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I recently acquired a couple of 3D moss ledges from @newbreed Aquatics (https://newbreedaquatics.com.au/planted-tanks/aquascaping-tools) with the thought of trialing them and organising my moss collection neatly. When I received them, I was impressed with the quality of the mesh and didn't want to use them for the 'common' moss like java, peacock, flame, etc. so I kept them aside and told myself to look for a 'worthy' moss for it when I get a chance. Fast forward to this week, I was fortunate enough to be offered some rare cameroon moss from a generous SKF member. That's right... you can see where this is leading to. The mesh is made of a thick plastic material and feels really sturdy, unlike typical stainless steel mesh which is flimsy and bends easily. This makes holding and working with it easy and comfortable, especially with my big clumsy fingers. The mesh can be detached from the suction cup by twisting it 90 degrees and pulling it out. This means the suction cup could be left on the glass if you want to only remove the mesh for trimming/propagating the moss. Perhaps this would prolong the lifespan of the suction cup. Only time will tell. The edge of the mesh has notches which makes tying the mesh extremely easy and neat. I really like it. I generally do not trust suction cups... e.g. heater suction cups, metacube suction cups, etc. and this is no exception. While the suction cup is of a typical size (wish it is larger), it is soft, supple and feels quality, unlike some hard rubbery suction cups that come with cheap heaters. The suction cup stuck on to the glass without any issue, and time will tell if it will hold up well. I am reserving my verdict for the suction cup at this stage. Overall, I am quite pleased with this moss ledge, especially how easy it is to hold, work with it, and tie it guided by those notches. Aesthetically, I would have preferred a white or transparent suction cup.  A suggestion perhaps is to sell replacement suction cups separately should they are required to be replaced, especially since the suction cup is designed to fit the rectangular groove of the mesh. A well thought out product, quality made and well priced.

Hey, Thought id join up to learn some more about this awesome hobby I've recently taken up. I have lots to learn and will aslo be after some certain species in the future. This is my planted tank. It has 6 ember tetra and red cherry shrimp. My second tank has just crystal red shrimp in it. This photo is from before i added them. I added them last night. introduced them using the drip method and they are so far very happy. I use no fert or c02 in this tank. Thanks for taking a look. Shep

both my CPD groups have started spawning. 4 fry from planted community tank 1 fry from Dedicated breeding tank

Hi @nerowolfe, SaltyShrimp has a Ca:Mg ratio of 3.79: 1. This is exactly in the sweet spot. By mixing the SaltyShrimp to the desired GH that you prefer to match your setup, it is a very safe option to just keep doing your water changes with the salty shrimp and the deficiency will equal out over time if it is not a heavily planted tank. There are very successful breeders that do not worry about this ratio at all: @ineke I hope you do t mind me using you as an example? If you have many plants in the tank, they use more Mg than shrimp as there is a Magnesium molecule central to every chlorophyll molecule in the plant cells. I suspect this is not your problem, instead, the mineral balls might be releasing too much Calcium. For your GH of 4.47, your Calcium is a bit too high. I suspect that plants might not be your problem. I would recommend taking out a few mineral balls as if you want your tank to stay stable at a GH of 4.47 that you currently have, your Ca should be 22.5ppm ( you measured 40ppm) and Mg 5.79 approx giving a ratio of 3.88:1. In your situation it is not advisable to correct this imbalance by adding MgSO4 ( remember that shrimp don't like change), also known as Epsom salts ( Magnesium Sulphate). The reason why this is not the correct course of action in this case as your Calcium is quite high already, thus by just adding Epsom salts, your GH will go up quite a bit and you will possibly end up losing a few shrimp with the GH change. So, by mixing Salty Shrimp to your GH of 4.47 for your water changes and by removing a few mineral balls, your ratio will correct itself safely and naturally.

From start to finish i got to pass on thanks to @perplex @jayc and @Disciple to bring the setup to what it is. Without the plans for the stand perplex provided the tank would still be empty on the tiled floor, then Jayc saving me dramas of avoiding polystyrene foam. Although small contribution the suggestions of the foam from bunnings saved me a headache lol. Then there is master @Disciple allowing me to obtain a pair of shrimp for this new home. I suppose there is the rest of you aswell lol, the feedback and comments as i am sure everyone would agree definitely helps maintain motivation to proceed forwards and keep going. Gonna dig out my rocks to scape it tonight a bit more and hopefully locate some bolbitus heudulotii. Plus i have been fighting with my eheim heater getting it calibrated atm.

