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Hi all, As the title says, I have some very small food for very small mouths, can I use this food as a substitute of Bacter AE to boost biofilm? I'm getting some AE soon but after the current berried female I have will most likely give birth. The food I have isn't being used, as my fish don't like it, or are too big. It's a very fine food, could barely be classified as a pellet. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, -Dripstopher Columbus

Hi all, As the title says, I have some very small food for very small mouths, can I use this food as a substitute of Bacter AE to boost biofilm? I'm getting some AE soon but after the current berried female I have will most likely give birth. The food I have isn't being used, as my fish don't like it, or are too big. It's a very fine food, could barely be classified as a pellet. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, -Dripstopher Columbus

Hi all, As the title says, I have some very small food for very small mouths, can I use this food as a substitute of Bacter AE to boost biofilm? I'm getting some AE soon but after the current berried female I have will most likely give birth. The food I have isn't being used, as my fish don't like it, or are too big. It's a very fine food, could barely be classified as a pellet. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, -Dripstopher Columbus

Hi all, As the title says, I have some very small food for very small mouths, can I use this food as a substitute of Bacter AE to boost biofilm? I'm getting some AE soon but after the current berried female I have will most likely give birth. The food I have isn't being used, as my fish don't like it, or are too big. It's a very fine food, could barely be classified as a pellet. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, -Dripstopher Columbus

Despite numerous berried Taiwan bees I have almost no shrimplets surviving, yet in the same tank the shrimplets of the tangerine tigers do fine. 6 weeks ago I was so paranoid that maybe something was eating them that I dosed the tank with panacur C despite never seeing any planaria but taiwan bee survival is still close to 0. I'd guess at least 50% of tangarine tiger shrimplets survive. Parameters are ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates <5, tds 130, temp 73F, ph 6.3, gh 6, Kh 0. (I use GH+ in distilled water for water changes and the substrate is Mr Aqua shrimp substrate) Im stumped, the tank is heavily planted with mosses, water lettuce, anubias and java fern and the 20 gallon tank has been established for 8 months. I feed with bacter AE once shrimplets have hatched and the adults get a variety of shrimp foods. The tank also has snails and rhabdocola. Any suggestions to improve taiwan bee shrimplet survival? Im thinking of slowly lowering the tds but I'm not sure if this will do anything.

I'm pulling this conversation over here into a thread for culling questions! (One facet of selective breeding.. Y'all who want to "pull color out of dots" and other more advanced topics may want to start an advanced topics thread)I'm starting to get to the point where I have a lot of beginner questions on the subject too, so it might be a good place to come to get advice about the which, when, where, how to from people who do a lot of selection with their shrimp. I'm sure there are lots of approaches, and it's nice to hear them all, from the super basic to the room-full-of-tanks. So, more experienced selectors, also feel free add a post with your favored criteria/protocol... Plus you'll be able to reference it later when people ask.

Hi All! Just received my first group of RCS. Been looking at grading charts and reading threads here. Would love some advice on breeding and culling! Are these blotchy whiter stripes on these females bad? Pictures of painted fire reds look so much better online, are these ones ok? Is this bright red one on the right a female? I was hoping it was a male. This for sure looks like a male, but I'm worried that the small area of clear on the bottom would make this male not a good choice for breeding stock.

First post here so if i'm missing something go easy on me. I have some PRLs that I'd like to continue to breed, but I wouldn't mind getting a couple other caridina or adding a caridina to the PRLs to get something new. Obviously this would be in a new tank so I don't mess up the line. I'm just wondering how you figure out what patterns do what and if there is a basics of cross breeding or a chart I could reference.

About a year ago I purchased around 20 Painted Sakura Cherrywood shrimp. Since that time I've begun to cull and breed for color. Two questions: 1) How often do you need to introduce genetic diversity into your colony? 2) I've found it difficult to find shrimp marketed as Painted Sakura for sale. Are there any concerns if I purchase Fire Reds or Bloody Marrys to breed with my Sakura? I've heard rumors that Bloody Mary's can throw off strange colors if bred with other grades. Anyone have any experiences like this? Thanks

hi everyone, I want to breed blue carbon rili and blue neocaridina, but there is only one empty tank left. so the question is, if i put them together, what will be the offsprings, do i get both blue carbon and blue neocaridina still? the second question is: there are different types such as blue velvet, blue jell,which kind of blue neocaridina can i put into his tank? thanks for helping and sharing.

