Kurobom

I was using SS gH+, then transitioned to MK Blue Diamond. My TDS was getting quite low too, though the shrimp seemed fine. I was told that a higher TDS helped with shell thickness, so I started using TDS up. It gradually went from 100 to 168 over two months, when I would always aim for a TDS of 150 in my new water. I lost a few shrimp due to very obvious bad molts (I take lots of pics of them after all), and decided to stop using TDS up. I'm still fighting to keep the TDS down now... and things always fluctuate up from my TDS of 140 to 150 a week after a WC. gH is predominantly from Ca and Mg ions, whereas TDS is a combination of all dissolved ions (like Na, Cl etc.). SS gH+ gave me a gH of 5 at around TDS 70 in distilled water. MK Blue Diamond gave me a gH of 4 around TDS 100 in distilled water. This leads me to believe (and it is listed on the bottle), that Blue Diamond just has other minerals dissolved in it with the Ca and Mg ions, compared to SS gH+. Lowkeys remineralizer is somewhere in the middle then I guess!

I was using SS gH+, then transitioned to MK Blue Diamond. My TDS was getting quite low too, though the shrimp seemed fine. I was told that a higher TDS helped with shell thickness, so I started using TDS up. It gradually went from 100 to 168 over two months, when I would always aim for a TDS of 150 in my new water. I lost a few shrimp due to very obvious bad molts (I take lots of pics of them after all), and decided to stop using TDS up. I'm still fighting to keep the TDS down now... and things always fluctuate up from my TDS of 140 to 150 after a week.

Latest gH test came out fine (gH of 5 on several samples) with the API kit.

Hey DETAquarium! I'm using an API kit that was purchased in January this year. My tank has consistently been at a gH of 5 since it was cycled, until two weeks ago when it very clearly indicated it was a gH of 6. The only change I did recently was use Mosura TDS Up since early September, but it is not supposed to affect gH. TDS steadily went up from 110 to 163. I noticed my shrimp were not getting berried anymore and not molting well too. I did an RO only 15% wc to bring gH and TDS down (and a shrimp got berried afterwards). I'll do another gH test on my next wc, and let you know if it is still high (it shouldn't be anymore). If it still is, it may be the API indicator is not working accurately anymore. Of course, it is possible to have a TDS of 132-133 and a gH of 6-7, since some people have tanks with a gH of 3-4 and a TDS of 90-110. Maybe try an RO only wc to bring the parameters down too? Just my thoughts

Haven't posted in a while! Hope everyone is doing well~ My red TBs having a ball~ Mosura mama and her baby My first Aura Blues~ Posing Tangerine Tiger Two BBs plotting to take over the world

