Jump to content

G'day from Sydney!


Aussie.Shrimp.Girl

Recommended Posts

Hi fellow Shrimp lovers!! 

Thank you for allowing me to join. I kinda got hooked on shrimp accidentally. 

A little about me...I'm a registered nurse and also have extensive work experience and training in the dental industry. However, I'm on workers compensation, for a spinal injury I had in Feb 2011 at 23yrs old. I had emergency spinal surgery 6hrs after meeting my neurosurgeon as I was about to become paralysed and have no control over my bladder and bowel. Thankfully I had surgery in time to avoid becoming paralysed, but the rest of my body suffered. I have now had 5 major spinal operations on my lumbar spine (2 double level fusions, 3 microdiscectomies, and removal of facet joints and solid synovial cysts) and I have also had countless day procedures on my spine too. 

Anyway, about 12 months ago along came a MD fish tanks video suggestion on youtube and from then on, I was hooked! I wanted a planted tank with a community of fish. 

So about 6 weeks ago, I discovered an old 60L tank of mine on my garage. I cleaned it up and bought everything I needed (yep...my credit card hates me! Lol!) and I started cycling my tank. 

Next thing though I was getting algae everywhere. Brown algae...yuck! 

Now away from this tank, I fall in love with a 235L tank. I buy it but we need to put extra floor joists in and reinforce the floor. We also need to remove a door and plaster it up. Hopefully it'll be done in a couple months and I can start it up too! 

So I had been researching for ages. What should I put in my 60L to clean up this algae? I pop into my local LFS and I fall in love with a baby BN pleco. (Yes...im aware my 60L tank is too small but he'll be upgraded to the 235L before he is say another centimetre longer.) My little pleco was named Godfrey Macleay da Hoover. Those who are Aussie will know we have a store called Godfrey's who sell vacuums. Well lil Godfrey hoovered the vast majority of it up! 

However there was still a lot left, so I go on the hunt for something to eat it. I come across a "algae eaters" pack from an online LFS. So along came 3 nerite snails (Patrick, Bob and Gary) and 20 odd darwin algae eaters and red nose shrimp. I fell in love with them, so purchased another 20 of them plus 2 more nerites (Sluggo and Mrs Sandy P Cheeks). The shrimp, are to me, just called, "The shrimplets". 

So now, it's time a few nano fish. I have ordered 3 green neon tetras but now I'm leaning towards putting in some Aussie nano fish that may be found in the same, or close by, region. Im going to do some searching, but does anyone have any suggestions please? 

Quite a number of my ladies are berried at the moment. I read that they don't breed too well in freshwater set ups. Im hoping they do, as I would love to see them grow into a bigger colony. 

Anyway, I was never planning on getting shrimp, but here we are! I'm thinking of adding a few more red nose shrimp as I don't see them too often, and 2 jumped overboard when I was cleaning the tank 😞 (how do you pick them up quick enough to get them back in the tank?? They ended up passing away sadly.)

I now have plans to buy 4x 30L cube tanks and getting some other fascinating species. I may even end up surpassing that 4 tanks, as im just in love with them and they fascinate me! I could watch them all day. 

This tank was to distract me from my pain, my operations, my very likely situation where I will never work again. But maybe these guys can help me, keep me occupied, and maybe even give me a bit of extra income, once I am off workers comp (not allowed to work or volunteer whilst on it. Not even really allowed to go study a course at TAFE, uni or college either!). 

Anyway, thank you for having me, I look forward to meeting you all and chatting about all things shrimp! 😊 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a great intro. And amazing story.

Welcome to the forum. I see you have caught the shrimp bug and absolutely infected with the Multi Tank Syndrome (MTS). 

1 hour ago, Aussie.Shrimp.Girl said:

Godfrey Macleay da Hoover

HAHA, I snorted. 🤣

 

1 hour ago, Aussie.Shrimp.Girl said:

Im going to do some searching, but does anyone have any suggestions please? 

Awesome choice to build a native tank.

Pacific Blue Eyes (Pseudomugil Signifer) is highly recommended for such a tank. And they should be a little bit easier to find. Everything else might be a bit too big for a tanks with shrimp.

 

1 hour ago, Aussie.Shrimp.Girl said:

I now have plans to buy 4x 30L cube tanks and getting some other fascinating species.

I hope one of those species is CRS. My passion for the hobby really kicked off after I got CRS

Don't forget to leave enough money for other things like Substrate, TDS meter, other test kits, food, and plants. What postcode do you live in? I am about to throw out a large handful of Subwassertang  (aka Fresh water seaweed) if you don't mind picking up. 

Edited by jayc
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi JayC! 

Thank you for your kind response! 😊

Oh my gosh! That's so kind of you! 

 

4 minutes ago, jayc said:

What a great intro. And amazing story.

 

HAHA, I snorted. 🤣

 

I'm glad you love his name!! We were originally going to call all of them after rivers in Aus, so thats how he gets his middle name! Lol! The snails of course are from Spongebob square pants. 