I currently have 3 Red Cherry Shrimp, sadly just lost one whom I suspect might have been the only male, and though we've had them for many months they have never bred. After losing the 4th RCS we went to pick up some new ones to expand the colony however we couldn't find any at two local stores so settled, for now and to kind of get the hang of breeding on slightly cheaper Shrimp, 4 ghost shrimp instead. It turned out that not only was one of the Shrimp very pregnant, the eggs were already on her tail, but a little small fry was also swimming around in the bag. We kept them separate from the main tank until we could get a floating breeding/isolation tank, but sadly the momma died from the stress and we didn't have any knowledge of how or even if the eggs could have been saved, however the fry is alive and doing good as far as we can tell growing in the breeding tank till she/he is big enough to not be dinner for other shrimp or fish in the tank. I took some pictures of my RCS and of the ghost when we first got them and am hoping people here can tell me what gender they might be so I can get a male or females if I don't have enough or any of one or the other. One of the RCS did not want it's photo taken so it's as good as I can get. He's the one hiding behind a bright green leaves on, of course, the bright red lite up volcano. He (or she) seems on the smaller side and the legs can look more speckled than solid red sometimes and it has a stripe along its back that looks like it's constantly about to molt off or something, very whitish dry looking. Hopefully that might help with identifying what it is... Thanks

Ship to US, Canada (Please message me for shipping rate) and world wide (Please message me for shipping rate) "Power Stick" from Shrimp FunLand contains natural substances. It has Mulberry leafs, Protein (More eggs in females), Vitamin B (Better health on the shrimps), Calcium (Better shell and molting). Shrimps will just go crazy for it! $12 each Shipping: $3 Product Details:"Power Ball" From Shrimp FunLand. It's made in Japan. It will lower your tank water pH with natural Humic Acid. (Result might be varied depends on your tank setup)Shipping weight = 0.55 oz, $13 each, Shipping = $3 Stainless steel mesh guards Product Details It is attached to the canister water intake tube to prevent baby shrimps got sucked in to your filter. Equipped with stainless steel 304 along with flexible silicon fitting. it provides hassel free installation and fit the inflow nicely. 12 mm ($7), 16 mm ($12), $3 shipping

Hello, first of all, I'm new here and I'm from Spain I've been keeping fish for almost 4 years now and I want to give it a try to the shrimps. The ones I've selected are the bloody mary, and I have a few questions about them. I've read a lot about if they breed true or not but all the articles and post I've read are from 1 or 2 years ago and I want to know if they improved the strain. I want to obtain the best colour I can but I don't have much idea of what I'm doing so if someone could be kind enough to give me a small guide of how to select the best males and females and an easy way to remove the rest from the tank. Thank you very mucho for reading all this and I hope you answer me.

Hey! I'm new to the hobby. I have a tank that's been live cycling with a couple white cloud mountain minnows for a while. I'm still having a struggle with chloramines, but once that's dealt with and the minnows go back to my lfs (Forest Lake Pets) I am gonna move on to setting up my tank. Here's the skinny of it: 26gal bowfront, Aqueon Quietflow 30 (I think), got some tasty gunk building up on the glass and driftwood, pretty solid flow and aeration, temp unregulated right now for the minnows' sake. My vision is to turn this into a pretty low-tech planted aquarium. Seachem Flourite Black substrate, hair grass carpet, moss on the driftwood centerpiece, and taller background plants (yet to be determined), and some sweet little stones (or marimo moss balls if the light is good enough). Black background on it too. I want to have this lush green/black palette with some fantastic red shrimps living in it. I just want to have a colony of red shrimps that breed true for the most part. I don't feel excited about aggressively culling them all. They don't have to be extremely hardy-- I am still probably gonna wait about a month to plant it and make sure I've figured out how to do my water changes. That's about it. Red shrimps. Low cull rate. Preferably something that won't keel over dead at the drop of 0.1 pH-- I'm definitely a beginner. Stripes/patterns are cool as long as the red shows up strong in the adult offspring. Any species that fit this ok? (Price isn't too important, I'm buying all this spread out enough that my savings will survive the colony starters. Unless I kill them. In that case I'm probably gonna give up and grab some tetras and perhaps a different invert.)

