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A big trim on HC and boy was I a happy man when I noticed a tiny tiny shrimplet! He was so small I had trouble focusing on him!! All the others came out for a feed too!

OK, put some red plants in, haha, looks so much better doesn't it. Shows how f******g bored I am!

My first breeding project (still ongoing) was simply to increase the quality or grade of my CRS. I wasn't concerned about pattern, more about the coverage and solidness of the red and white sections. In terms answering your question, it was a case of "which are the worst coloured shrimp in the tank?" and removing them until I had a handful left, rather than "which shrimp are best?" and trying to select those few. Once they bred up again, I repeated the process. I found it easier to use this approach as a bad shrimp only must be inferior to only one other shrimp, whereas when picking the best shrimp, they must be better than all the other shrimp so you must compare all the shrimp instead of just a few. Of course if I was breeding for a specific trait, I would select the ones I wanted to breed with from the outset. Its a simple thing to see if a shrimp has the trait you are looking for or not.

Food for shrimp generally comes in small packages so if you have a few tanks there is little chance of it going off before you use it all. However if you only have one or two tanks or live along the coast (high humidity), one of the threats to the quality of your shrimp food is moisture. Moisture added to the food encourages the decomposition of the food and the growth of bacteria and fungi, which could potentially make your shrimp sick. One way to help keep your shrimp food in top condition is to use a silicon gel satchet that absorbs the moisture from the air in your container. Satchets are available online, but are also readily available as preservers in some human food items. Moreover the satchets can be recharged by drying them in an oven. If you are silly like me, and are constantly forgetting to dry your hands before dipping your fingers in the shrimp food, this may be a great way to protect the integrity and nutrition of your shrimp food.

So we have 6/10 tanks with soil and water. 4 of those 6 have shrimp in them. Tomorrow's job will be get the final 4 drilled and fittings installed. Will mean by next weekend we can have shrimp in 8/10 tanks, put sump into place and start seeding the sump using the 2 empty tanks. Here's some happy snaps of some current shrimp

So another photo taken just a couple minutes ago, nice dark coloured Chameleon, love 'em!

I was very excited! Lights out for now but DAS, DRN & Chameleons coming tomorrow :)

First dibs on some trimming! I live in wa is it a issue?

That looks so good man. Keep it up.

Cheers,This is my rack journal bro haha

Nice. Lovey our yellow cherries. What size tanks are you using? Do you have a rack journal somewhere?

my lady

The full rack shot, water change bucket lives next to rhe yellow tank bottom has my feeds, minerals and elixers. Chiller that has jist sprung leak fml And mini sump.

The yellow tank ft one pygmy cory

Residual yellows and crs tank

Haha I only have a lonely female panda in with the snowballs, id love a boy for her but I haven't gotten around to harassing Brisbane keepers for a boy.

I'll have a look at the article later Will. The findings you report so far sound sensible. Not just with shrimp but other endothermic (eg. "cold blooded" animals) organisms the life cycle is highly temperature dependent. They will live longer at lower temps but breed quicker at higher temps. Killifish keepers are intimately aware of the effect of temperature. There were several mentions in the B&K magazines of breeding activity being affected by temperature but no mention of photoperiod being adjusted seasonally. As you would expect the breeding was reduced at low temperatures. One bee shrimp breeder allowed the tank temperatures to drop to around 15 degrees C for a couple of months during the winter and noted very high production rates as the temperatures were raised again. This is to be expected for temperate creatures such as these, who are supposed to experience seasonal temperature differences. The breeder above had determined that the increased productivity in spring outweighed the lost productivity during winter. I think it will be most useful and important to investigate the effect of pH and temperature on sex ratios in our shrimp, because some very useful manipulations could be achieved then. Something for people with enough tank space to consider testing.

Throw an updated full tank shot up mate

Put some pieces of Blyxa Japonica, Anubias Nana and more Bolbitis Heudelotii in this morning, was again well looked after by Serene Aquarium, again couldn't ask for better service, tank is getting towards the full stage though, haha, might be time to ease off on the plants. Water Wisteria is going great, growing really well and needs a trim, Bacopa is going mental and some stems are sticking out of the water. Yeah... tank is going really well, for a change.

Interesting ... But I'd think twice about turning your temp up to 28........ You'll also increase harmful bacteria too. My 2 cents!

Wow your shrimp are breeding like crazy. Hopefully I get the same result when my tanks up haha

I haven't been paying it enough attention but it is just powering on!! One thing I have noticed is a lack of algae growth on side of tank. Thinking the plants must be removing nitrates pretty well.

So nosy!! Yeah show us your, er, shrimp rack!! Hopefully the CRS get busy for you soon!!

Nice shrimp Buck. Those yellows look very nice. Well the crs is nice too lol. What else you got in your rack nowadays? Also interested in see a full rack shot just cause I am nosy as.

How you had it in the last picture is fine. Top it off with Substrat pro on top of the marine pure. You don't need another sponge above all the biological media. The basket should have a lid that will stop large media getting into the impeller. Spraybar or normal outlet is a personal choice and what you are trying to achieve. Spraybar, depending on placement, can allow you a more even flow across the whole tank. If placed under the water level, it will create a current down to your plants to avoid dead spots. If you face the bar down for more current to the plants, then surface agitation is reduced to nothing. Normal outlet gives you more surface agitation = more oxygen exchange at the surface. Possibly also less surface scum. It moves the water in a circular pattern but only near the surface, but you can get dead spots in the tank. Ideally, you'd want a bit of both. I use the spraybar, but drill extra holes in it. I drill new holes, that when installed, the original holes will point down into the tank to create water flow to the plants. And the new holes will point up, so the surface of the water is agitated and reduces surface scum while increasing oxygen exchange. The spraybar is positioned, just under the surface of the water in the tank. Hopefully you can visualise what I'd describing here. Edit - here is my super excellent drawing skills for you to visualise the additional holes on the spraybar.