Desert Shrimp Depot

I'm wondering about what I see being fed in this thread. I have not seen anything about what nutrients or shrimp specific nutritional needs are being addressed with these foods. Coffee grounds for instance. So they eat them. Obviously they don't eat coffee grounds in nature - but they may eat decaying seeds that are similar. But what does the coffee ground provide to the shrimp that they need. What does it provide that they don't get in other ways?? I see some fruits being fed - but most fruits are primarily carbohydrates. Shrimp don't really need much in the way of carbs...so other than watching them gorge themselves on what amounts to candy for shrimp, is there a reason they are being fed. Leaves are excellent foods in general because of their nutritional profile. Morniga, Kale, and Spinach all have well documented nutritional profiles AND those nutritional profiles match what shrimp need very well. White Mulberry leaves have spotty nutritional profiles available, and lots of anecdotal claims about their dietary benefits. White mulberry is also native to the same local as shrimp are native, so it stands to reason that a fair number of White mulberry leaves get blown into or dropped into the water ways inhabited by dwarf shrimp. Bamboo is also native to some of the areas shrimp are native to. I have no data on bamboo leave nutrition but they must be nutritious and have some fairly rare characteristics because Pandas feed almost exclusively on bamboo and can't survive without bamboo. My shrimp don't eat bamboo leaves very fast, but they do graze on them as they slooooooly decompose. The question "what will they eat" is not really important. The question that's important is what do they need to eat. It may be amusing to watch a group of people eat a diet of donuts and ice cream - but they end result won't be very pretty. Likewise with shrimp - except they are scavengers and will eat most anything. That said -- I have no objections to feeding coffee grounds, apples, figs or whatever - but I question the WHY of choosing those specific foods. If coffee grounds provide some nutrient that's beneficial I want to know about it and add it to my arsenal of foods which currently includes: Home made powders of Kale, Spinach, Stinging nettle, Papaya leaf, spirulina, Moringa leaf, white Mulberry leaf, Pollen, astaxanthin, anise, dried green wallnut leaves, and dried green pecan leaves. (I might have forgotten a couple)

I get my matten filter pads from this seller http://www.ebay.com/itm/261975453225?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=560783202920&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT That one is only 12 bucks. I use one of these pumps http://www.ebay.com/itm/53-710-GPH-Submersible-Pump-Aquarium-Fish-Tank-Fountain-Water-Hydroponic-/281540553477?var=&hash=item418d1feb05:m:mxOp-hm2eFwSKYSc7fFhUFA For about $7 And I run the water to a home made spray bar. I have other Matten's that I run the water out through a hole in the filter pad below substrage level (as low as the pump will allow -- and vent the water across the tank in a pile of pummice/lava stone. It's got a ton of surface area for the shrimp to feed. I have not needed to clean any of mine ever as they are biological filters, not mechanical collectors. The longest running is over two years. The shrimp preferentially feed on the sponge because it's a huge grazing area. Using a pump with a matten give silent filtration (unless the water level drops below the spray bar). If you use a below substate system like I mentioned you also need an air outlet to break the surface of the water with bubbles. I use glass tubing for that because it's easily formed to go where I want (blow torch) and stays there. I've got 16 tanks with mattens and together they take less work than the one tank with 2 canister filters. I say Matten for the win.

I have only used the Double Speed from LowKeys line - none else. The growth in my CRS with the doublespeed daily (0.15ml) has been astonishing. I bought a bunch of CRS from Joe Chang which were added to a fairly new tank (Oct 3) that only had about 20 mystery snails (for maintaining the cycle). These Juvies were 1/4" to 3/8" in length - perfect shipping size. In 10 weeks they'd grown to 1" in length an already had three females release their first clutch of youngsters!!! In addition to the double speed I feed a variety of Shrimp Nature pellets and powder daily. The advantage of having so many mystery snails is they gladly clean up what shrimp don't eat and I get a stable level of ammonia production so I don't see ammonia spikes (but check frequently). I'm in the 11th week of this tank and have different sized babies - 3 females that are berried for the second time already, and several other females that are berried. I've noticed they molt frequently and it's a substantial exoskeleton. That said, although I have considerable higher education, ornamental fish hatchery, and experience in aquatic systems, - I'm a relative NOOB with Crystal Shrimp. I've only kept CRS for 11 months total - and Neos before that. I know some of you have years of experience and I enjoy reading your informative posts. I totally understand that what I have is a case study - not a double blind trial - but I believe that 10 weeks from juvie to mama is pretty remarkable....maybe I'm wrong. My new avitar is one of those shrimp.

Anybody else take a look at the substrate he is using?

Do you Edit the first post to show your current stock status? I so am I missing where it says when it was last edited??

It's so refreshing to see somebody that's a major league shrimper make a case for inert substrate!!! I use inert substrate and RO/DI buffered Seachem buffer to set the pH exactly where I want it every stinking time. And the buffer holds the pH steady. The down side it it adds about 50ppm to the TDS. The Up side is very large water changes are not stressful on the shrimp if I add the new water using a slow flow method.

Shrimp Daddy that's excellent information!! Nothing better than observations from a person who's actually been there. From their slick video promotion video (s?) I'd come to believe they were really "all that".

I'd be taking a close look at your water composition compared to the LFS. Pay particular attention to the TDS, GH, and KH. I always test the water I bring home animals for all parameters before I acclimate them. Depending on the situation I may work to modify the water I have to be a closed match to the water they arrived with.