Hi everyone! I'm here to offer you guys some high quality shrimp food for great prices! This food is amazing quality by the brand Ebi No Seicho. It is a French brand and has shown great improvement in health, color, and breeding to all tanks it is fed to! There are a variety of different food that will fit all your needs. You can find all of these foods at their official US distributor, Elevateshrimp.com however we are offering a special forum only deal The current deal: (New deals every month!) Spend $20 and get one 2oz container of Staple Gold free! spend 35 and get a 4oz! Also, all food is going to be 15% off the website price until the end of April![/B] SPECIAL OFFER! I have been given TWO sponge filter bio-film reactors from elevateshrimp.com! They are great for shrimp tanks, just stick em on top of your sponge filter and the bio media inside tumbles and releases biofilm into the tank! These are first come first serve! We are giving them away to people who spend atleast $70! Shipping to Continental US only for the time being! Shipping will priority mail and will be calculated based on distance. Orders over $50 will receive free shipping! Food and prices:(Description and pictures down below) ----------------------------Regular Price---------Forum only Price-------------------------------------------------------- Ebi No Seicho Ebi Crispz:-----------------------$12-------------------$10.20 Ebi One: **Best Seller!!**------$12-------------------$10.20 Shrimp Bead:--------------------$10-------------------$8.50 Shrimp Boost:-------------------$12-------------------$10.20 Shrimp Color (powder):---------$10-------------------$8.50 Soft Mix:------------------------$11-------------------$9.35 Meat Pad:-----------------------$12-------------------$10.20 Limited Edition:-----------------$12-------------------$10.20 Regular Mix:--------------------$11-------------------$9.35 Fulvique Tonique:---------------$10-------------------$8.50 Water Flake: 80g-----------------------------$18-------------------$15 150g----------------------------$29-------------------$25 Elevate Shrimp Brand Food (extra 15% off on these!) ----------------------------Regular Price---------Forum only Price------------------------------------------------------- Staple Gold: Sample: ------------------------$2-------------------Free with Any purchase over $20 (just ask) 1 oz.----------------------------$3.50-----------------$2.10 2 oz.----------------------------$6---------------------$4.20 4 oz.----------------------------$11-------------------$7.70 6 oz.----------------------------$19-------------------$13.30 Super Flakes 12g:----------------------------$7--------------------$4.90 25g:----------------------------$12-------------------$8.40 Pictures and Description! Ebi Crispz Good protein content with a mix of green vegetables Increases growth and colors The ideal mix for your shrimps for balanced nutrition Feed approximately 2-3 Ebi Crispz granules for every 15 shrimp, or ideally a similar size portion of various sized Crispz. Ingredients: Salmon meal, wheat gluten, krill, spinach, green cabbages, krill meal, amino acids (lysine and threonine), seaweeds, minerals, salmon oil, vitamin, rosemary extract. Protein 44.0%, fat 5.5%, fiber 6.6%, ash 5.8%, humidity 6.0% My shrimp go CRAZY over Ebi Crispz. One of my favorite foods to feed Ebi One Growth boosting protein formation prepared into small light chips. feed one chip every 2 days for approximately 15 shrimps Ingredients: fish meal, cornstarch, yeast, spirulina, shrimp meal Protein 60.6%, fat 9.8%, fiber 2.0%, ash 10.4%, humidity 8.0% Probably second favorite to my shrimp, theres a high amount of protein in it Shrimp Bead a Powdered food designed for young and developing adults. Rich in vitamins, minerals, and protein. Increases growth and colors. The high iodine content has a positive effect on metabolism, promotes digestion. A pinch every 2 days for 10 shrimp Ingredients: Fresh algae (ascophyllum nodosum), 100% natural without additives Amazing for large and small shrimp alike. powdered but a bit larger grain Shrimp Boost Increases the survival rate of juvenile and very young shrimp due to the protein rich composition. Shrimp Boost sticks slowly break down into a coarse powder once submerged and will feed many young shrimp without the stress of competing with larger mature shrimp as they all search for morsels of food. 2 mini sticks for 10 