Can you help me become a "better" shrimp keeper?

[Jason Burk]

Id personally go for a fish that wont get as big, glowlights will get around 4cm, which means a bigger mouth than things like dwarf rasboras and tetras like neons - but they are really nice.

 

[Jason Burk]

In terms of your TDS, im not too sure how to work it out, and im not sure what mine is either, so apologies for that Thrills You might have to see what x3nith says about that one, its something I need to learn

However what I can say is, im thankfully getting fantastic success with my mix of RO, Salty Shrimp minerals and Mosura BT-9, so that would be something I would recommend trying if you wanted to

I know its sort of difficult to say because shrimp will eat dead shrimp - but ever starting to use this mix 4 months ago, Ive only noticed one dead shrimp, so I can definitely say that this is superior to my previous water - which was just treated tap water

 

[Thrills24]

Hey again Jason

I've looked into glowlights and from what I understand they'll be fine with adult shrimp. I've also seen a few vids with glowlights and adult cherry sized shrimp. And the shrimp don't seem fretted Shrimplets being eaten is something I will work towards limiting in due course but that's a secondary concern. Selecting the best for my params so that the females get to a berried state
is what I'm working towards with your help and others.

I'll try blanched spinach. I've already bought some Indian Almond bark but wont be adding peat of minerals since my water is won't need it. I'm thinking that a densely planted setup (which is the setup I had where shrimp survived) may go some way to reduce shrimplet loss.

 

[X3NiTH]

My cherries in my main tank are subject to EI ferts, I've gone 4 weeks without a water change taking the TDS from around 170 to about 490 before WC, did they breed in this TDS it's hard to say as I don't see berried females that often in this tank because they are dead meat if a fish spots it, my Emperors actively hunt the shrimp down the back of the plants, the Glowlights just lunge at passing shrimp hoping for a mouthful (usually too slow), luckily the fish can't get under the bogwood as I think that's where all the berried females hide.

Likely you will be able to breed the shrimp with this TDS, if you have trouble you may have to shift to cutting the water with RO to reduce the TDS. If you have to go that far you would be just as well to set up a small shrimp only tank just so you can decant them over to your planted tank when the numbers grow (and they don't have to hide from fish), 12L do fine for me, small enough that you can use remineralised RO. You can get the RO from a local fish shop and then remineralise it to whatever you need it to be. 30%ish remineralised Water change maybe once a month, pure RO for topping up the evaporation.



As you can see it doesn't have to be complicated. All my cherry shrimp were bred in that tank over a few months, £15 tank from Pets@Home, a JBL air driven sponge filter, air pump and some Fluval Shrimp Stratum is the minimum here, a heater maybe needed (mine was rendered unnecessary because the ambient is usually about 19c so its switched of, it's sandwiching some used sponge filter to help transfer bacteria to the new sponge). To make it look a bit nicer I've added a Marimo ball or two, a bit of bogwood with some Java fern on it and a moss covered shrimp home, the black used filter pad is there also to help the new sponge filter out, I left it in when I noticed the shrimp loved grazing on it. A light above the tank is only necessary if there's green stuff to grow otherwise shrimp are quite happy eating in the dark.

Here's a picture from a few months later on and the tank is stuffed with cherries of all sort of colours! The big roots are Frogbit floating on the surface.





Here's a massive scrum over a piece of Ebi Dama, even in a packed tank I would feed this every now and again and not have them touch it which had me questioning its effectiveness as a food, then one day all of a sudden I put it in and it's pandamonium.



And when I reclaimed this shrimp tank for the crystals this lot went into the planted tank in one go.



Obviously the fish would go mental when this many shrimp got dumped into the tank so I did it after lights out and at the same time as feeding the fish with flake so they were at the surface, I then introduced the shrimp at substrate level through an opaque tube (the opaque bit is important so the fish don't see the shrimp in the tube and follow them all the way to the bottom where carnage will ensue).