We would all like to think that everyone you deal with in the hobby can be trusted and don't have an alterior motive. Sadly however there are some in the hobby who are deceiving enough to steal what others have worked hard for. I thought i would write some tips which will better assist in protecting you, your belongings and what you have worked hard for. There is nothing worst then having someone violate your privacy and the home of you and your family. Tips that may be handy in no particular order. Most are common sense. * If you are breeding high value shrimp or selling anything of value avoid having your shrimp picked up from your home address. * Always obtain a phone number from the person you are dealing with as you can confirm some legitimacy of the dealing and phone numbers are traceable by Police. * Invest in an alarm system for your home if you dont have good neighbours make sure its back to base. * If you are unable to afford any alarm for your home or are renting consider investing in a dummy blue light box and alarm warning stickers. * Invest in good quality CCTV in your home covering the points of entry / Shrimp room. Dont skimp as poor quality images are useless to the Police in identifying the culprit. * If you can not afford CCTV then consider imitation cameras for the outside of your premises and again stickers. * If you have any concerns arrange pick up in a public place and arrive early and wait away from your vehicle. Some people can obtain your details from your roads and traffic authority through your number plate if they try hard enough. * Record your buyers/sellers registration plate if you have concerns and record your dealings. * Wait until the other party has left the location before you leave so that you can not be followed to your home address. * Record any break and enter or attempt to your local Police and ensure you obtain a report number and the Police officers name you spoke to so it can be followed up. * Invest in a P.O Box, it allows confidentiality without having to disclose your address to anyone. * Dont disclose any information to people you don't know. Simple things even like employment can provide vital information to a thief in regards to ascertaining times when you are not home. * If regularly selling shrimp and allowing contact with strangers invest in a separate sim card. * Take someone with you if you have the slightest concerns. * Invest in sensor lights on the external part of your residence. These days you can buy solar powered LED flood lights if you dont want hard wired to save money. * If you go away on holidays invest in in a holiday light attachment. You buy them from bunnings and you plug them into your light socket between the connection and the light bulb. It will randomly turn your light on and off at different intervals giving the look of someone being home. * Be cautious of who you advise that you are away on holidays. This is the prime time for someone to break in to your premises. * Try to avoid giving out your full name, especially if the buyer is local to your city. * If you use a land line number, make it a private number. * If you have used the same username or email address on various forums, do a google search to see if you've left identifying information associated with them. * Don't discuss how often/how long you tend to be out of the house for work etc.

Hi, just introducing myself! Have just bought my first shrimp-only tank. Bought a Dennerle 30L Nano Cube Complete +LED this week, but not set it up yet. Planning to keep Taiwan Bees, so have bought some active soil and ordered a TDS meter on eBay - though it's coming from Hong Kong, so not due for a few weeks :-( Have also ordered a 'starter box' from Shrimp Corner UK which has cholla, mineral balls, various leaves, alder cones etc. Next step is choosing a rock/stone or wood decoration and some plants, so am currently researching inert rock. Feeling really nervous about starting, but trying to research fully first!

Here you go! The nursery Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Breeder tank with HOB nursery Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks @KeenShrimpit's good to see I haven't overstocked any of my tanks and have so much more space for shrimp.

Great article @OzShrimp the less info you release until a trust is established is best, however some people you trade with even for a long time the trust never eventuates so keep info to a minimum. some points in ( ): "Invest in good quality CCTV in your home covering the points of entry / Shrimp room. Dont skimp as poor quality images are useless to the Police in identifying the culprit. (Better quality systems allow you to pan and zoom in so you can watch your shrimp on the TV. An added bonus for the price) * If you have any concerns arrange pick up in a public place and arrive early and wait away from your vehicle. Some people can obtain your details from your roads and traffic authority through your number plate if they try hard enough. (I always deliver and pick up parking further down the street. Currently I have no need to post or request delivery for equipment or livestock.)

@Foxpuppet Supplier's instructions for mixing your own Sochting Oxydator Solution: 1 part 35% Hydrogen Peroxide to 6 parts distilled water yields the recommended 6% solution. For example: 60ml of 35% food grade Hydrogen peroxide plus 360ml of distilled water = 420ml of 6% Hydrogen Peroxide. A 1-to-2 ratio of 35% food grade Hydrogen Peroxide to distilled water would yield a 18% Hydrogen peroxide solution. A 1-to-3 ratio of 35% food grade Hydrogen Peroxide to distilled water would yield a 12% Hydrogen peroxide solution. Following above steps you can adjust the % food grade Hydrogen Peroxide as desired to accommodate the rate at which oxygen is dispensed from the Söchting Oxidator into the aquarium I have about a dozen katalysts on forward order. Will possibly bee in stock within next two weeks. ? The above mixing instructions were originally from Boss Aquaria website. I have followed Jays recommendation and usually source my 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide from barringtonfarms.com.au Distilled water I just purchased from a Woolworths store. Sadly this colony collapsed due to over feeding due to numbers and becoming complacent with maintenance and water change regime. If you can keep up with regular wc and keep testing conditions regularly, I am sure you will do great @LaxLogic

time for an update @Disciple

@newbreed can you share this info for the oxydators? I've got a few of them sitting empty since i ran out of the original catalyst. think i still have the fluid somewhere but recipe would be helpful!

Hey OzShrimp. I haven't really gotten to that yet. They are downstairs in my room (brick) it seems to stay pretty cool down here so I'm hoping just a fan directed at the water surface. if not ill have to try something else. Hey foxpuppet. glad you like my tank. Its blyxa japonica. - Shep

Thanks NoGi. Admittedly, i do spend way to much of my time on the net reading about this stuff. but i do lack the experience :)

Looking at those pics I think you'll be doing the teaching rather than learning. Thanks for sharing.

