Shrimp experts help please...

[FISHnLAB]

Hey guys, I am looking for a bit of help optimizing my shrimp breeding tank for success please.

So, the tank is a plant propagation tank that I decided to breed Neocaridina Davidi in as well(partly to help keep my plants pristine). I bought 12 x selectively bred Blue Velvet's and added them 30 days ago. They are doing well so far as far as I can tell(it's very heavily planted so it's hard to keep track of the little guys) and at least 2 females are heavily pregnant. My tap water is pretty soft but, I decided to let it be after attempting to modify the GH a while back. But, today I finally got around to doing some testing and my KH and GH are very low...

GH - 2dGH
KH - 1dKH

So, now I am worried about the pregnant females and wondering if I should make any changes to help prevent issues going forward. Can someone with extensive experience please help me with a course of action? As you probably know, the guides are all over the place with KH/GH(everything really) so I would rather take advice from someone who has experience successfully breeding Neo's.

A little more information...

Tank - 62Liters
Lighting - 100watt Commercial Grow Light
Filtration - Finnex PX-150 Canister
Heater - Eheim Jager 100watt
Temperature Controller - Inkbird ITC-306A WIFI
Air Stone - Large Fine Bubble
Tank Temperature - 26C



Tap Water Perimeters...

pH - 7.8
TDS - 45ppm
KH - 2dKH
GH - 5dKH
NH3 - 0ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
NO3 - 0ppm
PO4 - 0ppm

Fertilization...

The 2hr Aquarist APT E - 1mL daily

Water Change Schedule...

7.5Liters changed every second day with aged, treated(Seachem Prime) tap water that is drip filled. This equals around 50% per week.

Food...

Glasgarten Shrimp Dinner 2
Glassgarten Shrimp Baby
Glassgarten Mineral Junkie Bites
Hikari Shrimp Cuisine

Anyway, I would like to make this tank as close to ideal for them as possible but, without doing anything to jeopardize my plants health as that is this tanks main function. Can someone please help me to optimize this tank for my little blue friends? Thanks in advance🙏.

 

[MichaelJ]

the guides are all over the place with KH/GH(everything really) so I would rather take advice from someone who has experience successfully breeding Neo's.

My Cheery Shrimps (Neocaridina Davidi) are breeding prodigiously. My GH is ~5.5 (Ca 26 / Mg 8) - you will be fine with a GH around 5-7 (3-4:1 Ca:Mg ratio). If you go lower you need to make sure you supplement with a diet high in calcium.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[FISHnLAB]

My Cheery Shrimps (Neocaridina Davidi) are breeding prodigiously. My GH is ~5.5 (Ca 26 / Mg 8) - you will be fine with a GH around 5-7 (3-4:1 Ca:Mg ratio). If you go lower you need to make sure you supplement with a diet high in calcium.

Cheers,
Michael

Ok, so considering I am at 2dGH now, I should shoot for about 3 or 4dGH more? I was going to leave it be like I said in my other thread(plus I have 2 females at least that are pregnant)but, now that the aquasoil seams to have dropped it from 5 to 2dGH I got worried.

As for calcium in their diet, I am keeping a Glasgarten Mineral Junkie Bite in the tank at all times and they are feeding off of it(if they can get some before the MTS that is lol). Think that is good along with the other quality food or should I add some Cuttlefish bone or something?

Thanks for your help Michael👍.

 

[MichaelJ]

if your tap water is 5 GH, I guess the plants in that propagation tank is sucking up a lot of Ca/Mg if you only measure 2 GH... Yes, I would raise it another 3 GH to a total of 5 GH.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[FISHnLAB]

if your tap water is 5 GH, I guess the plants in that propagation tank is sucking up a lot of Ca/Mg if you only measure 2 GH... Yes, I would raise it another 3 GH to a total of 5 GH.

Cheers,
Michael

Ok, I think I figured out what is going on. My tap water now measures 2dGH(the same as the propagation/breeding tank). I looked back in my log and sometime between July and now it changed(I haven't measured GH in months as everything has been going well). Does GH change seasonally? Or, maybe my water company altered it? Well, I guess I will have to check it more often😔.

No problem, I added 4 grams of Seachem Equilibrium yesterday and now I'm up to 3dGH. Just a few minutes ago I added another 4 grams. I will test again tomorrow but, I suspect it will raise it 1 more dGH. So, 1 more dose tomorrow afternoon or the next day and I should be up to 5dGH. I'll just have to figure out how much to add per water change to keep it at 5 then. And, I'll have to get some raw salts to boost Calcium along with the MgSO4 I already have because I'm not paying Seachem prices to boost my GH all the time lol(but, I need to get rid of this can I have). I'll have to reconsider if I want to continue to keep/breed shrimp too as I try to only keep species that don't require any special additions to my tap water as it just adds to the cost and complexity of the hobby. But, either way I'm looking forward to seeing some baby Blue Velvets soon as one of the Females looks real prego, the others eggs are still yellow(there may be more then 2 as well). Here is one of the less pregnant ones(sorry for the bad pic, it's the best I could do)...

Thanks again for all of your help Michael🙏.

 

[MichaelJ]

Does GH change seasonally? Or, maybe my water company altered it? Well, I guess I will have to check it more often😔.

Hi @FISHnLAB Yes, that’s a good idea if you’re relying on straight tap water. I do not know how it is in your area up there in the great province of Ontario, Canada, but down here in the city where I live in Minnesota the water company mix it up seasonally. In the summer/spring they partly rely on surface water from nearby lakes and ground water in the late fall and winter. Which is bound to make parameters swing. I haven’t done any straight tap GH measurements myself to monitor the seasonal changes (I use RODI water exclusively), but I bet it could vary quite significantly.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Does GH change seasonally?

It does in the the UK, if you have a water supply with a surface water (river or reservoir) component. The reason for us is that it rains a lot more in the winter, meaning that the "ground water" (aquifer) component of the tap water is much more diluted by the rain water.

My tap water is fairly consistently hard and alkaline (~18 dGH / 18 dKH) because the whole supply comes from a deep limestone aquifer and the water is always in contact with the limestone for long enough <"to become fully saturated"> with Ca++ and 2HCO3- ions.

cheers Darrel