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Finally I have some time to setup my flash and tripod to take more serious photos: There are more posted in my blog: http://www.shrimpydaddy.com/blogs/moments Enjoy. ^^

I lost a shrimp yesterday. This wasn't the first but it was the first corpse I have found. It was one of the shrimp that had turned white. I now have five or six shrimp that are healthy and two or three that are turning white. At least my berried female (12 days) is still heathy and hasn't dropped any eggs. And as of last night, I still have at least one baby in the tank. I made a small upgrade to the tank this week. I added 4 20CFM fans to the tank. They (and the heater) are being controlled by an Omron E5CN temperature controller. I currently have it set up so the fans turn on when the temp is .5°F above the set point and off at set point. The heater comes on when the temp is .5°F below set point and off at set point. I keep the AC on 24 hours a day in the summer for my and my cat's sake so the fans should be enough to keep the tank cool. A side benefit to the new arrangement is my cat can no longer use the tank as a water bowl. I noticed the other day that he was able to get to the water between the cover glass and the HOB. I wonder if he has added to my problems with the tank. Either way, he can't get to the water now. Here is the new setup and a shot of Alexei my russian blue cat.

I did wonder about that Fishmosy, so I started giving them kale every day about a month ago. They're still doing it, although less than before. Hard to tell how much of that is the kale and how much is because I've removed about 2/3 of them to my partner's tank. Now that I know they're breeding I'm starting to select which ones I want to try line breeding. When they chew the anubias, it's always on the newest leaf, I suspect that the older ones are too tough for them. When I had crypt parva in there they ate every stem they could reach back to the substrate, little buggers! The Worx is fine for the low light plants, in fact the crypts are going like mad, but the stem plants I have are a bit fussier and they're looking pretty dismal. It might be because my 2 foot tank is a bit taller than standard, so it's having trouble penetrating. I'd say it's definitely bright, but it does seem a little cold. Reds are a bit washed out looking. I prefer a slightly warmer tone so the shrimp look prettier. I've got an Up Aqua Pro U Planted on order, and I'll trial that for a few weeks. I may end up using both, with the Worx on for just a few hours in the middle of the day for a boost.

3 foot is good More water means less dramas with water stability providing you get it nice and stable

There's been some babies popping up in the tank, and I'm please that some of them are DRN. There's a few juvies cruising around now, obviously not as many as you would expect from cherries, but I'm happy some are growing up. I'm putting it down to leaf litter and powdered food. I've never managed to spot shrimplets that are in between large larvae and juvie size, but I'm guessing that they're probably hanging out under the driftwood. Here's a shot of a juvie on a leaf, with an adult in the background. I acquired some yellow cherries, most of which are in a tank at my partner's place keeping Mr Shoggoth company. I grabbed a couple of the females for the DRN side, one of whom was berried. Got a few nice shrimplets from her. Shrimplet: Adult: The carbon/blue cherries in the DAS side are producing shrimplets too. The driftwood I started a couple of months ago is coming along very nicely. The early photos in this thread show that they were pretty sparse back then, but they've filled in beautifully. This is the fissidens: This is the pellia: The more demanding plants haven't been happy at all under my Worx light, but it's fine for moss, pellia, anubias, crypts and buce. I've now got some crypts along the front of the DAS tank, another piece of driftwood with some pearl moss tied on and just starting, and two pieces of buce which have put out a new leaf each since they arrived. It's getting a little crowded on that side in terms of plants, but the DRN on the other side can't be trusted with nice plants. They've even chewed a little on the anubias when new leaves come in.

Just to complete this post with new products : I ordered a aPump from Ukraine (Kiev) you can find on eBay. For about 25$ it's really... amazing. The only noise I hear is the bubbles in the tank and the pump is on the tank !!! I use it for 20G+10G for my shrimps and it's perfect... Search for aPump in youtube too see reviews. Enjoy the silent. :)

Sorry Ineke forgot to respond to this... Yep sounds great, I think you have it covered too. The foam cup is a great idea and in fact I did use one too. I used a large glass jar to introduce the female in and it took a few goes putting her in before they were properly happy with each other. The night light is a great idea when breeding any fish that provide parental care.

A few moth ago I visit a Blue Bolt only breeder. He got a rack with 8 tanks and about 500 to 1000 BB maybe. I believe this is something you would love to see . No pictures sorry. He told me that he was breeding with only BB and that the offspring is BB (some Red bolt too) and a lot of Snow white with a little blue on the head. In my idea this were just BB of bad quality. But you have to do a lot of selecting for sure. Also I hear a lot of people say that you can breed BB by crossing a Snow white with a black TB. Never done this myself, but it seems to be done a lot of times. I just start with a couple of BB if I were you and let them breed and start selecting. Also keep in mind that it takes some time for a BB to achieve full potential. It's sad but the best and deepest color blue is the time they are about to die.

You are right that Pinto is a cross-breed shrimp. I did the experiment before and you are able to find the blog posts here: http://www.shrimpydaddy.com/blogs/blog/tagged/tibee-shrimp. Generally, Pinto are classified into 3 variants: Zebra Spotted Head Exotic (Such as skunk pattern and cloud) For colouration, they come in either black or red base. Even though Pinto could be easily breed out either from scratch (like what I tried in the experiment before) or use them to cross-breed with Taiwan Bee, you may not get the stability of gene and the exact shape and/ or proportion. If you compared the Taiwanese pinto (not those Pinto they bought from Germany and re-sell), they have longer body. Hard to describe, you will only understand it when you see the true German's pinto.

They're all stunners! Looking forward to the pictures of baby bettas growing!

The gravel is an inert gravel I forget the name - it's not marble chips but I couldn't think what it was- I blame it on a seniors moment because I can- it used to be for my cherries so definitely inert. The tanks they are in are their living quarters not the spawn tank. I have a 20" bare bottom tank with approx 6" water in it with a small amount of moss in a corner, a floating plant, half a foam cup for the bubble nest , a plastic drink bottle with top and bottom cut off and holes drilled in it for a safe place for the female to get used to the male , a small cave for her to hide in. It has a heater and a sponge filter which won't be used until the fry are free swimming also a night light for the male to see the eggs at night. I think I have it covered. I have vinegar eels for the first few days then it will be BBS until they can manage worms and other food. The guy that gave me the blacks went through just about everything he could think of for a successful spawn so here's hoping.

Hi shrimplovers! The other topic with all the pictures was getting kind of long so I post it in a new topic if you don't mind. I did my best to catch the best shrimp of this contest on video again. Enjoy, hope you like it. Feel free to share this video and spread the shrimp faith! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLl5x1kAMfo