Jump to content

Nano shrimp tank - Mischlings and TBs


Sprae

Recommended Posts

As some of you may know, I have limited space, budget and time so I decided to get a nano Fluval Edge tank last year. Initially I had no idea what to get, maybe tetras or guppies. But as I started cycling my tank, a friend gave me some anubias, java moss and a cherry shrimp. It was fun watching it in the tank and decide to try out shrimps. Cutting the story short I've since become a shrimp addict.

I've had gone through lot's of problems and shrimp keeping has a steep learning curve (as most of you know). But recently I've finally began to grasp keeping sensitive shrimps like CRS/CBS and maintaining a nano tank with the thanks to many of you in various shrimps forums.

Today there are around 40 shrimps in the tank. Mostly CRS, a few CBS, some cherries and small mix of native Darwin Red Nose and Darwin Algae shrimps. There's around 5 moss types in there too.

Here are some of the photos of my tank.

_MG_4836.jpg_MG_4841.jpg_MG_4845.jpg_MG_4884.jpg_MG_4891.jpgPhoto%2028-06-12%207%2040%2002%20PM%20%28HDR%29-2.jpg

Currently I have 4 berried shrimps (3 CRS, 1 CBS). Shrimplet survival is still no great, around 20-30% but I'm happy they're breeding!

I'm planning to get a chiller before summer hits and will always appreciate any advice for a shrimp noob like me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 91
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Sprae

    42

  • BlueBolts

    9

  • Squiggle

    6

  • durro68

    4

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

A bit sad today as I found one of my berried CRS dead. She was quite stressed last night and hoped she would be ok, but obviously not. This is the first loss in over 3 months, I suppose that's been a good run. I'm thinking that as this is her first time being berried she just couldn't deal with it. I did a full water test last night with the following results;

GH = 5

KH = 2

Ammonia = 0

Nitrate = 0

Nitrite = 0

pH = 5.9-6.0

TDS = 166

Temp = 21-22c

The other shrimps all looking fine and active so I hope she will be the only one for the rest of the week. If another one dies, then I'll investigate further.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you have a copper test kit?

Nope. But I don't think there's anything I've added that may have cooper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

nice setup mate. is it hard to trim the moss?

Once a month trimming down the java moss. Other moss aren't as fast growing so I rarely trim others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is a sweet looking little tank you got there Sprae!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is a sweet looking little tank you got there Sprae!

Thanks mate. It's been going well until recently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nope. But I don't think there's anything I've added that may have cooper.

Just in case :). I got an API one from petstock for $10.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you beauty! great tank. sorry about the loss bro but it happens hey. great run before that! any chance the tds might be a little bit too high? i can't remember the optimum parameters. was it 100-150?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you beauty! great tank. sorry about the loss bro but it happens hey. great run before that! any chance the tds might be a little bit too high? i can't remember the optimum parameters. was it 100-150?

Happy with the high TDS :)

I want to keep a stable range between 120-180 if possible. I think there's no much issue with TDS unless it's over 250+? Read that Dean had his shrimps breeding in 200-400 TDS ~!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Sprae, I had some issues with my shrimplets and adults surviving too, it was only up until recently that I stopped feeding them for two weeks to clear any planaria and let them "detox" on the micro organisms on the moss.

Only reason is looking at your last pic, I can't help but think that's a lot food for such a small tank and population.

Nowadays I only feed once or twice every week with a very very small amount of food (mostly breaking the retail food into approx 1/4 size). And clearing up any that they cannot finish in 3 hours. Since then, I have been getting very good results. Hope this helps if you cannot find any other solutions!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Sprae' date=' I had some issues with my shrimplets and adults surviving too, it was only up until recently that I stopped feeding them for two weeks to clear any planaria and let them "detox" on the micro organisms on the moss.

Only reason is looking at your last pic, I can't help but think that's a lot food for such a small tank and population.

Nowadays I only feed once or twice every week with a very very small amount of food (mostly breaking the retail food into approx 1/4 size). And clearing up any that they cannot finish in 3 hours. Since then, I have been getting very good results. Hope this helps if you cannot find any other solutions![/quote']

Thanks for that HexaD as I might do that soon. I'm feeding every other day but no food remains over 3 hours as I'll remove them. But agree there's a lot of moss in there and with the green spot algae everywhere, I'll move to feeding every 3 days and then skip feeding for a week and see if that's ok.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's my peacock moss wall starting to grow out. I think this will get lush in a few months time.

2012-07-17%2020.26.22.jpg

The other update is I've switched to top ups with mineralised RO water only. Still tweak how I like the water but for now it's got the following;

TDS 120

GH 5-6

KH 0

pH 5.6

Going to stop water changes for a while and see how that goes. Still have a few berried shrimps and surviving shrimplets around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

that moss wall will look great once it grows in. i would just trim all the longest ones always to keep it nice and think/bushy. the shrimp will love it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had a death last night - CRS Grade A male. He's one of my biggest male in the tank too.

Did all test and everything was stable;

TDS 156

GH 5

KH 2

pH 5.9

No ammonia or nitrate readings either. There's no other deaths today though, so I'm guessing aged?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Just a quick update - no more deaths, another batch of shrimplets has been drop today. Awaiting 4-5 more batches of shrimplets :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of my only 2 CBS died this morning and she was heavily berried :crushed:

I'm a bit shattered right now. It's another first-timer berried shrimp dying. Just not sure what to do about it. The other CBS which is also berried looks fine and it's her second time.

I probably jinxed myself in last night's post!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry for your loss' date=' did you try Gbang's method to salvage the eggs?[/quote']

Wish I was awake when she died. By the time I saw it, all the eggs were gone. Shrimps seems to like to eat the eggs first!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another recently berried shrimp - sorry for the bad mobile photo :P

cb956235.jpg4d885349.jpg

I seriously need to get a macro lens! This is getting embrassing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

very nice! you will get some awsome shrimplets from her:cool-new:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

It's been a bad week as 1 SS and my last adult CBS has both died. The SS male was my largest one and may have died of age. My big CBS female died after providing 3-4 batches of shrimps (god bless her). She died a day after moulting so I'm not sure of the real cause.

There are lots of shrimplets and still a couple berried at the moment. My last checked on water parameters is all good though.

No ammonia, nitrate, nitrite

TDS 160

pH 5.8-6.0

GH 5

KH 2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

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...