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Nogi, Thanks. I'm here for the joy of the hobby. And I'd like to see the hobby grow. In saying that, even though I like an SKF shirt, I'm donating it to the next person who signs up to be a premium member. Think of it as a nice surprise to the next person that signs up. That is, the next person that purchases the 1 year premium membership can have this gift as a "pay it forward" surprise. Obviously I'll need your help with selecting that person. Cheers, Jason

12 Days of Shrimpmas Starts Saturday 13th December 2014, ends Wednesday 24th December 2014. And a HUGE thanks to our sponsors Age of Aquariums, BossAquaria and The Tech Den for putting up the prizes

I think I just scrapped in with post count... If you squint your eye , while looking past your screen, behind the monitor , cross your eyes , tilt your head slightly to the left , and open your mouth .... while scrunching your nose ... you can just see the picture ... it's a Christmas tree.

Years ago we had some riffle shrimp in a display tank at a shop I worked at - this was long before crystal reds or cherry shrimp had hit the scene. We used locally collected Paratya as algae grazers and Takashi Amano was using Caridina the same way. The riffles were amazing shrimp back then, something different to the glass clear Paratya we could collect. So much has changed since then, there was no "shrimp hobby" yet and no beautiful coloured shrimp to keep. I just got some Riffle Shrimp down from Fishmosy and they are just as beautiful and amazing as ever. All the competition from exotics has not diluted their charm one bit. Thanks for the lovely shrimp mate... They were a bit timid at first and especially shy when the lights were on. Now I've placed some driftwood right in the high current zone and they're very happy to sit there all day, every day - doing the "jazz hands" as they eat. There's some great photos of this species here on SKF and I'm afraid mine cannot compete. However if I can clean the glass sufficiently to get some better shots I will post them.

I was so excited to be able to pick up our first Chameleons about a month or so ago and put them in the newly finished 80cm tank with our RCS. I didn't realize how well they could mimic the RCS and I thought all of them copied the Cherrys and I can't tell which is which. Early last week I was happy to see 3 girls came out of the darker, less occupied, areas of the tank and they are a purpley grey to black with a stripe down the back. A days ago I was ecstatic to see they are berried and tonight, the lightest of the 3 girls, ventured onto a rock in the middle of the tank and I was able to get my first pics of one of our first berried Chameleons, (that I can be 100% sure is a Chameleon Shrimp, not an RCS that has lost color due to the different wps in the new tank or developed the Orange stripe at a younger age our other RCS that develop d the stripe. They got theirs when they passed middle age lol) Sorry for the low quality of the pics, I had to use the zoom on my iPhone to be able to see her in the photos and they always turn out a little blurry.

brownie red

red sword

Ulysses

mirabella

silver powder, this is the fastest growing buce i own

Rhizomes need to be above the substrate and not buried. Very important. Like Anubias. They grow faster with medium light. High light can be used but they don't seem to grow any faster with higher levels of light. It just increases the chances of algae growth. So medium light is the best compromise. Buces love CO2 and will grow faster with CO2. Excel (or equivalent) can be used but it wont be as fast. Note: Both CO2 and Excel isn't recommended 100% in shrimp tanks. Ferts as per all rhizome plants. They take ferts mostly from the water column, and only a little through the roots, if you have the roots in the substrate (note the first tip: rhizome above substrate). So you need sufficient N, P and K as your major fert elements in the water column. Grow them partially in the substrate for fastest growth, so they take ferts from the water as well as from the substrate. Once they start growing larger, you can propogate them by cutting the rhizomes, like anubias, ensuring you have leaves, rhizome and roots on each cutting. They like cooler temps, as mentioned. With flowing water, to "catch" more ferts in the water column. The buces I had are very sensitive to changing water conditions. So transplanting them, or setting them up in a brand new tank will shock them and you could loose a few leaves to melting. So avoid changing from submersed to emersed growth if possible. Med to High CO2 during these changing conditions will help heaps to avoid the melt. So you could say that some, if not most, of these requirements are not shrimp friendly, so a dedicated plant tank to condition and strengthen them before they are introduced into your shrimp tank and their permanent home will be a good idea without stressing out your shrimps just so you can get the buces established. Once they are in a permanent tank, you can reduce CO2 to almost none, zero ferts except for the shrimps and lights can be reduced to low levels - a low tech tank basically. You might find that high CO2 will produce more growth in leaves and stems, but in low lights, the buces produce more flowers. Oh yeah, you can attach them to wood or rock with thread or even superglue. And CO2 isn't necessary, only if you want it to grow faster.

Awesome stuff Jen, looks like you're becoming a native specialist, well done!

I HAD a couple. They melted in the heat last summer. So that's my tip. I had them in my amazonian fish tank, cause that's where most of my aquarium plants are. That tank gets CO2, ferts and high lights. But it's also kept warm. A couple of 30+ days last summer, and the tank reaching 29+ Deg C, had caused them to melt and die off. Keep them in with your shrimps in a 23-24 deg C tank.

I have a couple but I have no idea what they are, I just think the spots are pretty! Lol

Very cool stuff, love seeing people have success with natives, good luck with the shrimplets!

Hey Grubs, here is something you could try to boost colour in your shrimp. I added some IAL to my tank the other day. Without thinking, I dropped in 4 large leaves. A few hours later and the tank water was quite stained! I did a large water change and removed three of the leaves, but a bit of tannin remains. Anyway since then the shrimp have been very dark in colour. I'm also wondering if your substrate is dark? It seems pretty light in your pic. That could cause the shrimp to go clear/pale.

My counter argument today is that we should ensure all our members have access to quality shrimp at great prices so that they aren't getting ripped off elsewhere. Also, by allowing all members access to view FS threads you are opening up the number of people premium/platinum members can sell to. Regular members won't be able to create FS threads just WTB ones. Only premium\platinum members continue to enjoy the ability to start new FS threads amongst all the other benefits of being a paying member.

Nah, I have already guessed it was a christmas tree. I'll let other member win the prizes. Unless, there is something I really, really can't do without.

Gotta love a berried shrimp, especially riffles.

I do not agree. Breeders in Europe, particularly Germany reccommend culling these defects, and it is logical that they do so because the traits are hereditable. They have been breeding these shrimp longer than we have in Aus. And with the limited gene pool we have in Aus, why take the risk of allowing defects to become widely established by not culling. It is important to remember that culling to a very rigid set of traits is the only reason that we have the non-wild type varieties of shrimp that we have today.

I estimate this riffle at 75-80mm. Massive.

There are babies from these shrimp in the tank. They seem to grow pretty much as fast as CRS and more females are carrying eggs again. This little one was grazing biofilm on the front glass.

Just a quick pic update One of my favourite's....

Here's a colony for you