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Shrimp look nice and active. It's when they stop moving and just sit about, not feeding,you know something is wrong.
 
Thanks Ady and Lindy
I am super nervous about these guys.

I tried the stinging nettles today. But the Amano went straight for it like it was catnip.

I raised the filter up a bit to create more surface movement to oxygenate the water as I don't have any other air input products and I get the impression CRS like oxygenated water.

The shrimp seem a little more mellow than last night. However they are clearly doing their feeding routine on various surfaces in the tank.

Still getting a film on the water surface. Guessing it's something to do with lack of CO2 in the tank. Which I am hesitant to resolve with LC or injected.

Otherwise all good.
Might soak the banana leaves I got and add to the tank for tommorrow.

Thanks again
R
 
I don't have an airstone either. My spray bar runs the length and sits just beneath the water surface, there isn't much agitation but they do fine. I had co2 on my tank to start with and shrimp still got berried but I took it off to increase shrimplet survival. My shrimplets seem to do well and to help them along I use Biomax and Biozyme when I know eggs have just hatched.
 
Hi Lindy
Thanks for the info. Hmmm my corner dennerle nano filter appeared to be missing the spray bar bit that it was supposed to come with (second hand). So currently the outlet is points from the back right to the front left.
Visible rippling, but no splashing.

Spoke to LFS who reckons no need for airstone! But then again I have learned that the experts are on this forum and take with a pinch of salt what the LFS says.
oooh Biomax and Biozyme. I will check it out and read up.

This week I plan to re house the Amano and drip feed acclimatise them to the fish tank (non RO water) to join the clan of Amano in there. Leaving the CRS to chill out and munch their way around the tank and hopefully get a bit fresh in a few months time. :happy:

Side note, they are a bugger to photograph. Need to get a macro lens to get any really good shot, and also mount on a tripod to compensate for the lack of light and the camera shakes.
R
 
Back to work at home today. Which gave me the chance to fish out the Amano shrimp and drip acclimatise them to the fish tank and release them there. Which I did for 2 as I could not get the last one. So have decided to give it rest and start over this afternoon.

Did a 50% water change with the RO water as TDS was 195. I removed a plant which was yellowing just incase this was causing the TDS to increase. A bit nervous as the RO water was a few degrees cooler than the tank. But no casualties yet and the shrimp seem to be happily going about their routines, some zooming around the tank some chilling on the wood, some crawling around on the substrate. Oh to have the life of a shrimp.


R
 
The 'zooming' might be the males dancing. A female might be about to moult and the boys go a bit crazy;)
 
Decided to try and give the SS Shrimp team a treat tonight. I cracked open a sample sachet of Dennerle Shrimp King Complete and took one tab out and plopped into the tank.
Eventually 1 shimp found it and then another, and then 4 more. But then after 20mins its was Meh!! They all buggered off to more serious eating of biofilm.
Will continue with the natural stuff from now on.
R
 
I wouldn't feed them more than a couple of times a week or you will get a lot of planaria and it will spoil your water quality. Over feeding kills!
 
Looking good roly and the shrimp look to have nice strong colour. Personally i wouldnt feed at all fella, until you get large numbers there is no need, it will raise tds and increase the chance of polluting the water. Also be a little careful with water changes, 50% is a lot, better to do 3 or 4 small ones in a week to bring it down rather than one 50%, CRS really dont like large swings in TDS. Cooler water is fine, warmer not so much at WC.
:thumbup:
 
Nice tips Iain. Thank you.
I too am pleased with the colours. They exceeded expectations to what I was expecting. I wonder what the. PRL's would be like?

I had sneaked the RO gerry can in from the shed to the airing cupboard as it was 18 degrees versus 22 in the tank.

Hopefully the small food tab won't have raised the TDS that much in 30mins. Will test the TDS tomorrow.

I will also plop back in some more banana leaves.

I think the combo of a smaller tank and the sensitive inhabitants make for an exciting roller coaster ride. Blimey.

Still have to fish out the last Amano who was keeping very low key this afternoon. Whilst his mates were having a rip roaring time in the fish tank hanging with their new pals on the big redmoor wood. Occasionally to be seen zipping round the tank.

So conclusion is..... No food. Let them feed off the biofilm. As per the sponsors suggestions.

Thanks again guys for the steer on all matters "Shrimp".
Yay
R
 
After playing cat and mouse with the last Amano shrimp for 2 days, I decided to risk it and pull out the wood it was hiding under. I feverishly checked the wood to make sure there was no CRS stowaways onboard and put it to one side.

Amano shrimp you are mine. There it was in the open.
Net in, coax from behind and boom got him (or her).

The shrimp has now been acclimatised to the fish tank and added.

Operation "Dont squash the posh shriimp" was then put into full swing and I gingerly lowered the root back into the tank, ensuring no CRS were trapped in the delicate operation.

Couple of banana leaves back in. Some newly added Frogbit sent from another forum member (thank you) and the tank is now a CRS only tank.

Might get the girls to make a sign for the tank saying "CRS only, No Amano allowed", just like their bedroom signs they make about no boys allowed etc.

The Pink Ramshorns appear to be very amorous over the past few days. Today they were hanging out together on the frogbit roots whilst the tank current twirled them around. How romantic and most amusing.

TDS = 179ppm
Temp = 23 degrees C

R
 
I noticed from my stats on my last post that I did not have a PH reading. I did whip out the API test kit and tried to see what the PH is, but concluded it the colour chart could be between 6.8 to 7.2!!!!!????? so I wondered having seen the recent posting about PH pens whether I should get one of those or using RO water with Salty Shrimp Bee Shrimp GH+ I should not worry about the PH?

