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Good afternoon my fellow Shrimp Keepers, I have received the answers for the 3rd SKF interview. Today we have a interview from Shrimpmaster. He is a very well respected and known blogger based in Europe. You can find his new website at http://www.shrimpmaster.net/. SKF - Hi Shrimpmaster can you please tell us a little about yourself? SM - I got into this hobby for about 4 years now. I started with a fish small tank and added some shrimp into it then I gave them their own tank and before I knew I had 13 tanks, shrimp only. I keep TWB, Pinto, Spotted head, Crystal Black, Bloody Mary, all kinds of tiger shrimp, some crossbreeding results and my PRL. I love to observe them and improve quality by selecting. I also like to do macro photography and write something about them. You can find my blog in Dutch: www.shrimpmaster.nl and in English www.shrimpmaster.net. The last one is quite new and I hope to add a lot more content in time. Question 1 - What is your weekly/monthly maintenance schedule? SM - I try to do this every week but sometimes I skip a week when tanks and shrimp activity looks perfect. I change about 20% water. Do some cleaning, trim plants and moss and check the temperature. About once a month I do a complete parameter check for all tanks and write it down in my journal. Also I add new leaves once a week. Question 2 - What is your favorite additive/products? SM - I like the Salty Shrimp products, because it’s simple to use. Also I’m experimenting with products of Shrimpy Daddy. When it comes to food, I feed them all kind of stuff, also the 'big' brands. Worth mentioning are the BossAquaria products, I love them. And my shrimp are addicted to the Shrimp Crack food. Question 3 - What is your worst shrimp experience? SM - To lose almost a whole colony was my worst experience. I believe we’ve all been there at some point. The thing is to keep searching for the cause and fix this. Also keep track of everything in a log book might help. You might think you can remember it all, but when you look back at the numbers, they can tell you a lot more. Question 4 - What are the biggest myths in Shrimp Keeping? SM - Let me think; some people say that shrimplets can get stuck in the soil and die. I never had this experience, I’ve been looking at the little ones that went caving about 5cm deep, but they always reach the top again. For me this is a myth. Question 5 - Unusual things that you use with your shrimps? SM - No not really. At least for me things are not unusual that fast. Question 6 - Can you give us tips on selective breeding? And how to improve the quality of our shrimps? SM - It’s all about strict selecting if you ask me. If you have a little doubt about a shrimp, you should cull them out instantly. Also you have to be very patient. The best result might take several generations, don’t expect that the first generation will be it. Also if you have the tools, macro pictures will come in handy. When you can zoom in that much, you can see more about the quality of the antenna's and cover thickness. Question 7 - What do you think will be the next big thing in shrimp? Will it come from crosses or line breeding pure species? SM - We are always thrilled to see new colors or patterns, but I believe we’re almost there already. All the cross options seems to been tried (I hope I’m wrong!). As much as I always hammer on focus on quality, I also love to see new crossbreeds or patterns. We should keep an eye open for mutations in or tank that could hold some potential. I’m working on a cross breed project at the moment which could result into something nice. But chances are small I have to admit. If something works out, you will know it right away. Question 8 - How do you mineralize and what WP do you aim for? SM - I use osmosis water as a base. I mineralize it with Salty Shrimp Gh+ to about 190 microsiemens. I aim for a GH5-6, KH0-1, PH 6-6.5, temperature 23 Celsius. Sometimes I also filter the new water over peat for a while to lower the PH for my tanks with inert soil. When the room temperature is cold I also put in a heater to give the new water the same temperature as the tank. Question 9 - What food enhances the welling being of shrimps and increase shrimplets survival rates? SM - I believe a little pinch of dust food will do no harm. Also I’m starting to believe that shrimplet survival depends a lot on the phase before they were born. Good food for the females to develop good eggs that will result in strong shrimplets. Question 10 - How often do you cull? SM - Not enough, I’m too attached to my shrimp ;). But about once a month. The best thing is to do it all the time. When you see a piece that don’t belong in your top group, transfer it to your cull tank right away. Question 11 - What is your funniest shrimp experience? SM - Shrimp aren’t funny, they are ruthless cannibals ;). But if you ask: I have to go back to the first shrimp I bought. I had one fish tank at that moment and I found some shrimp on the internet. It was about an hour trip and when I came there a woman opened the door for 20cm and pushed a little bowl through the opening. “You have the money?” she asked and I gave it here. The door slams and left me with a stupid look on my face. “Well, shrimp people are weird?!” I thought haha. The good thing is that this was a onetime experience. I’ve only met very kind shrimp people since then and that is one thing that kept me in this hobby! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I wanted say on behalf of SKF and its members, Thank you very much Shrimpmaster. I am really curious what was the shrimp you bought off this lady @Shrimpmaster?

