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Orange Rili Shrimp from master Cherry breeder gbang. You might care to refer back to my shots from the championships last year to see just how far he's progressed this line in only a year. Well done mate! Amazing Back-line full Carbon Shrimp also from gbang. A difficult trait to stabilise but the master is hard at work and if anyone can do it, he can. Next, the Sunkist/Orange Cherries really jumped out as excellent examples of that line. Blue Dreams were poorly behaved and I was lucky to get any shots at all. Fire Reds, lovely shrimp that need no introduction. They were beauties. In a league of their own, Bloody Mary Shrimp (from guess who) took out first in the Cherry Shrimp class and also Best In Show. Congratulations gbang!! At the top left of the final pic you can see the quality of the males benched in this group. An outstanding line of Cherry Shrimp.

Hi guys, well it's been a while and I hope you're all doing well. I'm back with pics from this years champs hosted by SCV which was a great success again and seems to be really building some momentum now. It was great to meet even more interstate shrimpers, put more names to faces and of course catch up with our old shrimp mates again. We hope to see you there next year too! I'm going to start by posting some pics from the Native Species class, a class which is generally under-appreciated and under-represented in both the show and the wider hobby. Hope you like them... First 2 pics are Riffle Shrimp (Australatya striolata) from Paul O'Leary having a feed on my food formula. Pic 3 is another Riffle from fishmosy which was from the group which collected 1st place in the Native class. Remaining pics are Caridina sp. indistincta C also from fishmosy. A beautiful species which was still colouring back up by the end of the show. Imagine how good they look fully settled in. Also ready to go are pics from the Cherry Shrimp class. Enjoy!

In the Crystal Shrimp Class 3rd place went to newbreed for some CRS with very good red legs - these were shrimp from Ineke. 2nd went to Adam Blackburn for some very nice CBS with great black and also with good legs. I thought these were one of the standouts of the show. First pic is of a nice male. And finally, first place was awarded to Barry Lee for a group of PRL which unsurprisingly beat the standard Crystal lines entered. Congratulations Barry!

Kizshrimp is still working through the 200 odd pictures he took. Below are some images to ease your mind... Lol Amazing Riffles on show!Bloody MaryBeautiful BlueboltBoss Shrimpy Pops arrived on time for the event.Trade tables were busy all day...?30 Tanks of entries this year! Aiming to double that for 2017!! A bit of silliness, smiles and laughter throughout the day. Serious Judging announcements Raffle giveaways Official Results for the Day Natives 1st place. Ben mos. Riffles 2nd place. Paul O'Leary. WA4 chameleons 3rd place. Paul O'Leary. WA4 chameleons Cherries 1st place. Glenn Ng. Bloody mary 2nd place. Leo Tsui. Blue dream 3rd place. Glenn Ng. Blue dream Crystals 1st place. Barry Lee. Pure red line 2nd place. Adam blackburn. Crystal black shrimp. 3rd place. Jamie Cameron. Crystal red shrimp. Taiwan bees. 1st place. Jamie Cameron. Shadow panda 2nd place. Shannon Ryan. Blue bolt. 3rd place. Adam Blackburn. Extreme ruby. Tigers. 1st place. Bob marsh. Tangerine. 2nd place. Shannon ryan. Oramge eyed blue tigers. All other varieties. 1st place. Shannon Ryan. Black pinto. 2nd place. Barry Lee. Red taitibee. 3rd place. Jamie Cameron. Tibee/mosura. Reserve best of show. Bob Marsh. TANGERINE TIGERS Best of show. Glenn Ng BLOODY MARY CHERRIES Best "solo" shrimp Shannon Ryan. Bluebolt lady. SKF was incredibly well represented on the day, with many from interstate. @KeenShrimp @fishmosy @Squiggle @Gbang @kizshrimp @Bill88 @newbreed (Lol) @lodo, can't mention everyone, but thanks for all attending where you could. As for when will it be in Sydney? Who knows?? We are fortunate in Victoria to have the Aquarium Society building to use for such events. We are looking to set next year's event date within the next two weeks, to allow plenty of time for people to work on entries and breeding programs, maybe arrange travel arrangements and take advantage of cheaper flights too! Something that I am really pleased about is some very important stats. Last year out of 23 Tanks we had one shrimp loss. This tank was filled using entrants ro and own filter. This year with 30 tanks we had no losses. Sadly one loss in transit on the way down but that was out of our hands. This year we had only two locally benched in entries, majority were entries posted in from within Victoria and interstate. Next year we will have much more notice and better timeframes for entries etc. Plus longer tank setup timeframes too. So please all give some consideration to entering in 2017. Surely if my lines can win awards, our members should take out most categories. ?

