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Update to my last section. Lots of mischling, tibees, taitibees and a few pintos. Before i went on my holidays i noticed a few nice blue shrimplets but assumed that would mature into black juvies. To my suprise it seems they have continued to hold the blue which it very exciting for me. I might clear out this tank to try concentrate on these bluish shrimp. What do you guys think?

I finaly got some pogo helferi for my little octagon and there was left overs so i added them to the crs tank to grow out. The bloody marys i got recently are going well with one already berried! The crs love some blanched spinach.

Yes soybean husks. Little nutritional value although they love it but it's the bacteria that grows on it that is so good for them. You can leave it in the tank without causing any problems. Exçellent holiday food.

"Snow" flake.

What Ineke said. Make sure your tank is properly cycled. But if you are in the middle of cycling your tank and want some plants to help reduce the ammonia, then duckweed is very good at it, as is water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes).

Have you cycled your tank properly? You shouldn't be having constant ammonia spikes. What are your other water parameters, nitrites , nitrates? You are also having ph problems is that in the same tank ?

This shows part of the thriving colony that was in there.

I have done something similar to an AR126. The canister filter replacement will be easy. The intake and outake tubes will easily slot through the existing holes of the hood with out much (if any) modification. I also replaced the stock light with an Aqua Pro Z. 30cm LED light fits the AR126. You just need to remove the stock light fitting and drill a hole large enough to fit the power plug through.

I have the 980 which is 210 litres. I originally just used the overhead filter and lights that came with the tank plus 4 sponge filters. I then took away the overhead filter , added a canister but kept the lights. I used that for 18 months with great success for my large CRS colony but found it got warm in the summers - I then used 4 computer fans with a thermostat which kept the temp down to 22/23. Recently I changed the lights to an LED system and did away with the hood altogether. However I'm fairly sure you can take the fluros out and fit an LED system in the hood- pretty sure if you look under lighting you will find a thread where that was done and how to do it. I love the tank and have now added another canister and a chiller so I can put all my in wanted shrimp into. I will see if I can find some pictures but it looks a bit more of a planted tank rather than a shrimp tank as its in the lounge so I needed it to look neat These are a couple of pictures I still have - not the best but one has the hood lighting and the other LED lighting You can see the difference the LED makes its much brighter

I've got the blonde endlers and red chillis.... Love them just as much as shrimps! :D I have them together with my ninja and red cherry shrimps. =)

i had the exact same issue, it said it was neutral ph, but it wasnt.... and i thought the same thing, testing everything else but the gravel... what i did to make sure my gravel is inert, since i wont trust what they say now, is find a fish shop that has gravel out of bags, find some you like and see if you can take a handful home to test

Yes, Iron Sand is inert. I've got it in a few of my tanks without issue. Be careful with magnet cleaners near it though...

Thank you for everyone's queries and inputs. Please keep them coming. I feed ZooMed pellets to the adults of about 1-2 pellets per day. I usually drop some Shiakura baby powder on the surface of the water that opens up to about a 2-3 inch (diameter) circle (5-7mm). The powder drops to the water column and on to the various plants and substrate. Therefore, I have not been target feeding the babies. I have not checked for nitrate, nitrite and ammonia but will do so later today. Since I use an aged sponge filter and have an abundance of immersed as well as emmersed plants, I had assumed that these parameters are not critical in my situation. I will double check now. The colony is about 25-30 CRS/CBS. They are mostly adults. There are usually about 9-10 berried shrimps in the tank at any one time. I have also assumed, may be incorrectly, that just because conditions are fine for the adults to carry berries, they may not be good enough for the babies to survive. When I change water (usually not more than 10%), I pre-mix the new water (RO) separately with Seachem Equilibrium and then drip them slowly into the sponge filter uplift tube. The new water is within 2-3 deg C of the tank water. The pH and TDS should be practically the same as the tank water. Thanks for your help.

Nice shrimp mate.

