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Thanks a lot for your comments. I slowly began to plant and add ramshorn snails :)) I have moss, bucephalandra and I will add them soon. I used eheim substrat, mironekuton powder to in the ugf. occasionally adding bacteria ae. I used a yoga mat for a soft surface on the floor. Because it’s soft, thin, black and sexy ? Loss my leafs but i will add. Was a nice and fun setup for me ? For you video upload ?

The tank you have now could be used as a combined cull tank when the new ones are up and running and you won't need to change anything as it is fine as it is, just a thought to mull over in the interim period! Simon

Nah. Apart from its visual appearance, it should work, if the brick is made of clay. But test it to be sure. You know the mandatory pictures is required, right? i am curious now.

I like the way you do business, sir!

I think Amano shrimp are fine with a high KH, GH and PH, they are used by lots of fish aquarium keepers with vastly different conditions because of this? Is your KH really that high that you need to do anything? For the red bricks, put some water in a bucket and measure all the parameters, then add the brick and retest the parameters a week later, that should tell you if it will affect the parameters - allow for any evaporation in this heat of course......... Simon

I recently got some shrimp, as mentioned on my first post. But I'll explain it here. The shrimp were just for extra cleaners for my betta tank. 3 of the shrimp got their eyes eaten by my betta, so I separated the rest in another tank. Unfortunately I didn't have another filter ready, so I ordered one on Amazon. Although it took 2 days to arrive, the remaining shrimp already died. I had a second filter media in my betta tank so I moved that to the shrimp tank, while also using the water from my betta tank. The parameters for shrimp tank were 0 except for ammonia, which was .50 Which probably was the cause of death, along with no filter to oxygenate the water. Betta tank is fully cycled Some of the shrimp were berried and I tried my best to take the eggs from the dead shrimp. Managed to get some of them. They're currently in a tiny cup that's in my betta tank, covered with some stocking so the eggs won't flow out while my sponge filter moves it around. (it's hanging right above the sponge filter where the bubbles are flowing) How can you tell the eggs aren't "dead"? I noticed some 2 tiny black dots on the eggs that kinda look like their shrimp eyes. And any chance of the eggs actually surviving?

Yeah they're in the tank rn. The betta can't get to it also, top is covered (water can still go through) and he doesn't swim near the bubbling area

Oh, I plan to convert this smaller one for cherries, with sand for substrate and these rocks that became worthless for a while, lol.

Yes there is a good chance some eggs will survive. Keep the eggs tumbling in oxygenated water, basically what you are doing now. Are the eggs in the tank with the Betta? ie. the cycled tank?

Looking good. I'm with the others as well. If you are starting a new tank, set it up for cherries and use inert gravel or sand.

Well. Nearly the other half's payday. Here's what I'm getting, hopefully over a couple of weeks this will reduce the KH somewhat: Almond leaves, Java moss and a few Anubus plant (which I'm not planting, just attaching). x Oh, has anyone tried red bricks in their tanks? What thinking about getting a couple and making "Shrimp Tower" lol. x

Just for reasons of water hardness, consider an inert substrate in the Neo tank. They will certainly live and breed on buffering soil, but it's not needed and does kind of complicate things. If I was setting up for Neos only, not a doubt I would avoid active substrate.

Oh, I don’t plan on transferring them any time soon, don’t misunderstand me. I’m just trying to figure out how I’m going about this new tank. I figure what, on the norm a month of more before the new tank will be ready. I’m thinking about this new tank, specifically. I guess the combo I’m currently using will create the same parameters I currently have, which will be great for the CRS. I plan to grab a second, identical 10 gallon to setup for Cherries. Trying to do a side by side, one Neos and one Cards.

Dosing ferts is tricky in shrimp tanks, but with no fish feeding and producing NH4 and PO4 it has to be done to keep plants in top shape. I use Green Leaf Aquarium's dry ferts (mentioning them since you're in America). But you can't risk running a full EI dose with sensitive shrimp, you kind of have to tailor it to their needs. I try to keep nitrate and phosphate just showing on a liquid test kit, and add potassium and trace with every water change. How much will be needed is largely determined by plant mass and lighting -however much they are growing, they are using. But long-term stability? Nothing beats an old mature tank. An aquarium can be said to be cycled in as little as 3-4 weeks when no ammonia or nitrite is showing and nitrate is. But a healthy 2, 3, 4, 10 year old tank is just such a different beast. Ever find a dead fish in a newer aquarium covered in a cottony fuzz? In an old aquarium, that same fish is decomposing into skeletal matter. There are all manner of tiny microorganisms that we can't see that do a lot of work we can't measure on a test kit. Or perhaps we could with measurements like ORP and such, but those aren't popular in the freshwater side.

Fluval Stratum is active soil that buffers water acidic (as for Caridina) to the best of my knowledge. For Neo's I prefer using inert substrates such as Eco Complete, Flourite, or plain ol' aquarium gravel. I'll put driftwood in any shrimp tank.

HAHA, ok that makes more sense.

Ha, I actually meant what I said, just worded it less than ideally. I was trying to say that I use new tanks to squeeze out old tanks filter sponges in. Adds BB to the new aquarium but doesn't kill off too much left in the sponge like tap can. But yeah, that was very much less than clear! Thanks for pointing that out.

FTFY. Akadama and Benibachi are both shrimp specific substrates and are acid buffering, so perfect for Taiwan bees. But not sure why you would want to mix them in one tank. Also ... I can't see it, but I hope you have a thin layer of foam under those tanks, just to level out the surface. Not critical, but probably a good precaution. The wood is going to move around with weight and age. Getting some moss and plants going in the tank from your Local Fish Store can also help introduce a little beneficial bacteria.

Lots of different ways to go about things, but I put leaf litter and live plants in as soon as the tanks are filled. Anything to get a jump on healthy algae and biofilm growth is a plus from my perspective.. I add ammonia daily if the substrate doesn't leech it until nitrates are showing on a test kit. Also use my new tanks to squeeze out filter sponges from healthy tanks just to get beneficial bacteria and some diversity of microorganisms going. Wish I had anything to offer regarding the substrates, but I'm unfamiliar with them on this side of the pond. As long as it isn't a CACO3 based and an acid buffering substrate in the same tank I don't see why they would be compromised. I agree, that's a very sharp looking tower you have there! Look forward to seeing your progress.

That looks very smart and the tanks look like they were custom made to fit! The shelves look quite substantial so hopefully they can support the weight. I am probably the last person to be talking about the cycle, but shouldn't you have something in the tank to start it cycling, ie plants, maybe some snails, or something??? I could be wrong of coarse??? Hopefully someone else with experience of cycling can advise on this? Its as much a legend to me as 'the flying dutchman'! Looks fantastic setup though! Simon

This is the Information I found on this Shrimp so far. Called Golden Dragon or Calceo Bee Shrimp, is a crossbreed whose background is still unclear. We suspect that the Yellow King Kong shrimp crossed with red Shadow Bee have laid the foundation. But also the red tiger could be with the part. It is distinguished by a beautiful bright yellow / red color, which is easily reminiscent of a tiger shrimp. Any other ideas???