Welcome Tracy

[Tracy]

Shrimp Keepers Forum welcomes Tracy.

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regards,
skfadmin

[Tracy]

Hello, SKFAQUATICS!  Thanks for adding me to the group.  I adore everything about aquariums but I am addicted to the tiny but mighty Caridina shrimp!

[jayc]

54 minutes ago, Tracy said:

I adore everything about aquariums but I am addicted to the tiny but mighty Caridina shrimp!

Welcome Tracy,

you have come to the right place. 

[sdlTBfanUK]

Wecome Tracy to the forum.

That is a stunning blue steel shrimp, tell us more?

Simon

[Tracy]

Thank you, Simon!  I think she's gorgeous.  I've been keeping them a bit over 6 months but they're doing well.  What do you keep

Edited January 20, 2021 by Tracy

[sdlTBfanUK]

I have 3 tanks of about 30L each.

The oldest has ember tetra, neon tetra and red cherry shrimps in it. The majority of the cherry shrimps have gone wild colour now as I didn't cull. It is fairly densely planted and just uses dechlorinated tap water!

I then have a betta tank with a male betta where I sometimes dump some of the cherry wild shrimp in either as food or company for the betta. That tank has also become densely planted. I use tapwater for this tank but add GH and/or KH to get to near the parameters JayC here recommended and that seems to work perfectly. I tried with just tap water (dechlorinated) a few times before but it never worked but thanks to JayC advice it now runs fine.

Now for the last tank. This started out as a Taiwan Bee tank and went unbelievably well using zerowater and shrimp minerals. You can see photos on this link, scroll down to 30 Dec 2018,

https://skfaquatics.com/forum/forums/topic/14025-tap-water-taiwan-bee-uk-zerowater/

Following the heater stiicking on in that tank and cooking all the stunning shrimp I couldn't get it work when I re-did the tank, I have had to assume the substrate has something to do with it (???) as it has never grown plants well etc and the tank looks very drab/brown, not the lush green of the other tanks or the same as it was in this tank with the other substrat? I will use the substrate I used before if/when I have another bash at TB shrimps sometime in the future. At the moment I have a killie and 11 mosquito rasbora in that tank! 

Would love to hear all about your setup(s) and experiences as I am definitely a HUGE Taiwan bee shrimp fan, and still disappointed with what happened to mine................

Simon

 

[Tracy]

My gosh, Simon your shrimp look amazing.  In the beginning I also used the Zerowater product. Mostly to get the TDS meter that comes with. I've been using that same meter for 3 yrs.  Sadly, my tanks are too big to keep using it for water changes and stuff.  I use distilled drinking water now and it's working just fine.  What substrate are you using?  I used Tropica in one tank and Bright Well in the other. I had close to zero baby survival rate in the  Tropica tank. The Bright Well tank was much better with the shrimp. Gonna try SL AQUA next.

[sdlTBfanUK]

The soil I prefer is the JBL ProScape Shrimp soil (a German product I think so may not be available in the USA), it took a bit more preparation (buckets in the bathroom for a few weeks) but tanks were wonderful and green and I had an explosion of the shrimp population! I will stick with this soil in future.

This time I used Shrimp King Actiive soil and the tank looks very brown and not at all healthy, and I tried a few batches of shriimp and they died within days, so got fish in there for now. Once the fish die off I will probably have another go at shrimp by completely starting again, but we have delivery chaos here at the moment anyway, so that is helping put that idea off for now anyway! I can't be totally sure that the soil is to blame but everything else I have done the same as before? I got the fish nearly a year ago just as everything went crazy, literally days later.

I can get Tropica in the UK but have not tried it, and probably won't if you had no luck? My supplier stocks a few different types, but not SL Aqua or Brightwells. I plan to stock up with the JBL when we get nearer summer here, easier for delivery and hopefully things may improve by then a  bit!

I understand what you are saying about the zerowater being slow to filter so it wouldn't be ideal for multi or large tanks. Whaat brand of bottled water do you use? It is good to hear though that the zerowater workedd for you as I have recommended it so often, people say they will get one and then I don't hear again, so I never know what happened? I assume then that it is because it worked, but I never really know with any certainty!

Hope we can hear more about your setups and experiences.

Simon