shrimp every 2 days. (best used as a supplement with shrimp basic). Ingredients: Fish meal, corn starch, yeast, sprirulina, shrimp meal. Protein 58.8%, fat 9.1%, fiber 2.0%, ash 14.6%, humidity 6% Feeding dish is suggested, dont want the powder breaking up and sinking into your substrate! Soft Mix 100% natural vegetarian pellet formation for daily feeding. Every ingredient in Soft Mix has a beneficial effect to your shrimps and will help their digestion, molting process, along with improving their immunity against parasitic diseases. Feed 1 stick for every 15 shrimp, break into pieces first Ingredients: Nettles, dandelion, spinach, echinacea, plantain A good soft food, more easily accepted by shrimp Meat Pad Food designed for young and developing adults. Possibility of reducing to powder. Good amount of protein for healthy growth. Feed 1/2 pad per 15 shrimps Ingredients: Fish, cereals, yeasts, plants, seaweed. Turns very powder! feeding dish highly suggested. shrimp go MAD for it no matter what, theyll grab on while its still sinking! Limited Edition Ebi No Seicho's Limited edition food contains a mix of proteins and amino acids to provide your shrimp with a powerhouse of nutrition. Supplementing this into your shrimp's diet will make your juvenile shrimp grow quick and healthy. 1 stick for 15 shrimp, break into pieces before feeding. Ingredients: Animal protein, amino acids, minerals, vitamins Protein 59.3%, fat 10.9%, fiber 2.4%, ash 9.2%, humidity 6% Havent used this food as much as the others, but my shrimp seem to like it! Regular Mix 100% natural vegetarian pellet formation for daily feeding. Every ingredient in Regular Mix has a beneficial effect to your shrimps and will help their digestion, molting process, along with improving their immunity against parasitic diseases. 1 stick for 15 shrimp, break into pieces before feeding. Ingredients: Nettles, walnut leaves, spinach, seaweed, lucerne, red paprika, and echinacea Part of my weekly feeding routine, another of my tank favorites Fulvique Tonique great if you want to add more tannins to the water. helps the shrimp's immune system as well and acts as an antibacterial against bacterial infections. 1/2 a spoon (provided) for every 30 liters of water. great to add around water change time I usually add in a bit during water changes **No pictures of this one at the moment! each bag is 30g** Water Flake High in amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Smaller sized vs snowflakes, Designed specifically for shrimp not repackaged cattle feed! 1/2 a flake for every 10 shrimp, uneaten food is ok to leave in tank for up to 5 days! Ingredients: soybean husks Protein 13.0%, fat 6.6%, fiber 28.0%, ash 5.0%, humidity 8.5% I love this food, instead of snowflakes i usually toss a bunch of this in my tanks every few days Staple Gold This food is the ideal food for feeding large colonies, especially juvenile sized shrimp. caridina, neocaridina and sulawesi shrimp go crazy to get a piece of this food. Staple Gold provides a quickly consumed source of protein that is essential for fast and healthy growth. The size and lightweight composition allow for mature and juvenile shrimp alike to pick up a piece and carry it away to be eaten safely in a low stress environment. Feed 1 pellet for every 2-3 shrimp. It is recommend that you do not overfeed your shrimp. Feeding more than 3x per day is unnecessary for the regular shrimp hobbyist. crude protein: 40%, crude fats 2.8%, crude fiber: 3%, ash 9% AMAZING FOOD. i toss a bit in with every meal, my shrimp go crazy and its the perfect serving size for shrimp to pick one up and run with it SAMPLE SIZE Super Flakes Super Flakes are 100% natural and GMO free dehydrated vegetable, similar but more nutritious than the common "snowflake" soy bean hull based pellets. Unlike snowflake pellets, Super Flakes contain unprocessed fibers which are important for a shrimps digestive tract and in addition Super Flakes are extremely rich in vitamin A, C, B2, B1, folate and vegetable protein. This food is also full of anti-oxidants and flavonoids which are extremely beneficial to shrimp immunity and fertility. Remove uneaten/discarded shells after a few days and try and limit the feeding to 1 large Flake per ~10 shrimp to gauge your shrimp colonies hunger. Another one of the reasons why i no longer use snowflakes! shrimp go crazy for this, just dont forget to remove the uneaten husks!