10 minutes ago, jayc said:

Awesome choice to build a native tank.

Pacific Blue Eyes (Pseudomugil Signifer) is highly recommended for such a tank. And they should be a little bit easier to find. Everything else might be a bit too big for a tanks with shrimp

Ooh love that idea for fish! Ill go and see where i can source some and I'll cancel the order for green neon tetras. 

11 minutes ago, jayc said:

I hope one of those species is CRS. My passion for the hobby really kicked off after I got CRS

 

Cherry Red Shrimp?? I somehow have 2 or 3 little hitchhikers. I'll see if I can attach a photo of them. One is a red calico shrimp and the other a black calico shrimp. I thought I saw another but I didn't get a good enough look at him to see exactly what he was. I would love to see them up with a colony in individual tanks. Is it better to go for say 40L? I'm absolutely in love with all of these shrimp! They are just so fascinating. 

I am also verrrry much in love with jade green shrimp. 😍 At $40AUD each, that's very expensive, but I dont think im going to be able to resist! 

18 minutes ago, jayc said:

 Don't forget to leave enough money for other things like Substrate, TDS meter, other test kits, food, and plants. What postcode do you live in? I am about to throw out a large handful of Subwassertang  (aka Fresh water seaweed) if you don't mind picking up. 

Oh my gosh! Thank you so much! I'm down south in the Southern Highlands, but I'll be coming up hopefully on the weekend and next Wednesday. If you need to get rid of it straight away, I'm happy to pay for shipping if you wouldn't mind posting it. If not, it's all good 👍 thank you so much for your kind offer. 

The 235L tank is going to cost me a lot but I have now got all aquascaping tools, chemicals, TDS meter, test kits, etc, of course though I'll be buying more as I use them up. But I'm really excited to get another shrimp tank going. I don't think I'll be putting shrimp in the 235L as I would love Rams, red tail shark etc, things that would probably love to munch on a few shrimp. I have seem people adding amano shrimp to community tanks, but I do wonder if they are picked off and eaten? 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Aussie.Shrimp.Girl said:

Cherry Red Shrimp??

No. Crystal Red Shrimp. 

52 minutes ago, Aussie.Shrimp.Girl said:

One is a red calico shrimp and the other a black calico shrimp.

Darwin algae eaters can have those colours. So it might not be Cherry shrimps.

 

52 minutes ago, Aussie.Shrimp.Girl said:

Is it better to go for say 40L?

Not necessarily. The depth of the water (ie the height of the tank) does not really matter for shrimp. A tank that is bigger length x width but lower height is better than a tank that is taller for them. But then these sort of tanks are going into custom made sizes. So just pick one that you can fit in your space easily. That is usually a 30cm x 30cm tank, or 30x60cm.

 

52 minutes ago, Aussie.Shrimp.Girl said:

Southern Highlands, but I'll be coming up hopefully on the weekend and next Wednesday. If you need to get rid of it straight away, I'm happy to pay for shipping if you wouldn't mind posting it.

Hmm, that's quite a distance away. But you say you are coming up this weekend?

I haven't trimmed the subwassertang yet. It's still in my tank, so it's not like it will die.

I can leave it in a ziplock bag in my letterbox for you to pick up. Let's continue this conversation over a Private message. Don't want to share my address publicly. And you can tell me an approximate date and time where you will be in Sydney metro. Your plans might not take you anywhere near my house - so you still have to decide if you want to go out of the way to pick up free aquatic plants. 

Edited by jayc
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy it.

Amano shrimp are a staple of the aquarium hobby and bigger than dwarf shrimp so are ideal in community tanks. They aren't very colourful so that helps them stay 'out of sight' which helps and as they don't have shrimplets in freshwater, it is easy to control numbers.

The dwarf shrimp will be better in their own smaller tanks. I think CRS stands for 'Crystal Red Shrimp'???? It is confusing having 2 types of shrimp with the same 3 initials just the first 2 swapped round, and I could be wrong, have it the wrong way around! With cherry shrimp you will want to try and keep one type per tank as they will otherwise interbreed and quickly revert back to 'wild' which are clear or brown blotchy usually. Cherry shrimp (green jade is one of these, neocaridina) are much easierr to keep and can usually be kept in dechlorinated tap water, but Caridina types (crystal red are one of these) require different water (RO + remineralser usually with special substrate) and a lot more care/attention and delicate. The reward for the extra work with the Caridina though is that they are much prettier, IMO anyway!

As JayC points out, the depth of the tank isn't necessary with shrimp so it is better to have a shallower tank with a larger base area than a 'normal' type aquarium. It is usually recommended to start with neocaridina as they are easier, and more robust.

Like you, I got into the hobby when I had to stop working due to health problems, albeit I am a fair bit older than you!  I only have 1 tank running since a recent move and that has a betta and red cherry shrimps in it, 25 litre. Would like to try Caridina shrimp again (and may at some point) but my last attempt failed and not sure I am up for the challenge (and heartache when/if it fails, again) at this point? I may be getting some Apistograama soon if a friends babies survive, but I can't keep shrimp with them of coarse, but I haven't even set up that tank just yet.

