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Journal: The Quest to Not Kill All of My Shrimp


loverland

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2016 is my first foray into shrimp keeping, after 20 years of African cichlids. I still have 10 tanks of cichlids, but my stock has thinned a bit as I intend to shift more space over to shrimp. I'll use this journal to document what will undoubtedly be a long list of failures and mass killings. Weeeeeeee!!!!

 

As of today, I have one shrimp active shrimp tank. Another is set up and waiting for an order of Yellows from @dazalea. Two more are in the works.

 

20 gallon high

Current occupants:

- 4 cherry red (look like all males)

- 5 blue pearl (1 saddled female)

- 16 red rili (several saddled females)

 

This tank is a bit of a hodge podge right now, and I know that's a problem. I started this tank with a mix of neos, and my crazy hard water and high ph slowly killed most of them. leaving only 4 cherries and 4 red rili. I've since rebuilt the tank using RO water, India Almond leaves, java moss, etc. I got more red rili and the blue pearls, and since then, I haven't lost any, molting is taking place, and two red rili are berried. So, that's good. The cherries and blue pearls will be moved to tanks #3 and #4. The pearls are in a breeder basket right now, as one is saddled, and I'd prefer she not find a red rili to mate with.

 

I have had a wandering TDS number, which is a bit perplexing, but after removing the large rocks from both tanks, that number seems to be stabilizing a bit. Those same rocks, put in a test bucket of RO water, have raised the TDS from 8 to 35 in 5 days. This is definitely PART of the rising TDS problem. 

 

pH: 7.0

TDS: 220

KH: 3

GH: 6

Temp: 74

 

20 gallon long

Future occupants:

- 20 yellows/yellow goldenbacks

 

pH: 7.0

TDS: 200

KH: 3

GH: 6

Temp: 75

 

10 gallon A

Future occupants:

- 5 blue pearl

 

10 gallon B

Future occupants:

- 4 cherry reds (will add a group to this)

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Glad you will be separating your neos when your other tanks are up and running.

 

When I first started out with shrimp, I had pretty much the same mix of neos in a 10 gallon.  I didn't know any better and ended up with a tank full of wild brown looking shrimp after six months.  I found this site and got educated.

 

I still have a mix tank but they are filled with caridina species.

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I found a lethargic neo in my tank a couple days ago. The translucent part of its body was, well, less translucent. I moved it to a quarantine tank, and it was dead within 24 hours.

 

Research points to muscular necrosis, which cites poor water conditions. Ph seems fine and stable at around 7.0. Temp and aeration have been stable. Nitrates/nitrites/ammonia aren't the problem. But, I have had steadily rising TDS/KH/GH. I did a slow water change with RO water yesterday which lowered the TDS back under 200.

 

But, could that be the culprit? If not, what could it be? And, lastly, since this is apparently contagious, how do I avoid this wiping out my tank? Do I keep up small, remineralized water changes? I know this is a stressor for shrimp, so I don't want to add to the problem. But, my KH/GH are both still higher than I'd prefer. I was aiming for 3/6, which is where the water started. But, over the past two weeks, it crept up to 5/8. 

 

I THINK I've slowed the hardness creep by removing a few rocks that clearly added to the TDS.

 

Medications?

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All four shrimp tanks are now up and running. This has me up to 15 tanks. This is not good. Time to tear down a few cichlid tanks.

 

Updated shrimp tank list:

 

20 gallon high

Current occupants:

- 16 red rili 

 

20 gallon long

- 21 yellows/yellow goldenbacks (have lost two)

 

10 gallon A

- 5 blue pearl (need to add a group to this)

 

10 gallon B

- 4 cherry reds (need to add a group to this)

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  • 2 weeks later...

My red rili group is, well, eager. I now have 5 berried females. It was November 7 when the first became berried, so it's up to 22 days. I'm expecting a wave of wee ones in the next few days. 

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UPDATE: 12/5/16

 

The first female to hold (pictured above) finally had her eggs hatch over the weekend. I've spotted a few tiny, TINY shrimplets on the glass here and there. By my math, the eggs took about 25-26 days to hatch at 74 degrees. My guess is if I had the temp up to 77-78, that might have trimmed a day or two off of that. I still have four more berried females, and the one above already has a pretty massive saddle.