Rainwater with Salty Shrimp GH+ should work just as well. Your bore water might be the one pushing the water parameters off. Can you test pH, KH/GH and TDS of both your bore and rain water? That should confirm my suspicions.

Plant update :) It's looking a lot better now, has 2 new leaves and there is another shoot coming up for another one.

Wow i havent seen that in a long time

So it seems the BB in the pic above I'd figured as being male. Reason is if seen it zooming and chasing a female Misch just after she had moulted. So I'd searched around for a pure female BB as I thought I only had mature males. Sourced a couple from@disciple which I'm very happy with..... However today I found the male like this... yes those are eggs! Slightly annoying but happy at the same time LOL Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks @KeenShrimp I'll do that, and bring the ratio in line slowly. Oh, the tank is quite well planted, Anubias, Crypts, Java fern and Water wisteria. (no CO2 - low tech), so that may be having an effect on the magnesium levels, which I'll be monitoring closely from now on. @jayc I used a little Continuum GH+, which does have calcium & magnesium, but I must admit i didn't use it all the time in the peat aged RO water, until now I was only testing gH and was focused on that and the pH, which I am slowly bringing down into the high 6s, using peat in the filter and the peat aged RO. Now I am aware of the importance of the Ca:Mg balance/ratio, I'll start getting it back into the right ratio. The good news is that my new CRS have settled in nicely, active and feeding, and exploring the tank.

You're welcome dude. I'm glad I was of some help. BTW, that dark foam mat is soooooo much nicer than the white poly foam on your stained stand. ?

I had a 4 ft fish tank over filtered and i would do a water change every 4-12weeks everyone is different but your definitely doing too many atm. If your shrimp breed you will find your guppy will nip at the shrimplets aswell :) With all the filtration you have in your tank you could get away with even 2 week WC. I used to judge mine on my TDS when it started to climb i would do a WC to bring it back down, is just me though

OK sorted the colours out too now. I think this one is done.

The Kmart tank has been pulled down shrimp wise lol. This is the Kmart Tank now, And this is the cube as of tonight! I am fairly confident i am getting close to being shrimp ready. Ammonia is 0-0.25 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 Ph 6.4-6.6 My tap water suprisingly has a TDS of 128 KH - 4 and GH 7-8 I will swap it over to RO water once the cycling process is finished and at that time will rescape it so look out!

If u enjoyndoing ur water changes that often then dont add more shrimp as u will stress them out and they will die with that many constant changes. Shrimp tanks need to be left alone when their all setup with minimal change. Ultimately though the amount of shrimp u can have depends on the ability of your filtration. Also the smaller the tank u will have more competition for food aswell the more shrimp u have.

This is a really inspirational journal to go through! Despite hardship you kept with it, and clearly your doing great things now! I am just coming back to the hobby myself so this will be fuel for my future shrimping! The little glass feeding dishes are an excellent idea! I did the same thing for one of my old tanks, with a very DIY method. I used a string and alcohol to cut the bottoms out of clear beer bottles. Then sand paper on the edges to make it finger/shrimp safe haha. Really helps keep the old food from fouling up the whole tank! They are easy to remove and clean too!

Not specifically buffering per se. Quote (same on both Cal Aqua Labs website and Tech Den website): "Creates slightly acidic water conditions Black Earth Premium is made from natural, highly-fertile earth which is rich in humic and fulvic acids. As a result, it creates slightly acidic water conditions which is optimal for keeping aquatic plants and most freshwater fish." I just looked back on my notes (yes I am a geek and record my WPs... haha), PH was around 5.5 when I first set it up in December 2014. Over three months it moved to 6.0 in March 2015 and have stayed between 5.8-6.4 since. FWIW, I used one bag (from memory was 10L at that time (9L + 1L bonus or special promotion???)) for a 2ft tank.

Some Taitibees waiting to go to new home - I

I was wondering how you can tell the thickness of the shell? Is there some kind of visual marker normally or do you have to get out a really really tiny ruler?

I've been getting my brain in a tangle, trying to work out what approximate F# that an F8 X F8 would give. Unfortunately it's not possible to tell because we don't know how many genes control the taiwan bee phenotype. What I do know is that by the time you reach F8, a lot of the CBS genes would have been bred out, so you most likely couldn't get a pure CBS genotype from the cross. My opinion? I would call it an F8 mischling X F8 mischling. Treat it as an F1 and it would be a good head start to breeding mischlings that you could use an F#. As far as red bolts go, I'm in the same position as you. I've never had one (that I know of), but I have a white mischling that is quite pinkish/orangish in colour, so I've put it in with a ruby red to see what I get. Red bolt is possible from mischling x mischling, and red bolts are not the sharp red of a CRS. There has been some discussion on European forums as to whether a red bolt is a taiwan bee or just another colour variation of a snow white/golden. Someone crossed a red bolt back to a ruby red. The outcome? 100% red TB offspring! So proving that a red bolt is a taiwan bee! Your orange shrimp may well be red bolts. If they are not, they are beautiful shrimp anyway.

WOW Bluebolt... wow. that is one amazing shrimp! let me know when your selling this bloodline!