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Short Creek is an interesting little spot. It is located near a tea farm on the tablelands above Cairns. Why is it named 'short creek' you ask? Well it might have something to do with a 'short' drop! We only sampled a short section but found a wide variety of organisms above these water falls including Caridina confusa, purple spot gudgeons and a species of freshwater crayfish (I forget the name, Bob will remind me when he remembers that I caught one for him, and he didn't catch any!). Water parameters (in May) were: pH: 6.8 TDS: 21 Temperature: 19*C GH: < 20 ppm KH: < 10 ppm the shrimp were mainly located in the back eddies associated with vegetation or branches ect. that were hanging into the water. Unfortunately it was drizzling with rain most of the time we were there so I wasn't able to get any nice shots of the shrimp fresh from the creek. I did get a nice shot of a purple spot. However I have pics of the confusa I brought home, currently housed in a temporary set-up alongside some snails (temp 20*C, TDS 60, GH and KH < 1, pH 7). I'm not sure why these are called the false zebra shrimp. For starters, these are massive compared to the zebras (4-5cm vs. 3cm for zebs). I've really fallen for these guys and can't wait to set up their new tank. I think they should be called fusa (The Fusa are coming - Madagascar, anyone?) or confusa. 'False zebra shrimp' (yawn) just undersells them so much. They aren't fussy at all, eating all of the normal aquaria shrimp fare. Likewise I haven't lost a single one through the travel and their housing. They can be a little rowdy at feeding time, crawling over each other and running off with bits of food away from the others - maybe not ideal for keeping with smaller shrimp like Malanda, chameleons or Zebs. But I find that adds to their appeal, rather than detracting. I will report on things like 'how good an algae eater' or 'ease of breeding' once their new tank is set-up, BUT breeding should be relatively straight forward as I believe they have large eggs and drop direct developing young, similar to zebs. Another cool thing with these guys is that can seem to have a golden glow and iridescence - at least under the LED lights over their temporary housing. hopefully I can get some better pictures of what that looks like with more time.

There have been a few rumblings from Bob, Kiz and I about a new shrimp to the hobby, and possibly a new shrimp to science , which for the moment we will call Caridina sp. 'Malanda'. Thanks to Kiz for putting up some excellent pics of the shrimp themselves, which can be found here: Having kept both the Caridina sp. Malanda and the shrimp collected from Barney Springs (another possibly unidentified shrimp which we are calling Caridina sp. "Barney Springs", also rare in the hobby), they are quite similar in size, shape and colour and, in my opinion, could likely be the same species. These are currently with Ura for taxonomy so we will have some more info on taxonomy soon. Thanks @‌Ura. Anyway this is a report from where the shrimp were found (May, 2015). Water parameters were: TDS: 17 pH: 7.4 - Water sample was taken from within the riffles which would tend to cause CO2 to gas off and therefore boost pH. Temperature: 19*C KH: < 10 ppm GH: < 20 ppm Short video - excuse the rainy conditions We found the shrimp only in one specific location - just upstream of where Bob is standing, in the long grass at the edge of the stream. We sampled further upstream, across the other side of the creek and downstream, and found none, including in areas where the grass was growing in a similar manner to where we did find them. This is just a shot from further upstream, around the corner from the above shot. The creekbed within the riffles was rock, mostly covered in algae and some silt. there were no shrimp in this area. The shrimp were found hard in against the bank, right at the interface between the water, the bank and the grass hanging into the water. The shrimp were clearly coloured by sex - females were reddish, males blue. Note the large eggs for this species = easy to breed. Male - Top Female - Bottom We also found a species of rainbowfish in the eddies at the base of the riffles, a species of gudgeon, some sponges growing on the bedrock in the riffles and some macros (Macrobrachium sp.). None were in the same habitat as the Malanda shrimp. This macro had a parasite attached - nasty!

