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OK a tiny update. Now I have a few more tanks with shrimp and corys. So all up I have (in no particular order): Tank 1: Yellow Cherries with mixed adult and juvie corys Tank 2: Tangerine Tigers and Orange Rilli Cherries with mixed adult corys Tank 3: Snowballs with adult breeding group of corys Tank 4: Sunkist Cherries with adult breeding group of corys Tank 5: Bloody Mary Cherries with adult breeding group of corys Tank 6: Black Taitibees with cory fry Tank 7: Red Taitibees with cory fry So far all the tanks are going great. As the shrimp mature they are very bold with corys and push them away from food.

Thanks for the encouragement :-) Here's a pic of some of the tanks I have chosen. They are opticlear I've been lucky to find them at a price that isn't over the top. The rest are arriving next week. I love that the silicone is pretty much invisible. And a teaser shot of my friends ingenious water change mechanism - he's finished the electronics side of it.. [emoji173][emoji111][emoji445] will

I have decided to get a few more shrimp to create more tanks similar to the one I had a few years back in the video below. This 4 foot tank had a lot of corys and I had a population explosion of shrimps. Currently, I set one up with yellow cherries and another with orange rillis. Going to be looking for more shrimp when it starts to warm up a bit in Canberra.

Thought I'd start to post some pics and updates of the progress and some of the steps along the way incase it helps anyone to learn from my mistakes and successes. Below is a pic of the room as it is now (very ad hoc) and also the materials we're using to build the new tables and shelves. We are using atructural pine for support including lengths along the base of the tables to spread the load with 25mm "eco" ply benchtops. Dressed pine shelves for misc frequently used items and to mount the lighting as well as to support waterchange dripping buckets. The waterchange method my friend and I have come up with (mostly him) is pretty neat and I'll share the details of how that will work later. The end result will house 12× 60 litre tanks and 2x 90 litre tanks all of which will be divided into two sections. I will be using a combination biospon and the standard style air driven sponges for filtration - all biospon will be driven by one larger pump hidden away supplied by a large airline around the perimeter and a smaller pump for each table to supply air to the oldschool sponges to ensure filtration and aeration incase of mechanical failure. [emoji173][emoji111][emoji445] will

The first pic can almost be mistaken as many park benches. Haha. Nice work. Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

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If you have enough of both sexes the chances of the three species hybridizing is greatly reduced. Even when I had them in together for short periods they behave differently. Probably hastatus is the least likely one to hybridize with the other two. The behaviour of habrosus and pygmaeus is similar but when I kept them together they hang around in species groups more often then not. As long as you have enough of each species you shouldn't have any issues. I have all three but I am keeping them separate. Once they start breeding they are easy to maintain as they usually ignore their eggs and fry. Sorry about the discus but I like corys more anyway ?

@jc12 No worries always happy to share my thoughts and observations. With my pandas the occasional fry end up growing with the parents (I collect eggs regularly and raise them separately). I observed from around 15mm onwards they are bolder and come out and forage around the adults. Smaller than that they hide most of the time. With the pygmys if they were in their own tank almost any size really. But if you have them in the same tank as pandas probably 15mm is a safe size. Safe in terms of bullying from the adults, but more importantly for them to get to the food and not miss out due to hiding too much. There is very little concern in terms of adults eating the juvies. Hope this helps.

Hi mate, Sorry I have a cory related question if you don't mind. At what size do you move cory juvies back with the parents? I have been keeping both panda and pygmy cory juvies in a Ziss BL-2 breeder box till they are around TL 2cm before moving them into the main tank. Would you recommend earlier/later and reasons? Keen to hear your thoughts. Thank you.

Thanks @jayc, Yep i meant that egg crate :) @jc12 I didnt have any algae problems with the clay root tabs, tbh i dont think i really needed it. You'll do fine without it but this was sometime last year when i discovered dino dung and wanted to test. Just super messy and a pain if you remove any stem plants out, the particles settle all over your plants and mosses, so you just got to flick your finger through when the waters a bit clear. I have tried API root tabs, the dino dung lasts WAYYYYYYYYYYY longer. Overall, like you mentioned, theres no need for any root tabs as the substrate was produced to fulfill that nutrient need. And yep, i purchased the 16kg scoria bag from bunnings, was enough to heighten a 4ft on both sides and back of tank, and left over for filter media. I have tried keeping my tank minimal too.. i tell yah, its not easy for me ahhaha I start off with one driftwood with moss, then slowly adding other mosses and plants.. Becomes a jungle real quick ?

