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Hi fellow Shrimp lovers!! Thank you for allowing me to join. I kinda got hooked on shrimp accidentally. A little about me...I'm a registered nurse and also have extensive work experience and training in the dental industry. However, I'm on workers compensation, for a spinal injury I had in Feb 2011 at 23yrs old. I had emergency spinal surgery 6hrs after meeting my neurosurgeon as I was about to become paralysed and have no control over my bladder and bowel. Thankfully I had surgery in time to avoid becoming paralysed, but the rest of my body suffered. I have now had 5 major spinal operations on my lumbar spine (2 double level fusions, 3 microdiscectomies, and removal of facet joints and solid synovial cysts) and I have also had countless day procedures on my spine too. Anyway, about 12 months ago along came a MD fish tanks video suggestion on youtube and from then on, I was hooked! I wanted a planted tank with a community of fish. So about 6 weeks ago, I discovered an old 60L tank of mine on my garage. I cleaned it up and bought everything I needed (yep...my credit card hates me! Lol!) and I started cycling my tank. Next thing though I was getting algae everywhere. Brown algae...yuck! Now away from this tank, I fall in love with a 235L tank. I buy it but we need to put extra floor joists in and reinforce the floor. We also need to remove a door and plaster it up. Hopefully it'll be done in a couple months and I can start it up too! So I had been researching for ages. What should I put in my 60L to clean up this algae? I pop into my local LFS and I fall in love with a baby BN pleco. (Yes...im aware my 60L tank is too small but he'll be upgraded to the 235L before he is say another centimetre longer.) My little pleco was named Godfrey Macleay da Hoover. Those who are Aussie will know we have a store called Godfrey's who sell vacuums. Well lil Godfrey hoovered the vast majority of it up! However there was still a lot left, so I go on the hunt for something to eat it. I come across a "algae eaters" pack from an online LFS. So along came 3 nerite snails (Patrick, Bob and Gary) and 20 odd darwin algae eaters and red nose shrimp. I fell in love with them, so purchased another 20 of them plus 2 more nerites (Sluggo and Mrs Sandy P Cheeks). The shrimp, are to me, just called, "The shrimplets". So now, it's time a few nano fish. I have ordered 3 green neon tetras but now I'm leaning towards putting in some Aussie nano fish that may be found in the same, or close by, region. Im going to do some searching, but does anyone have any suggestions please? Quite a number of my ladies are berried at the moment. I read that they don't breed too well in freshwater set ups. Im hoping they do, as I would love to see them grow into a bigger colony. Anyway, I was never planning on getting shrimp, but here we are! I'm thinking of adding a few more red nose shrimp as I don't see them too often, and 2 jumped overboard when I was cleaning the tank 😞 (how do you pick them up quick enough to get them back in the tank?? They ended up passing away sadly.) I now have plans to buy 4x 30L cube tanks and getting some other fascinating species. I may even end up surpassing that 4 tanks, as im just in love with them and they fascinate me! I could watch them all day. This tank was to distract me from my pain, my operations, my very likely situation where I will never work again. But maybe these guys can help me, keep me occupied, and maybe even give me a bit of extra income, once I am off workers comp (not allowed to work or volunteer whilst on it. Not even really allowed to go study a course at TAFE, uni or college either!). Anyway, thank you for having me, I look forward to meeting you all and chatting about all things shrimp! 😊

Hi Guys, I posted in my introduction post a pic of a rogue cherry shrimp that came with my order of DAS and RNS. Looking at it I noticed it has a white spot towards its tail. Does this look like Hexamita or white spot disease? Just really worried about it now. Thanks!

Ahh ok. Im finding different websites have differing parameters. I'm on rainwater tanks at home. Thank you for telling me what you keep yours at. I'll work on getting back to that, but slowly. Today I ordered 3 female Gertrude's spotted blue eyed fish. Would they be fine at those parameters too Jason? Everywhere I look has different parameters from others. Or are they not a good fish to go with shrimp? Thank you! Yes Darwin Algae eating shrimp/Darwin Algae Shrimp. RNS- red nose shrimp. Thank you for that link. I'll go through that link now. Cheers

Darwin Algae Shrimp. Local shrimp to Australia. Check this out for more info https://www.aquagreen.com.au/files/Freshwater_Shrimps_of_NT.pdf And RNS is Red Nose Shrimp. @Aussie.Shrimp.Girl I kept my natives at 80 TDS if that helps. Basically rainwater with a bit of remineraliser. Lots of leaf litter and wood. KH0, GH3-4. pH was around 6.6.

Nope, it was another website from a LFS I actually got my first lot of DAS from. I'll just stick to following the info in here and also sources like aquagreen that are correct and trustworthy. Im hoping aqua green is correct. I see it mentioned a lot in this forum, so I went and looked at the site and I has some fantastic resources! I'm really trying hard though to find great info on the DAS and RNS, esp in terms of what minerals etc are required. I'll make my way through the forum though and really soak it up. Lots to learn still.

That white spot looks like a part of the pattern and not anything to worry about! The 2 middle stripes look reddish so it probably is a low quality Calceo/Calico. Here is a link to my old shrimp tank before my heater disaster, I would want to replicate this IF I do try again! I just had an email that the Apistogramma are still doing well so far in my friends tank.

Not an article on this forum, is it? We have our own Diseases thread. Specifically for shrimp. Look under https://skfaquatics.com/forum/forums/forum/40-shrimp-health-care/ It's sticky thread. So should be at the top. It's a bit messy, and it is laid out like a conversation. But it's all there, so you see the development of how we find the solution, if there is one.

Oh interesting. The article I was reading was about shrimp diseases and these 2 were listed. I'll steer clear of that resource then. It's so hard to find accurate info when you are a beginner. So many incorrect things online.

Well it's certainly not hexamita or white spot disease, those are fish diseases.

Oh phew! Thanks so much Jason! Being new to it all I'm still learning. Thanks again!

Thanks so much for that Jason. I'll go read it now. Thanks! The owner of the LFS has Calico shrimp so I'm thinking it's some of those. I'll go look up Calceo shrimp. I haven't heard of those. Thanks again

Without knowing the history of the shrimp, it's just a wild guess. But it certainly looks like Calico or Calceo.

No. It's just your shrimp's colouring. Not a disease.

Uh ... yeah! Check out the posts in Water Parameters subforum. The first 8 posts are a MUST read. <edit> - link https://skfaquatics.com/forum/forums/forum/93-water-parameters/

I just noticed this shrimp I just posted, above, has a white spot on it and I just came across article talking about white spots on shrimp. Does it look like this is white spot disease or Hexamita? Now I'm worried. I'm hoping it's not 🤞

Thank you! I think its a calico too. I just got some photos of the brown one, so I'll post it in a minute. Nice! I can only imagine just how beautiful they were! I'm so excited to see/hear what you choose to do. Some apistogrammas would look fantastic, but so would some shrimp. Is there any type of shrimp you haven't yet owned, but would love to own? Maybe think about that as an option if there is one. Ooh thank you! I'll remember this...by the tail! Ok. Sadly 2 jumped and I have no idea where they landed 🙈😫 I looked everywhere but nope, couldn't find them. I try to be so careful now, esp when I put my arms in the tank, as they love to stick yo them! Ok thanks...will leave moults in there! Also is there a thread that I can look for that discusses remineralisation of water? I'm on rainwater water buy need to get the GH and KH up a bit more I think and my TDS is a bit low since I did a water tip up yesterday. Anyway, here is the little one we named cookie.