sarah

(blocks Hans ears)     
Well if you ever figure out how to make them, you will have to let us all know.  hehe
 

So I said Id update on how long it lasted.   The stick in the two tanks with lots of shrimp.  have about 3/4 of the algae gone.  The other two tanks with only about 20 shrimp look like they havnt been touched and the one in the oebt tank is COVERED in snails.   I didnt realize I had so many snails in there. Im going to go up after breakfast and take it out and shake the snails off .  Great unexpected snail trap hehe. 

1. Deluxe shrimps (awesome Roak!!! Thank you)
2.fishprinceofca
3. 240ric
4 avonsurfernc
5. shrimpaholich
6. Mr. F
7. Sarah
 
Thanks, Dazalea! I LOVE your fissidens!

This is definitely a MUST HAVE for people with neocaridina tanks or tanks with pH over 7.
 
It is simply just amazing! I've tried many many bacteria products to speed up your cycle for neocaridinas and none and provided me with the results One And Only Nitrifying Bacteria by DrTim's Aquatics did. 
 
I have 3 fish tanks all experiencing ammonia and nitrites due to overfeeding baby brine shrimps most likely. Dosed One And Only Nitrifying Bacteria by DrTim's Aquatics and the issue was resolved in 2 days. Ammonia was roughly 0.5 - 1.0 ppm and Nitrite was roughly 1.0-2.0ppm. No water changes were done as I wanted to see the results myself as this bacteria is quite expensive compared to others.
 
I highly recommend purchasing them from http://www.drsfostersmith.com/ as they are obviously packed and stored with care. It is shipped with cold packs. Many live bacteria products are just stored in room temperature and shipped without cold packs.
 
I still believe Seachem Stability is best for caridina tanks since One and Only only works best in pH above 7.
 
Will be stocking up a lot of these on the next sales!
 
 

Hi Guys and Gals,
Here is a mini tutorial on growing you own healthy nutritious veggies for our shrimp.  All of these plants were weeds before someone ate them and found out they were tasty.  So they will grow like weeds which is good for us. They can be grown in ground or just as easily in pots for people with limited space on a deck, porch, or even inside.
 
The seeds of these plants can be bought at most local garden centers, online, or found at local Libraries in their Seed Library for free.  Local garden clubs also have Swap Days of seed and plants.  Most of these seeds are very tiny and round which makes handling somewhat difficult.  The easiest way to plant is on a folded piece of paper and gently tap the top and let the seeds fall.
 
Start with a good potting soil mix either organic or with added fertilizers.  An inexpensive mix is Miracle Grow Natures Care Organic Mix.  About $7 for 32 quart bag.  It can be used to start and grow out the plant in a pot.  Please do not buy potting soil.  Terrible, God knows where it came from stuff.   Pots can be as simple or as fancy as you want.  You will need at least a 3g for one plant but a 5g will allow for better growth, several different plants, and less need to water.  Make sure there are several drain holes if growing in a 3g to 5g bucket.   If you plant in the ground just dig up a little section, break up big pieces and plant seed or plant seedlings which is my preference.
 
I start seedlings in something like a 16oz deli / sour cream container.  Put moistened potting mix in container about halfway up, sprinkle several seeds, and cover with one quarter inch of potting mix.  Lightly tamp down the mix to get good contact with the seeds.  No extra watering is necessary until the seeds sprout.  Too much water will smother the seeds.
 Put a clear plastic wrap over the container to hold in moisture.  At 70 degrees your seeds will sprout in 3-4 days. 
 
When you seeds sprout get them under a light as soon as you can. Any type of household bulb will work.  CFLs work great.  Keep the light within 3-4 inches of the plants for best growth.  Raise as they grow, keeping at the 3-4 inch height.  Keep the soil moist but not wet.  When the first true leaves show replant into the ground or pot.  Gently take the entire soil-root mass out of the container and break up leaving as much soil on each plant as possible.  Replant up to the rounded seed leaves, as new roots will form on the stem.  Space according to recommendations, usually 6-8 inches for Amaranth and 12-15 inches for Kale.  For those growing in pots that's 2-3 amaranth or 1 kale in a 5g pot.  Too many plants close together leads to decreased air flow and diseased, dead plants.  Believe me that 1-3 plants will produce plenty of leaves to serve fresh (for you shrimp and your salad bowl) and extra to dry.   Keep the plants well watered and in 6+ hours of sun.   When it gets 80 degrees or better I'll take a 1/2g -1g jug of water and invert it into the pot.  As the soil dries down water will be released as air replaces it in the jug.  When you see that the jug is empty refill.  Milk jugs and 2l bottles will collapse so I use heavy juice jugs.
 
Start harvesting leaves when the plants are about 1 foot tall for fresh and about 60 days for leaves to dry.  Start at the bottom and work your way up removing no more then 25% at any one time. Extra fertilizer should not be needed the first year with new soil or potting mix.  If you feel your plants aren't growing like weeds get a balanced fertilizer like 5-5-5 or 10-10-10 at your garden center.  These plants will produce seed the second year if they can be over wintered.  Pass those seeds on to someone else to enjoy.
 
Mike
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

For those of you prone to Prayer, Wyggles Father has had some major health issues and she is headed to Ky.  I don't have much info., nor is it my place, but I'm sure prayers would be appreciated for Dad and Family.

I would take then off your hands but I'm in Colorado.
 
