cool in how "easy" it makes water changes and stuff. Given the ease, it might make it easier for them to do so as well. This is one of the kits, but they have the filters themselves as well in various sizes. They also have a shrimp version with a prefilter https://www.aqueon.com/products/filters-media/quietflow-internal-power-shrimp-filters-with-smartclean

There is a 3-day soak method that works well I would recommend you try. The method for what to use is going to be either bleach, Hydrogen peroxide, or algecide (easy carbon). Here's the video with the details, the directions are in the video description as well.

Yeah, that's one thing I can't really control. My water is "fine" so to speak for shrimp, but I do have to use buffers slightly. Ultimately the goal is to avoid using RO systems though if at all possible. I believe for Caridina is strongly recommended to use an RO/DI system, but for Neo shrimp there is a bit more leeway.

Hey everyone, I am working on trying to better understand cherry shrimp (neocaridina davidi) care and I am looking for someone to work on a project with. What I am looking for is someone who has the space and ability to setup a shrimp tank and follow the same basic regiment I use on my tank. The goal here is to really understand what works for the species in question, why it works, and to try to better verify what the species truly need. Ultimately, I want to be able to advise someone accurately and effectively in the care of the species and I just don't have the space to really keep enough colonies. If someone has room for a 20L tank somewhere and has all the supplies needed for a shrimp colony maybe there is a way we can work together on this and learn together. I'm hoping there is someone with an established colony with a known method of care that we can utilize to compare and contrast my own methods with. From the established colony, selecting 10-20 shrimp and using them to start up a new colony with the altered methods. I am in the process of doing this myself and just waiting on a new filter, but that will be a matter of time. Fish are going through meds and what not, slightly delayed things for the tank I was planning to utilize. If you're interested please feel free to post below or send me a DM and we can talk in further detail about everything. note: I want to make it very clear that I am not intending in any way to do anything that is unsafe for the shrimp and I would not encourage such a behavior. I don't want it to appear or seem like my own care practices have caused issues for my shrimp. In my own colony I lost shrimp due to the normal reasons and no losses that I can isolate to my care methods. I lost 1-2 shrimp from shipping and acclimation to my water. I lost 5-6 due to a pretty severe GH crash from my water changing at the tap. I've lost 4-6 shrimp due to Scutariella Japonica treatments as well. I believe all of this is pretty common and not due to normal maintenance methods of the tank in question. Overall my colony is seemingly doing very well and the idea is to care for the shrimp with certain items as well as to treat the tank like a community tank setup. Essentially, similar to how amano shrimp are cared for.

It must be hot there! 20L and 29G tanks are a bit funky when it comes to the lids for them. I have had to basically "make" my own using the manufactured lids and ordering a custom rear trim. If you have a local glass shop or want to make a lid that would help keep some of the evap in the tank. Given that it's a shrimp tank, just atmospheric contamination, it would be a good idea as well to help protect from contamination. The out of the box, pre-made aqueon versatop lids is what I have on my tank and there is a 1/4-3/8" gap on the front of the tank which I just cover with a hand towel. It's kind of silly that the lids aren't designed for the tank in question, but it's just an aqueon issue/thing that seems to have progressed through just about every lid you can buy for the tank apart from one custom measured and made for the tank. Hopefully that helps!

The common two are going to be salt+catappa leaves in addition to either kanaplex or neoplex. As mentioned above maracyn2 two is also an option, but I tend to hear (and have used kanaplex) the seachem stuff often recommended.