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So, to get to Gh 6, Kh 2, and pH 7.2 using the Sera product I end up with a TDS of 178ppm. That's around 50ppm lower than with Seachem Equilibrium. I guess that makes sense, since there's something like 2.5x the potassium in that product that there is calcium. We'll see if switching to Sera Shrimp Mineral affects the plants in some negative way, but as I am having to clear out salvinia and dwarf water lettuce every week, that may not be a bad thing. ? The tank is, after all, for the shrimp.

Hi Guys Im new to this forum and ive been keeping Red Cherry shrimp since around November when i got my first 10 shrimp who live quite peacefully with 3 adult platys. I moved house at the beginning of February and my tap water became a bit harder and at the beginning of this month i lost 2 shrimp to what i determined to be mineral deficiency for the fact that they had a white band where the saddle usually is. I've also only ever seen 1 berried shrimp about 4 weeks ago but haven't seen her since and haven't seen any baby's. i then got MiroNekuton mineral stones and 10 new shrimp to speed up the establishment of my colony but 2 died withing a day of each other from what i think was struggling to acclimate. Either way I'm pretty sure i have at least 15 shrimp left with 3 Adult Platys which are breeding. I've got a JBL test kit that tells me PH, dKH, NH4, N02 & N03 but ive just got kits to tell me dGH and a TDS pen to see if i could do anything to better my results. i also measure P04 for the plants but i only like to know there is something in there. i also have readers in the tank that give continuous readings of PH & NH4 My tank is an 18 Liter (although i am intending on increasing this in the next few months) heavily planted with Java Moss, Java Fern, Mioso Moss Balls, Dwarf Sagittaria (I think), Duckweed, And Amazonian Frogbit. my substrate is 2 inches of a mix of black aquarium Gravel and Aquarium Soil. i have an integral filter that wouldnt allow the shrimp (baby or Adult) to get inside. I usually do a 10 - 15% water change once a week but i had a Nitrite spike after i culled some duckweed and so i changed to daily for the last few days. i use Tap water with tap water conditioner and add bio boost once a week. My current readings are as follows:- PH - 7.5 (although Im skeptical of the readings as the reader in the tank says 6.8) dKH - 6 dGH - 12 TDS - 443ppm Temp - 24C NH4 - 0.0ppm N02 - 0.05ppm N03 - 0.0PPM P04 - 0.5PPM i feed them flake food (more for the fish) and a combination of 1 stick of Shrimp King Complete and 2 small sticks of Love shrimp snail and shrimp pellets. once a week i feed the tank 1 frozen blood worm cube and every so often i feed them a couple of leaves of boiled spinach. is this suitable or should i be changing anything? Thanks in Advance Curley Jones

yeah i looked at that water filter jug you recommended and its a lot less work than installing a RO filter to my water supply. unfortunately Payday is Thursday so it will have to wait until then when im thinking of getting their £60 starter kit. ShrimpNewb recommended a few brands of remineraliser but I'm a bit skeptical that what he has available wont be available in the UK. what would you recommend? With regards to the Video, I'll watch it but im pretty sure ive seen all the videos on Neocaridina Davidi shrimp there is on Yourtube :). i intend to keep this thread going with updates of my water conditions and shrimp... i usually test perimeters twice a week because its such a small tank im scared of spikes... ill re-post every time i do and ill let you know when the filter arrives. but i am disapearing to Thailand next month for 2 weeks and 2 days in the air so there will be a drop in communication during that point.

Those numbers seem quite high for shrimp. Gh 12 - most ranges for Gh I've seen for neocaridina shrimp are in the 4-8 range. Kh 6 - most seem to run <4, with most around 2. TDS 443 - you're going to hear that's about double the desired TDS. That's some hard tap water. I, too, am new to this hobby. Several experienced people here will chime in to help. In all likelihood, you probably need to find a source for RO water and buy some sort of re-mineralizer for it. Everyone here will recommend Salty Shrimp - in hindsight, I probably should have gone down that road, but I am both stubborn and somewhat loyal to my LFS, who I would like to see stay in business, so I went with Seachem Equilibrium (more for plants, too much potassium for shrimp tanks) and have now settled on Sera Shrimp Mineral (what my LFS could order). I hope this was helpful. Neos are supposed to be hardy, but I don't know how hardy in the conditions you've got them in at the moment.

If you live in Australia, you might have heard about this before in the news: Taiwanese student jailed for illegally importing crystal red shrimps https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/taiwanese-student-jailed-for-illegally-importing-crystal-red-shrimps/news-story/f735730cdafd30cfb23f319bbe29215d?sv=d06fddccb50ab7281cfc7e74da630b8f

Coming from a pet bird keeping hobby, I can easily back up what jayc said about imports.... not only can you not import animals, you can't export them either. The *ONLY* exception may come between New Zealand and Australia. Some animals can be moved between those two countries. Otherwise though, import and exportation for both countries is banned. I live in the USA.

Thanks, Simon. I am a shrimpnewb after all. My tank has pretty much zero evaporation - it's weird, but it seems to have something to do with not running a heater and the water temperature being the same as the room. I'm just planning to switch over to the shrimp focused mineralizer with water changes over time. I'll update the TDS differences I assume will be there.