Anyway, keep well and I look forward to reading (and hopefully seeing) how it all goes. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, jayc said:

No. Crystal Red Shrimp. 

Darwin algae eaters can have those colours. So it might not be Cherry Shrimps.

Oh duh Rochelle! (Real name is Rochelle just fyi in case you are wondering who that is! Lol!) Yes Crystal Red Shrimp. They are gorgeous and def a species I wish to get!! 

Yeah these 2 little ones (possibly 3 little ones) are only .8cm-1cm, one has bright red stripes that go across the body, exactly like a calico. Completely different shape to my darwin algae eaters. If I can work out how to resize the photo I took today of it, I'll upload it for you. The other one has blackish/brown stripes that go across the body. Same size and exactly the same body shape as the red one. I do suspect it's 2 rough calico, which the lfs also sell. They look completely different to my darwin algae eaters and red nose. 

 

1 hour ago, jayc said:

Not necessarily. The depth of the water (ie the height of the tank) does not really matter for shrimp. A tank that is bigger length x width but lower height is better than a tank that is taller for them. But then these sort of tanks are going into custom made sizes. So just pick one that you can fit in your space easily. That is usually a 30cm x 30cm tank, or 30x60cm.

 

 

Ahh right. Yes I remember reading that. My tank is 60x30x33. It's longer and not too tall. I'm thinking of getting those opticlear 30³ tanks as I love the look of them. Just clean and simple. I am also wanting another tank with similar dimensions as my current one. I have a bit of an idea of the set up I want in my small lounge room. 

 

1 hour ago, jayc said:

Hmm, that's quite a distance away. But you say you are coming up this weekend?

I haven't trimmed the subwassertang yet. It's still in my tank, so it's not like it will die.

I can leave it in a ziplock bag in my letterbox for you to pick up. Let's continue this conversation over a Private message. Don't want to share my address publicly. And you can tell me an approximate date and time where you will be in Sydney metro. Your plans might not take you anywhere near my house - so you still have to decide if you want to go out of the way to pick up free aquatic plants. 

I'm definitely coming up next Wednesday. Coming to the eastern suburbs, but I am happy to travel anywhere to collect. My dad drives me usually to Sydney as my meds can make me sleepy at the wheel, so I'll check with him too. But I'll chat to you in private messages to try and work out something. 

Thank you again, so very much for the offer of the plants. Just so generous of you. Thank you 💛

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

Welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy it.

Amano shrimp are a staple of the aquarium hobby and bigger than dwarf shrimp so are ideal in community tanks. They aren't very colourful so that helps them stay 'out of sight' which helps and as they don't have shrimplets in freshwater, it is easy to control numbers.

Hi sdlTBfanUK!! 

Thank you for your kind and welcoming message! I'm so sorry to hear you too had to retire due to medical issues. It's so depressing when it happens but hopefully your tank and your lil shrimp bring you joy! 

Ahh cool! Well Amano shrimp will be going in my big tank! I need shrimp in every tank as I'm so in love with them, but I just didn't want them to be eaten by the carnivorous fish! I like the idea of easy to control numbers wise, too! Haha! 

59 minutes ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

The dwarf shrimp will be better in their own smaller tanks. I think CRS stands for 'Crystal Red Shrimp'???? It is confusing having 2 types of shrimp with the same 3 initials just the first 2 swapped round, and I could be wrong, have it the wrong way around! With cherry shrimp you will want to try and keep one type per tank as they will otherwise interbreed and quickly revert back to 'wild' which are clear or brown blotchy usually. Cherry shrimp (green jade is one of these, neocaridina) are much easierr to keep and can usually be kept in dechlorinated tap water, but Caridina types (crystal red are one of these) require different water (RO + remineralser usually with special substrate) and a lot more care/attention and delicate. The reward for the extra work with the Caridina though is that they are much prettier, IMO anyway!

 

So I believe that the red nose shrimp and darwin algae eaters are carindina shrimp too....oh boy! What have I got myself in to!! Lol! I'm on rainwater as where I live we don't have plumbed tap water. We just have 3 massive rainwater tanks. I have heard that it is 2nd best for caridina, if no RO water. Do you know if that's true? I would honestly prefer to not have to buy a RO unit or buy it, but if I must, I must. 

I read that my 2 species won't cross breed, thankfully, in fact I read it's hard to breed them in freshwater. I just saw 6 berried females and they look like they have a large number of larvae. Fingers crossed I may get some shrimplets! 

Haha yeah I get it confused too! I always think it's cherry red shrimp, not red cherry shrimp. Oh well, I'm still learning! 