Some shrimplet close up crops. These guys are 2-3 mm in length~

Some snaps from yesterday

Lunch time with some Biomax~

Chapter 7: Shrimplets and Shrimp Friends I've officially become a shrimp daddy over the last month! It turns out I don't have quite the male monastery I thought I had, as I've been able to identify the following berried females: two BBs, one tangerine tiger, two black pandas, one red panda, and one BKK. As my berried BBs were a bit later than expected (who else marks expected due dates for their shrimp babies on their calendar?), I paced around day by day, peering into my tank looking for signs of little life. Noticing when the females no longer had the eggs in their clutch, it took me a week to realize that such young shrimplets really are quite shy. They really don't start exploring the tank until about 5 days post-hatching. Even then, it is so easy for them to hide behind or below a single grain of ADA Amazonia, so it takes a real keen eye to spot them. I've had about 4 females hatch their eggs so far, but the survival rate of the shrimplets have been far from ideal. Still, from what I can see, I have two spotted head mischlings, three BBs, three tangerine tigers, and four panda shrimplets make it so far. They range from one to four weeks old now, and the ones that have made it are growing steadily. There were two almost-snow-white looking shrimplets that I thought were doing well, but I haven't seen them in almost a week now. It really does make me wonder how good shrimplet survival rates typically are for TBs! The tiger shrimplets are probably growing 30% faster as well from what I can tell... I've also heard that the first batch of babies from first time mothers aren't usually the best, as the quality of the eggs in their first go aren't the best. My first berried BB took about 2 weeks after hatching the shrimplets to get reberried, so I will try to see how her second brood does at the end of September! What sort of best practices have you all found helped boost shrimplet survival rate? Wanting to address the shrimplet survival rates (or lack thereof), I was rethinking my nutritional input for the shrimp and water remineralization. How can I ensure my females would be able to produce higher quality eggs? I read that proteins and fats are crucial for this from Breeders and Keepers. I was also wondering if the lack of certain trace minerals in my water (despite doing biweekly water changes with Salty Shrimp) was affecting how healthy my shrimp are, in terms of their egg quality, growth, shell thickness, and molting. On the nutritional side, I noticed that guys like Densha, DETAquarium, and others in my local shrimp group had good success even with their first round of shrimplets, and that they all fed Lowkeys foods. Having had the opportunity to chat with jumpsmasher a bit more via a local shrimp chat group, he really had me sold that Japanese foods just seem to have more "oomph" in terms of giving shrimp what they need. They've been doing it the longest, and really do have the most experience in raising ornamental shrimp after all. I read some more of jumpsmasher's posts on our forum, and was intrigued by the parallels between the food line from Benibachi compared to Lowkeys. I pulled the trigger on some Kale Tablets and Red Ambitious, and have made them part of my weekly "must feed" rotation. My shrimp really enjoy these foods, and they are usually consumed within minutes. Not to say they don't like my existing supply of foods from GlasGarten or CSF too. Those are on a looser rotation now around the Benibachi goods. I've noticed that shell thickness and coloration has improved since introducing them. I've returned to daily feeds (except for Fridays), but of smaller amounts, with the idea that the nutritional variety is on a constant uptake. To try to prevent any wild nitrate swings from the daily feeds (I only have a 10 gallon tank), I've included a Lowkeys zeolite ceramic slab to help lower nitrates. Having it sit in the tank for a week has lowered my nitrate levels from 5 ppm to about 2.5 ppm. I've had the good fortune to pick on the wisdom of Avie Grinberg, local shrimp expert extraordinaire in Toronto, one of the administrators for the GTA Shrimp Society, and owner of www.shrimptopia.ca. Again, noticing that a few of our Shrimp Spot members seem to have great success with MK-Breed remineralizers, I pulled the trigger on their Blue and Blood diamond line from him. I've been using it for my last few water changes, and have noticed the aforementioned improvement in coloration in my shrimp, especially my BBs and red TBs. In my reading about shrimp digestive systems, I also came across some information about how all types of shrimp (including ours) have strong chitinase (an enzyme that breaks down chitin) levels. This makes sense in that when they scavenge and come across another dead invertebrate, they would have to digest those remains successfully, and intake the chitin for their own shell development. In fact, when our shrimp molt, they actually lose the outer layer of their stomach, as it is also mostly made of chitin and is a part of their outer shell! One can imagine that if a shrimp had poor nutrition, say a lack of chitin in its diet, then its ability to molt and regenerate its outer shell and stomach would be compromised. This would not bode well for its survival... This is where having the Blood Diamond (which contains chitin), and the use of Benibachi's BeeMax (full of chitosan, an acetylated from of chitin), are beneficial to our shrimp. I'm currently using the Blood Diamond during water changes, and the BeeMax on the weeks I don't, to avoid having chitin overload in the tank. However, many people do use BeeMax on a weekly basis regardless. Hopefully this helps bring in the trace elements and minerals needed to really boost the health of my shrimp! I've also added an Ozako mineral rock (made from compacted sea mud), which have since broken down into many more smaller pieces, but I hope that it too will gradually dissolve and provide other beneficial minerals to my shrimp. The rubble would appear to provide decent hiding spots for my shrimplets too! Other water additives I've recently incorporated include Mosura Rich Water and TDS Up. According to Avie, a slightly lowish gH (around 4) and pH encourages breeding. The fulvic acid from the Rich Water also helps with oxygen exchange for the shrimp, as well has extend the life of the substrate's buffering. I certainly notice my shrimp being more active when I dash in some Rich Water powder! The TDS Up is used for my new water during water changes too. A TDS of 150-170 helps increase shell thickness. For my water changes, I use 4.7 L of distilled water, 1 mL of Blue Diamond (a gH of 4 and a TDS of 100), 2 mL of Blood Diamond (does not change gH at all), and 1 flat scoop of TDS Up (brings TDS from 100 to 150 once Blue Diamond has been added). I'll provide an update on how this regiment does after a few more water changes with this combination! Avie has gorgeous shrimp, and he has a beautiful line of shadow mosura pandas from a German breeder. I couldn't help myself while I was at his place getting my MK-Breed and Mosura goodies, and picked out two for myself! Here's a recent paparazzi moment of one them after settling into my tank: Last but not least, some of you may have already seen my post about it, but I wrote an article about taking macro photos of shrimp for Photography Life (a pretty big Nikon and Photography blog site), and they actually decided to publish it! Here's the link to it: https://photographylife.com/aquarium-macro-photography-of-ornamental-shrimp I sent Chris Lukhaup the link via Facebook messenger, and he actually responded and said "nice article"! He even accepted my friend request! I felt stoked for a good number of days after that... lol I've also uploaded a large selection of my photos to https://steven-chan.smugmug.com as a gallery collection, so feel free to go check it out! I'm still mulling over whether or not to use the site as my main gallery, or if I should give it a custom domain name or not (any suggestions? haha...). I'm certainly not doing this for any sort of monetary reward! This is all first and foremost a hobby, and my genuine interest and joy in keeping, breeding, and photographing shrimp. The praise and encouragement from our community has really made this a fun thing to be a part of, so thank you to those who have been so kind! I've recently acquired my dad's old 30 gallon breeder tank, made a visit to Angelfins for some supplies to get it started, but haven't had time to set it up yet. Depending on what pops out from my mixed tank, I'll see if there's something worth starting with for a breeding project. I feel like a farmer, in that I'm trying to pump my shrimp full of good nutrients, give them the best possible environment to grow in, and nosing in to see who could be paired with who for breeding. If only those shrimplets will survive a bit better! Until next time then!