Hi everyone! I'm here to offer you guys some high quality shrimp food for great prices! This food is amazing quality by the brand Ebi No Seicho. It is a French brand and has shown great improvement in health, color, and breeding to all tanks it is fed to! There are a variety of different food that will fit all your needs. You can find all of these foods at their official US distributor, Elevateshrimp.com however we are offering a special forum only deal The current deal: (New deals every month!) Buy 4 bags of food, get one of equal or lesser value for free (you can choose or we will toss in something we recommend to go with your purchase )! Also, all food is going to be 15% off the website price until the end of March but only on forums! Shipping to Continental US only for the time being! Shipping will be priority flat rate boxes and for most orders will be $7. Orders over $50 will receive free shipping! Food and prices:(Description and pictures down below) ----------------------------Regular Price---------Forum only Price-------------------------------------------------------- Ebi No Seicho Ebi Crispz:-----------------------$12-------------------$10.20 Ebi One: **Best Seller!!**------$12-------------------$10.20 Shrimp Bead:--------------------$10-------------------$8.50 Shrimp Boost:-------------------$12-------------------$10.20 Shrimp Color (powder):---------$10-------------------$8.50 Soft Mix:------------------------$11-------------------$9.35 Meat Pad:-----------------------$12-------------------$10.20 Limited Edition:-----------------$12-------------------$10.20 Regular Mix:--------------------$11-------------------$9.35 Fulvique Tonique:---------------$10-------------------$8.50 Water Flake: 80g-----------------------------$21.35-------------------$18.15 150g----------------------------$29-------------------$24.65 Elevate Shrimp Brand Food (extra 15% off on these!) ----------------------------Regular Price---------Forum only Price------------------------------------------------------- Staple Gold: Sample: ------------------------$2-------------------Free with Any purchase over $20 (just ask) 1 oz.----------------------------$3.50-----------------$2.10 2 oz.----------------------------$6---------------------$4.20 4 oz.----------------------------$11-------------------$7.70 6 oz.----------------------------$19-------------------$13.30 Super Flakes 12g:----------------------------$7--------------------$4.90 25g:----------------------------$12-------------------$8.40 Pictures and Description! Ebi Crispz Good protein content with a mix of green vegetables Increases growth and colors The ideal mix for your shrimps for balanced nutrition Feed approximately 2-3 Ebi Crispz granules for every 15 shrimp, or ideally a similar size portion of various sized Crispz. Ingredients: Salmon meal, wheat gluten, krill, spinach, green cabbages, krill meal, amino acids (lysine and threonine), seaweeds, minerals, salmon oil, vitamin, rosemary extract. Protein 44.0%, fat 5.5%, fiber 6.6%, ash 5.8%, humidity 6.0% My shrimp go CRAZY over Ebi Crispz. One of my favorite foods to feed Ebi One Growth boosting protein formation prepared into small light chips. feed one chip every 2 days for approximately 15 shrimps Ingredients: fish meal, cornstarch, yeast, spirulina, shrimp meal Protein 60.6%, fat 9.8%, fiber 2.0%, ash 10.4%, humidity 8.0% Probably second favorite to my shrimp, theres a high amount of protein in it Shrimp Bead a Powdered food designed for young and developing adults. Rich in vitamins, minerals, and protein. Increases growth and colors. The high iodine content has a positive effect on metabolism, promotes digestion. A pinch every 2 days for 10 shrimp Ingredients: Fresh algae (ascophyllum nodosum), 100% natural without additives Amazing for large and small shrimp alike. powdered but a bit larger grain Shrimp Boost Increases the survival rate of juvenile and very young shrimp due to the protein rich composition. Shrimp Boost sticks slowly break down into a coarse powder once submerged and will feed many young shrimp without the stress of competing with larger mature shrimp as they all search for morsels of food. 2 mini sticks for 10 shrimp every 2 days. (best used as a supplement with shrimp basic). Ingredients: Fish meal, corn starch, yeast, sprirulina, shrimp meal. Protein 58.8%, fat 9.1%, fiber 2.0%, ash 14.6%, humidity 6% Feeding dish is suggested, dont want the powder breaking up and sinking into your substrate! Soft Mix 100% natural vegetarian pellet formation for daily feeding. Every ingredient in Soft Mix has a beneficial effect to your shrimps and will help their digestion, molting process, along with improving their immunity against parasitic diseases. Feed 1 stick for every 15 shrimp, break into pieces first Ingredients: Nettles, dandelion, spinach, echinacea, plantain a good soft food, more easily accepted by shrimp Meat Pad Food designed for young and developing adults. Possibility of reducing to powder. Good amount of protein for healthy growth. Feed 1/2 pad per 15 shrimps Ingredients: Fish, cereals, yeasts, plants, seaweed. turns very powder! feeding dish highly suggested. shrimp go MAD for it no matter what, theyll grab on while its still sinking! Limited Edition Ebi No Seicho's Limited edition food contains a mix of proteins and amino acids to provide your shrimp with a powerhouse of nutrition. Supplementing this into your shrimp's diet will make your juvenile shrimp grow quick and healthy. 1 stick for 15 shrimp, break into pieces before feeding. Ingredients: Animal protein, amino acids, minerals, vitamins Protein 59.3%, fat 10.9%, fiber 2.4%, ash 9.2%, humidity 6% Havent used this food as much as the others, but my shrimp seem to like it! Regular Mix 100% natural vegetarian pellet formation for daily feeding. Every ingredient in Regular Mix has a beneficial effect to your shrimps and will help their digestion, molting process, along with improving their immunity against parasitic diseases. 1 stick for 15 shrimp, break into pieces before feeding. Ingredients: Nettles, walnut leaves, spinach, seaweed, lucerne, red paprika, and echinacea Part of my weekly feeding routine, another of my tank favorites Fulvique Tonique great if you want to add more tannins to the water. helps the shrimp's immune system as well and acts as an antibacterial against bacterial infections. 1/2 a spoon (provided) for every 30 liters of water. great to add around water change time I usually add in a bit during water changes **No pictures of this one at the moment! each bag is 30g** Water Flake High in amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Smaller sized vs snowflakes, Designed specifically for shrimp not repackaged cattle feed! 1/2 a flake for every 10 shrimp, uneaten food is ok to leave in tank for up to 5 days! Ingredients: soybean husks Protein 13.0%, fat 6.6%, fiber 28.0%, ash 5.0%, humidity 8.5% i love this food, instead of snowflakes i usually toss a bunch of this in my tanks every few days Staple Gold This food is the ideal food for feeding large colonies, especially juvenile sized shrimp. caridina, neocaridina and sulawesi shrimp go crazy to get a piece of this food. Staple Gold provides a quickly consumed source of protein that is essential for fast and healthy growth. The size and lightweight composition allow for mature and juvenile shrimp alike to pick up a piece and carry it away to be eaten safely in a low stress environment. Feed 1 pellet for every 2-3 shrimp. It is recommend that you do not overfeed your shrimp. Feeding more than 3x per day is unnecessary for the regular shrimp hobbyist. crude protein: 40%, crude fats 2.8%, crude fiber: 3%, ash 9% AMAZING FOOD. i toss a bit in with every meal, my shrimp go crazy and its the perfect serving size for shrimp to pick one up and run with it SAMPLE SIZE Super Flakes Super Flakes are 100% natural and GMO free dehydrated vegetable, similar but more nutritious than the common "snowflake" soy bean hull based pellets. Unlike snowflake pellets, Super Flakes contain unprocessed fibers which are important for a shrimps digestive tract and in addition Super Flakes are extremely rich in vitamin A, C, B2, B1, folate and vegetable protein. This food is also full of anti-oxidants and flavonoids which are extremely beneficial to shrimp immunity and fertility. Remove uneaten/discarded shells after a few days and try and limit the feeding to 1 large Flake per ~10 shrimp to gauge your shrimp colonies hunger. another one of the reasons why i no longer use snowflakes! shrimp go crazy for this, just dont forget to remove the uneaten husks!