 

I'm going to have to look up old threads I'm this forum and find info on care of caridina shrimp. My TDS was 168, ph has risen slightly to 7.6 (I think I need to get it down), Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrites 0ppm, Nitrates 0ppm (plants are sucking it up!), gh- 4, kh-3. I have gh+ here at home, which I'm going to need to read up on how to use. It doesn't affect pH, but I want to make sure I use it correctly. I also want to read up on minerals and feeding. I'm trying to do my best. I kinda jumped in and got them on a whim which I really shouldn't have done but my tank was overrun with algae and they were marketed as the best algae eaters. I wish they said they are a more advanced shrimp to keep and I wish I did more research first. So far though, they are all happy and healthy. 

1 hour ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

As JayC points out, the depth of the tank isn't necessary with shrimp so it is better to have a shallower tank with a larger base area than a 'normal' type aquarium. It is usually recommended to start with neocaridina as they are easier, and more robust.

 

Yes im definitely going to keep that in mind and I'll always ensure the tanks are no taller than say 35cm. My tank is about 30-32cm tall and they seem totally fine with that height. I definitely won't go for the tall skinny tanks though. I'm thinking of purchasing a few 30³ tanks and I really want another 60x30x30 tank too. 

1 hour ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

Like you, I got into the hobby when I had to stop working due to health problems, albeit I am a fair bit older than you!  I only have 1 tank running since a recent move and that has a betta and red cherry shrimps in it, 25 litre. Would like to try Caridina shrimp again (and may at some point) but my last attempt failed and not sure I am up for the challenge (and heartache when/if it fails, again) at this point? I may be getting some Apistograama soon if a friends babies survive, but I can't keep shrimp with them of coarse, but I haven't even set up that tank just yet.

Anyway, keep well and I look forward to reading (and hopefully seeing) how it all goes. 

I'm so sorry to hear about your medical struggles too. I really hope you can get more tanks set up over time. How many tanks did you have pre move? 

I didn't realise a better could live with red cherry shrimp! How do they get along? 

You should def try caridina shrimps again one day, although you now have me nervous that my guys may all die easily. They certainly love to walk on my arms/hands when I'm cleaning the tank. Then I dont realise, I lift my hands out and then they fling themselves onto something outside of the tank! I need to find a way to prevent it. Is there any way to quickly pick them up safely, and then put them back in the tank? I got one back in the other day but he unfortunately didn't meet it. The others enjoyed a meaty feed though! I also read it's best to leave their moults in the tank too. Is this correct?

Oh I love Apistogrammas! They'll look fabulous in a tank if you do eventually get them! Please show us them if you do get some. 🙏 

Thanks! I'm hoping to interact as much as I can! I really look forward to learning as much as I can from everyone! 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the red shrimp in my tank. It looks NOTHING like my darwin algae eaters and red nose. 

 

Any ideas of what this one may be please? I just took the photo 15mins ago

20230531_202440.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's one beautiful shrimp! It looks like a Calceo shrimp to me.

I had 3 tanks pre the move and gave one away shortly after the move, so now just have the betta/red cherry shrimp running and the old taiwan bee shrimp is empty and dry, but may have apistogramma in that one soon(ish).

Their is a risk keeping the betta with the shrimp but that tank is quite densely planted, but I believe/expect the betta eats any very  small shrimplets he comes across...... He isn't a very big betta either.

I  do have the tank (inc light, filters etc) and substrate already if I do decide to have another go at keeping taiwan bee shrimp again, though will use the tank for the apistogramma fish, if my friends babies survive that is?

I have had shrimp jump out of tanks before and if you can quickly grab the back of the tail (fan shaped flat part) then you can pick them up (they will wriggle though) and drop them back into the tank - they will jump about on the floor, so you do need to be quite quick to get hold of them. Keeping a pair of tweezers close to hand may be helpful! Havina a cover is the only way to stop them leaping out, though obviously that won't work when you have it removed during maintenance etc. You should leave the molts in the tank as they will eat those.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

That's one beautiful shrimp! It looks like a Calceo shrimp to me.

Thank you! I think its a calico too. I just got some photos of the brown one, so I'll post it in a minute. 

9 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

I had 3 tanks pre the move and gave one away shortly after the move, so now just have the betta/red cherry shrimp running and the old taiwan bee shrimp is empty and dry, but may have apistogramma in that one soon(ish).

Nice! I can only imagine just how beautiful they were! I'm so excited to see/hear what you choose to do. Some apistogrammas would look fantastic, but so would some shrimp. Is there any type of shrimp you haven't yet owned, but would love to own? Maybe think about that as an option if there is one. 

9 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

I have had shrimp jump out of tanks before and if you can quickly grab the back of the tail (fan shaped flat part) then you can pick them up (they will wriggle though) and drop them back into the tank - they will jump about on the floor, so you do need to be quite quick to get hold of them. Keeping a pair of tweezers close to hand may be helpful! Havina a cover is the only way to stop them leaping out, though obviously that won't work when you have it removed during maintenance etc. You should leave the molts in the tank as they will eat those.

