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Oak leaves and how I use them in shrimp tanks
Blue Ridge replied to Blue Ridge's topic in Food & Nutrition
I wonder why that would be? I'd think an oak is an oak wherever it's growing. Perhaps a result of me leaving them in the sun? It's not a big issue, once they get soaked they become pliable and soft it's just a head scratcher... -
Shrimp Dying, No Idea why
Blue Ridge replied to Steensj2004's topic in General Questions/Discussions
AFAIK, only crystal reds. FWIW, Rob at Flip imports the vast majority of his stock. Price of success, I suppose. He can't breed them fast enough to meet demand. He's very open about this and a great guy to deal with. But I wouldn't buy Caridina as imports when they can be had (much) cheaper home bred from a hobbyist. Mischlings might be a good way to go, you'll usually get a variety of black and red crystals F1, depending on what they were bred with. And they tend to be a little hardier like tigers, though still more fragile than most Neos. -
Thank you so much! I was trying to go through the standard settings menu, which is disabled. Fixed now!
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buy BUYING SHRIMP - SHOP OR MAIL ORDER
sdlTBfanUK replied to sdlTBfanUK's topic in Shrimp Health & Care
Interesting to get a different perspective from someone who has sold them in the past! I think we are very lucky in that we are a small country and there are always about 20 people (hobbyists mainly) selling on ebay and when I used to buy that way I never had a single death but they would always arrive in less than 24 hours so barely had time to get too stressed. The 2 recent orders for my new setup bees was from an online specialist and with that I got 1 DOA of the 18 so that's 'acceptable' to me, I think some have died when in the tank subsequently but there is no way of me knowing whether that was the shrimps or the tank as the tank is being a real pain in the ar*e this time for some bizarre reason. Thanks for your views. Simon -
Oak leaves and how I use them in shrimp tanks
sdlTBfanUK replied to Blue Ridge's topic in Food & Nutrition
That's a handy tip for getting the leaves to sink otherwise they float for a couple of days! We must be quite lucky here as our leaves don't curl/roll up like the ones in your photos. I guess you can just put some water in a cup and let them soak until they sink as well if you don't like/want them floating in the tank until they sink! Simon -
Shrimp Dying, No Idea why
sdlTBfanUK replied to Steensj2004's topic in General Questions/Discussions
As you have already ordered the GH+ why not, they are more colourful and the different patterns make them more interesting, and the water parameters of your tank are already spot on for those! I looked at the Aquahuna website you mentioned and they had a good variety and very reasonably priced I thought? Simon -
Well I’m not paying and I’m new as well, but I can change these... Just to clarify u mean these?
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Shrimp Keepers Forum welcomes mattnmango. Please feel free to browse around and get to know others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. View Member regards, skfadmin
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Shrimp Dying, No Idea why
Steensj2004 replied to Steensj2004's topic in General Questions/Discussions
I am. I’ve looked at a few vendors. I ha w a buddy ordering from Aqua Huna in a few weeks, but I honestly don’t know if them import or tank breed. I know Flip tank breeds, he’s from my home state. I don’t know, but I have time to decide. I’m in no hurry. Does the vendor you’re talking about sell only reds, or does he have other colors? -
I will consider it. I have an agreement with my wife that $100 a month each is our hobby allowance, and am behind on that by the tune of 6 months already at the moment. Patreon's and forum subscriptions count towards that so it may be a bit unless I sell some stuff (which is likely). I've owned a message board and been a moderator on several and understand server costs and the work that goes into these endeavors and particularly the difficulty of breaking even now that so many folks just use Reddit, FB, Instagram and so forth. It's a tough balance to give member perks to paid subscribers and not leave the nonpaying majority feeling like they can't enjoy the full forum. I admin'ed a corn snake forum where the owner decided to not allow nonpaying people have the ability to edit posts, and it resulted in a ton of members not sticking around -and the downfall of it being a popular place to post. I think to this day the most popular thread on that site is titled, "Show us you pets," and the site owner would not let me fix the typo. (insert roll eyes emoji) All of this to say that I understand restricting some privileges for non-paying folks, as well as the potential for free members not sticking around that it can have. For the time being, I will mark forums messages as spam to keep my phone from alerting me all day and hopefully kick a few bucks a month your way later on. I love international forums regarding our hobbies and the different approaches that seem to be regional and think these can enrich us all! Cheers, and thanks for the explanation.
