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Bluebolts posted on this a few years back, but breeding deformed shrimp here in Australia is sadly currently a reality that some people will encounter. Be aware what a balloon head and an Open skirt looks like. The shrimplets look very slightly abnormal if you don't know what you are looking for, once you know how to spot this, you can cull immediately. I get it, I really do: shrimp are expensive and adorable and that is why people are reluctant to cull. What is a relatively rare occurency, if you cull early, your colony will be fine. If you don't cull and you start breeding these, you will be overrun by deformed shrimp in a few years. This issue was highlighted in 2011 when a deformed shrimp wine the Hanniver shrimp show when the judges did not pick up the Deformity. It is not okay to breed shrimp like this and sell them to unsuspecting buyers. It is not okay for a successful senior breeder to sell these shrimp and telling buyers there is nothing wrong with them. This is what is happening here at the moment. Please see Chris Lukhaup's link below. There is also a good article in breeders n keepers on this. The Open Skirt where the carapace is undersized and the gills are visible is showing up regularly here now. http://crustahunter.com/deformities-in-high-bred-shrimp/?lang=en

I have finaly gotten some Metabetaeus lohena and they are just settling in! Heres a quick video of them. For those who are not sure, these guys grow to about an inch in size and live along side Opae ula shrimp. They have large (in comparison) pincers and are primarily scavengers.

Cycling with tap water. Will test wp soon after a rest. HAHA Removing these air bubbles from the substrate really is a long task.. still havent gotten majority of it out yet.. im finding that the fine grains trap more bubbles than your average grains.. hmm Anyways, here is my planted shrimp tank. Not aiming for any award winning aquascape hahaha

Just found some baby rcs in my tank :) happy days lol

Hi @ShrimpP, no this is a congenital issue and cannot be corrected with nutrition, mineral or temperature. The exoskeleton is not something that grows like hat for example. I have an open skirt adult royal in my cull tank and even the best products that money can buy can't fix that. Hat = hair, sorry

Love these!! Thanks for sharing!! I soooooo wish we could have these in Australia haha

I did catch 5 crabs, 4 larges (around 1.3~1.5 cms wide) and a small one (less .5 cm). By the time I went back home, I found one of the bigger snacking the small one Cannibal!!! Though, I decided to put them in the tank, I'm so upset with these @"! ramshorns ... After drip acclimatation, I drop them in the tank, and they immediately disappearred under the driftwood. That was a week ago, and I haven't seen them till this day. Though, everything seems normal, the 4 discus are fine, so are the other fishes and the red cherries. The positive point is that it seems the ramshorn are decreasing in number. I cross fingers.

Alright, when I can get some additional funds I'll look at sorting something out.

looking great man

Could be because it's a little hidden. We could leave the chatroom for auctions only and look at purchasing a different chat/shout box that sits in the sidebar or top so it's always visible.

Feeding time!

Hey Geoff, welcome to SKF. Those are definitely not eggs. Its Ellobiopsidae unfortunately. Luckily, I have an article on it here... Have a read of it. And add your comments there too. Treatment is with Formalin. Which combats protozoan parasites. Some off the shelf products with Formalin also includes malachite green. That should still work. Fritz Mardel QuICK Cure is one such product. Aquasonic has one too. Kordon Rid Ick Plus also uses the same ingredients. There must be many more and it's just a matter of finding it at your LFS. Many are sold as treatment for ich or parasites. Separate the shrimp and treat it with Formalin. Please report back so we have evidence that the treatment works. Lots of close up macro photos will help too. Post this in the Disease and Diagnostics thread so it's all in one location. Note: this shrimp will eventually die without treatment. But also note that formalin can be an issue for shrimp. Definitely separate the shrimp before treatment, don't treat the whole tank. Try half dose on the 1st day. Maintain daily 10-15% water changes. And follow it up with full recommended dose for another 2-3days. Once the Ellobiopsidae look like it's gone, change 100% water and observe for another few days.

Update! A fellow on facebook (if you're also on SKF and seeing this, that'd be cool!) is breeding and selling an almost identical species of crab, Amarinus Laevis. THey grow to approx 22mm, so they're just a tad bigger than amarinus lacustris. He's breeding them in fresh water successfully and selling them really cheap. If anyone was keen to get some I can put you in touch ? I have set of 8 females and 2 males arriving this week so pics coming soon. Apparently they're completely shrimp safe and survive/breed in water conditions suited to both neos/tigers and crystals/TBs. They do, however, snack on tiny snails but ignore adult ones. The guy keeping them says this allows him to have adult ramshorns in the tank to do clean-up duty without them breeding like mad and taking over the place. So, let's see how this goes!! Museum Victoria has some great photos! http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/species/14241

@newbreed yeah very dangerous to get into, just as addictive as shrimp.