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regards,
skfadmin

Hi guys I am new here (obviously) and kinda new to the hobby. Right now I have a 500 Litre tank with marcobrachium bullatum, neon tetras harlequin rasboras and a black ghost knife fish. I am also planning to start a new 32 litre tank with Blackmore river cardinias and some Amarinus lacustris as they look really funny and cool. Any suggestions on what i should do would be awesome!

2 hours ago, GrumpyGudgeon92 said:

Blackmore river cardinias and some Amarinus lacustris

Interesting choice to pair those two in a tank. 

I love our Aussie native shrimps. 

 

Usual tips for any new shrimp tank.

Cycle the tank properly. Seed the new filter and tank with the squeezings from your 500L filter media.

Just pour it straight in. And let the beneficial bacteria do it's work in the new tank. Make sure it is well cycled before adding the Blackmore river Caridina. The Amarinus lacustris will be stronger and can tolerate worse conditions. But the shrimp won't like any trace of chlorine/chloramine and ammonia.

 

As for parameters, they will tolerate a very wide range. So aim for something and stick to it.

 

I believe @Baccus had some. Let's see if we can lure him out to give you some tips and pictures.

Edited November 9, 20187 yr by jayc

Blackmore River Shrimp are great little shrimp, I have learnt the hard way although they can live happily with Chameleons and DAS even Rednose don't put them all together because both the Blackmores and Chameleons change patterns and it can be the devils own job to tell them apart again later especially with juvi's.

Since setting up the tank I have never vacuumed the floor in fact the only "cleaning" the tank gets is siphoning off of water and then retopped up, which brings me to the most important part of their care. Ideally try to set up a tub of water (treated for Chlormaine and chlorine removal) for at least a week prior to using that water for refilling the tank. If possible even have the tub of water outdoors in the sun as this will even aid any beneficial organisms establishing in the water prior to it being used. I don't always do this preaging (and it has to be done in the shed infront of the tank other wise my dogs would drink all the water) but if pressed for time I have filled the tub first thing in the morning, added the water treatment and an airstone and used the water later that day with no apparent ill health or deaths to the shrimp.

The reason I mention I never vacume the tank to remove debris is I was told by Dave from Aquagreen that aside from the water the most important thing for these shrimp is mulm. I find my collection of natives gladly take most foods which include Wardly Shrimp Pellets (the ones designed for catfish), Algae Wafers, Native Crayfish (yabby) pellets, Sinking catfish wafers and tropical fish flakes. I also have spotted blue eyes with my native shrimp mostly for the control of mozzies. Even though my tank (s) are open topped to offset some of our summer heat I don't believe I have had any of the Blackmores, Cameleons, DAS or Rednose make a break for it out of the tank.

I regularly add mulberry and IAL leaves to the tank which the shrimp seem to enjoy and leave them there till there is only a skeleton of the leaf left. I also have shrimp mineral balls in the tank, I am not really sure how necessary they are, when I first added them the shrimp where all over them but now they seem to ignore the mineral balls entirely.

Depending on if you go bare bottomed tank or substrate (either shrimp soil, sand or aquarium gravel) you may need burrowing snails to air rate the substrate, however I believe Micro crabs are excellent snail eaters and one of the few to even effectively tackle MTS. So if snails are not a viable option aquarium plants with extensive roots through the substrate maybe a good option instead of just sticking to mosses and the like that are usually found in shrimp tanks. If you don't want tall potential tank escape aiding plants like Val I would go with Amazon Swards or crypts for the planted selection.

Oh and last but not least I have a large hollow eucalyptus log in my tank the shrimp love hiding inside it and picking over it eating what ever takes their fancies. I dare say the crabs would also enjoy some sort of natural timber in their tank too.