Shrimp newbie advise

[st4tic]

Hey all I am new to the shrimp thing and am a bit confused by a few things. But first a bit about what I have and want to achieve.

I am looking at keeping Crystal Reds and Blacks and as my confidence increases trying for a few different types like Hulks and Blue Bolts and maybe a selective breeding program. I have a cycled rack with 5 tanks ( 4 x 3ft and 1 x 5ft) a common sump (3ft with normal media and a 10000 l/h pump with return so pressure isn't through the roof) and sponge filters for each of the 5 tanks. It has a 300w heater but I am thinking of adding a second 200w just in case of a problem. Will this be ok for the above shrimp or stop the sump and just use the sponges? And now for my newbie questions and things I would like clarified.

- Pinto's are a hybrid shrimp of tigers and bees bred for specific patterns or is there something more complicated happening?

- Can you have mishlings and end up with a few different bee type shrimp after breeding. ie 2 x mishlings bred and offspring could be KK or Hulk or Panda (or any others) depending on genes?

- Can you ever breed true bees from mishlings?

- When doing water changes do you gravel vac the substrate or just top up water?

- I was planning to have the tanks bare with mosses and plants in pots to help with cleaning will this be ok?

- I am using rain water it has a 6.8 PH, 0 KH and I don't have a test kit for TDS and GH is it necessary to have these tests and will I need something to buffer the water and keep the PH lower like ADA soil? - (I have read if KH and PH are low you cannot have a high TDS????)

- Can you get Crystal Blues, Greens or Oranges and what is the difference between Pandas and Crystal Black is it just a slight colour difference?

Please forgive any obviously silly questions as I have searched a lot on the net and confused myself with different information. I am also wanting to minimise any deaths so have not bought any shrimp yet until I am satisfied I know enough and can achieve what I would like to.

Any extra advise would be appreciated thanks for the help and if you need any more information about my setup or anything let me know sorry again if anything seems obvious.

Cheers :)

[Disciple]

14 hours ago, st4tic said:

- Pinto's are a hybrid shrimp of tigers and bees bred for specific patterns or is there something more complicated happening?

- Can you have mishlings and end up with a few different bee type shrimp after breeding. ie 2 x mishlings bred and offspring could be KK or Hulk or Panda (or any others) depending on genes?

- Can you ever breed true bees from mishlings?

- When doing water changes do you gravel vac the substrate or just top up water?

- I was planning to have the tanks bare with mosses and plants in pots to help with cleaning will this be ok?

- I am using rain water it has a 6.8 PH, 0 KH and I don't have a test kit for TDS and GH is it necessary to have these tests and will I need something to buffer the water and keep the PH lower like ADA soil? - (I have read if KH and PH are low you cannot have a high TDS????)

- Can you get Crystal Blues, Greens or Oranges and what is the difference between Pandas and Crystal Black is it just a slight colour difference?

Please forgive any obviously silly questions as I have searched a lot on the net and confused myself with different information. I am also wanting to minimise any deaths so have not bought any shrimp yet until I am satisfied I know enough and can achieve what I would like to.

Any extra advise would be appreciated thanks for the help and if you need any more information about my setup or anything let me know sorry again if anything seems obvious.

Cheers :)

Welcome to SKF

From my understanding Pinto are set patterns but are still technically hybrids of Tigers and TB.

Yes You can breed two Mischlings and TB can appear from the Offspring but it usually occurs more often in the later generations around 6-7.

This is a grey area. Some people say if TB's from mischlings breed true after 10 generations then they are true bees again and some say you always need to mention that they came from Mischlings.

I just top up my water.

I have substrate and plant and mosses everywhere. Maybe someone else can help answer this question.

I recommend getting a TDS pen and GH tests I think they are very important and help give you very important information. I also recommend you get a buffering soil if you plan on keeping TB's. I assume the tds from your rain water should be low but if you cant test it you never know. If it is low you may need to buy some Salty Shrimp GH+ or DIY.

I think your set up seems fine the way it is. I always go with the extra filtration but its up to you.

[st4tic]

Thanks for the advise I will get the soil to help with the water parameters if I put some in each tanks will it lower the PH too much or just balance out to a set level? Are there any brands of TDS pen you recommend or whatever the LFS sells will be fine? what mosses do you use for low to medium light tanks I have java and I think some christmas moss are there any others readily available in adelaide that will work as all I see seems to be java?