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Hi all, I wondered if anyone out there can tell me fo sure what sex my shrimp are. I have 5 but only photos of 3 as there is an upload limit. I think I can see a saddle on a couple of them (only partial as they are red rili.. ish) but after a while my eyes start to play tricks. Sadly enough I have had them maybe 2 weeks with 3 more bought today and would love some confirmation from some other people who have more knowledge than me! Anyway thanks for stopping by and having a guess even if you dont know for sure. Hope to learn alot ? Aaron

Another advantage of smashing up the pellets is they don't all have to fight and scrum to get some food and it will spread out in the tank, and being smaller will be better suited to shrimplets and juveniles! I think I need to get one of those mortar and pestles I think? Glad to hear you have worked out the GH+ ratio! Those tank parameters look perfect for bee shrimps and even cherry should be ok as those readings are quite close to my fish and red cherry shrimp tank. Simon

Hey Simon I appreciate the interest! It's nice to know there people around who fancy a chat and love shrimp too! So far I have only bought my shrimp from a walk in store, I dont know where in England you live but I have been to whalf aquatics and bardills for them. After spending hours on YouTube I wanted to hear the same information from a fave to face discussion before I bought the shrimp, also I imagine being shipped is stressful for shrimp? I would love to hear how your shrimp are doing that have been bought online Plus I would like to grade and even develop a strain maybe in the far far future. In my day job I'm a design engineer so this really helps break the weekly stress. In terms of plants I plan on introducing rotala and some water lettuce to try and increase the surface area/hiding spaces for shrimplets and microfilm. I have to admit I am not exactly well off with 2 children and a wife to keep happy! ? oh and in terms of setup I have, for now a 55 litre (12 gal) tropiquarium with fluorescent light and heater,( with the tank being so small keeping the tank cool enough over the last couple of days has been a struggle!) I also have opted for a ph neutral loach sand as I have read that neos prefer a more neutral PH. I am embarrassed to admit the water is far to hard but I did not know that until yesterday. I need to water change with distilled maybe for now at about 10-20% and introduce shrimp salts when the hardness is leveled out....? I think haha please feel free to tell me where I am wrong how many shrimp do you keep Simon? Would love to hear how you do things rgs Aaron

So I did a thing... we shall see what kind of response this brings....

any input appreciated

Hi Simon, Thankyou for the link, I have to confess I may have already watched that video maybe 4 times trying to tell them apart! From what I can tell I have a nice mix of m/f so fingers crossed on a colony soon!

It looks like she is berried.

I’ve only kept caradina shrimp before, but very similar in body shape. To me 1st and 3rd look female, and 2nd seems to be a male. Cannot be certain tho. Welcome to the skf Aaron!

Ran another test on the tank: PH:6.6 GH:6 KH:0-1 TDS: 160 Also, figured out that on one level scoop of the GH+ ( actually just a hair under) is exactly right for 5 gallons.

That was a huge help actually, thank you!!

If you want to avoid heaters being stuck on and overheating the tank or failing and not heating, then you need a Temperature Controller Thermostat. ITC-308 Digital Temperature Controller thermostat I have one of these, clearly the plug type is for AU since I'm in Australia. I use one of these for single tanks or in sumps. The thermostat is placed in the tank to keep track of your tank's temps. The controller controls power to the "Heating" or "Cooling" power plugs. You are no longer reliant on buggy heater thermostats. With this unit, you can use the cheapest heater and feel safe in the knowledge that it will never cook your fish or shrimps. Your heater is plugged into the socket labelled "heater". Preset the controller to turn on heating when temps are below, say 20deg C and turn off at, say 24 degC. You can plug a chiller or a fan into the socket labelled "Cooling" as well. I bought this off ebay from Inkbird https://www.ebay.com.au/usr/inkbirdau?_trksid=p2047675.l2559 They even have a wifi version now for control over your smartphone. A quick search on ebay for the keywords " ITC-308 WIFI Temp Controller Thermostat" brings up the same controller in various different plug types that will fit what you use in your own country. It costs roughly as much as a medium quality heater here in Aus. BUT it's cheap insurance knowing that I will never cook my fish or shrimps. To offset the cost of this controller, I can now buy the cheapest heaters off ebay and still be confident that I won't overcook the tank's inhabitants. Other uses: More over you can use it to control fish room temps as well, it's not limited to measuring water in tanks. Turn on/off AC or fans or room heaters. People use it for home brewing. There are so many practical uses. Note: there is a very similar temp controller called the STC-1000, but this unit requires you to add your own cabling. Whereas the Inkbird is a lot more convenient. Hopefully this helps someone and their pets.