 

Ooh thank you! I'll remember this...by the tail! Ok. Sadly 2 jumped and I have no idea where they landed 🙈😫 I looked everywhere but nope, couldn't find them. I try to be so careful now, esp when I put my arms in the tank, as they love to stick yo them!

Ok thanks...will leave moults in there! 

Also is there a thread that I can look for that discusses remineralisation of water? I'm on rainwater water buy need to get the GH and KH up a bit more I think and my TDS is a bit low since I did a water tip up yesterday. 

Anyway, here is the little one we named cookie. 

20230601_093217.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just noticed this shrimp I just posted, above, has a white spot on it and I just came across article talking about white spots on shrimp. 

Does it look like this is white spot disease or Hexamita? Now I'm worried. I'm hoping it's not 🤞

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Aussie.Shrimp.Girl said:

Also is there a thread that I can look for that discusses remineralisation of water?

Uh ... yeah! Check out the posts in Water Parameters subforum.

The first 8 posts are a MUST read.

<edit> - link

https://skfaquatics.com/forum/forums/forum/93-water-parameters/

Edited by jayc
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Aussie.Shrimp.Girl said:

Any ideas of what this one may be please?

Without knowing the history of the shrimp, it's just a wild guess. But it certainly looks like Calico or Calceo.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, jayc said:

Uh ... yeah! Check out the posts in Water Parameters subforum.

The first 8 posts are a MUST read.

<edit> - link

https://skfaquatics.com/forum/forums/forum/93-water-parameters/

Thanks so much for that Jason. 

I'll go read it now. 

13 minutes ago, jayc said:

Without knowing the history of the shrimp, it's just a wild guess. But it certainly looks like Calico or Calceo.

Thanks! The owner of the LFS has Calico shrimp so I'm thinking it's some of those. I'll go look up Calceo shrimp. I haven't heard of those. Thanks again 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That white spot looks like a part of the pattern and not anything to worry about! The 2 middle stripes look reddish so it probably is a low quality Calceo/Calico.

Here is a link to my old shrimp tank before my heater disaster,

I would want to replicate this IF I do try again! I just had an email that the Apistogramma are still doing well so far in my friends tank.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/1/2023 at 5:46 PM, sdlTBfanUK said:

That white spot looks like a part of the pattern and not anything to worry about! The 2 middle stripes look reddish so it probably is a low quality Calceo/Calico.

Here is a link to my old shrimp tank before my heater disaster,

 

Oh my gosh Simon, those are some stunning shrimp! Just beautiful! 😍😍😍

Your aquascaping is stunning too. Gorgeous tanks! 

Thank you, yes I think the brown one is a low quality. The red one, I'm not sure how good a quality it is. I just got another pic of it, so I'll pop it up. I would love to be able to identify it properly as I would love to put it in a tank with more from the same species. The LFS they came from has both calico and calceo so I'm really unsure as to what it may be.

Ooh that's very exciting re:apistogrammas!! Do you have any photos of them you could share with us please? 

Yes its a stunning set up. If you were to have another shrimp tank, you should definitely try and recreate it! 

I have just been thinking about my next tank, and I have decided, in a 40+Litre tank, I want to put in bonsai driftwood, with riccia fuitans moss as "leaves" on the bonsai tree. Then have a carpet of a java moss for the shrimplets to hide in. Im also going to put some seiryu rocks that stick up out of the moss to add a bit more character. Im really looking forward to doing this shrimp tank. I just want something fairly simple in terms of maintenance and looks. I think it would look great in a cube 40L tank if I can find one that holds 40L. I mainly see them selling 30L tanks. I just think that extra room is best for them so i would prefer to go for a 40L. I hoping I don't need to get anything custom made! 😬

P.s...I'm sorry I only just saw your comment. It's been a very hectic past 2 days and I'm only just now catching up on social media etc. Sorry to leave you waiting for a response.

20230603_141329.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That shrimp has coloured up nicely! You shouldn't have a problem getting more if they sold that at your LFS, I'm sure it's a Red Calceo.

Don't try any plants that may have polutants or any traces of insecticides etc!

We have a bewildering array of aquariums available here, so I expect you can easily find what you want where you are being a much larger country, as I expect you have way more to choose from there (my favourites are the Dennerle aquascape tank range, the one that my nice shrimp were in is a 35L, W x H x D 40 x 32 x 28 cm). It certainly will keep you occupied sorting and setting up all the tanks you want.

You say you plan to use rainwater, do you get/have enough where you live for all these tanks?

Looking forward to hearing and seeing how it all goes/progresses.

I got an update photo from my friend of the fish, not very clear but they are still small, he says he still has all 8 babies alive, only 3 in the photo though.

 

472666545_babyapisto31may23.thumb.jpg.b365367af86277d148aff84e4939ff99.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

That shrimp has coloured up nicely! You shouldn't have a problem getting more if they sold that at your LFS, I'm sure it's a Red Calceo.

Don't try any plants that may have polutants or any traces of insecticides etc!

