Leaderboard

What do you mean by reset? Do you make a whole new tank, cycle it, and move the shrimp over? Or do you just mean substrate replacement? I may try that anyway- maybe first soak in water for a while, then soak in tank behind the filter, then suck out some old substrate and dump in the new one. I may have jinxed myself with the latest update, as shortly after writing that, one of the "Big 6" of golden bees was walking around funny with a sideways bend in his tail. Like he got in a freak accident or something. Then died a few hours later. A few days later, I found a partially eaten large-ish shrimp. A few days later another large shrimp was being quiet for a day, and the next got eaten while still alive by other others. So yeah, I still have some kind of shrimp attrition and there aren't that many full size ones. (except for the "Big 5" and a few blue bolts.) Like I said earlier, usually when a shrimp gets old they stop eating and become quiet for at least a few days. Maybe because I stopped having very distinctive-looking shrimp - they either look like golden bees or some generic blue bolt. I am also not happy about the shrimp's cannibalistic behavior. In my other tank, when a shrimp dies the others leave it alone. Well anyway overall the tank is still doing well, no short antenna noticed in the golden bees, the vast majority of shrimp come running when there's food out. Anyway, here's a gratuitous picture of what I mean by an "old" shrimp. One of the last "distinctive" looking ones, so easy to track down. The shell starts to look crusty, and they stop eating and tend to stare off into the great beyond. This guy lasted about a week before finally giving out.

I'm so glad you are getting over that short antenna problem. That was a real puzzle. I'd like to encourage your to continue the gravel vac regularly. I've been doing that too to my tanks and I think I see good results. I won't elaborate on what good means. It's just a feeling. Rebuilding the tank from scratch every 2 years is also a regime I have been doing. I really believe in resetting the tank. Something is lost in an old tank, as every time I reset a tank the shrimp respond positively to it.