Caridina Zebra

[Ant]

Hello,

Does anybody know where i can get some Zebra's? 

Thanks

[fishmosy]

Some of the shops in Melbourne have them from time to time, I think they come in through the wholesaler - Aquarium Industries. Alternatively you could try the various shrimp facebook groups where they come from time to time. 

[Zebra]

Lca auctions Facebook page had some recently.

hows the "zebra tank mark II" going? @fishmosy

out of 2 good shops in Melbourne and other people that bought them with me I have like 2 left from 25, but they are super healthy looking now I think.

Got 20 more coming next week and after all your advice I'm confident these will do much better.

Some People on Facebook groups keep them in tanks with aquasoil, I remember you saying ph is pretty much doesn't matter  with zebs. 

Edited November 18, 2016 by Zebra

[fishmosy]

Still charging ahead. Im keeping the room cool over summer to avoid the drop in numbers and decline in breeding to an almost standstill which I had last year as temps warmed. My major challenge at the moment is consistency in getting shrimplets through. I have berry after berry but raising shrimplets is hard. I have my suspicisions about what i need to do to solve this, but everything is being done slowly-slowly to avoid overly stressing the shrimp. 

14 hours ago, Zebra said:

Some People on Facebook groups keep them in tanks with aquasoil, I remember you saying ph is pretty much doesn't matter  with zebs. 

Yeah, pH is not as important as other water parameters, primarily TDS and temp. I've never tried aquasoil as I prefer an inert substrate. 

[Zebra]

Yeah after your advice I went with an inert crushed Quartz. Tank is looking good now, changed the floating plants to just one anubias with some moss. Losing that many was very disheartening but giving it another go,

 

Thanks man, any tips let me know haha I have all my tanks in a cabinet now which I'm buying a small window air con, Just going to install it straight into the back, And wiring a thermostat or something, not sure yet. It's only $100 but idk if that would mean running it all the time or if I can wire it up to only come on whenever needed.

Whats the max temp for these guys? It's just starting to get hot here now, outside like 30-35c, Inside stays around 25c but I figure it's best to work out a cooling solution now beforehand it becomes an issue.

cheers

 

[fishmosy]

I think they start looking shaky at 23-24*C. I try to keep mine below 22. 

[Zebra]

True, I'll have to triple check my temps with my lazer thermometer :) heaps more accurate then standard glass or stick ons lol

My new just over 20 Zebras arrived today from LCA.

Feels like Christmas. 

So guess I'm on te zebra tank mark II now Aswell @fishmosy haha

Edited November 23, 2016 by Zebra

[fishmosy]

Good luck mate. Keep us informed as to how you go. 

[Zebra]

Got like 15 extras with my order!! Sooo happy, shout outs to LCA.

Most of the females are berried and some babies are so small looks like they must have hatched during transport. :) the water in bag was tds 36 so these ones have been kept in the right conditions before I bought them atleast.

tank is looking soooo healthy.

temp 21-22c

ph 7.4

tds 27

kh and Gh both less then 15ppm.

I got some shrimp snow recently too cause I wanted some leave in food for them that won't foul the water. Do you feed them this @fishmosy? 

So back up to 37 :) think I should just start a new thread or keep adding to my other one? 

Calling the shops I got the originals from today Aswell. 

Sorry didn't mean to jack your thread op.

join the LCA Facebook group Jeff has some for sale now :) 

[fishmosy]

I do feed snow from time to time, but only very sparingly. I am very careful to minimise the amount of food that I add to my tank for the simple reason that it only takes a tiny amount of anything leaching into the water to change TDS when the water is so pure like when keeping zebs.

Think about it like this - assume the TDS in a zeb tank is 20. A change in TDS of just 5 ppm changes the TDS to 25, but this is a 20% increase! The same change in a cherry tank (say 200ppm) to 205ppm is just a 2.5% change. 

As for starting a new thread - its up to you. I started a new thread because I started a new tank. I think its more important to document what you do/dont do so other people can learn from your mistakes or hopefully success! 

[Zebra]

Thanks mate, yeah that makes perfect sense with the tds the way you've explained it. I instinctively took out most of the shrimp snow this morning cause I didn't see them hugely taking to it anyway.

So this is also why a very very slow RO drip would be good to setup with these guys hey, to further maintain stability over tds changing due to water evaporation and any other factors like those said above.

I probably will just start another thread my first one ended up a hellish nightmare slaughter :( 

I'm a lot more confident with these guys now though.

 

thanks again.

[fishmosy]

Maybe an RO drip could work, but I haven't found it necessary. Small frequent water changes seem to be enough. 

[Rare Aqua]

Cool topic, i breed Amarinus Lacustris