 

The same happen to me. In the early eighties my LFS got some weird looking algae eater for the first time and I thought they were the coolest looking thing. It had a name that was hard to pronounce (Farlowella) and I saved my money washing dishes at $3 an hour. The price was $14.99 each which was an outrageous amount in those day but I bought three of them. My mom had a stroke when she found out I paid that much for a fish. A few weeks later my tank was full of these tiny little squiggly things and it turned to be baby farlowella's and I had no idea they had spawned in a ceramic log. Called my LFS and told the owner who was an arrogant SOB and he told me it was impossible and I didnt have the skill or knowledge. A few weeks after that I showed up at his store with a bag full of babies and made him eat his words. That was the first time my hobby started to pay for itself.

What kind of snail is that in the last picture?
 
I'm going to need you to mail it to me immediately.. The fate of the world might depend on it.
 
 
 
... I mean, most likely it doesn't, but it might.  Better safe than sorry, right?

That is the weirdest "Ebay shop" I have ever seen.
I sell clothing, lingerie, and animals that I buy at the local pet store for a 1000% markup and animals from the local pond.
 
Side question: My cherry shrimp look AWESOME. Anyone interested. I am way more reasonable than this lady. Only $150 for 8 relatively normal red cherry shrimp!!! (Some of them may not actually be red)

Frog seal of approval:

Mini Pellia is my "go-to" for shrimp tanks:

Mini-pellia is king.
 
That said, the perfect utopian shrimp society is covered in Fissidens.  

The first pic looks like a ghost shrimp. The third is definitely an amano.

Thanks Soothing. Happen to know any particular Macrobrachium species that doesn't have claws that could harm each other, or does have claws, but is completely peaceful with each other?
I like peacefully coexisting community tanks  Fighting fish/crays are a dislike for me

Hi Liza,
basically the higher you set the KH, the higher your PH is.  I do the same as fishlover but i add a bit more KH.
target is GH 6-7, KH ~1
1) add Bee Shrimp GH+ to get GH to 4
2) add Shrimp Mineral GH/KH+ to get KH to 1 (which also add around 2 GH as it is a 2:1 GH/KH ratio)
 
 
 

I add Salty Shrimp GH+ to adjust the GH to 6. Which is about 1 1/2 scoop for 5 gallon of RO water. The ph is around 6.5.
I then add a tiny bit of Salty Shrimp KH+ to adjust the ph to 7.
My OEBT are doing well in this water parameter.

I purchased a few pods to test them out and finally added a few to my tanks ten days ago. First of all after doing the recommended boiling, I have never seen water turn that reddish/brown color WOW!  The smell coming from the boiling pot reminded me of being in the tropics, loved it. As soon as the pods hit the bottom of the tank it was an instant swarm. I have never seen shrimp swarm that fast.  A lot of the times when something is first introduced shrimps will swarm all over it in most cases due to curiosity and then are no longer interested. But with these pods they are constantly grazing and going in an out of them. In the next couple of months I will be buying and slowly introducing more pods. Just when I thought I ran out of different products to add to my tanks you had to come along

sorry to hear, but the last sentence made me laugh ha.

when I read the title I totally thought that you were going to want opinions for the background color for a tank with green neos. 

-Never top off your aquarium at "Omigod o'clock" in the AM in the dark. Trust me on this.
-Don't think that this is the one time you'll be able to skip rinsing that bag of gravel because it "looks pretty clean." 
-Don't start re-arranging "just a few" rocks in your tank before you head out the door for work, or you'll be calling in sick within the hour. You will.

-Never setup a new reactor, lighting system, or anything involving multiple plumbing connections prior to departing on a trip of pretty much any duration. Just don't do this.

Don't assume that "it's all good" because you have an electronic controller monitoring everything. Nope.

-Don't put that cube of brine shrimp or frozen bloodworms on the shelf in your closet to thaw a bit while you're putting on your tie before rushing off to work. You'll no all about why at 5:30PM that night. Enough said.
-Never tell yourself you're just going to pick up just ONE pair of new fish at the club auction. Won't happen. Forget that notion altogether.

-Don't reach into the tank to make that "quick adjustment" on something without having a dry towel handy. Do this once with the skeptical spouse/roommate/significant other around and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
-Don't think that this will be "the last  fish" you add into your tank...

-Never log onto a fish auction website just before a major bill is due. Yup.
-Never assume that the siphon hose is in the bucket before you start it. Please believe me on this.
-Don't assume that you have "one more outlet" left on that power strip. You don't.

-Never try to "shake a small amount" of fish food right out of the can into your tank. Nope.
-Don't believe the words "easy to set up" in reference to an aquarium component. Especially when the component is of international origin.

-Don't forget to stop at the AM before your next fish club meeting. Seriously.

-Don't fool yourself into believing that you can net that fish that's been terrorizing your tank without pulling out all of the rocks and driftwood.

-Never believe that your new fish won't need to be quarantined "because the LFS does it..."
-Don't think that you'll be able to house and raise all the fry from that pair of cichlids.

-Don't believe that you'll just be satisfied with one aquarium! You suffer from "Multiple Tank Syndrome" and may not even know it. Yet.

And never forget to...
Stay wet.
Scott Fellman
Tannin Aquatics

The winner is Shrimp lover! Congrats! :] PM me!

Yay!  I checked my tank this morning, and saw this.  My first shrimp were installed on February 11th, 2016.  So, in just under two months I've got my first pregnant neocaridina.  Now, I just hope that some of the offspring actually survive.  I'm going to be especially careful monitoring and managing the tank over the next few weeks.
 

Here are some shrimp enjoying a bunch of thread algae that was grown in another tank.

I have these 4 tanks aligned next to each other. And I have an exploring mystery snail. It's always goes from tank to tank to tank, I believe it goes and steals food and returns to its original tank
I just think it's hilarious.