Hi Guys, I'm new to the hobby and to this site. I just got my second tank (fluval edge 2 40gal). I set it up a little over a month ago and so far the plants are starting to grow, the water seems OK, and my shrimp seem happy. I have 3 bloody marys and 2 blue dreams. The blue dreams are juveniles and the bloody marrys are mature. Two of the bloody marys have been berried for about 3 weeks and im starting to get anxious for my first momma to give birth to her shrimplets. I'm just wondering if there is anything I can/should do in preparation. I believe the tank is cycled, i used some medium from my other tank to jumpstart it when I set it up about 5 weeks ago. The water seems to be doing OK, TDS is high but I think thats due to my tapwater. I use dechlorinator whenever i top up the tank, so far no water changes yet as it doesnt seem to be necessary. Since its a new tank there is not a ton of algae for babies to eat, so I hope they wont starve. I read about Bacter AE as a good food for babies, but also read alot of horror stories of shrimp dying and that it can be tricky to use. Right now i feed 2 pellets to the shrimp and they usually devour it in about 12 hours. I can post a photo of my tank if anyone wants ot have a look and give advice. I also have a snail in there who is happily munching on stuff and dropping some, as i read, healthy poo for the shrimp to eat. Eventually I will add my betta in there once the babies are big enough. It feels like the momma has been berried since I got her about 3-4 weeks ago, wondering if something is wrong. She still has eggs under her belly from what I can see.