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I believe those settings are only enabled for paid subscribers. Consider supporting the forum, your knowledge and experience will be most welcome here. Just checking that you are clicking the "Notification Settings" as per the image below right?
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Hi Simon, Yep! All the other tanks are doing great. The yellow neos in the 10litre are breeding well. And the neon tetras are well too! We are battling extremely hot and humid days over here in singapore. I believe if i did not keep my tanks in the room with ac, their temps could reach 34°c The ac is working very very hard indeed. Well, i guess it just means more regular maintainence on it. Regards, Jo Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
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I was wanting to change my settings so that I do not get an email alert every time there's a reply or reaction to a post. Is this something that is disabled for new members?
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Shrimp Dying, No Idea why
Blue Ridge replied to Steensj2004's topic in General Questions/Discussions
You're in the US, no? There's a guy on another forum who breeds nice CRS and sells them for $1 each +actual shipping. Home bred, hardy and beautiful shrimp with lots of positive feedback. Not sure of rules regarding crossposting, so will hold off for now, but if rules allow I'll post a link. Or PM me when you are ready. He's had this colony for years, so no need to rush. I only mention this because most vendors sell imports for between $5-10 each. -
Shrimp Dying, No Idea why
Steensj2004 replied to Steensj2004's topic in General Questions/Discussions
I’m seriously considering some Red Crystals🤔🤔 -
Oak leaves and how I use them in shrimp tanks
Blue Ridge replied to Blue Ridge's topic in Food & Nutrition
After a month in the sun, the green leaves turn quite brown. My biggest concern is contamination, and I feel that's less likely if I take them from the air. As for adding water to the bags, that's just to water log them so that they sink right away. Probably lots of ways this can be achieved, just sharing what works for me. 👍 -
Oak leaves and how I use them in shrimp tanks
sdlTBfanUK replied to Blue Ridge's topic in Food & Nutrition
I also use oak leaves and some others but I just gather a carrier bag full of brown dropped leaves in winter, unless I speak nicely to a gardener when they are around doing maintenance in the gardens in winter? House and gardens aren't near enough to a road to suffer from any pollution luckily - important when gathering them that there is no pollution or pesticides etc on them! If you have natural woods nearby that would be a great way to get loads? They then go in the tank, as is, a few at a time (they float for a day or 2 as they are dry) throughout the year and the rest just stay in the plastic carrier bag - if they were damp/wet when collected I just dry them out on a table in the sun before storing them in the plastic carrier bag. About half an hour of collecting leaves means enough for a whole year. They should be fallen leaves that are brown as far as I am aware, not picked from the tree! I think the others I do this with are mulberry (???) but I do also buy/use Indian Almond Leaves, they won't grow in our climate as far as I know???? Great write up Blue Ridge! Simon -
buy BUYING SHRIMP - SHOP OR MAIL ORDER
Blue Ridge replied to sdlTBfanUK's topic in Shrimp Health & Care
Having owned a fish store and being a big shrimp hobbyist, my perspective on the matter is that so much depends on where the seller (whether local fish shop or online vendor) is getting their own stock. Here in the US, most shrimp available at either place seem to be imported into the country. Better sellers will mark their shrimp as either "home bred" or "imports." With drip acclimation into the best aged tanks, imported shrimp are still hit or miss. Unfortunately, most varieties I am looking for are unicorns to find home bred. But if you can just get a few to survive to breed, following generations prove sturdy. Ornamental aquarium shrimp are fragile and don't ship well compared to most fishes. If all else was equal, I would prefer to buy them from a shop who has absorbed most of the losses. That's just rarely an option in my area. -
Posted this on another forum but thought it might be of some use here. For the first few years of shrimp keeping I bought many shrimp-specific items that I no longer see any need for. Among these are dried leaves, cones and such. There's nothing wrong with these "products," but I do feel that they are rather pricey for what they are and most of us probably have similar shrimp foods growing all around us. I've come to use mostly oak leaves for my shrimp and put these in every new tank as well. If there's any downside to these vs catappa and such, it isn't evident. These last about the same amount of time, release some tannins, grow biofilm well and basically "seem" the same to my untrained eye. I like to cut a limb or find one broken from wind and dry that out rather than picking leaves off of the ground: After about a month, they will look like this: I pull the leaves off and stick them in baggies and crush them somewhat: Then I add RO water to the baggies and let sit overnight. I didn't photograph this step. Next I strain off the water and add them to tanks. These four have been running with no shrimp, two of them since April. The idea is to let as much algae and biofilm grow as needed: Total cost, 9 cents for the baggie, and maybe a penny's worth of RO water. The limb above provided a modest pile of leaf litter for 8 aquariums.
