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So if you breed the more transparent cherry shrimps it'll become wild type. Is it at least a slight bit if chance to keep the stripe legs but keep the grade to go up? I really do enjoy watching the shrimp with the stripe legs swim around. I think it's actually the most active preferring to ride the water currents. Either way the leg stripes are pretty, anyway to keep them without going wild?

One way of guaranteeing traits in the offspring is to separate and breed parents with the same trait you are looking for. If you let the shrimps just go free for all ... that is what you will get - free for all looking shrimp. This is one way of getting MTS (Multi Tank Syndrome), where new tanks suddenly appear out of thin air. You go from one tank to several without knowing what happened.

Absolutely!! Thank you so much for the tip. We actually have a RO system, just haven't set it up yet. But with this RO bottled water being so costly it's definitely getting set up asap. I also have been researching like crazy, and found the Vin system for setting up tanks for crystals. It's a whole nitrification system that takes about $100 for the full product line and 2 months to cycle. It's super intricate and I have pages and pages of notes from the tutorial, but I think it's by far the best way to go. He keeps the galaxies using this method so I know it's tried & true. He uses a 15 gallon for this video, which I think I'm going to upgrade to just to save myself from dilution calculations. Although I noticed his breeder tanks are 10 gallon. Most people recommend 15-30 gallons for the ease of controlling the water quality. That's reason enough. I saw one video a while ago on YouTube from a US breeder I think using this system, wish I could remember the name. I remember thinking this is ridiculously unnecessary, but I wasn't thinking about taking on any caridina back then. ? Here is the video tutorial on the Vin method:

Thanks for your experiments with Zerowater, Simon! It appears to be working for me also. My tank completed its cycle shortly after my previous messages so I bought some GH+ and Fulvic liquid and I gradually reduced the TDS to about 145ppm with Zerowater. I managed to buy 5 juvenile blue bolts and by Christmas I had a couple of berried females. Yesterday I saw about 3 babies so things are going well so far, thanks again! ?

I do believe that there is greater reward with something that is more difficult. I wouldn't consider keeping Caridina shrimp though without using RO water and shrimp mineraliser! If you don't want a normal RO water system you can use a Zerowater filter jug (produces RO equivalet water) as I had great success with that, and they are widely available, especially in the USA! I also wouldn't try the PH regulators. With the time and costs involved with these shrimp there is no point in trying to cut corners with something so fundamentaally important as water, RO water is pretty mch a must! The water I get from the zerowater jug is PH 5.5 - 6.0, where my tapwater is PH 7.5. Simon

Neo shrimp seem to do ok in KH 0 water, but then seem to die off a few months later. I would try to have even a little KH, like 1, or be sure to feed them enough mineral food.

Absolutely. I'm researching how to keep the PH low enough to keep them happy rn. Even a buffering substrate + salty bee alone doesn't cut it, since they need a 5.5-6.7. I would need a lot of driftwood, very little plants (maybe just a tiny amount of floaters - salvina, not the dreaded duckweed), and a constant supply of botanicals for all of the tannins. Now I understand why all of the rare pinto breeders have such sparse tanks. I always wondered why they have so very little plants. I'm wondering if the PH regulators would help.. though I'm sure it would somehow kill super sensitive caridina. I know a lot of people experience losses even with the right parameters, and spending $500 at a time on shrimp just to have them die under the perfect conditions isn't a deal breaker for me. I went through much of the same keeping finches. I had very rare color variations and I was always pretty much trying to keep them alive. Spending $1k at a time on breeding stock is a must. At one point I had a whole finch room with racks of cages, and larger aviaries in my living room. The only reason I stopped is when my brother died and everything kind of took a back seat to my grief. I prefer the challenge and keeping/breeding rare color variations is worth it. That's the best way imho to elevate any breeding hobby. With Flip Aquatics, they have a 30 day holding period for their imported + rare caridina variations. That is huge since imported shrimp tend to die for no reason (or many reasons) during that time frame according to everything I've read/watched. That's a giant leg up. There is also a breeder I just found nearby - The Grove Aquatics - with the rarer variations. If they can provide the same 30 day buffer or if they have tank bred then I'm in business with 2 different lines to start with.

Shrimp Keepers Forum welcomes ShrimpBizkit. Please feel free to browse around and get to know others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. View Member regards, skfadmin

Hey guys, I thought I’d just make a single topic for my community tank, so I stop running around in other chats asking the same questions ?. I’m going thru a big change in the tank at the moment, so will likely update in the morning with photos once the cloudiness is gone. Be prepared for a possibly very long message about a 10 hour process ?. Cheerio!

Try not to worry and just keep an eye and see if anything changes. I expect (though don't know) breeding may happen more when it is dark???? One of the articles I read said you can get heater guards? Simon

First the disclaimer - I have no experience with these fish whatsoever so what follows id based on some research on the internet only. The mark seems similar to that caused on some peoples fish caused by heater burn and I see you have a long glass heater so the mark could have been caused by that? The breeding of these fish seems to involve the male cornering the female somewhere, caves or rocks usually and this can be quite aggressive. From the little research I did the male is plumper than the female so this could be a female (looks slim) that a male tried cornering to mate, the mark again looks similar to pictures I saw where the marks were thought to be from mating? Is it just marks on the skin or does it protrude when seen side on from the skin, like fungus? Hopefully someone with experience of these fish will give their thought but this may give you a starting point. Obviously you can eliminate the breeding ritual if you only have the one of these fish etc? I see you have (beautiful) rock which has edges? Love the ember tetras by the way! Simon

Photos time.