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We grow the Mulberry tree in our back yard. Or we find a tree, and pick off some leaves. I have not seen them being sold online like IAL. The leaves can be fed fresh or dried. Either way is fine, but fresh leaves blanched quickly in boiling water has more nutrients. So most people prefer feeding fresh.

I generally assume there are 50% more than I see, unless I used something like a shrimp lolly or spinach which brings them all out, otherwise if I can see about 60-70 I assume there are about 100. As shrimp are quite sensitive creatures to water changes and you are adjusting the water parameters it would be better to set something up to add the new water slower than what you have planned. Do you have some small tubing that you can get the water running from a container into the tank, I believe if you form a knot in ti like a crazy straw that helps slow it down as well. What you were proposing may be fine for fish but shrimps are much more 'delicate'. I am sure you can rig something up without having to buy something else. Make a pin hole in an ice cream container or something like that. Simon

the 50W heater was the smallest available i could find and its rated at 10 - 30 liters. the house i moved from was built in the 1930's and needed love to say the least and the tank heater managed to maintain 20C with minimum heating from the house. The house we've moved to was built in the 70's and the guy before us extended it and did all the cavity insulation so it keeps its heat really well. what its going to be like in the summer we'll wait and see. with regards to the TDS i think there just might have been some stuff attached to the pen because when i tested the jug before i put in the tap safe it registered 0 on both pens, i put in the tap safe just to see what would happen and yeah its now registering 5ppm. i dont drip acclimate i pour in over a baffle thats why i temperature adjust, and i heard somewhere thats fine if your doing up to 25% water changes? im going to do a 2 Liter water change later today with remineralised water to roughly 200ppm and ill give you the results of both the remineralised water and the updated tank conditions. but i will skip adding the bio boost this week. That should give me 3 water changes between now and when i go away. Good news is i haven't lost any more shrimp since the last 1 that i know off and i have seen evidence of successful molting. i can usually see between 5 & 9 shrimp at any 1 time and my experience so far is you can see between one third and two thirds of your colony at any 1 time in a heavily planted tank.

Ok so the Zero Water Jug arrived today and the minerals yesterday, i ran about 2.5 liters through so i can temperature adjust it between now and Saturday and have a little extra to do some tests on. the filtered water reads as follows:- PH - 6.5 dKH - 0 dGH - 0 TDS - 6PPM NH4 - Unreadable N02 - Unreadable N03 - Unreadable P04 - 0.5PPM it is worth mentioning the TDS pen that came with the Jug registered 0PPM TDS but the one i had prior i think is a bit more accurate so i gave you that reading. just because there is something registering im going to dose with tap safe before i remineralise.

You know, Flip Aquatics is in Warren, OH. I know they breed some shrimp, but they also import them. You may need to do a little legwork to make sure you get USA bred shrimp from them. I bought from another company, and theirs are definitely all imported, so no go there. The Shrimp Farm is in Illinois. Again, though, if you want shrimp they have bred you may have to actually call. The easy way to find a local breeder in your area is probably Facebook, but shipping from IL or elsewhere in OH is likely to be pretty quick.

Yes that is right, top up pure RO water (or zerowater in this case). Using any other water will increase TDS and GH etc as only water evaporates leaving everything else (tds/gh/kh) still in the tank. In theory, if you collect the condensation on the cover of the tank and test that it should be pure water, no TDS/GH etc - I haven't tested that though? It took me quite a long time to get my head around that one I don't mind admitting, and I was an accountant!!!!!!! Simon

I just noticed. Top offs should be done with RO water, not mineralized water. If you top off with mineralized water, you'll be increasing Gh and Kh. Water changes, yes, top offs, no. Whoops. Didn't see Simon gave you the exact same advice above. Duh. Silly me.

