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Question. Pygmy Cory Cats.... ok in a shrimp tank or no?

Everything seems to be thriving, the level is very consistent, so I’m not going to attempt to mess with anything. My one female is still berried, we’re at about the three week mark since I first saw the eggs. Lots of moss for them to hide under.

My PH seems to stay so low anymore. I float around 6-6.2 at all times now. That blows my mind. Not sure why, driftwood maybe?

The photo is not a DAS. The only place I know that breeds DAS commercially is Aquagreen for half that price. https://www.aquagreen.com.au/catalog.html I do keep them and have bred them in the past but I don't have any excess at the moment. I'm going to try and breed them again this summer. They have marine larvae so are not easy but on the flip-side they live for 5 years or more and are hardy. The photo at that site looks to be a Paratya which will also eat filamentous algae but not as voraciously as DAS. My Paratya came in the mail from https://www.livefish.com.au/tropicals/shrimp-and-crays.html You can get them in local rivers but I find the ones from livefish do better in warmer tanks (Livefish are in QLD) - these breed in fresh water in your tank (easily).

I was hoping it wasn't the pisces brand. Oh well, cross that off my recommended list. Are you willing to try AquaLava by Oliver Knott? I know it's not cheap. Maybe. Got a link or something to where you would buy this? Without going into a whole Geology session, it depends on what the composition of the volcanic sand was. We get a lot of our Scoria from NZ, that is generally inert. If you want to go with sand, generally, your choice is Bunnings play sand. However, since sand can be sourced from any quarry anywhere in Australia, there is no guarantee it is inert. You can only buy it and then test for changes to the water parameter.

I’ll be investing in some type of fan before the weather heats up, for sure. Those JBL things are interesting. I was thinking more along the lines of the flat computer-style cooling fans. Doesn’t matter though, whatever is effective. The CO2 is going in my 30 cm cube - no fancy shrimp in there.

I just did some research on that and I’m a little worried I could have the same problem as I have now... read someone say on another forum that is raises the ph and hardness most of the time. Any sands that you would recommend? (Preferably from personal use). I was thinking that if scoria is inert, would a black volcanic sand also be inert? Also is there any specific way I should go about changing the substrate guys?

+1 for the sponge.

Definitely go the sponge.

I'm no expert, but 1 does seem a fair bit "chunkier" then the rest. Got a bit of a new problem though. I saw 1 of the shrimp cleaning away near the filter intake grill last night. He did look like he might have just been small enough to slip through. I was thinking of buying some filter sponge to jam behind the grill to stop them getting in.

In daylight without the eye shine... what a beauty! I think this is the same shrimp as in the first post above. She's released the larvae and been re-fertilised or was still packing sperm from before (I think shrimp do that) and the saddle has become another batch of eggs. You can also notice she has not eaten (head and gut is clear)...hopefully not a problem. I'm assuming for now that after a shrimp moults it doesnt eat for a while until all the "eating bits" have hardened up... at least that seems logical to me. Compare to the shrimp below.(terrible photo sorry!). This one below has the clear body and white eggs also and I think that brown smudge at the back of the head is the stomach and you can see the "poo chute". If not eating I expect it would be pretty like the one above - its something I'll watch for! Nature is cool.