Soothing Shrimp

Almost finished this post and the computer rebooted on me. Have had a lot of trouble with that recently. Anyway, here's an update on my projects: BBRR- Need to cull RR, fires, and BR and just leave BBRR. This project has been one of the slowest I've ever had. Blue Chocolate- Moved these into a 1.5g container, but no breeding. Probably because they feel confined. Nessie- Still breeding well. I'm hoping to get an additional 20L to separate the cherry quality from the painteds. BV- I now have some of the darkest BV that I have ever had before. A nice dark rich blue. I really need to cull my BV tanks, so I can concentrate on the darker blue color. One of my tanks, I got rid of most of the moss because it had hair algae (par for the course with me.) That tank has stopped breeding. Luckilly the other tanks still continue. Christmas Rili- Dead end. Either the green middle has turned back to blue, or they died or something and I missed it. I was keeping these with the BBRR. Inkwell- I saw a couple fems berried. Which is great, but the water level has severely evaporated which is not so great. It raises TDS, and I'm a bit nervous to add too much RO in fear of the fems dropping eggs. The tank needs around 5g of water to fill to teh top. I may add 1g and see what happens. Hopefully the offspring will bring me closer to the goal. Cellophane- The fems have turned bluish. Like Classic BV lookalikes. The male is still clear. I'm hoping the male turns out to be a good stud and out of 100 babies 1 may be clear as well. No berries yet, but as time ticks- so does maturity... Zombie- I've not seen the zombies as of recent. Perhaps their coloring was just bad from teh start, and as they grew it just became more apparent. Sunshine- Decided to split these into two tanks. One for lower grades, one for high grades. Haven't done it yet, but the redundancy will also be a safety back up. I mentioned to someone on another forum that not all my projects turn out. In fact, I probably have more that failed under my belt, than ones that succeeded. BUT I love trying them and seeing where they lead.

personally I'd raise your gh to 6+

That's really pretty.

Are they white dots?

So I found this on Ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Keurig-12V-Pneumatic-Solenoid-Valve-4-PSI-SH-V0829-Normally-Closed-3-16-/281330259217?pt=Small_Kitchen_Appliances_US&hash=item4180971511, here's a little cheaper but would need a reducer http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-2-DC-12V-Electric-Solenoid-Valve-N-C-Water-Inlet-Flow-Switch-Normally-Closed-/251505677768?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item3a8ee815c8 Would I hook up the level switch to that so that each tank would have a level switch and solenoid like that? I wonder if it means the water pump would run continuously. hmmmm I think I would need a gang valve too to split the water from the pump. Something like this...http://www.ebay.com/itm/AIR-MANIFOLD-16-OUTLET-AIR-SPLITTER-FOR-HYDROPONICS-AIR-PUMPS-/360404948752?pt=UK_Baby_Baby_Feeding_Bottle_Warmers_Coolers_LE&hash=item53e9cf1710 I don't want to give up on finding what I need to make this work...

Are those blue bees?

Marco rock? What's that?

I need to set up a tank for these guys now, too! Will these interbreed with each other?

I may have siliconed the inside corners. heh I'll do that sometimes if I'm unsure of the water holding qualities of the tank. The challenge is that since one side doesn't have the top plastic rim, the water evaporates rather quickly.

In theory, it could be in a 10g. If the water was changed frequently it should still have the same effect.

LOL I'm actually using a 20L reptile tank as an aquarium.

Vencenz used to have this one. He eventually sold it for $200 I think.

It would be an interesting experiment to do a tank with large water changes daily to see what happens to the size as opposed to a control tank with no water changes. I have a theory that shrimp give off a chemical inhibiting growth. If that chemical is not removed then the shrimp do not grow as large. Perhaps this would be for self preservation so as many shrimp could be in an area as possible. I have no proof of this, however, so not only take that with a grain of salt, but with a ton of sea water, too. LOL

Hmmm...drill a small hole for an air tubing coupler to go through so you can super glue a coupler in it and connect an airline right to it from outside and inside, and the other hole with coupler would allow air to escape, but stop any water from rushing out if it should tip. Put the whole thing in a styrofoam cooler... The possibilities are there, dude.

some species are just more aggressive than others. Perhaps your cards are more laid back. (?)

Han knows his stuff, so maybe it was just the way it was grown or immature yet.

When dealing with eggs from misch, I've read that black eggs means those are TB babies. Can anyone confirm?

You may want to have a marina breeder box ready if that is the reason to have the tank. That way the params are fine, but they are separated from your fish

I was sent fulval remin from a very good friend of mine. It's liquid, so it's nice that it works instantly. However if you have MTS (multiple tank syndrome) the cheaper way to go is SS gh+ or gh/kh. I have 3 jars of SS I use for wc. 8.5, gh+ (for cards) and gh/kh for neos. I could use gh+ for cards and neos and not have the extra jar, but I figured I'd splurge and experiment this year.

Just use your computer calculator and 18 to divide your ppm and and you'll be fine.

Would you do a bit more research on that and let us know Subtle? If there's one that is safe for shrimp and will kill hair algae, I'd rather use that in a pail, than one that is iffy.

gh falling? Doesn't look like a super duper overwhelmed planted tank to suck it up. What substrate are you using?

+1 The first time I tried DIY CO2, I had no spill over bottle and it went into the tank. UGH

How big is the tank outside, Louie? I'm betting more room has something to do with it as well.

Fire reds should have a param of 6+ gh, and kh doesn't seem to matter too much. 3 kh is fine for cherries.