So in April I decided to convert an already established 40cm cube to be repurposed for a Native Zebra tank. The tank he been running for two months previously so a decent biofilm had grown on the tank walls. I removed 80% of the substrate and left driftwood, cholla, needle leaf Java and some flame moss. I run a hang on back filter containing mini Bakki balls which has a slight ph raising capability. Just for additional filtration I added some mini siporax media into the tank. This has become handy, as it is white, the shrimp actually stand it against it. Unlike when they blend in against the soil. My tanks all run on rainwater with a ph around 6.5. TDS of the setup has been constant between 35-40. Temp around 20-21. view from above some of the first inhabitants when added in April. Noticed the red colouration, but hd explained to me it could be more a stress colouration. This changed over time to crisp black and white. I do a waterchange of approximately 15l a week. Usually all in one go, and without adjusting temperature. This seems to inspire activity. Main reason for this thread, is after chatting to Ben on weekend, I thought I needed to catalogue my results, even as limited as they have been. I was fortunate to add some extra shrimp to the colony recently. These have slightly different markings arising from where they were located. And today for the first time since having them, I added a food that brought them altogether for the very first time. They never roam or hang together in groups of more than say two at a time. Until today. Luckily I cleaned the glass this morning so the macro lens could work fairly efficiently. First inhabitants (today) Side by side. New and old. Newer additions So pleased to see them congregating together today! The food is not yet widely available but has been specially formulated by one of our SKF members. Will try to update when I can. ?

I would just like to give a big thank you to all the organisers and Sponsors for the championship today- without you, there would not be such a great event. I would also like to thank all the judges and the people who entered. Congratulations to all the Ribbon Winners! The turnout was fantastic- it was great meeting you all. Now I can finally put faces to all the SKF handles. See you next year!

The Taiwan/Shadow Bee class saw some magnificent entries this year. 3rd place went to Adam Blackburn for a group of young Extreme (Full Red) Rubies. This was a nice uniform group of shrimp with great colour. Unfortunately they were a bit shy and most of the tanks didn't have clean glass... you can really see it in these pics. Still, I wanted to share the images with you all. 2nd place went to Shrimp My Tank for some exceptional Blue Bolts which just loved the camera. A lovely dark female was awarded Best Individual in show. Congratulations Shannon! 1st place went to our own Jamie Newbreed for an awesome group of Shadow Pandas... congratulations on a winning this demanding category! Unfortunately these were never where I needed them to be and I don't have many shots.

So, as long as @neo-2FX doesn't eat his shrimp it's all good?

Zebras don't need 0GH and KH @layfishies, but they certainly seem to prefer soft water. They seem to become less active and happy when the TDS reaches about 40ppm, so very very low. Occasionally they seem to do fine at higher levels but I don't recommend that. @NoGi, they are certainly happier at 20 than 25 degrees C, but certainly aren't dying off at 25. What this species won't tolerate is a build up of dissolved organics, which is why people always lose them when their maintenance regime slips a bit, as it can do. Another issue is that much like the Sula species, they are very keen on grazing biofilm and not so interested in prepared foods - at least they take some acclimating to it. That's why @newbreed's refernce to the food they're eating is significant.

It was an awesome, if long and tiring weekend. Great to meet you @KeenShrimp. @jayc, I've started posting the photos on another thread now mate. Hope you enjoy them! Looks like a couple more of you showed up and perhaps we didn't meet, @neo-2FX, @Bill88, hope to meet you soon. Please, keep your eye on the SCV calendar and come along sometime, we'd love to see you.

I bought a white mulberry tree today from Bunnings, $9.95, it's only small about 28cms at the moment, it can grow to 8 meters tall if planted out, this one will be in a larger pot to control its growth. Bought it for my shrimps LOL ?

I'll try and make it next year, forgot all about it this time

Damn I must have missed some of you guys because I got there late :(

I'll second that! Nice to meet those that I did meet and look forward to chatting more at the club! :) Plus thanks for the bargains :) went a tad over budget but worth!