I did notice yesterday evening that after the removal of the final Amano and slight shake up of moving the root to get to it 2 - 3 of the CRS seemed to just sit there not doing to much. Occasionally they would move and do their foraging thing. This morning they seem to be all active some are feeding from the roots of the frogbit, others have been zooming. So a sigh of relief.

R
 
First eeeeek moment in the shrimp tank. :eek:

Been away for 2 days. No problems. Family have been dutifully turning on and off the lights. Today sitting WFH I have been admiring the tank. Every so often wandering over tending to bits of it. Added some new catappa leaves.

Then noticed behind the filter that a shrimp was stuck horizontally. On the dennerle corner nano filter it splits in the middle so you can put the replacement cartridge in. There was a gap in between the sections and the shrimp was stuck being sucked in.

Not sure for how long.

I quickly turned off the filter and gently pulled it out and the shrimp fell to tank bottom. Gulp!!!! bottom lip going. :arghh:

However I could see some movement so it appears to be alive.

The shrimp is now right sided and sitting there. If I prod it gently with some tweezers the shrimp does move. So I am guessing it is still getting over the shock.

Praying the shrimp survives the night.

I have since put a zip tag around the filter covering the gap.

Otherwise I might be forced to get some PRL shrimp to make up for my first death. And I dont want to do that. ;)

Gulp.
R
 
More of an observational week this week as I have been away for a few days and nights.

I noticed the Frogbit roots grow very quickly in my tank, thus the roots drag onto some of the other foliage and slow down its circuits around the tank. The snails like the frog bit roots. They take turns on using it to transport themselves around the tank.
The pink ramshorn snails are getting bigger.
The shimp are also noticeably bigger too. Which I am stunned and excited about.
TDS has stayed at a constant 155ppm.
Temp is around to 23-24 degrees C mark.

Several purchases this week.
  1. Electronic timer switch. Same ones as I use on the main fish tank. This one is purely for the light on the shrimp tank. I like these electronic ones because the variety of programming patterns you can have and also the battery backup when you either unplug or there is a power cut. Its a Timeguard TG77 7 Day Compact Electronic Timeswitch, incase you wanted to know. The clear advantage though is no ticking noise like the manual timer switches.
  2. I bought a portion of Vesicularia dubyana 'Christmas' from George
  3. I bought some other moss from LFS, Tropica 1-2 grow Taxiphyllum barbieri and Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping'

Today I set about playing with mosses.

This will be take 3 in trying to get them to work and not go brown. I have tried a number of times before to work with mosses so the outlay this time it had better work.

In the shrimp tank I have the Christmas moss and the Taxiphyllum barbieri. I have not done anything fancy other than take my redmoor out and then used normal black cotton and tied strips of the Taxiphyllum barbieri onto the wood. I have also tied a little of the Vesicularia dubyana Christmas on but in the main have left that sitting on the substrate for the shrimp to muck about in.

Carefully lowered the wood back in making sure no CRS were under the wood.

There is certainly plenty of places for the shrimp to hang out in chow down on biofilm etc.

At the same time I read the thread on the growing mosses in jars and set about cleaning thoroughly some jars and taking a sample of each of the mosses and dumping them into water filled jars and putting them on the window sill.

I am going to leave it few more days before doing a water change in the shrimp tank as all seems good at the moment.

Still internally debating the need for a PH meter. Will wait until Nov time me things.

Hoping the 2nd issue of Breeders and Keepers is finished soon so I have something else to read.

Regards
R
 
Can someone remind me what the issue and resolution to this plant issue is. I have a feeling it might be lack of nutrients.
y2aty9us.jpg


And some other photos.
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sudyza5a.jpg


Oh and I forgot to add I found a moulted skin. So very pleased with the shrimp, and I must admit they are a great colour even as they get larger. So thanks to Freshwater Shrimp.
R
 
Hi roly, if you mean the different colour on microsorum leaves then its not an issue but just the way they grow.
+1 to waiting for breeders and keepers!!


Phew!!! I could not remember. I thought it might have been a plant food deficiency and was dreading it might be CO2 deficiency.

Update from yesterday. With lots of plant growth in the tank, it is becoming more challenging to count 10 shrimp. This became evident when I stupidly unplugged the filter to plug in the lawnmower on Sunday. And of course completely forgot about it for a period of 5 hours. Hmmmm :facepalm:

So after plugging it back in, I raised the filter outlet above the water level to the water cascaded down into the tank water, making bubbles etc. as to try and increase the aeration for a bit.

I then did a 20% water change, sucking up any floating bits. Sweeping the substrate is a bit of a challenge as my tube sucks up the granules of ADA if you are not careful. Most annoying.

And then I saw something that I thought I saw last weekend, albeit I was under the influence of alcohol and put it down to I was dreaming it at the time.

This time I was stone cold sober (ok 2 bottles of Peroni) and saw it again. A very faint thin tiny white thread like worm, just floating a slightly wriggling in mid water. Must have been approx 1cm long and less than 1mm thick.

I promptly syphoned it and its pal away. I thought at first it might be a Hydra thing, but doesn't that have multiple tentacles? Slightly concerned as I don't particularly want to dose the tank with anything harmful to the shrimp.

Any ideas?
Cheers
Roly
 
Sounds like detritus worm and I have loads and doesn't seem to do shrimp any harm. Normally your fish would eat these so you'd never see them.
 
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