Just got my camera sensor cleaned and did some test shots! Have a lovely long weekend everybody! Here's a tangerine tiger shrimplet enjoying an Ozako rock from jumpsmasher And the rest!

I was just at the right time at the right place! I actually had a mid-molt shot of that sequence, but I was so excited to zoom in on it on camera I accidentally deleted it! Lesson learned the hard way...

I hope you all don't mind me sharing this here as well! I recently submitted an article about shrimp macro photography to Photography Life, and they decided to publish it! I hope you all enjoy it too https://photographylife.com/aquarium-macro-photography-of-ornamental-shrimp

Hi everyone! I hope you've all been doing well, as I haven't posted here in a while! I recently did a submission on Photography Life on doing shrimp macro photography, and they decided to publish it: https://photographylife.com/aquarium-macro-photography-of-ornamental-shrimp

Forgot to mention that DETAquarium will be setting one up as a demo for a session he is speaking at, so hopefully Daryl can chime in once that happens. If I get to check out the kit when I go to Angelfins for supplies, will share more thoughts then

Totally agree that a bunch of tanks with air driven sponges or HMFs would be the way to go for breeding projects. I'm just easing into having multiple tanks so not going all out at once hehehe... Good to know more about this style of filter! A canister setup would look even cleaner I guess! Really do like everything else about the kit.