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Hi all :)


Wraithie

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Hi I'm Tess and I'm addicted to fish tanks :)

I've kept tanks on and off since I conned my way into working in a pet shop at about age 10 in the Northern Rivers. My first foray into shrimp began with cherries(as I'm sure most people's is) after a nasty breakup when I was living on my own without access to my other tanks. They were endlessly entertaining and what I love most is watching them free-swim around the tank with their little feelers spread right out.

Since then I have reclaimed some of my tanks and accumulated a couple more. I currently have 5 tanks at home and two at work with plans for a rack and eventually fish room downstairs.

3ft: 2 large oscars

3ft: bristlenose trio and a few African cichlids

Fluval edge 46L: planted tank with neons, ottos and habrosus corys

Nano 20L: Red cherry shrimp, crystal red shrimp

outdoor: plant holding tank with endlers and p

My partner is also in the process of setting up a marine tank in the living area(ill enjoy the aspect and leave the hard work to him).

The CRS are my newest additions and a few weeks along seem happy and growing. They're quite funny compared to the RCS, much more protective of their food, they will run off with an algae wafer to keep it safe whilst the reds are happy to sit in the open.

My next project is to design and build a rack of small tanks so I can dabble in breeding shrimp, endlers and maybe bettas for quality colours (my favourite part of keeping tanks is watching the cycle of breeding and fry growth). I want it to be neat and simple and any advice is welcome in setting this up.

I'm keen to learn and hope I can make a worthwhile contribution to SFK.

Cheers!

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What a great intro Wraithie. Welcome to the SKF team and you will find all your answers on this forum. I highly recommend you have a look at other members rack so it will give you differant ideas how to do things. One example is the auto water change. I have a holding tank on top of my rack and I only have to fill it once a month with my RO/DI water. I never have to do water change again. I got this idea from this forum. You can learn heaps about all thing shrimps here. Have fun here :)

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  • HOF Member

Hi and welcome to SKF. Cherries do seem to get us hooked. Lots of fish people here as well as shrimp so lots for you to read and share. We love pictures so please put some of your shrimp and fish pictures up. Hope you enjoy our forum:encouragement:

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Welcome to SKF, thanks for the intro, sounds like you'll fit right into the SKF family.

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Thanks guys :)

First stupid question(that ive been mulling over a while)....how can you identify a male shrimp? I know females develop saddles and i wondered what distinguishes a male.

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Hey Tess, welcome to the best shrimp forum around. We love pics on this forum & would love to see some of yours, sounds like you've got a nice collection. There's no such thing as a stupid question on this forum so ask as many as you want, always someone on here only too willing to impart some of the knowledge on you. :encouragement:

The best way to determine sex is, as you've mentioned, the saddle, the next way is to look at the body shape, females will have a rounder underbelly & the males will be more streamlined with a flat underbelly. There is a third way but is more difficult, it has to do with the length of the antennae, the males will be more than twice the body length & the females will be less than 1.5 time the body length, this method take a bit more experience to master & it is better if the shrimp are adults :victorious: So start with the saddle, then the body shape & as a last resort use the antennae

Hope you have as much fun here as we do :applause:

funny-gifs-force-moves-on-the-cat_zpsfd21b016.gif

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I must admit i am a little embarrassed at my small setup and i apologies for the poor quality iPad pics but here goes.

post-3445-139909852578_thumb.jpg

post-3445-139909852587_thumb.jpg

post-3442-139909851223_thumb.jpg

post-3442-139909851226_thumb.jpg

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Very cool tank, those reds look very nice. I like the scape too, simple & effective, well done! :victorious:

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Hi Tess, welcome to SKF! Nice little setup you have there :) i's love to see pics of your marine tank when it's finished. Will you be getting marine shrimps?

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Small tanks and shrimp are the way of the future. Nicely scaped as well. Enjoy the forum their is an endless amount of info and helpful people around here.

Cheers mick

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I'd love to have marine shrimp but apparently some of the fish we are getting might love to have shrimp too.

i really like that with numerous small tanks I can try out different scaling techniques without having to pull it apart each time

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nice tank and shrimp love the nano tanks:encouragement:

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Welcome to SKF :) nothing wrong with a small setup, it will grow in no time

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Hello Tess, Enjoy your stay with us at SKF

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Welcome Tess! Great to see more locals joining up!

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Totally agree about nanos wraithie :) I'm plotting my next one once water is sorted maybe a 45cm3 would be funky :)

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Hey Tess, nice to meet you.

If my wife was into fish/shrimp as you are, we'd have a whole house full of fishes and shrimp.

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Hi jayc,

Its funny because people tell him he's lucky I support his marine tank, I think we're both just bad influences on each other ;)

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Welcome Tess to SKF, hope you gain all the knowledge to make your shrimp hobby a successful one...

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