I think we all fell in love with Bluebolts Bluebolts , he had awesome shrimp and gave me my first pair . They died unfortunately and I was terrified to tell him but I did in the end. They were worth much more back then but now I don't have any problems keeping them.

Welcome @DesertVet, interesting nickname.

Monday blues? Time for a update on my bluebolts and chocolates section.

Gday SKFers, I hope you didnt miss me too much while I was away. It was a long 2 weeks away from my shrimps and I was a little worried to see what I would find when I got back. It seems my shrimp have not done so well... They did Great! My sister did a good job.

[Tank] Both are nice aquariums. If I was to pick one for partitioning, it would be the Komoda. Sorry, can't help you with the acrylic. Only place I know of is Bunnings. [Species] I'd recommend starting with CRS and CBS first, without mixing in another species. [Substrate] Benibachi soil is ok to use. You also have a choice of Cal Labs Black Earth Premium. or ADA Aquasoil. They will have different cycling requirements. [Filter] Both sizes will be fine. 2213 for the smaller 3ft and the 2217 for the bigger 4ft. You could even get the 2215 impeller and use it in the 2213 - thus giving you similar flow rates as the 2215. Definitely needs SS mesh intake protection. Mesh intakes will slow the water flow down, hence the suggestion with the 2215 impeller. [Heater] Heating a tank for shrimps is not a major problem. Any reasonably priced heater will do. A small one is enough. I used an Eheim jager 50W in my Mr Aqua 3ft bookshelf. They can survive a Sydney winter without issue. It's the cooling that will be your bigger issue. Sydney summer means you will eventually need to look into a Chiller. If we get several hot days in a row, the shrimp will suffer, if the water temps rise above 28 for an extended period. [Plants] & [Hardscape] Your preference really. Mosses are popular for the ease and surface area for the shrimps to graze on. As well as it's low maintenance. You want to minimise having to stick your hands into the tank. But an Iwagumi scape means the use of rocks and many iwagumi style rocks will alter water parameters. Best to avoid it now, or you will be constantly battling to control water parameters. [Lights] Pro Z is fine. If you go with mainly mosses, then any light will do. [RO unit] Reverse Osmosis. Filters tap water and removes all the nasty minerals and additives and Chlorine and Chloramines, so that you can add in your own minerals to suit the shrimp's requirements. Screw in one end to your tap, turn on the tap and output from one tube is clean pure water. Output from another tube is waste water for watering plants, or for washing clothes (do not drink). Most of us purchase from FSA (Filter Systems Australia). 1300 888 008 ring them up and ask for an RO unit for aquariums. [Other equipment] TDS meter is a must have. GH/KH kit is a must have. Chiller as mentioned above. It might not be an immediate priority, especially if your house/room is cool. But maintaining a 23degC water temp gets very hard in summer. [Other issues] As with any aquarium, cycling is critical. Do it properly until no Ammonia or Nitrite is detectable. Methods for cycling is the same for a fish tank. An existing, mature filter will help kick start the process. DSM or WSM is up to you and what plants you want to keep. But just remember my recommendation to avoid Iwagumi. Apart from the type of rocks used which alters Water Parameters, you need to stick your hands into the tank too much, too often (for trimming). It's not the best idea with shrimps. Tank stability is key to keeping shrimps healthy. Sourcing shrimps and plants: Sign up as a paid member of this forum, and the classifieds section will open up for you. Apart from the cheaper prices forum members trade in, you will also get to participate in competitions that you might win free stuff. Occasionally, generous members give free shrimps, plants or equipment away as well. And you will only see it in the classifieds section of the forum. Hence you NEED to be a member. Keep asking questions along the way as you set up your tank. @NoGi where is the link to purchase membership gone? It's not easy finding it.

@NoGi I seem to be following your trend! I have just gotten back into livebearers starting with the wonderful endlers! Some of the girls from different strains do have different colouring to them. looking forward to many many pics from all the Endler breeders. heres one of my favourite pics at the moment. French Blue Star endler.

Here's a pic of my starting couple