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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!

Hey guys, I’m going away for a few weeks and having a neighbour take care of my tank, as they are already gonna be caring for my cat during that period. I’ll be away for 2 and a half weeks, so not a huge amount of time, but the neighbour doesn’t have any experience with fish or shrimp tank maintenance. The tank will be fine without a water change during that time as long as I do one before I leave, I know that, but my 2 main problems are feeding and stopping my intake sponge from clogging up. For feeding I was considering getting a couple of pill boxes, like the ones that have seperate compartments for each day of the week, so I can set a certain amount for each day, and which foods. But for the intake sponge, I’m pretty stumped. My current intake is a sponge filter connected to the intake pipe, but it’s been clogging up once or twice a week due to how fine it is (and how messy my fish are). When it’s clogged, it puts strain on the canister filter’s motor, and that’s not good. I don’t trust her with cleaning it safely, plus I’m only paying her for 5 mins in the morning, and 5 at night. I’ve considered a mesh intake, but it looks like it could hurt a fish if it went past it quickly... plus I can’t check the size of the inside where the pipe could go as the only one I’ve found would have to be posted. Are there easy alternatives that I wouldn’t have to mod, or do intake sponges come in courser versions? (I haven’t checked). Any input would be appreciated!

I have no idea how many red cherry shrimp are in the old tank as most are brown so almost impossible to see and the moss is so dense. I put 10 brown red cherry in the Betta tank so there must be about that many in there. I think there are about 10 taiwan bee shriimp at the moment. The shrimps should be ok at those temperatures as today is after all the last day of our summer anyway so no need to rush moving it at this point I would think! That is why I plan to get cooler later in the year, see if it is all working fine first and if it is get ready for next year summer. Simon

I am well aware of the exponential curve in cost, my father kept a marine aquarium when I was a child, he went bald that year... Your theory seem fairly astute.. I hadn't given it much thought, how many shrimp do you have approx? I hope to keep things simple for now and I will add bits and bobs as treates through the years I think I need to keep my tank cooler though, I dont like that the temp is high and fluctuating throughout the day. It drops to about 23 over night and back up to 25 (I have just noticed the tanks is in the centre of the house so I will move it upstairs to my man cave soon to see if that help) I will also stick with the tap water for now as you say, there may be no need to switch Sorry for the short reply and bad grammar replying on my phone!

Oh looks exactly like the one i was gonna get except that's more expensive. Perfect. Tube was measured to be 13 mm so a bit of a squeeze into a 12 mm one but should work. Hopefully they wont even have to take it off, can just brush it witha toothbrush on a stick or somethin. Sorry for my bad punctuation, im just tired rn. thx for the help guys!

Ah sorry forgot to mention that kms. tank is a 110L (29 gal) stocked with fish and shrimp. Currently have a cheap sponge filter over the inlet tube but it has been modded to make it a tight fit. Also need to turn off canister filter when cleaning sponge (simon thats how ive been doin it) so prefer not to have them doing that bit. I've found a good looking cheap mesh one, and those i think could be cleaned very easily... just have to make sure its the right size. kms im not that worried about top up, over 2.5 weeks i usually lose maybe 2-3 litres... meh.

I don't know anything about those canister filters but if it were me I would leave a bucket of the old water from the clean before you go, next to the tank and if the sponge is simple enough to get off (I assume it just slips off) I would ask your person to squeeze out the filter every day in that bucket of old water, as you won't be there to keep an eye on it and best to play it safe. I use the cheapo type of sponge filters and squeeze them out between maintenance/water change and it literally takes less than 2 minutes and is really simple! I have a similar sponge (I imagine to what you have over the input of yours) on the output in the betta tank as they don't like current and I just slip it off, squeeze it out a few times and put it back on, about 15 seconds! Probably not what you want to hear but I think it would be the safest way because you won't be around to know if anything goes wrong and it (or the mods if you do any) gets blocked and blows the motor! If you do ask the person to do this ask them to wash their hands before they put them in the tank though in case they have been using cleaning products or something else toxic! Simon

Soon I’ll have designated Bee/ Cherry tanks. This mortar and pestle was around 8.00USD. Pretty cheap IMHO.

If you bought them young then chances are you can't tell what they may end up as, but if you bought a large quantity you would have to be very unlucky if you didn't have a mix! Of course you only need 1 male anyway. With there is a possibility they may all be one sex? Just noticed you are also UK! I am in the process of buying some shrimp from Shrimp Corner, not bought from them before, last lot were from ProShrimp, but I am getting blue bolts this time (next week delivery). The cherry shrimp breed readily enough and from a lot younger than the bees so I doubt you would have to wait too long to find out whether you have a mix and it is so exciting the first time you get shrimplets? New born usually like to hide (naturally) so it is a good idea to get some form of moss (pads or lose) and some sort of baby (powder, I use chi ebi) food is a good idea in preparation, babies don't move around much to start with as well. I don't know if you know ProShrimp but they are really close to Nottingham and I definitely recommend them without reservation! Usually if you just want one thing and it isn't a large item they tend to send it free of postage charge as well! Would be interested to hear more about your setup if you get time. I see it is sand/gravel substrate! Simon

It is a bit difficult to tell from the photos but try watching this video as that may help you! Also depends whether they are adults? The first does look like a female..... Welcome to the forum. Simon