To get around the problem of the obvious superglue, I used a little coverup trick that actually is biotope correct. If you look at the moss in Bob's video, the base of the moss has collected a bunch of silt, sand, small stones ect. so I did the same thing. I simply sprinkled on some fine sand over the moss, letting the excess fall away when I refilled the tank.

Here foreground, no sand, obvious superglue. background, sand, cant see superglue.

After refilling, water a little dirty.

To get around the problem of the obvious superglue' date=' I used[/quote']

Used? Lol nothing like building suspense mate haha.

Cheers mick

EDIT sorry mate only saw part of that post for some reason

So next step, add the shrimp.

Here they are, a little discoloured because of the stress of the transport.

I added in some of the Tully moss for them to hold onto during acclimation.

They then went into the blue bucket (seen earlier) and drip acclimated.

The tank had been fully cycled, set up for about 13 weeks before the shrimp arrived.

Water parameters in the tank at acclimation were temp 19C, TDS 74ppm, pH 7.4. I'll probably try to bring the pH down to 6.8-7.0, but not too fussed yet as Bob has kept them at pH 7.4 without issue.

And here they are in the tank.

Some more.

As you can see, not all the shrimp have the dark black and solid white, some are basically clear. That said, these pics were taken 15min after they went in and compared to the colour they were when in the bags or the green dish, they had coloured up amazingly well. They immediately began feeding too, and seemed to settle in straight away. No deaths during acclimation or after either.

More....

Heres a group of them hacking into a benibachi kale tablet I dropped in to test if they would eat it. Gone within seconds. A reminder too, this was within 20minutes of being added to the tank. Who called aussie natives sensitive?

Seeing as how the zebs demolished the kale tablet in a matter of minutes, I added some biofilm. I got this by scraping off the algae layer that grows on glass lids over planted tanks, particularly near the outlet from the canister filter where the lids are constantly splashed, providing plenty of nutrients (and with the over head light) and therefore ideal conditions for algae. The shrimp loved it.

Spot the zebs.

So what next?

You'll remember I had to air driven tubes to circulate water and to drive the hamburg-matttenfilter?

Well, I don't believe the air driven circulation pipe is producing enough current so I'll be upgrading that using a small low wattage power head keep power costs down, and also minimise the amount of heat that may be transferred to the tank from the pump.

After that, I'd really like to breed these guys and concentrate on getting solid black and white stripes.

Looking good mate. I need to setup a native tank I think. Is there much in the way of shrimp around coffs. Im doing a trip to a couple of properties around glenreagh soon to hunt the elusive aussimo. So wouldnt mind finding some shrimp up in the mountains.

Cheers mick

Thanks mate. Yes definitely set up a native tank, well worth it.

Yeh there are a few species of shrimp around coffs, riffles being the most obvious. I have caught a blue one, sometimes with thin white stripes. They tend to go clear once in aquaria though, not sure if its stress or something else. Really want to set up a tank specifically for them to find out.

Riffles should be easy to find anywhere, same with macrobrachium if you are into larger (prawn size) shrimp with a bit of character.

Used? Lol nothing like building suspense mate haha.

Cheers mick

EDIT sorry mate only saw part of that post for some reason

Yeah I was mid edit.

Hi mosy. I'm using a small 250 lph internal filter to run my matten filter. I used some of the foam I used for the filter inside it which has slowed the flow to 80lph. Works well in a 45x1x1 and not too much flow, so the matten filter is working alot better than it was when the internal was standard. Awesome setup and pics, if they dont breed in there they never will.

Cheers mick

Looken good Ben some of those shots could be passed off as shots in the wild all the rocks are right and the gravel

Bob

Great shots, I am very fond of our little zebras which I think will have as much potential for patterns and colours as Crystal Red/ black shrimp have shown. I hope these guys breed well for you so the next stage of domesticating them can begin.

Looken good Ben some of those shots could be passed off as shots in the wild all the rocks are right and the gravel

Bob

Thanks Bob, that is the ultimate compliment for a biotope tank, especially from the man who has been in the habitat.

Hi mosy. I'm using a small 250 lph internal filter to run my matten filter. I used some of the foam I used for the filter inside it which has slowed the flow to 80lph. Works well in a 45x1x1 and not too much flow' date=' so the matten filter is working alot better than it was when the internal was standard. Awesome setup and pics, if they dont breed in there they never will.

Cheers mick[/quote']

Thanks Mick.

Great shots' date=' I am very fond of our little zebras which I think will have as much potential for patterns and colours as Crystal Red/ black shrimp have shown. I hope these guys breed well for you so the next stage of domesticating them can begin.[/quote']

Possibly more potential given the starting colours of the original crystals. I'm very much looking forward to breeding these guys.

Wow mosy, that is one of the most realistic biotopes I've seen & the shrimp look perfect, it really looks like the video Bob did of them in the wild, very well done dude! :victorious: I'm sure they will breed for you soon in that environment, you & Bob are at the forefront of Zeb keeping/breeding & with that setup will lead the world with breeding these little beauties :applause:

MATE THAT IS REALLY GREAT!

I said I would not get Zeb's .... now I think you have changed my mind!

Fantastic, very inspirational...just highlights how terrible I am with natives :-( .... can you share your WP please. Thanks

Very, very nice, I must resist????