aotf

Accidental triple post, apologies. When posting, got: Something went wrong. Please try again. Error code: EX1146

Accidental triple post, apologies. When posting, got: Something went wrong. Please try again. Error code: EX1146

Hi all, After a move, unbeatable algae, and unstable shrimp populations, I called it quits 6-8mo ago and took apart my 4 small tanks. I have a lot of aquarium and shrimp-related gear (i.e 7gal, 9gal, 3gal, pumps, aquascaping tools, lots of shrimp food, water conditioners, lights, rocks, etc...). If you are in the area and looking for some gear to expand your operations, come on by and take my stuff! Apologies for not itemizing it all, it would take me an onerous amount of time to do so. Some caveats: - the shrimp food is expired. I don't really think it matters much but just pointing it out. - the unbeatable algae was likely spirogyra. I have beat my fair share of algae, scuds, and even ellobiopsidae in my shrimp colonies. I could not get rid of this for 2 years and then had to give up. My tanks have been drained and left outside in the sun for >6mo, but if you take equipment from me, know that you will need to very thoroughly sterilize everything. For this reason, I would prefer to give equipment to experienced shrimpers. Noobies also welcome but please realize that you take on some risk. I have two EHEIM Classic 250 filters that I'm selling for $50 each.

Right, because Salty Shrimp GH is designed for caridina. If you aren't adding any carbonates in the water (what kH indicates), you're not going to change the pH. If you used Salty Shrimp GH/KH, your pH would bump up to 7-7.5 and your water would be neocaridina suitable. Sounds like you would benefit from a cycled reservoir tank with some plants in it to convert ammonia to nitrates. That would be a great thing to have in general since it avoids pH swings in the main tank as you add "fresh" tap water as a result of degassing, but in your case could fix the ammonia issue. Keep the reservoir tank topped off and use that for livestock tank water changes.

A couple pictures I snapped this morning, that was the first time I've seen the blue speckled shrimplet. Hoping for something blue-steel-ish!

PMed about OEBT

Interesting! I've heard copper mentioned many times before but I've very rarely heard of it actually being an issue. I wouldn't have suggested testing for it, it's a good thing you did! If it's your plumbing, your best shot is either buying distilled water by the gallon and/or getting a RODI unit (I wonder how they handle copper). Worth getting a copper test kit for that scenario, they're not that expensive (especially compared to the RODI unit). Good luck!

What kind of shrimp? TDS? It's possible your tap has other gross stuff in it that would kill sensitive shrimp. It also seems very hard (kH is pretty high). Also, 0-1ppm ammonia is a pretty big range (especially with shrimp). Isn't that four increments on the API test kit color scale? Most people consider anything measurable (with 0.25ppm being the lowest non-zero increment) to be too high. Did it hit 1ppm after they started dying? Maybe that was a result of their deaths, not the cause?

That is indeed a saddled female.

Actually yes! Almost all of my previous F2s died off (I think a couple made it to adulthood) but they were very tangtai-looking so nothing too special there. Since then, I've had several batches and many of them are surviving. Most are juvies at this point. I've gotten some shrimplets I'm pretty excited about. Most (60-70%) are tangtai, a couple are some weird low-grade CBS-looking things, some YKK-looking shrimp with more white specks/striping, 5 BKKs (!) and one weird blue steel or king-kong like shrimp that I only see once every couple weeks so I have no idea if it's still alive. I have another 3-4 pregnant females so more shrimplets to come. In order: CBS-thing YKK-thing BKKs Blue steel thing??

Scuds. Some people say they can attack and kill/eat baby shrimp. Most people agree that either way, they're super gross-looking. They are virtually impossible to get rid of once you have a solid infestation. I had some success after nuking the tank several time with carbonated water and H202 but it's really rough. They'll survive in the gravel/filters for a long time. Best of luck!

@Tibee Inc Seeing a lot of Tangerine Tiger in those, funny to see it come out so strongly. They look very similar to my 1st and 2nd gen TTxBB.

A very lucky mutation or hidden genetics popping up. A blue/oil-spill pinto would get a lot of shrimpers very excited (and reaching for their wallets). Make more! Odd to see it happening later in its life, you sure it wasn't that color before and it snuck by you? Have you had them for multiple gens or is this the first gen in your tank?

I'm no expert on this and I haven't done the specific cross you're mentioning but I'll take a quick stab until someone more knowledgeable corrects me: The interesting part of that cross is that --despite both being called KK-- red and yellows have very different genetics. They're not just variations on the same base, YKKs are widely believed to have some TT mixed in. As far as what they'll produce... no real idea. I would guess a variety of pintos and TBs, maybe some interesting and colorful taitibee-like patterning that could be selected for over generations. Not an average of the two parents or a WT reversion (unlikely in caridina), but probably not exclusive RKK and YKK offspring. ...please follow-up if you try it out, that would be a super interesting cross.

@Shrimp Life nailed it, you have two big problems here (and a third that will bite you later): - tank not cycled. Shrimp will continue to die until it is cycled. Have you tried jumpstarting it with commercially available bacteria? Dr. Tim's comes to mind. - tap with buffering soil. Your soil will constantly be fighting to pull the pH down but your tap likely has some kH to it. The tap will eventually win (infinite supply vs finite soil) and your water will creep up to tap parameters. - gH and kH are not right for neos This setup will cause you a lot of headaches but since this is what you have, here's what I would do (besides tearing up the tank or converting it to caridina parameters): Transfer the shrimp to Primed tap (assuming your tap has parameters they can live in, which I don't think it does without supplements) for a couple weeks while you jumpstart the cycle. When ammonia and nitrites are consistently 0, add them back in. During that time, you saturate your tank with baking soda to burn out the substrate's buffering ability so that it stops fighting your tap. Your gH is too low and your kH is being pulled to 0 by the substrate so I don't know what your tap looks like. Sounds like it's too soft for these shrimp, you'll probably need to get some SaltyShrimp GH/KH+ and supplement your tap water or you'll get molt-related deaths. Good luck! I'd recommend some reading/research on gH, kH, pH, buffering, and cycling. Welcome to the hobby, it can be a rough ride