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After doing some species counts I was pretty surprised at how many native shrimp I currently have. First is what I am assuming are local grass shrimp, which I easily catch with macrobachium, just the macros I tend to put back in the wild rather than keep. Then there are Riffle shrimp Chameleon shrimp Darwin Red Nose Shrimp Darwin Algae Shrimp Typhus Shrimp And a large macrobachium looking shrimp that I have never formally identified. I did have the other type of Red nose shrimp that doesn't breed in fresh water which I think has now died out in my tanks. I did have Barney Springs shrimp which I think have either since died out or are disguising themselves in with the Blackmores. The zebras I had I know sadly died out. I also have some native snails which I am pretty chuffed with and then some native fish such as Threadfin rainbows, spotted blue eyes, Pacific Blue eyes, locally caught rainbows and Streets Creek rainbows, pygmy rainbows and in the back pond I am pretty sure their are still come purple spot gudgeons. Never did I think I would end up with so many natives and still be on the hunt for some other elusive natives like some local Rhads.

I thought I would share my experience setting up my first shrimp tank. My hope is that it may help other newbies as well as provide a tank history for those that are willing to help me with the problems that I undoubtedly will have. I have spent a lot of time reading threads here so hopefully there won’t be too many mis-steps. My plan is to establish a healthy colony of red rilis. Assuming I can manage that, I would then like to try a more difficult shrimp. I tried to setup a tank that would give me options down the road. My Tank Setup Tank: 20 Gallon High Substrate: ADA Amazonian Heater: Eheim 100W Heater HOB Filter: 2 x AquaClear 50 Filter Sponge Filter: Jardin Dual Lights: Current USA Satellite Freshwater LED Plus 24" Digital Thermometer: General Tools AQ150 Digital Aquarium Thermometer Day 0 12/28 I sprinkled Benibachi Mineral Powder and Bee Max over the bottom of the tank. I then carefully added the Aquasoil on top. Finally, I filled the tank with RO water. I ran the water into a cup that rested in a large petri dish so as the tank filled the substrate was disturbed as little as possible. Even with this precaution the tank was pretty cloudy. Day 1 12/29 The tank cleared up quite a bit by the next day. I checked the WPs and did an 90% water change using RO water with SS GH+ in it to raise the TDS to 160ppm. Water parameter before WC TDS: 58ppm Temp: 78.4°F GH: 2 KH: 0-1 Ammonia: 4.0ppm Nitrite: 0ppm Day 2 12/30 I forgot to plug the heater back in after yesterday’s WC so the tank got colder than it was supposed to. No harm done this early in the process. The digital thermometer I have has temp alarms so once I set it up, I should catch this type of problem if it happens again. I checked the WPs and added a few plant clippings from my 65G community tank. I did a 60% WC using RO water with SS GH+ in it to raise the TDS to 160ppm. Water parameter before WC TDS: 130ppm Temp: 69.4°F GH: 6 KH: 0-1 Ammonia: 4.0ppm Nitrite: 0ppm Day 3 12/31 I added a piece of spider wood as well as several pieces of cholla wood to the tank. They are slowly becoming water logged. Hopefully they will all sink by tomorrow. I received some mini pellia moss in the mail today. I placed some of it on a rock and some on a piece of cholla wood. I then wrapped them in fishing line. This is my first attempt with anything but java moss. Hopefully I will have some luck it and the other mosses I have on the way. I checked the WPs and did a 50% WC using RO water with SS GH+ in it to raise the TDS to 160ppm. Water parameter before WC TDS: 137ppm Temp: 77.7°F GH: 7 KH: 0-1 Ammonia: 2.0ppm Nitrite: 0ppm That's where the tank stands as of today. I should be getting some more moss in the mail Friday so I will probably post an update then. I would appreciate hearing any comments or suggestions you might have. Thanks.

I have a real soft spot for riffles, and love watching them waving their nets through the water. Typhus too are a lovely shrimp and prone to getting nice patterns and colours. Also typhus don't seem to get as big as riffles and do not have the net feeding so don't need as good water flow as riffles tend to. Managing to keep and breed zebra shrimp would be my holey grail, I love them but alas just cant seem to keep them.

I was thinking of getting some dino spit and pee, so i might add some DAS to the shopping list :-P haha

It'll sort itself out over time. My tank was horrid until I checked the shrimp in and boom, was spotless. I also had DAS though so that probably helped.

6ish... I think? Lol i didnt count i just picked the strongest stripes and then thought i might have all girls so i picked a couple of good lads to join the party

They've ve been in there a few weeks now and its only slightly better haha they really need to start breeding so the baby shrimp can enjoy all that biofilm/algea

Some kind of better pics of the line im trying to breed in the snowball project. The image quality its self is crap but it gives you a better idea

Looks wicked buck! That tank will be spotless soon!

Just a simple example of how to attach moss to items for your shrimp tank. In these examples I have used shrimp caves and mesh. You can also apply this to driftwood, cholla, almost anything. At start up you will need the moss, item, scissors and tie line (cotton or fishing line). I also use the lid from a plastic storage box as a work bench, saves water going everywhere. Lol Simply place your item in a position easy to work with. I begin by tying the line to the item first to anchor it. I always do double knots to avoid slipping. Apply a generous amount of the moss to be attached. Subwassertang doesn't seem to attach itself as easily to items as other mosses, so may need to be tied more than others. At this stage, you simply wrap the line around the item tightly several times. I usually stand the item on its end or on its back at this stage. You can see how many times the line has gone around the item now. Now I tie the line off under the item, this way it's harder to see. Again, use a double knot for security. Then trim any excess line. And there you have it, a nice Green shelter for your shrimps!! As you can see I got carried away today!! The following images are the same process but using mesh. I hope this has been helpful! Simple but effective!! Enjoy!

Hello jumb0mama, 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

Ok thanks Fish mossy for clearing that up. :) I think I have some of those, something similar in the bottom tank. I might chuck a log in with it & see if they clean the black algae off. Cheers.

Good timing, I need to do mine today. I did one the other day and was weaving it in and out lol was wondering why it was taking so long.

good write up mate! im about to give up on cotton my last two plants i tied down ended up floating away, i should have just glued them like i normaly do.

I tie my moss like that also, however I use fishing line now as I found that cotton broke up and let go

fantastic