Fancy Goldfish Breeding Preparing fancy goldfish to breed: Make sure to do large frequent water changes on the tank with the desired breeding fish. This means about 80% WC per week. You will also need to raise the temperature of your water to about 76 F. Think of it as mimicking spring. Big water changes=rain, warmer temps rising + more food = plenty of food for fry to survive and grow fast. I also notice that my goldfish tend to spawn when it actually rains, and early in the morning. I would usually catch them when I was headed out the door for my 8am class…needless to say I was late those days hahaha. Even though I simulate it through water change I think they can still sense the natural pressure changes. There are two times of the year that work best for goldfish breeding and that is spring and fall, but it is easiest in spring since nature is working with you. Feed high protein foods to encourage the growth of eggs in the female. I usually feed a large variety of foods (saki hikari purple bag, omega one pellet, soilent green gel food, blanched organic spinach, and frozen brine shrimp and blood worms). The blood worms and brine shrimp work the best for me to get my fish full of eggs. Breeding: There are two approaches to this, hand spawning and natural spawning. I will go over both and the pros and cons of each; I personally use hand spawning. If you see your fish spawning and missed most of it, no worries! If you keep up your breeding prep routine your female should be ready to spawn again in about 14 days. Natural: This tank needs to only house the fish you desire to breed and no others. Provide the goldfish with an area to spawn. That can either be a handmade “spawning mop” or a bunch of anachris. The male is going to push the female around a lot and she will want something soft to be pushed into for laying the eggs. With this method you sit back and let the fish do the work. After they have finished spawning you can either move the plant or mop with the eggs out of the tank, or move the parents out, they cannot be kept together. Goldfish will eat their own eggs. Pros: Fish are not as stressed due to less handling, may not know who parents are if fish are not removed from community tank Cons: Males can be rough and damage the female’s fins and scales, must have enough tanks to house all the breeding pairs you wish to make Hand spawning: Have the container you will raise the fry in filled and ready. I recommend a 10-20 gallon tank for raising eggs, but you will need to upgrade it later on. When you observe the female starting to drop eggs gently pick her up and move her into the container you will raise the fry in initially. Very gently, with no more pressure than you would use to push on your eyeball, slowly press down the sides of the female and aid her in laying her eggs. Swish around the water every once in a while so the eggs don’t stick together in a clump, otherwise they may develop badly. Then select the male you want to be the father. Do the same thing to him and gently rub his sides until he releases milt. You want enough milt to make the water a little cloudy. You can choose more than one male for this if you desire. Or have more than one fry tank and have half the female’s eggs in one and half in the other and choose two different males. I personally like knowing exactly who the parents were so I know if I want to use them again in the future. Return the parents to the main tank and stir the water with the eggs and milt. Pros: Can keep all fish in main tank or pond, know exactly who the parents are, less chance of the female being injured by the male(s) Cons: Possibility of rupturing female’s ovaries if not careful when handling. (I have never had this happen), stressful to fish For both methods: Let the eggs sit for 30 min to fertilize and then perform a water change on the tank with the eggs. Make sure to match the temperature exactly. This is to not shock the eggs and to remove the unused milt from the water that would otherwise go bad and create an ammonia spike. Then add a heater to keep the temperature stable, an air stone to keep water circulation and it is not required but you can use some methylene blue to prevent fungus from spreading from dead eggs to healthy eggs. Have a turkey baster ready and check the eggs daily to remove dead/infertile ones. Fry: The eggs will hatch between 4-7 days depending on temperature, higher is faster. I also find that it depends on the breed. My orandas would hatch around day 4-5 while my ranchu took 6-7. Once you see eyeballs in the eggs they will hatch in 24-48 hours. This is also the best time to set up a brine shrimp hatchery as baby brine shrimp is the best food for fry. Once the eggs hatch the babies will not be able to swim long. They usually dart out of the egg and then find somewhere to rest. They will not need to be fed for the first 2 days because they will absorb the yolk sac on their bellies. Once the yolk sac has been absorbed they should be swimming and beginning to search for food. Have your baby brine shrimp ready to feed them. They love hunting down the tiny moving shrimps. If any fry are not swimming or are stuck on the bottom, cull these; their swim bladder is not forming properly. Over the next few weeks you will feed baby brine shrimp, clean the tank with a turkey baster or airline tubing as a siphon, and cull any that are not developing the traits needed to survive or do not fit the specifications of the breed you are raising. As they grow upgrade their tank. If anyone is interested I can go more in depth on this for Side View Ranchu fancy goldfish.