Gading of Caridina logemanni, Caridina mariae and Taiwan Bee Shrimp has been a hot topic recently on various groups and there hasn't been a consistent application of grading across these shrimp. There is a lot of hearsay but nothing documented anywhere. As a result, to ensure we maintain a consistent approach to grading here and on our Facebook group, I'm putting forward draft gradings for feedback from the SKF community. Grading TableGradeDescriptionExamplesHigh> 90% total body coverage of the identifying colour the shrimp looks crisp and perfect to the naked eye may still have some small imperfections under magnification. Medium70% - 90% total body coverage of the identifying colour the shrimp is not as crisp also has some slight imperfections in the overall appearance with the naked eye. Low35% - 70% total body coverage of the identifying colour the shrimp has the appearance of being patchy and imperfect the overall appearance with the naked eye is poor. CullThe shrimp has reached a point that it is barely recognisable as belonging to the intended group also genetic and physical deformities etc that mean the shrimp should be removed from the general population. Championship: The shrimp must appear perfect and under magnification show no imperfections or blemishes. The perfect example with full body coverage of colour and pattern for the given variant. If anyone has examples that we can use in the final grading information, please attach your watermarked images here. Also, should the quality of the offspring be representative (or better) of the parents grade?

These interviews are fantastic Disciple. I love Shrimp Master's 'funniest shrimp experience' ?

Its was nice chatting to you last night. I hope GC didn't scare you off. Hopefully you will be share some pictures and get some more shrimp for your new tanks.

Hello Chris, Welcome to Shrimp Keepers Forum. Please feel free to browse around and get to know others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. regards, skfadmin

My fiance picked the hiding spots :P just gonn go through topic and make sure i didnt miss any lol Glad i went through them again, JC!@ you won genchem beta G. Apologies have been checking the submissions ater 12 1/2 hr shifts lol.. Still cross checking Okay there is still 2 left, 1x beta g and 1x biomax

Yeah, it's a great honer that I could share a little of my experience with this interview . The funny experience was not so funny then, but looking back it make me laugh. The shrimp I bought from this woman were Crystal Red, A-grade pattern. These shrimp were the one that opened up the shrimp world for me. Before them, I did not even know that fresh water shrimp existed! I found an old picture of my first tank, here it is. The shrimp must be in there somewhere.

I'll search a bit more about the rocks.

Thanks, it was nice to meet some people. GC cant scare me off even if he was the boogie man. I'll get some pictures up soon and have some dollars for more shrimp. dang bills keep getting in the way.

Haha, thanks. I started very enthusiastic, but soon realized what a huge project it was So indeed NoGi's plan is much better for the moment. Even 4 levels is quite some work. But maybe a 5th level would be nice: 'the perfect shrimp' / 'top level'. You probably hardly see them in real life, but everything the high level has, but without any small imperfections, cracks or whatsoever. The ultimate shrimp to aim for. Would this be of extra value to add?

I always wanted to make a poster/webpage with about a 100 pictures. The x axis would be the pattern and the y axis would be the quality. So you have 10 different patterns with each 10 steps of quality. But this is so much work, and you need so much shrimp, I don't think I will get it done soon.

As a guideline for everyone to use I really think it is going to be really useful. It is taking away a lot of guess work and subjectivity on grade your own shrimp. ATM everyone will have their own way of deciding what is high grade and what is low grade. So I like the idea we have a standard, at least with sales in SKF. Good work ‌@Paul Minett and ‌@NoGi

Sounds like a great biotope for shrimp. A couple of small twigs would be cool as well. Instead of using 100% dried oak leaves, try mixing it with 50% IAL (Indian Almond Leaves).

@Chris, welcome to SKF.

Hey welcome to SKF

As Grubs said DONT skimp on insulation, it will cost you in the long run. How ever I have seen it done very well with poly from fish and veg shipping boxes, cut the boxes up and you can usually get 3 or 4 layers in the walls and it works just as good as the bought ones, it is all about trapping the air layers, so gap seal, gap seal and gap seal again, so no drafts get in = well insulated room and windows? put 2 windows in, its the same as double glaze and cheaper. There are ways around every thing for little cash out lay. I have learnt from building many fish rooms and shop set ups. BUT there is always a better way, How do you like that contradiction ??? Brag time sorry, I don't need to use much up here just enough to keep it even through out the year, no heaters and air con for 4 or 5 weeks, I had to as every one thinks its hot all the time up here NOT SO, today max 28 tonight 19c, house doors open and nice. Bob

A new full tank shot, plants were starting to pearl so the bubbles make it difficult to photograph. and some fishy shots, they are a lot harder to photograph than shrimp!

I sincerely hope they aren't here and nobody tries to sneak them in. The American species (specifically including Procambarus clarkii) are resistant carriers of the "Crayfish disease" which nearly wiped out freshwater crayfish in Europe when it arrived there. Here in Australia we have the most diverse and interesting freshwater crayfish fauna on earth, including some dwarf crays that have more potential for line-breeding colour forms (purple, black, blue, red etc) than wild P. clarkii ever did. Our crays have been confirmed to also be highly susceptible to the disease - it is possible that our amazing native freshwater crabs and shrimp are equally as susceptible. Fear of this disease impacting the economically important crustacean industry is why no exotic shrimp have been approved for legal importation here and probably none ever will be. If you think the authorities are tough on the shrimp hobby now, wait and see how they are if the New World crays start to show up. Don't expect there to be a hobby surviving here for very long. I would be in full support of any tank of Procambarus in Australia to be nuked by fisheries. Don't tell me if you've got them.