We have a bewildering array of aquariums available here, so I expect you can easily find what you want where you are being a much larger country, as I expect you have way more to choose from there (my favourites are the Dennerle aquascape tank range, the one that my nice shrimp were in is a 35L, W x H x D 40 x 32 x 28 cm). It certainly will keep you occupied sorting and setting up all the tanks you want.

You say you plan to use rainwater, do you get/have enough where you live for all these tanks?

Looking forward to hearing and seeing how it all goes/progresses.

I got an update photo from my friend of the fish, not very clear but they are still small, he says he still has all 8 babies alive, only 3 in the photo though.

 

472666545_babyapisto31may23.thumb.jpg.b365367af86277d148aff84e4939ff99.jpg

Oh my goodness! Those fish are adorable!! Im so excited to see them in a tank of yours when you and they are ready. How old are they now Simon? What age can you take some home? How many will you get? Lol sorry for all the questions! 

I'm finding more and more LFS's but I would guess you have more in the UK as your population is much larger than ours! 80% of Aussies live within 1hr of the coast and we all congregate around our capital cities. Majority of us are on the east coast (like Jason and I are) but a few million live on the west coast, in Perth- the most isolated city in the world! Fun fact for you! Lol! It can be hard to get some fish as our quarantine authorities don't allow all fish in. Like Pea Puffers were apparently stuck in illegally, and now you can buy then, but the are between $175 and $250 each!! The prices are coming down though. 

I get my plants from a really well trusted source. I did get some red root floaters from another store and although they were great looking, I think I got a few pest snails off them. I have so far found 3 and have killed them. In my tank I have nerites and that's all I want. 

Ooh never seen or heard of the dennerle tanks! I must go searching for them. I really just want, plain opticlear tanks with clear silicone. I just want that crystal clear look. I have found some 30L cube opticlear tanks on ebay for $99 AUD each. I then found 60x30x30 tanks for $199, although I have found some of those cheaper elsewhere. 

Rainwater- we have 3 massive rainwater tanks. 2 on our big American barn, one on our house and dads looking at putting another on our other shed. Hopefully we get rain this winter as only our biggest shed tank is full. The smaller one is empty and our house one is half full. We thankfully live in the wettest town in our state and we do get loads of rain. Back in 19/20 when we had the bushfires, we were in drought then, and we had to buy water from the mains. We are lucky to though as next door has a bore and they often say to take whatever we want from it. Im not sure if bore water is better than mains, if I got into that position again where we had no water. Im thinking of buying a RO unit though as back up or maybe will use it all the time. We are lucky too as we live out in a rural town and we have very clean air, however it may change if this plastics recycling company gets its way and is approved to be built 20kms away from us. Our member of parliament just called for it to be stopped, during a speech she made in parliament this week. Our community is fighting it. Hopefully it's stopped. 

Thank you, yes its coloured up wonderfully, I agree! I do think it's a calceo too. I would love to get more of them and make that next tank into a home for them. I would love to make another tank for the other brown one too, if I can find the same coloured ones as him/her. Im pretty happy to have received these 2 as I didn't pay for them and they are not the cheapest either, that he has for sale in his LFS. I think they were $20 for the red and $30 for the blacks, although my guy is a bit more brown, but he may still be colouring up a bit still. From that LFS I bought a pack of 3 nerites and 6 of each DAS and RNS and I ended up with about 25 shrimp in the bag that he gave me! Lol! I am soon going to put an order in for 10 more RNS as you don't see many of them. I think I can fit more in there still 😆 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those fish are 2-4 weeks old at a guess, they were born whilst my friends were away so not totally sure. I probably won't take some for a few months yet and not decided on how many, just 1 male though and maybe 2 or 3 females!?

We certainly aremuch more densely populated than you and I guess that can mean we have more places easily accessible? Very few (extreme/isolated) places would take more than a day to get too by road.

It may be that Dennerle isn't available in Australia, it is a German company but probably one of the top suppliers for shrimp 'stuff'? I believe you may also be quite restricted with shrimps and snails due to your strict import regulations/restrictions there. Like USA, you are such a big country that you probably don't need to import Dennerle products fro Europe, but have enough of your own 'stuff'.

Those middle stripes on the brown shrimp (with the white spot) definitely look red to me so it will be interesting to see if it gets more colour with a bit more time.

If you are using rainwater but worried that you may occasionally need to use bore/tap/mains water, you may think about getting a 'Zerowater' filter jug to keep somewhere so you can use bore/tap/mains water easily when necessary, as it will give you the equivalent  of RO from tap/mains (any water source probably) water. You can get them easily/readily on ebay.com.au. I use them here in UK for my tanks, have done for about 10 years now. Probably cheaper and much easier to use and store, especially as only a backup?

Edited by sdlTBfanUK
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah its probably best to get 1 male and 3 females but also got to think if they breed- do you need to be careful of inbreeding?