Yep, I have to choose between buying shrimp stuff or a fancy camera and the shrimp always win- please excuse the photo quality. This tank is now 2.5 months old: It's not pretty at all as I cannot cover bits with plants and am too worried about upsetting these guys to scape it. The ramshorns will be removed at some stage, but I am messing with the tank as little as possible. I was very nervous about starting a Sulawesi tank as I read that they need stability. I wanted overfiltration, and as much of it that I could stuff in a small tank as I could. So I took a 29 litre Animates desktop tank and altered the filtration: I cut a 2cm x 1cm window where the filter intake slot was and covered it with nylon mesh and coral glue to increase water circulation (the solution does not look as classy as it is efficient). I also wanted something better than a sponge filter as my second filter: I bought an Acrylic corner filter: upon receiving it I noticed that the factory didn't even put intake slots in the filter, so it was just blowing bubbles and not circulating any water at all. I cut my own holes, rearranged the sponges so that shrimplets can't get sucked in. Then I stuffed that puppy with Eheim substratPro and a few other bits (yup, all I need now is a fake Nemo, suspended from fishing line to complete the plastic look :(, but it works like a charm and that water is crystal clear. Pisces black inert quarts in the bottom. MarinePure filter media in the built-in filter. I have to thank very patient Chelsea @The Tech Den: I emailed her explaining that I wanted a reef shelf/base rock that I could prop up and grow algae on and have the shrimp hang upside down at the bottom- she emailed me photos and measurements and we found perfect rocks for cheap as chips! Next I harvested every algae type from 4 other tanks and stirred it into the water. 6 weeks later, I had lovely algae cover over the large rock. The corals in the photo are genuine coral skeletons. I use Sulawesi 8.5 due to improved formulation, and now I am a sucker for boiling the salt solution mix on the stove for an hour when mixing my water, but the shrimp are looking very happy. If you have not used SaltyShrimp Sula 8.5 before: that stuff does not dissolve, no matter how much air you pump into a bucket it will be as white and cloudy as skim milk! I boil it on the stove, use 3 times the recommended amount, let it stabilize for a week with a heater and ensure that GH is 8 before it goes near the tank. The water is then crystal clear and the sediment has sunk to the bottom of the bucket. The shrimp photo below are of Bonnie and Clyde. They went hiding when I took the insulating towels off the tank ( it's freezing in Canberra). The breeder of these beauties is @JPN07- how gorgeous are those blue dots on the body? They get fed every 3 days with Shrimpy Daddy Sinewy cereal. Micro amounts of trace minerals/nutrients and probiotic solution is added every day as well as weekly minerals ( ShrimpyDaddy) and Vivace (ShrimpyDaddy). I will be getting more Cardinals soon so that I can have an actual little colony.

Whoa Mumma! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@newbreed, that is amazing! ??? the colours on some of those little guys are already beautiful- please be the first to domesticate them and make them easier to keep?. Damn, I told myself no more tanks...

Awesome pics mate

Also noticed a fair bit of dancing about when I went to take these videos. Please let it be the beginnings of berries!!!

To be honest. Aside from ph and tds, I have not tested other attributes. Thanks mate! When I originally got them I was told how crisp their colours would become, and I must admit I had my doubts. But thankfully over time they have settled and are looking good. And this is the first time I have had them right at tank front for macros. Another great Shrimpy thing to add to my fun week!!

Go dude go I am obsessed with these things. Totally determined for someone (probably not me) to tame these fragile beauties !!! Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk AMAZING photos by the way!

No breeding or saddles in this tank so far but when I got the original batch they were rather small. The latest additions are a similar size, and I may be deceiving myself, but I think I see some saddles developing. Only time will tell.

And credit to @ineke for the third placing for Crystals. The were CRS directly bought from her line. And they placed third against PRL and PBL. Love your work Ineke. ? Apologies if peeps didn't want their images displayed. Happy to remove if asked, just pm me!!

You've definitely come to the right place! That's an impressive list of shrimp mate! Can't wait to see some photos!

Thankyou @neo-2FX :)

Hi Everyone, Thanks for having me. I am an intermediately skilled shrimp keeper and have a few types : Pandas , Shadow Pandas, Red cherries, yellow cherries, king kongs, taibee ... and the list goes on :) Looking forward to learning a lot and making some new friends ( Who don't think my obsession with my shrimp is a bad thing ! ). Cheers Jarad

Welcome @S0v!