 

I also spotted a berried goldenback this weekend. And, I added 10 really nice cherries and 10 blue velvets to my groups, so now all four groups are in double digits and ready to roll. I'll try to get a few pics this week.

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  • 1 month later...

The babies from the berried female above are doing well. Growing incredibly fast. Check out dinner time below. 1.jpg

 

 

The second photo shows 5 more berried females. Jeesh. The fifth is facing the camera, so you can't see the eggs. But, it's the same female from the earlier images above. 

2.jpg

 

 

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New tank project. I have an empty 30 breeder from my rack of six that I'm turning into four smaller tanks. I cut acrylic, and have adhered them using aquarium silicone. the sides are completely sealed, but the bottom has a half inch gap to let water/bacteria/whatever move across all four sections. I'll cover those gaps with black substrate to keep the shrimp from jumping from one section to the next.

 

I just need to let the acrylic harden for a few days. Then I'll add substrate, fill the tanks, populate with leaves and cones, add a small, pre-established sponge filter to each section, and dump a few fish in for a week or two. Then it's off to add a few new shrimp groups to the mix.

2017-01-10 14.15.05.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

The acrylic dividers are in place and holding well. Substrate and filtration added. I've got a few fish in there to keep the bio system running. Will start populating the tank(s) this week.

shrimpcondo.jpg

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Looks pretty sweet, you did a good job on those dividers!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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  • 3 months later...

Here's my current list of what I keep:

 

20 gallon high

red rili 

 

20 gallon long

yellows/yellow goldenbacks

 

10 gallon A

blue pearl

 

10 gallon B

cherry reds

 

30 gallon A

Crystal Red Shrimp

 

30 gallon B (divided)

Section A: empty

Section B: cull tank

Section C: green jades

Section D: fire red cherries

 

Auction this weekend. Hoping to add a few groups!

 

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  • 9 months later...

Been a long 10 months since I've last updated. I've cleared out most of my cichlid tanks, and have added shrimp tanks. Now keeping

 

--NEOCARIDINA--

Fire Red Cherry Shrimp
Red Rili
Blue Velvet
Yellows/Goldenbacks
Green Jade
Carbon
Orange Rili

--CARIDINA--
Crystal Red Shrimp
BKK Mischlings
Blue Bolts
Golden Bees
Black King Kongs

 

carbon2.jpg.5823092f90fa2619026386dadd21c772.jpgcrs.jpg.8e37e689d8d466bc6f464c97ba37392d.jpgcarbon.jpg.4d96db61669354576cfd8c656c26080a.jpggoldenbee.jpg.afa6a2b4e68acdec308083a30b871db7.jpgmischlings.jpg.7a7b75f6d8a038ae5125bea803344e9c.jpgyellow.jpg.650e55e9e90d095bcdb48ce8a8030206.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

A couple pics of my primary shrimp setups. I have a three random 20 gallon tanks outside of these two racks. 

 

Six 30-gallon tanks. Working my way toward putting acrylic dividers in each. A couple have more algae than water. Don't judge. 

9CD07637-9C17-4664-96C8-7F010F8B5643.jpeg.71aad383e60ace88159187ba9ac6dd0b.jpeg

 

 

Three 20-gallon tanks

 

DC5CEA1B-BBC4-4EE6-AC18-4E622FFEEC24.jpeg.f3cdb83f13cf97bed68b4e552788e8b8.jpeg

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Can I ask why you moved from 30Bs to 20Ls?  I've always thought 30Bs would be great for shrimping, but currently only use 10s and 20s as they can be sourced much cheaper.  Interested to hear anything you might share regarding tank sizes, your preferences and experiences, etc.

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This is purely my opinion and nothing more, but to me, 20Ls seem to be the perfect size for shrimp. I really don't love 10 gallon tanks for, well, anything. Not great visibility. More susceptible to water chemistry issues. The 30 breeders though are too big for shrimp, which is why I'm adding acrylic dividers to each. The 15 gallons per side seems to work, but 20Ls just are the right mix of volume and dimension for shrimp. Again, my opinion. Many shrimpers seem to use 10 gallon tanks with great success.

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