It's either going to work for you in the planted tank or it isn't. If it doesn't work and you're determined to have a cleaning army then starting with a shrimp only breeding tank may get you there quicker. You will just have to give it some time, it will seem like nothing happens for ages then in a very short space of time the tank will look stuffed.

 

[Thrills24]

@X3NiTH I think I have become quite inspired by your tank. Those pics are stunning and immediately makes me think "I WANT!" lol

I have a spare, bare bottom, 100L tank with a basic internal filter (seeded) which could be used for the purpose of breeding. I don't mind building numbers and transferring older males. I've also been reading on adjusting EI dosage particularly for shrimp tanks. I have decided on carbon rili or red rili shrimp as they appear to be the most forgiving breed. I'll also be adding some redmoor rootwood or mopani to provide additional cover. Are you feeding them regular Ebi Dama or Ebi Dama special? Also you have a ton of shrimp there, have you ever considered selling them?

Oh and did I mention those pics were stunning?

 

[X3NiTH]

It's Ebi Dama Special in the pics, ran out a couple of weeks ago after they took a liking to it so ordered more from Aquarium Plant Food, I bought some ordinary Ebi Dama to try it out and have been using that since last week, it's getting eaten down to nothing over a few days in my Anubia walled tank, it gets utterly mauled and disappears overnight if I put it in my main tank with all the cherries in there and it's being grazed on occasionally in my rescaped shrimp tank (the one in the above pics) but only ever one or two shrimp at a time for a bit then they wander off and graze on something else. Haven't opened the Special yet, I'll drop one in at the weekend and see how they respond to it after not having it for a few weeks.

100L shrimp tank, wish I had the space for that!

As to selling any, possibly, not sure.

 

[Jason Burk]

Hey again Jason

I've looked into glowlights and from what I understand they'll be fine with adult shrimp. I've also seen a few vids with glowlights and adult cherry sized shrimp. And the shrimp don't seem fretted Shrimplets being eaten is something I will work towards limiting in due course but that's a secondary concern. Selecting the best for my params so that the females get to a berried state
is what I'm working towards with your help and others.

I'll try blanched spinach. I've already bought some Indian Almond bark but wont be adding peat of minerals since my water is won't need it. I'm thinking that a densely planted setup (which is the setup I had where shrimp survived) may go some way to reduce shrimplet loss.

Oh yeah yeah glowlights are absolutely fine with adult shrimp, but those that arent bigger than around 5mm may be eaten, and any babies seen will definately be eaten unfortunately

 

[Thrills24]

Oh yeah yeah glowlights are absolutely fine with adult shrimp, but those that arent bigger than around 5mm may be eaten, and any babies seen will definately be eaten unfortunately

As bad as this may sound, particularly in this thread, "some" shrimps not making it to full maturity is less of a concern and something I'd gladly accept if we can establish an adult population. But to aid the shrimplets I'll create a more densely planted (more hiding places) tank. If I can get to a stage where my female shrimp are berried I'll take that as a success attributed to ukaps and in particular those who've taken the time to give some advice in this thread.

It's Ebi Dama Special in the pics, ran out a couple of weeks ago after they took a liking to it so ordered more from Aquarium Plant Food, I bought some ordinary Ebi Dama to try it out and have been using that since last week, it's getting eaten down to nothing over a few days in my Anubia walled tank, it gets utterly mauled and disappears overnight if I put it in my main tank with all the cherries in there and it's being grazed on occasionally in my rescaped shrimp tank (the one in the above pics) but only ever one or two shrimp at a time for a bit then they wander off and graze on something else. Haven't opened the Special yet, I'll drop one in at the weekend and see how they respond to it after not having it for a few weeks.

100L shrimp tank, wish I had the space for that!

As to selling any, possibly, not sure.

Ebi Dama = Check
Indian Almond bark = Check
TDS Pen = Check

lol We could change the thread title to "help me shop" but I ordered ebi dama special earlier this evening. Your shrimp are piratically glowing so I figured it was a good choice.