Leaderboard

Welcome newbie! That sounds a lot of pests you have? I have used SLAqua Z1 which is meant for hydra and Planaria, and it worked for the hydra I had - not sure if it is available where you are? It sounds like you have done your research and know what to do? I would probably just buy everything new and start again so there is zero risk of a recurrence as you have several problems, and be slightly quicker and could go up a size of aquarium if that is something that interests you etc and as you state you are going to cycle it again, but I usually do take the easiest route, though that tends to be the costliest! I can't see any problems with your plan though you could just use tap water dechlorinated at stage 6 as that will be removed a week later? I would probably get new sponge for the filter as I expect that is really cheap as well and that can go in with the shrimps in the temporary tank to get some bacteria on ready (it can just float in the tank)! How many blue bolts do you currently have? Simon

No nothing special. Just get them the right water parameters and that's it. @Grubs might have the perfect water parameter requirements for DAS, so see if he can list them. Otherwise, I used to keep DAS in water that was ph6.8 - 7.0, KH 4, GH6 and TDS of 200-230 and 25DegC. These shrimp from QLD seem to handle slightly higher temps.

I managed to buy some kind of filter replacement kit at my LFS. Handy thing was that it come with a grill, so I just cut it to shape and shoved it in. Love the lil guys. Was thinking of giving it another week, then maybe ordering some cheery and amano shrimp from Pro-Shrimp. None of my LFS sell amano unfortunately.

Hey everyone from SKF, I'm a long time lurker; but recently have gotten back into the shrimp keeping hobby in the past 12 months. I'm after any constructive advice to help guide me in the right direction. I've kept some blue bolts in a 1 foot cube which has been somewhat successful; however due to an ongoing infestation of numerous hitch-hikers. I've decided to start again. There are some amphipods which are now breeding quite rapidly. Some worms which are swimming around in the aquarium, planaria which i've tried to keep at bay with No Planaria (the product doesn't work after only been used once or twice in 6 months, worked wonders the first time around). I'm planning to fish out the blue bolts and acclimatize them into a bigger tank whilst i restart the tank. I'm after any advice to see what is the best way to restart; my plans so far are as listed. 1) Remove Blue bolts and place in another tank 2) Siphon out all the gravel and bin it 3) Toss the media in the HOB; leave sponge filter in aquarium 4) Run the filter system for 1 week with a mix of bleach and water to fully rid of all the problems 5) Drain the tank and then place some new ADA soil into the base of the aquarium 6) Fill the tank with RO and seachem prime for another week 7) Empty tank and fill with RO remineralised with Salty Shrimp, new media in the HOB, sponge filter to remain the same. 8 ) undertake a 4-6 week fishless cycle 9) Reintroduce 20% of the BB colony; wait 2 weeks 10) If all is well reintroduce the other 80% after. Thinking it will take 6-8 weeks before i can start again. Thoughts?

You run the risk of reintroducing planaria into the new tank if you reuse your old media and sponge filter. That's the only thing I would alter out of your list.

DAS are very robust and I've kept them in a tank with Melbourne tap water and in rainwater with DIY hardness booster. You'll find them in Northern Australia in both the fresh and brackish sections of rivers so they have really wide tolerances. My tanks range from 24C to 29C If you get some keep the covers on for the first 2 weeks as they can be jumpy if your water parameters are a long way from what they were housed in. After a couple of weeks they settle down and rarely jump. I know some people with open tanks put gladwrap over the top for the first couple of weeks only. I'll also suggest that no-way will they interbreed with your Tangerine Tigers - they are very different shrimp and their bits wont fit together even if they were so inclined. If money is tight then Paratya are about half the biomass but will breed up easily and also wont cross with the TT .... or do both. You can keep all three together in the same tank.

I think that the shrimp in the photo is a female! Great you got the slots sorted so quickly and easily. The good thing with the amano is that they won't breed so you will never get more than you buy. Don't get too many though (may be the 5) as they are bigger and will out compete the cherry shrimps for food. Don't forget that there is postage cost with ProShrimp below £39 (I think that is the figure??) so bear that in mind as if you are close to that and you buy a few more shrimps you will get more shrimps for the same cost by not having to pay postage - f that makes sense? The other option is the tangerine tigers as they won't cross breed with cherry shrimp but you get a different colour - those are out of stock at the moment though! You need to be at home next day to sign for the package. https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/tiger-shrimp/563-tangerine-tiger-shrimp.html Simon

Yeah tangerine tiger shrimp. I don’t think I would even mind that much if they procreated cuz I NEED MORE SHRIIIIIIMP!!!! (And the offspring would be cute) Do they require much skill to take care of? (Either)

? That's not too bad actually. I had to do a tank that had hundreds once!! It had little shrimplets in it too. Those little ones were the hardest to catch. Never again.

especially ones that swim at the same level as shrimp.

Yes I know, but if you want to avoid the cloudiness, then don't listen to the instructions. ? There is no right way or wrong way to switch substrate. Just do it the most efficient way you can manage. For some, it's catching everything and draining the tank. For others, it's scooping out the old gravel as much as possible and replacing it with new gravel slowly without crushing/burying the little shrimps. I usually catch the shrimp, drain the tank, and replace the substrate. Either way be prepared for a long process.

What Grubs said. DAS is a little bit more colourful as well. You can get them at Aquagreen but just remember, they need brackish water and the plankton in it to breed. Or more accurately the newly hatched young need brackish water.

That's great!

I have not experience with AquaIron. Give it a try and test it before adding it into the tank. Wash it before adding it to the tank. That should help minimise the cloudiness.

I have used this product for the past 2 months with some good results with my blue bolts, there has been higher success rate with the shrimplets and in my opinion the survival rates are higher than they were previously. I've put in an order for some more to keep me going; i was first introduced to the product in an interview i read with Glenn Ng and decided to try the product myself. I use the recommended dosage once a day might skip a few days here and there, stronger hues in the blue from my juvenile BB's.

Hmmmm, I might not risk it until the population explodes a bit more

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).

Thanks ? Yup, they were caught in a brackish spot, but they do afford fresh water with no problems.