Colour of substrate

[ineke]

I'm having trouble seeing my dark shrimp- chocolate /black against my black substrate partly because of the colour partly my eyes aren't what they used to be and I'm having trouble seeing close up. Anyone got any ideas of what I could use. I've seen a few posts using swimming pool filter sand. Does anyone have any experience with this. Any other ideas .

thanks

[JPN07]

Hi Ineke. I have used pool filter sand with fish but not with shrimp. Never had any problem with it. It should be fine for black/chocolate cherries; just give it a good wash before putting it in the tank.

[Squiggle]

Inert silica sand is the best to use, if you got crystal white sand the choccies would pop!(stand out not explode, lol) :encouragement:

[ineke]

ThanksJPNO7 I might even just have a small area where they feed with light soil if it is safe. I love the dark substrate but not when the shrimp are the same colour

[ineke]

Inert silica sand is the best to use' date=' if you got crystal white sand the choccies would pop!(stand out not explode, lol) :encouragement:[/quote']

I would hope not, so that is like my black silica but white? Damn I buried a big bag of that under the fish tank gravel.

[Squiggle]

Dooooooh!!! :encouragement:

[ineke]

Dooooooh!!! :encouragement:

I know but I needed a bit extra gravel so put that down as a base and with gravel cleaning its been well and truly mixed in:cower:

[Squiggle]

Doh! Doh! :dejection:

[KiwiBigD]

I'd also suggest a handful of the ADA Africana mix, it blends well with the dark substrates and doesn't have any impact on shrimp colouring. Going with a really

light colour does tend to result in paler shrimps as they try to blend. Never had that issue with some Africana on ADA Amazonian II.

[ineke]

Thanks BigD it probably really is an issue with my eyes. I think I will go with my usual dark at the back and some lighter colour in an area where they need to come and feed, giving me an opportunity to see their colours but not washing it out. I think I just need the contrast for my eyes to be able to see them. They were all out today - the chocolates- but I had great difficulty in actually seeing any detail and the blue one is extremely nice as I saw that against the shrimp net when I released them. As I will be setting up the new tank for them I thought I would get it right the first time. The alternative is brighter lighting but that's not fair for them to have a bright light on all day.

[Heavyd]

You could try mixing two different coloured gravels together, to lighten it up a bit. I did that with my fish tank with black and brown gravels. Looks awesome.

[2OFUS]

We have bunnings play sand in our 3ft cherry/bn tank

$10 for I think it's 20kgs

just rinse it good first

[ineke]

You could try mixing two different coloured gravels together' date=' to lighten it up a bit. I did that with my fish tank with black and brown gravels. Looks awesome.[/quote']

Yes that might work certainly need something a bit lighter

[ineke]

We have bunnings play sand in our 3ft cherry/bn tank

$10 for I think it's 20kgs

just rinse it good first

Now that's might be the go with the black silica at the back or some Amazonia at the back. I even have trouble seeing the Rilis because the dark gravel blends in with them.