Already time for an update :-) benches are built (solid AS - massive thanks to my mate Kenny) I'll need to do some sanding here and there to remove misc stamps and marks then will give them a clear coat of varnish/sealant. Also all the miscellaneous crap in the room has been tidied and a lot of it stashed away elsewhere. When benches are ready then it will be time to shuffle the old tanks out and then bring in the new gear. [emoji173][emoji111][emoji445] will

Ok folks that's it. Entries now closed- Answer: 33 Winner is: @pmasa Congratulations! Please PM me with your address to claim your prizes. Thanks everyone keep an eye out for our posts in the future. ARIGATO!✌️ MizuSakura 水櫻

Well, Its been a bit of a journey but the rack is up and running. I keep promising to do writeups but its near impossible to get things done around here.

Step 1 - Build Rack. This thing is awesome! 1800x1800mm, and each shelf can hold 1000kg. Its a Rack-It system from Bunnings, and I'm extremely happy with it. It wasnt too cheap but well worth the extra money. I wont be using the premade shelving though as it is just cheap MDF. Ill be using Marine ply instead and the bracing is fairly flimsy so ill be using 90x35mm pine as per the Newbreed Aquatics build here - I also hit a snag with the custom tanks. In Townsville there seems to be a Townsville tax on everything. For 10 tanks (22x15x13in high) I was quoted at $150 each! So ill be going with standard 2ft tanks from the LFS that are $65 each and he said he will do me a bulk deal. I nearly laughed in the blokes face when he told me the price for the custom tanks! Thanks for reading and ill keep everyone posted.

Hey everyone how's things? So I was on and off with shrimp the last 6 months or so while I was doing other things and getting into nano softwater fish, building tanks and saving money, now I've got a bit more free time again I just bought a ton of new tanks, equipment and shrimp in the last few months, it's all coming together now. This is what my lounge room/fish room looks like ATM lol

At the request of a member, here are a few shots from my current set-up showing my PVC looped air supply. Its based on my old set-up (see link below), but rejigged for a rack. For those of you who are unaware, this is my rack: Circumstances were such that I could not build the air supply onto the back of the rack until the rack was in place with tanks running. It would have been much nicer if I could have set it up first, so I encourage you to do this if you want to make something similar. I will show you the main problem later on. A (really) simple schematic for the loop is: The PVC loop is cable-tied onto the back of my rack system so is able to be dismantled if I need to move the rack. The top line is joined to a Resun LP20 air pump using a rubber hose with a special joiner that can slide (in and out) and twist (i.e. rotate) - this minimizes vibration and therefore noise from the pump. I can't remember what this joiner is called, but I found it at Bunnings. Hose clamps are used to hold the rubber hose in place (for peace of mind). Luckily I have a high shelf nearby that I can use to sit the air pump on. Remember it is very important to position the air pump above the position of the tanks so that if the power goes off, the water from the tanks will not back siphon into the air pump and ruin it. Alternatively you can use a one-way valve in front of the air pump, but having seen so many of them fail, I do not trust one-way valves at all. Each 'rung' on the loop has a series of 4mm outlets which I use to attach air line to the sponge filters in the tanks. Details for the taps are in my 'air supply' thread (linked above). The taps can be found at specialist irrigation shops or online. Bunnings does not carry them. There is one regret I have with this system. The top 'rung' does not reach the top of the tanks on the top level of the racks (see below). This means there is some risk that the water from these tanks could back siphon into the air supply if the power goes off. So far that hasn't happened, but the potential is there. Unfortunately it was a consequence of the rack and tanks being set up first - the rack was too close to the wall to fit the air supply around the blind that sits behind the tank. If I need to move this rack I will cut the PVC pipe and add inserts so the top 'rung' sits at the same height as the tanks.

Done @NoGi, I should win some sort of prize for this ^_^

3D modelling is complete, This is not the final design and still needs a few changes but it does reflect the system as a whole.

So I have just finished wiring the night lighting, Sump on opposite cycle of course ...