I just had a look. Dennerle tanks are only available in Europe. I'm now just looking at Petworx simple glass cube tanks. They have them on ebay for just a smidge over $100AUD. 

Here we have a lot of LFS's in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, AdelIde, Perth, and a couple in Canberra, but not much if you go rural. I'm discovering more and more LFS's in Sydney though, that have a great range of things. Annoyingly, I'm 2hrs South. 

I'm headed to Sydney on Wednesday though so I'm going to see if I can drop into one or two stores and see what I can find. I would love to buy a bonsai driftwood and I can then slowly start to prepare for the next few tanks. 

What filtration do you run on your tanks Simon? People say for shrimps to just use a Sponge filter. What size is best to go for with a 30L tank? I want to buy one now to seed it in my current tank. I'm also looking at buying the fluval 107 for my 60L tank. I found a great deal on it too. 

Sorry for all of the questions. Yourself and Jason are an absolute wealth of knowledge!! Thank you!!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Hang on Back (HOB) is a very neat type of complete filter which you won't see 'inside' the aquarium. I haven't used one though, and the aquarium needs to have a top rim and cover that allows for it to be attached. The others (links below are just for your reference) but there will be same available in Australia. Sizes/suitability etc will be shown on the packaging.

I use these cheap all in one filters which come with a spray bar, just because I have always used them. I have black backgrounds so these filters are vitually invisible when in the tank,

https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/internal-filters/5218-superfish-aqua-flow-150-8715897336836.html

Most people use this type of filter with shrimp tanks, it needs an air pump as well but they aren't very expensive and you ?MAY? be able to use one air pump for more than one tank???

https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/internal-filters/4423-superfish-sponge-bio-air-filter-s-8715897312649.html

If you get some wood that you want to attach moss to, I recommend attaching the moss using 'non toxic' superglue like below, so much easier and cleaner than other methods of attachment, has to be fish/shrimp safe,

www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/aquascaping-tools/1324-seachem-flourish-glue-000116311601.html?search_query=glue&results=80

I'm sure you will have a great time looking/shopping on wednesday in Sydney! Hope you get all the bits you want etc. Ask as many questions as you want in preparation for the trip.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Simon, I actually just have an internal filter in my 60L. I see so many people say to use Sponge filters with shrimp but when I think of my internal filter, not one shrimp has been sucked into it, which people say can happen. I watch them go right in front of it and not get sucked in at all. I am thinking though of getting the 107 and putting it on the 60L and then I'll put the internal in the first 30L. I'll try Sponge filters too, the one you hook the air pump up to. 

I have to say, I'm not a great fan of HOB filters. I see so often them failing and water being pumped out of the tank. Heard of it happening with cannister filters too, but less often. I think im just going to have you try a few and see what I prefer. I do know too with the cannister filter to put a shrimp guard on the intake tube. I have heard of people finding their shrimp living in the pre filter compartment! Haha! 

Aquascaping- yeah i tried super glue, the non toxic one, but it just wouldn't stick. I have riccia fluitans on my driftwood but I used fishing line to secure it. I'll use it to secure the subwassertang to my cave. I want it carpeting the tank too. How do people get it to stay on the ground? Was thinking of making little U shaped pins, with a safe material, and pinning it in place or hold it down with rocks...any suggestion? I read it can be used to carpet a tank, so there must be a simple way to hold it down. I do have plant anchors I could use or maybe I could use them, to make a U shaped pin, and pin it into the Substrate. That may work. 

Are you set on either shrimp or apisto's yet? Or still not sure. What size tank do the apisto's need? Do you have a tank ready for them? What are you thinking of doing with the aquascape?

Oh and I just saw the radar. We are set to be getting a week worth of rain! Even more than that possibly. I'll be set now for water for a while. 

I see it mentioned to age your water. Should I be doing this too? Our water sits in our plastic tanks for weeks, even months, so is pretty well aged! Not sure if I should still do the whole aging thing too.... 

I just realised I should probably have a hospital/quarantine aquarium set up too. I have some spare Substrate, so I think I'll grab a Sponge filter, set it up in my aquarium for a bit, do my trick with seeding Substrate. I'll just buy a cheap air pump and I have a spare thermometer although I need to grab a second one as the 100w I have spare, is too small in wattage to keep my 60L tank up to temp at night. I'll have to buy a 2nd inkbird too. I think it's probably best to hold off on approving the order for the Gertrude's spotted blue eyed fish for a bit, till I have it set up and cycled. Once the Sponge filters and substrate are seeded though, it'll be quick to have the quarantine tank set up and ready for the blue eyed fish. 