So as noted in the "flimsy shelves review", I was having trouble with the set-up sitting on a flimsy set of shelves. Last weekend I swapped over to the "Rack It" shelves from Bunnings - the thickest steel version which comes in black (which I used) or galvanized. I am super happy with this set-up and still kicking myself that I didn't use it to begin with. Its 1200 long BETWEEN the uprights, and 400 mm wide. All the shelves are fully adjustable to any height and you can have as many or as few shelves as you like without paying extra because all the pieces for the stand come separately. I went with four shelves. The set-up: Sorry for the blurry pics, I forgot to switch the camera from macro mode While setting up I stood in the center of one of the horizontal beams and it barely flexed. I lay down on the shelves and there was no movement. Only one minor issue/change: To get the bottom horizontal beam to sit on the bottom, you have to trim the bracket on the two ends of the two horizontal beams (and paint the bare metal to stop corrosion). This gives you an extra 50mm between the bottom shelf and the shelf above. I used an angle grinder to make the cuts and I had some paint left over from painting the mdf shelves (which you should also do otherwise they will swell if they get wet, and they will get wet being around tanks! ) which took about 20 mins total including dragging the angle grinder out of the cupboard and fitting a new blade. Cutting time was only 2mins for all four cuts. I think an extra 50mm is worth 20 mins of extra set-up time. Usual bracket Trimmed bracket

Polo and T-shirt up for grabs. Post up original shrimp related meme. Rules: 1. Images must be yours or freely available to use 2. Open to anyone with access to the comp forum 3. Winner chosen by me Post them in the comp gallery area, the number of likes can influence my decision. MS Paint drawn images accepted ? Closes midnight June 30.

Thats brilliant fellas. I love the idea that new species can still be found.

I posted a photos ages ago of Dave Chappell's character Tyrone Biggums asking about Crack, I put it down to asking about Shrimp Crack, can't find the photo though, haha.

I think a hob filter will be fine turned off for quite a few hours; if you use carbon inserts for it then there will certainly be no issue - just put a new one in soon if you're worried. The temperature will not be a problem. Do as fishmosy said re. leaving them in the tank and not feeding them tonight. It will be fine.

Best just to leave them in the tank. Dont feed them tonight. What filtration do you have? If its internal, I wouldn't worry. If its external and the power is off for less than six hours, you should be sweet. Power companies seem to over-estimate the amount of time the power is off, so you might be worrying for nothing.

I made the mistake of making a batch much too large. I split them into two batches, one in the fridge, one in the freezer. I kept some in the freezer. Then come time to feed, I realised I should have precut them into smaller pieces that can be easily broken off. The large piece I put in the freezer is difficult to break off for feeding. I have to hack at it with a knife, not fun or convenient. So the tip here is to cut them into smaller feeding sizes before freezing them. I kept a smaller batch, that can be fed within a period of 1 week, in the fridge. Be careful to finish off the batch that is kept in the fridge quickly. Since there is no preservative, also be careful to use clean sterilised utensils when cutting this batch up. Mike Petro has the right idea. Precut the Shrimp Kandy as soon as possible after the agar is set, with a clean sterilised utensil. So you don't have to cut it everytime you need a bit to feed the shrimp. Reduces the risk of contaminating the food. Be careful of using your fingers or dirty utensils when you feed.

What can I say Fishmosy with the great prize you have offered, I had to give it a red hot go. Thanks for the competition and the great prize. It is very much appreciated and it was as others have said quite entertaining.

Here is the official answer and I'm sure you'll agree Callan had it circled after his third attempt. Quite obvious now it has been pointed out, hey?

Ben what cray?? I did not see any. That's right you caught it. There you go I admitted to it you caught one and I did not and its a wasselli type??? for the moment any way Kiz there is some coming to you as well, that will mean there is 3 of us with them, when I get back to get the green one I will send some to the both of you. The Rostrum is why there is some off to be ID and they are very different to the Confusa type species because of that nose, so it could be sp November??, I have to thank Ben for the small flasks and alcohol to put them in TA Ben. Malanda/ Milla milla area seams to be a hot spot for new species, so more exploration to come and its a horrible area to spend time NOT, its southern Atherton tablelands rainforest country/ Diary country and really pretty and easy driving. You ask why hasn't it been explored before?? because most spots near the road don't produce shrimp, you have to think out side the box or walk away from the roads to find them. When Ben get his Malanda shrimp thread going he will point out where they are found, its right beside the road BUT you can fish all over the place and get nothing as they are right up under the grass/plant tight against the bank in about 5cm of water, so you have to push the net in hard to get them= safe place to live. There will be lots more new ones to come, but because I am not taking good photos of them at the moment, I do not post it any more, with out photos it did not happen LOL. Ben found my water testing gear. Bob