The aquarium soil is good for plants and if you have low end plants you may not need ferts at all... that said, the soil isn't good to be used with tap water since it changes the parameters. That in itself can also cause enough stress in shrimp to cause deaths. *IF* you wanted to use ferts, you could always do 1/4 to 1/2 the recommended dose. You'll want something that provides trace and micro elements. Done right, many shrimp can thrive in a planted tank with ferts. It's doing a high tech tank with ferts and CO2 where it gets complicated and easier to kill off the shrimp. Maybe best to hold off ferts for now and see how the shrimp do.

I don't use (never have) any fertilizers for the plants and they thrive and grow like crazy! It may not be very scientific but my belief was that you give plants manure etc and the shrimps/fish/snails produce that already. As I say, probably not very scientific and a bit basic, but my fish/cherry tank has not had the soil changed ever (nearly 10 years) and the moss and weed grows like crazy and I am forever throwing some away. All I can add is it works for me........ I believe SOME of the plant fertilisers may contain things detrimental to shrimps as well. Simon I have just looked on the zerowater website, if your TDS is very high you may only get 30L(ish) before the filter needs changing if the Tap water is TDS400. Thats about 3-4 months each filter. I would still do it though as it is by far the easiest most convenient way of getting RO water https://zerowater.co.uk/pages/how-long-will-my-filter-last

If you go the zerowater/RO water and remineralise to TDS 200 for a 2L water change each week, I have done a spreadsheet to show how the figures will alter (based on 15L of water, allowing for tank not being filled to brim and other stuff in the tank) which may be helpful. The same will happen to GH and KH but proportionately. Hopefully it is attached. This is the mineralisers that would be used for cherry shrimps, they do sell larger if you want to get a bigger one. https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/salty-shrimp/98-salty-shrimp-shrimp-mineral-ghkh-85g-4260290710478.html or https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/shrimp-king/688-shrimp-king-shrimp-mineral-ghkh-200g-4001615061345.html Usually with 1 item, proshrimp send postage free unless a bulky item. I don't know what else you would need that may be in the 'starter kit' you mention. Simon TDS Calculator.xlsx

You said that the new water is harder than the old water. Do you have any idea what the parameters are from your last home? Cherry shrimp can live in water that is 20+ in GH, so your water is not too hard.... however, the addition of extra minerals plus so much protein in their diet could be resulting in the deaths... not even considering the change in water parameters from the old place. I would recommend cutting back on feeding them and try to feed more vegetable/algae based diets than protein ones. I would recommend starting there before doing anything drastic with your water parameters. Is the aquarium soil a buffering substrate by any chance?

Welcome fellow UK shrimp keeper! I agree with shrimpnewb above, those parameters seem way off though cherry shrimp are quite robust. I have cherry shrimps in with a lot of nano fish and it is densely planted. 1) Have you tested the water from the TAP, the water in the tank may be building up GH/KH/TDS if you are topping up with that for evaporation? 2) I haven't ever had a problem exactly the same as my cherries do well with tap water but we have fairly soft water here I think. You may want to read this and go this route (ie RO water remineralised) and if you do you can just start doing it in replacement of what you do now (ie use the new water for water changes, and use pure RO water for topping up) so it will be gradual enough to not upset any livestock, albeit it will be slowly changing so you may still loose some in transition, but that would probably be the way I would do it. I think it covers most things but if you have any questions just let us know. It is so easy with the zerowater jug which I use and would recommend for the small tank you have (www.zerowater.co.uk). https://skfaquatics.com/forum/forums/topic/14025-tap-water-taiwan-bee-uk-zerowater/ 3) When you do water changes you should slowly add the new water, most people use some sort of dripper, I use one of these but some people create their own. http://www.onlinereptileshop.co.uk/reptile-products/Drippers-and-Sprayers/Zoo-Med-Big-Dripper-Bd-1-3811.html#sthash.8tel5oAX.Txucpw12.dpbs 4) It is easy to over feed shrimps so do that sparingly, ie half what the packages say at most, they are in it for profit remember! I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, the setup sounds ok and 10-15% water change per week sounds fine, Ph same as mine etc. As I say, just ask if you have any specifics you want to ask. Simon Ps if you want anything I use these people. https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/

My shrimp are still busy eating the algae in the tank, so they don't touch extra food.