I really don't want to put Godfrey at risk of picking something up from these new fish. He is growing so much. Gosh I love him immensely! He is such a cutie! I cannot wait for the day when the 235L is set up and ready to go. It's going to be very exciting to get that ready. Dad has just said he didn't realise how many litres it was and therefore how much it'll weigh as he was so consumed with his business when I spoke about it with him and bought it. So he I going to go under the house and inspect the beams, joists etc and see if we should reinforce it under there. We live in a 110yr old cottage, so it probably does need reinforcing. I also may have yo pay for 3 phase power as I think we only have 1 phase and we often get surges if we turn too many things on at once and then BAM! Blackout! Lol! I think dad will do it but he has said I have to pay for the electricity the tanks will consume. We do have a pretty big solar system, but no battery. He is considering a battery in the next 2-3 years. Once they come down in cost and get better. That'll definitely be cheaper then to run the tanks. 

Anyway, I'm blabbering. Sorry for the long message. I could ramble on about sh!t all day long! Haha! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh and Simon, I keep forgetting to ask you, your Betta! What type? Colour? Name? What shrimp is he/she with? 

I had a betta years ago, and I sadly didn't know what they actually require. I did upgrade him to a bigger tank but it didn't have a heater. I didn't realise everything that was needed to correctly house one. There wasn't much internet then and we just went off what the pet shop said to do. I'm really ashamed I didn't dig deeper, but one of these days, I'm going to buy another and give it a proper home with everything it needs. 

Does your betta pick off many of your shrimp? I would love to try and house the two together. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Aussie.Shrimp.Girl said:

I see it mentioned to age your water. Should I be doing this too? Our water sits in our plastic tanks for weeks, even months, so is pretty well aged!

Not if you are using rain water. No need to age water that's been on earth for millions of years.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, jayc said:

Not if you are using rain water. No need to age water that's been on earth for millions of years.

Great! That's what I was thinking. Thank you for that. Honestly I was so worried about being on rainwater when I first started cycling my tank. Now though, I much prefer it. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • beanbag
      Update to say that after a few gravel vacs, front wall scrub, moss / floating plant trim, that the condition seems to have improved.  My current theory is that it is due to waste / debris management, where "stuff" like that brown mulm accumulates in the substrate and behind the HMF filters.  Maybe some tanks can somehow deal with it, but mine can't.  Also another experienced shrimper suggested that maybe those "shell bugs" don't just live on the shrimps but also in this debris.  Maybe this is the reason some tanks fail due to "old tank syndrome" where all they need is a good gravel vac? Also, I am guessing that plant trim helps too because now more of the nutrients and light go into growing algae instead of more plants? Well anyway for this tank I will try weekly water change and monthly gravel vac / plant trim.  For my next tank, I'm thinking of something like an under-gravel system where this mulm can fall down and I vac it out.
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
    • beanbag
      Hello again, much belated update: The tank still has "cycles" of 1-2 month "good streaks" where everybody seems to be doing well, and then a bad streak where the short antenna problem shows up again, and a shrimp dies once every few days.  I am not sure what causes things to go bad, but usually over the course of a few days I will start to see more shrimp quietly standing on the HMF filter, and so I know something is wrong.  Since I am not "doing anything" besides the regular 1-2 week water changes, I just assume that something bad is building up.  Here's a list of things that I've tried that are supposed to be "can't hurt" but didn't prevent the problem either: Dose every other day with Shrimp Fit (very small dose, and the shrimp seem to like it) Sotching Oxydator Seachem Purigen to keep the nitrates lower Keeping the pH below 5.5 with peat Things that I don't do often, so could possibly "reset" the tank back to a good streak, are gravel vac and plant trim, so maybe time to try those again. One other problem I used to have was that sometimes a shrimp would suddenly stop eating with a full or partially full digestive tract that doesn't clear out, and then the shrimp will die within a few days.  I suspected it was one of the foods in my rotation - Shrimp Nature Infection, which contains a bunch of herbal plant things.  I've had this in my food rotation for a few years now and generally didn't seem to cause problems, but I removed it from the rotation anyway.  I don't have a lot of adult Golden Bees at this point so I can't really tell if it worked or not. Overall the tank is not too bad - during the good streaks occasionally a shrimp will get berried and hatch babies with a 33-50% survival rate.  So while there are fewer adults now, there are also a bunch of babies roaming around.  I guess this tank will stagger on, but I really do need to take the time to start up a new tank.  (or figure out the problem)
    • jayc
      If that is the offspring, then the parents are unlikely to be PRL. I tend to agree with you. There are very few PRLs in Australia. And any that claim to be needs to show proof. PRL genes have to start as PRL. CRS that breed true after x generations doesn't turn it into a PRL. Neither can a Taiwan bee shrimp turn into a PRL despite how ever many generations. I've never seen a PRL with that sort of red colour. I have on Red Wines and Red Shadows - Taiwan bee shrimps. So somewhere down the line one of your shrimp might have been mixed with Taiwan bees and is no longer PRL. It just tanks one shrimp to mess up the genes of a whole colony. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry, missed this one somehow! The PRL look fantastic and the odd ones look part PRL and part Red wine/Red shadow in the colour. They are still very beautiful but ideally should be seperated to help keep the PRL clean if you can do that.  Nice clear photos!
×
×
  • Create New...