Most leaves are okay to feed shrimp. I have personally fed leaves from Oak, Birch, Mango, Passionfruit leaves, Hibiscus. Wash and blanch like you would Mulberry leaves. Some leaves are oily like our Eucalyptus trees, so they are best used dried. Any leaves with a lot of Sap need to be dried. Other alternatives to leaves are flowers. I wrote an article here listing some examples and the benefits.

Have quarantined for now so let's see how they go. ?

All good, all questions are welcomed. Rilli is a pattern, not a grade. So, with cherries you have colours and each colour can have various grades/patterns. Painted Fire <colour> with a Rilli pattern would be a very nice shrimp Unfortunately, with all the fancy marketing breeder names that have been given to the variations, it's now become very confusing for newcomers.

When is the Championships going to be held in Sydney !??!!! Where are the pics? C'mon, surely somebody took photos.

Bloody Mary = var Red (Choc lineage) Red Cherry Shrimp = var Red Painted Fire is a grade, not a colour so any colour including Bloody Mary can have a painted fire grade.

Was Great to see you there Bill!! Hope you didn't get into too much strife!! Was wonderful meeting you @KeenShrimp! Will be watching your updates and journals with interest! Sounds like great developments with your tanks! Hopefully a date for 2017 will be locked in within the next fortnight, so we have plenty of advanced notice for travel plans etc.

No, bloody mary descends from choc cherries. @Gbang and @fishmosy are the pros here in that space.

Thanks guys, I could not find any reference to exactly what pesticides are used by customs. This is probably overkill, but I am not taking any chances... I think I would boil it as well. The bonsai does not have glue, so chemical leaching from that is not an issue. I think I will perhaps do a journal on how it goes??

Wow interesting article @Grubs well worth a read by all. @neo-2FX let us know how it pans out, interested to see if you quarantine the DAS and watch what happens after its moulted.

Treated with what? Australian imports are routinely fumigated in quarantine using methyl bromide gas which is extremely volatile and dissipates without leaving a residue (or the trace it leaves is not consequential). Methyl bromide is used to fumigate fruit, veg, pasta, grains, dairy etc that we eat. I'd be more worried about toxins in the glue they use to hold these manufactured bonsai trees together. A quick boil or soak in a pond would be all I'd do. However... if they are fumigated by something else more sinister then all bets are off. Probably not the case as it wouldn't be very good for business if they killed off everyone's livestock.

Amazing little shrimp doing the river dance, will be making space for these in my rack when I move some of the fish elsewhere.

Not eggs - as they are within the tail muscle tissue. I think it therefore has to be a parasite of some kind. Possibly trematodes given the similarity to the photo in this article: http://sercblog.si.edu/?p=4179 ...or could be something else entirely. Read the article - and see if you can spot a behavioural difference! They look to be just under the shell... see if they survive through a moult.

Of Course the sand will be smoothed out and ill add a little more aquasoil in spots but this is basicly the hard scape

No I didn't test anything other than pH and EC. Which reminds me to write them down. Today pH=6.5, EC=54µS/cm This time around they are in a 50l tank with approx 1 drop per second fresh rainwater dripping in = 4.3l fresh water/day = 8% water change per day = 45% water change per week according to http://www.angelfish.net/DripSystemcalc.php I have not measured nutrients in the rainwater but I'd be surprised if not close to zero (I maintain the gutters, have first flush systems etc).. but I will check just for completeness.

There are very few stupid questions, yours isn't one of them. In the context of aquarium keeping, Biofilm is a collection of bacteria, diatoms, algae, fungi and other multi-cellular organisms that form a layer on any surface submerged in water (including seawater). Biofilms form because macro-molecules (e.g. Sugars, proteins) attach to surfaces because surfaces (at the molecular level) are polar (i.e. have positive and negatively charged areas). And bacteria are the first to attach to these surfaces to make use of these molecules. The bacteria make the surfaces attractive for settlement of other organisms. Each surface also has a unique biofilm depending on what molecules, bacteria or other organisms attach to it. This is more than the average shrimp keeper needs to know. The important thing shrimp keepers need to know is that shrimp eat this biofilm and it forms an important part of their diet. Hence why we feed our shrimp IAL and similar leaves, because as these leaves break down their surfaces are colonised by micro-organisms which the shrimp eat.