I like cube tanks because I can put a Hamburg matten filter in the back and put the oxygenator, heater, and water pump out of sight behind it. I usually have riccia or java growing on the matten. I return the water from the pump under the substrate and let it peculate up through a gravel bed area near the front.

Ancient Chinese Secret. . I've measured them immediately after hatching and had the <1.0mm - guessing about .8mm. The specific mesh size Han uses is something he's been invited to share in the past but he's chosen not to. Makes sense - If he told then people would not need to spend money on his screens.

Xubarku - what are you doing to treat your shrimp? I really can't tell you how long until the shrimp sucumbs to the pathogen, given it's a parasite it's in it's interest to keep the host organism alive so it can spread to other hosts. Highly virulent pathogens are rarely very successful unless they have a extremely efficient infection vector. My GUESS would be the shrimp dies from stress/exhaustion rather than the the protozoan directly. Probably most that we try to treat die from the treatment as shrimp are very sensitive to what's in the water -- which is why I went to the dark therapy idea. Speaking of the dark therapy --- my subject shrimp has how been in bright light for a week solid with the light on 24/7. I examined him today and can find no evidence of relapse, which is a pretty big surprise to me. I can only say at this point that I've had interesting observations on a case subject. I don't think I can declare the shrimp cured yet, and am very hesitant about re-introduction until at least another week of isolation with continual light. I'm anxious to know how Keiris is doing with her shrimp. I'm hoping it's been kept dark enough and long enough that we'll soon see some results. Another thing I've been surprised with during this treatment is that the shrimp has not been fed in 3 weeks, but has derived enough to eat from the little bit of java moss and alder cones. Probably the snail feces generates some biofilm as well. I bought some imported shrimp this week and I hope they don't show signs of the disease (despite wanting another test subject). It would be difficult to pick up if they do have it because they are in a low lit tank and they are jade green Neos.

Still alive, that's good. -- it was at about a week I saw a change.

Four days of light 24/7 and still no sign of the return of the green scourge. This surprises me. I expected that with dark therapy I could deal a blow to the scourge that would allow a less toxic treatment finish it off. I really didn't expect that darkness alone would do the trick... or was it darkness alone..... However it occurred to me that there is a bit more than just the dark at work here. There is also the water chemistry and also what I added into his little tank while he was in "the hole'. I used alder cones and Java Moss. Keiris is using AIL and java moss. Those are variables that we need to account for - or at least be aware of. My water pH was 6.6 and the GH is 5 and KH<1. Might this be a factor in the outcome? The problem with the way we are doing this is that it's pseudo science. If dark works for me but not somebody else - then we need to figure out why -- what other factors might have been synergistic with the dark.....or perhaps the dark had nothing to do with it - but rather it was the additions or water chemistry. What I'm alluding to is just because I hypothesize that darkness will weaken the scourge - does not mean it does - and just because the shrimp has an absence of infection after dark therapy does not mean that it was the darkness that was responsible. OR - just because darkness doesn't work in another case does not mean that darkness is not A factor - it may be one of several things that are overlooked which made a difference. Heck -- I never even touch on temperature - which is likely a factor. For that matter - not seeing a return of the scourge after 4 days is not indicative of a cure - but it is sufficient reason for optimism. I'm really disappointed that some of the importers have not stepped forward to provide infected shrimp. One of the importers/breeders that I respected the most won't even reply to my inquiries - and he was the one that sold me the blues with the scourge. I never even asked for a refund or was accusatory .. I just said if he encounters infected animals in shipments I'd like to work out some way to acquire them and offered to share everything I learned with him. On the other hand another importer who is well known and researching a rather aggressive chemical treatment regime did reply and said that later in May we may work something out. ...... patience.... I'm short on patience.

In some cases it's looking for your secret combination. I decided that even for Neos I would not allow a drop of tap water into my aquariums. Reasons for this go far beyond the things we KNOW are in tap water - it's because of the things we don't know about - such as estrogen compounds from and antibiotics from upstream farms and sewage treatment plants. These things are customarily reported or even tested for. Then there is the added fluoride and my shrimp don't need it - (no teeth). I wanted to start with a known quantity and go from there. To my surprise this didn't work at first. Molting problems. It turned out the using Seachem equilibrium only did not have all of the trace minerals the shrimp needed -- switched to Salty Shrimp and problem solved. Then there was the tank (I started with several) that had slow gradual death. I was stymied - ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate remained at zero once it was cycled - however I did rush the shrimp into the aquarium before it had completely cycled and I had a bit of nitrite <2ppm. for a bit. Finally I realized the shrimp had gotten brown blood disease when the nitrite was present. Brown Blood disease is a situation where nitrite is preferentially bound to hemoglobin over oxygen - so the blood is oxygen deprived -- and the shrimp slowly die of a variety of organ failure and bacterial infections over a number of weeks. Replaced all of the shrimp in the now completely cycled tank.. used the careful drip method and had complete success. It took several months to work out the kinks and quite a bit of reading - but I got there. Now I'm not only enjoying hundreds of neo youngsters, but my new (this month) crystal babies are the cutest thing EVER! EDIT: forgot -- my Brother also had to find the secret combination. He could not keep shrimp alive no matter what. Turned out his perfect slightly acidic water was sitting in the copper pipes and leaching out copper. If the water ran awhile the pipes were purged of the water that had been stagnant accumulation Cu+ ions and would test with no copper. Now he has no problem keeping them alive.

That TDS is ok IF you have a GH of 4 - 6. The question at this point is WHAT are the dissolved solids that are represented in the TDS. If it's not Ca and Mg (GH) then you still have issues - and if it's CaCO3 (KH) then you still have problems.