Here is my Green Jade Momma. She has been berried for a week. This is her first time berried. I got 10 baby green jades and raised them. Only 2 are for sure female. They are both berried this week. They were slow growers for the most part. I am interested to know if anyone has been breeding green jades and the outcome of the offspring. I am hoping for a decent amount of green jade babies!

Hi all, cleaned my Fluval Edge highly modded/established tank and I can never bear to flush baby guppies, snails, or shrimp so I filter water changes throwugh a fine net. At the beginning of last summer- around May- I had a huge number of what I thought were little napuli from one of the shrimp but in all this time they haven't gotten bigger than 4mm to half a cm. They glide very quickly around but settle in the bucket they live in. I was trying to see if I could raise shrimp in just a bucket with some decent substrate and live plants and sunlight with minimal water changes due to live plants and little wasted food. They are brownish. Gammarus? I'm going to put one under the stereoscope soon for a pic but thing is I have never seen Gammarus in the fluval. Ihave a gorgeous betta and lots of Endler's and guppies which would eat them but you'd think I would still see the occasional Gammarus if they were in there. Is it possible they are just super slow growing shrimp due to the less than ideal conditions?

Hi I have a hard knowing what gender are my tiger shrimp.. Would anyone have some tips and tricks? Thanks

Hi everyone, I am planning on starting my first caridina tank soon! I have a 20 gallon neo tank right now, but I want to step up! What species of caridina shrimp would you recommend for me? Maybe CRS and CBS? I really would LOVE some blue bolts, PRL, and snow whites though! Also, are there any types I could keep together to make really cool babies? I love when there is a lot of variety, but I don't want the colors to turn out bad! Thanks so much

Hello all! I would like to start my first topic on something that got me into the business in the first place... Breeding! I would like for any or all to submit your breeding setup in a reply below. Include: Tank size (Gallons and dimensions). Lighting Filtration Temperature Water parameters Water change schedule (+ how you keep babies from being syphoned out) Food you use Leaf litter vs no leaf litter and why Might just give away some free shrimp or products if you have a really cool different setup! Even if you don't have an outside the box setup I might just be asking for your shipping address! (: "Keep on Shrimpin" Ryan

Berried Sulawesi Golden Crown Shrimp (Caridina Sulawesi) I have been trying to breed yellow and blue Caridina sulawesi (Sualwesi crown shrimp) lines for some time now, but they were not very stable. Lately things look more promising. Most of the offspring from two bluish females and two bluish males showed nice yellow coloration (!) on their heads. Yesterday, I discovered the first berried female from the new generation. The eggs are green and turn black as they mature. Interestingly, the males show a bluish coloration, as you can see on the picture. I am curious to see if this is a real sexual dimorphism. I hope the other females will get berried soon so that I will have a good stock for further selection. http://youtu.be/jrXRlnUcPf8

I had my first batch of TB babies born on February 11th and until last night had a 100% survival rate. I came home and found one of the shrimplets dead, very odd but im hoping that was just a random death so im not that concerned. The main issue is the two batches of babies born since February 0 survival. I have tested all my paramers. When my Golden Bee gave birth my TDS was pretty high about 200 and I was pretty sure they all died within the first week because of molting issues. The last batch of TB babies were born about a week ago and within a week I cant see any of them anymore. My tank currently has a pH of 6.4, TDS of 160, gH 4, kH 0. N02, No3 and Amonia 0. I am kind of stumped, the only conclusion I am reaching for the last batch is maybe pH? When my first batch of TB were born the pH was 6.2 and has slowly raised in the last month to 6.4 maybe 6.5. When the babies are born I have been dosing a small amount of Bacter and started small amounts of Boss baby food. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Ryan