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Shrimp Dying, No Idea why
sdlTBfanUK replied to Steensj2004's topic in General Questions/Discussions
Fantastic advice from blue ridge. I should probably have left my re-setup tank for longer than I did (a month) but hopefully it will settle down in time. Unfortunately you can't buy patience and we all get too excited when looking at an empty running tank! Hopefully you are right Blue ridge about the biofilm when starting up as my shrimp won't touch any foods or veg I have tried yet? Also,as blue ridge says, the parameters you mention above at the moment would suit caridina shrimp, but they are more fragile and sensitive, but you have some time to consider that? Also if your tap/source water is PH6 then you may not need to change the substrate if/when it stops buffering in the future? The only other thing that would then be different as you just want GH+ remineraliser for caridina, but GH/KH+ for cherry shrimps. Simon -
Shrimp Dying, No Idea why
Blue Ridge replied to Steensj2004's topic in General Questions/Discussions
Ah, I misunderstood. I thought the tank was just now three months old and the shrimp were added after set up. But yeah, outside of testing water here and there and some small partial water changes, this is so much more hands off than reef keeping. In a shrimp only planted tank, there is so little bioload from these tiny creatures (unless overfed of course) that maintenance is minimal. Especially to those of us who come from a side of the hobby where you are often getting your hands wet. Am I correct that only one Neo has survived? Even if so if it's a female, there's a good chance she's been bred and can save the population for you. Just keep an eye on that abdomen. -
Shrimp Dying, No Idea why
Steensj2004 replied to Steensj2004's topic in General Questions/Discussions
Thanks! I mentioned in the OP the tank was 3 months old when I started adding shrimp. Ammonia testing is in the 0.00 in every test I’ve done. I also done reef tanks for years, I’m finding out that often things from the reef world don’t directly translate to the shrimp world. -
Shrimp Dying, No Idea why
Blue Ridge replied to Steensj2004's topic in General Questions/Discussions
@Steensj2004 You've gotten good advice all around and I think you are on the right track. The biggest thing I would change going forward is let any tank set up for shrimp go a bit longer before adding livestock. I typically set mine up for 3 months with just substrate, leaf litter, plants and snails and let a good base of algae and biofilm develop. This is probably overkill but my luck has changed dramatically since adopting this method. Ours is not a hobby for the impatient and nothing good happens fast in an ecosystem. Another issue with many of these active soils is that they produce NH4 for the first several weeks. While this is great to give plants a nice head start even trace ammonia is incredibly hard on shrimp. I suspect Caridina will do great in that tank if you decide to try some down the road. Do drip acclimate, and feed ridiculously lightly until you get a population built up. If they aren't swarming any added food, there's enough for them to forage on in the tank. Small populations of these things require almost no care! Coming from the reef side of the hobby, it was quite difficult for me to have these tanks of creatures and not be "doing anything." -
Help with disease identification - Rocket Killie and Endler
sdlTBfanUK replied to Crabclaw's topic in Killifish
I don't know what its official name is but here is a link (I know the supplier isn't of any interest to you) to what I got. https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/rocks/1381-tropica-lava-rock-5703249715104.html?search_query=lava&results=21 Its looks are very unique so you either like the look or not? Most of mine is covered with moss anyway? Or like this one but I would glue the plant to it rather than see an elastic band and it is soooo easy to glue plants to driftwood or rocks, it is just super glue though has to be non-toxic type; https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/aquarium-plants/2646-bucephalandra-wavy-green-on-lava-rock-tropica-5703249939012.html?search_query=lava&results=21 Simon- 11 replies
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Shrimp Dying, No Idea why
Steensj2004 replied to Steensj2004's topic in General Questions/Discussions
Thanks. I’m going to ride this out for a while longer. I really don’t want to nuke livestock because I’m impatient. The three inside now seem to be thriving. Several molts have occurred without any failures or problems. They are all very active and are plugging along doing ,”Shrimp Stuff.” Thanks for all the help again!
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