Shrimp Talk

[wsantia1]

...sorry about the shrimp loss, Willie....did you get the Nug Bomz yet?...my guys devour it...
...I ordered some yellows from Erik Lucas and he'll ship Saturday to arrive Monday....really excited to get them...
...I bought the rack for the shrimp tanks today at Homely Despot...trading a fellow board member 25 Bloody Marys for a 5g tank and light tomorrow morning...

...I'll be putting the rack together this weekend and moving the tanks onto it....

Thanks Ron. Yes I did get the Nug Bomz and they killed it. A little bit goes a long way too.

[Barb]

It is my shrimp's favorite food for sure.  Even my 2 assassin snails in with the blue shrimp love it.  They all come "running" when I put a little chunk in the glass dish.
Barb

[Ron Sower]

...the rack is assembled now with plenty of "head room" to work with nets and forceps when needed...
..still gotta figure out what to do with this bookcase...i need to get it out of the room to make space for the rack...

[Ron Sower]

...yesterday was a busy shrimp tank adjustment day...I moved all the stuff in the bookcase into my bedroom...then slid the bookcase out to where it is now...in the hallway to my bathroom...it'll be there a day or two because we're keeping S n B's cat while their AC is out...and that's where we have the litter box, etc....

...next i slid the new rack in place and it fits perfectly!...good ol' measuring tapes really work well!...Placed all the tanks on the shelves and did temporary hookups for lights and air...I guess today I will refine that portion of the work...

...my yellow neos are to arrive today...hope he packaged them well with insulation...I've been assured he does....once they get here, I'll immediately drip acclimate them and hope to have them in their own little 5g by tonight!

[Ron Sower]

...Willie, I saw your question about temps in the shrimp tanks...I haven't really checked mine til right now...they are 70-72... and they are breeding like crazy...

...one thing i've learned from others is that neos don't like a lot of fluctuation in the water parameters...so I don't do heavy water changes...when I remove some shrimp, I dip out water for the container and put the shrimp in it...then I add RO water back to the tank...If i haven't removed shrimp this way for awhile, I may take out about 10% of the water and add the RO back to the tank...

...my yellows are so new that they haven't begun breeding yet so I can't tell if this is going to work for them too...time will tell...

....I have floaters in all the shrimp tanks...Dwarf water lettuce in one, Salvinia in two and Im' getting red root floaters at the swap for the other 2 tanks I'm cycling... and either Susswassertang, guppy grass, or that nasty old Java fern in them as well... one of these per tank...I don't like t mix them..

...the Bloody Mary tank has Safe-T-Sorb as substrate, and the others have no substrate...

...I'm also using botanicals this go-around with the shrimp...the usual almond leaves, etc...but I'm adding some seed pods from a tree we have in our yard...no clue what it is!...botanicals turn the water amber color...

[wsantia1]

...Willie, I saw your question about temps in the shrimp tanks...I haven't really checked mine til right now...they are 70-72... and they are breeding like crazy...

...one thing i've learned from others is that neos don't like a lot of fluctuation in the water parameters...so I don't do heavy water changes...when I remove some shrimp, I dip out water for the container and put the shrimp in it...then I add RO water back to the tank...If i haven't removed shrimp this way for awhile, I may take out about 10% of the water and add the RO back to the tank...

...my yellows are so new that they haven't begun breeding yet so I can't tell if this is going to work for them too...time will tell...

....I have floaters in all the shrimp tanks...Dwarf water lettuce in one, Salvinia in two and Im' getting red root floaters at the swap for the other 2 tanks I'm cycling... and either Susswassertang, guppy grass, or that nasty old Java fern in them as well... one of these per tank...I don't like t mix them..

...the Bloody Mary tank has Safe-T-Sorb as substrate, and the others have no substrate...

...I'm also using botanicals this go-around with the shrimp...the usual almond leaves, etc...but I'm adding some seed pods from a tree we have in our yard...no clue what it is!...botanicals turn the water amber color...

Thanks for the feedback Ron. I am using re-mineralized distilled water and I think I'm on the right track. I haven't had the yellows that long and they are pretty young.

I will add some almond leaves that I have though I may soak them first to leech out some of the tannins. I have gravel in both of my tanks. I may gradually remove it and go bare bottom. 

[Barb]

Another shrimp tip o the day,
I put an algae covered amazon sword plant leaf (from my discus tank) into my new little bubble bowl with 7 baby shrimp.  In 2 days these babies have cleaned the leaf completely, like there was never green fuzzy algae all over it.  Will keep doing this.  And NugBomz of course.
Barb

[Barb]

Also, I use just rainwater in my 2 shrimp containers.  Don't know if they would like my tap water, and don't want to try it.  With rainwater I can grow lots of plants that die in the tap water.
Barb

[LizStreithorst]

I have read that the shrimpies need a lot of calcium in their water.  My water from the tap has a kH of just 4.  Your rain water has almost no carbonates.  I'm going to start floating a cuttle bone in my tanks.  Since you're using rain water you might want to consider doing the same.

[Barb]

That's why I use Nugbomz, high in calcium.  I could put in a piece of coral.....

[LizStreithorst]

that would work.  Personally I kind of believe that fish get the minerals they need from food.  I've found it to be true with Discus as has the Willie on Simply.  Coral or cuttlebone can't hurt, though.

[Ron Sower]

......I rigged two 24" lights in the shrimp rack yesterday...bought them from Amazon...Just Barrina LED shop lights...by attaching them to the rack self above, I won't have to be moving the lights around every time I go in with a net to remove some shrimp, or when I'm using my forceps to move stuff around...If I like these 2, I will put 2 more on the other 2 shelves....

...While at the swap, Mike Coleman, my shrimp master, had a kit of shrimp foods from Plamski Shrimp...He calls it Daily CAre...It has 7 different food packets so you feed out of one packet each day for balanced diet...I've started that to see if the shrimp produce any more (not that I really need them to do that), and if their color intensifies (which I would like to see)...

...later today I'm going to re-rig the airlines going to the sponge filters in all the shrimp tanks...I bought some silicone tubing that stays flexible...getting tired of dealing with that old plastic tubing that gets so stiff over time...

[Barb]

Ron, I would enjoy seeing  your new shrimp set up, when it is camera-ready.  Sounds like quite the shrimp operation you will be having there.  How would I get some of this new food too?  does he sell online?
Barb

[Ron Sower]

Ron, I would enjoy seeing  your new shrimp set up, when it is camera-ready.  Sounds like quite the shrimp operation you will be having there.  How would I get some of this new food too?  does he sell online?
Barb

...I'm getting there...!

[Ron Sower]

...my last pair of lights came today for the shrimp tank rack...got them in place....now I have to decide if I'm going to continue using the two air pumps I have, or order a single new one that can do all 8 tanks on the rack...once that's done and I have all the tubing in place and pretty much out of sight, I'll post pics....

...a young lady is coming by today to pick up 20 more Bloody Marys to add to the stock she's already bought from me...I'm discounting them to her because she gave me a 5.5g tank....I have a fellow holding one for me to pick up...after that, i'll only need one more to fill the rack...