Purplepanda

thats a solid idea.  dont forget to quarantine

You might want to pick 1 kind of shrimp to start with.  The learning curve is easier and less confusing...  Neos are the most forgiving to start with.  No fancy substrate needed...  cheap pool filter sand from the hardware store works great.  A cycled sponge filter, and maybe a little heater if you keep the house cold.  But some folks don't even use heaters.  Maybe some moss...  But you should test your water to know what you're working with.

I still haven’t gotten around to it yet but I am thinking of starting out with cherry shrimp for a few months to get a hang of things and slowly add the others every few months

Just slow down, take a deep breath, do the research and plan your new hobby thoroughly, otherwise it will be short lived and end in tears...
Make sure your tank is cycled/matured and its params are ok for shrimp, then start off with a few tough tester basic shrimp like ordinary cherries and then in the coming months decide how you want to progress with being a shrimper or not.. . 
 

Consider LED tubes, I find the strips a bit fiddly and needs quit a bit of DIY with aluminium tracks.. If you go this strip route I would consider the brighter 5630 strips rather than 5050, but depends on the depth of your tanks and your mounting height of course .

I have used the ugf  setup for the last 10 years with great success.
i use one layer of Powerhouse Soft Type Filter Media on top of the unf and
top it off with a good 3-4 inches of  ada soil.I will usually change out the soil l every 3  years of when you notice the shrimp stop producing.
I hope this helps.
 
POWER HOUSE SOFT TYPE FILTER MEDIA  
 

I will be giving the tubs or trays in my case a go shortly in a large shallow 350L tank. Might drill lots of small holes, smaller than the substrate of course, into the trays to increase air flow, was also considering raising the trays a little off the ground to aid circulation and another hiding place for the shrimp. Nothing tried nothing gained ....   
 
might as well link this thread as kind of the same thing.... 
https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjrw6S3-f7TAhUrIsAKHVBhB98QFghjMAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shrimpspot.com%2Findex.php%3F%2Ftopic%2F1328-soils-substrate-and-bare-bottoms%2F&usg=AFQjCNGox-kHzTIRHY-NrxFXzKn8sj6Mig
 
 

Zebra Pinto Sale And Super Crystal Reds All USA Breed Shrimp. No holds. Good high quality zebras
 
RED zebra pintos 10 for 192 shipped
BLACK zebra 10 for $135 shipped
SCR mixed patterns 10 for $152 shipped
 
Will make.better deals for quanties of 20. Also I caught 51 SCR that don't for what I am breeding for if someone takes them all I will sell them at $9 each
 
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more importantly did the shrimp care for it ?
 
How long would ADA Amazonia buffer for with zero KH I wonder ?
 
 

I have been wondering about this as well to avoid breaking down a tank. Do you think it would be possible to have the soil in containers and fully cycle containers in a bucket before swapping? I would like to have 3 containers in a 20L and after the first year or less start swapping them out, one at a time, every 4 months. Really wish there was a better way to buffer to low PH in a stable way without the use of soil.

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I've  alternated with Microbe Lift Herbtana and Artemis.. worked well with no issues.
 
I don't  just dump the shrimp into a tank which is already fully dosed with either product, but rather conservatively add in small increments over a week or longer, accompanied by small water changes as well as a healthy supply of alder cones to let the tannins also do their good work .. 
 
Yes agree, I never add new imported shrimp and also plants for that matter into an existing healthy shrimp tank, it's just not worth the risk imo.
 
 

It's not that people don't it's just that it's more of a hassle than it is worth. The cost of shipping alone deters most people. You would probably have a lot better luck finding a supplier in Germany, Japan that would ship to you. They have better export laws and not so many hoops to jump through. There's also the risk of customs seizing it on your end, you have to know the law about importing species into your country.



Taylor's Aquatics - Rare Plants & Inverts
http://www.taylorsaquatics.com

While transferring some yellow neos into their new tank, I noticed several of them with these white marks/growths, they may have had them for some time. Some shrimp have them on the side of the face so not just on the tail as shown in these pictures. Only about 15% of the shrimp have got them and they all appear to be swimming and behaving fine. How should I go about treating this ? Presumably I should treat the entire tank rather than just isolating the shrimp with the blotches. I was thinking of using Microbe Lift's Herbtana ? Any suggestions most welcome please !

 
Apologies for the somewhat low res blurry phone pics ...
 
 

Blue Bolt chameleons sounds more exotic  !
My purple pandas always stay the same, well in my dreams anyway

I totally agree with this. Being a new owner to a blue bolt (just purchased more from blue crown waiting for them to come) This blue bolt looks blue and the next day it's body is more white than last time. Later it just seems fine? Perhaps we should change the name to the Blue mystery bolt  Regardless, Quite a beauty, my favorite.

very nice... is 4" enough space between the top of the tank and the shelf above it? I find I need atleast 6" to even net anything

Same thing happens to me or my CRS rather . Never happens to my TBs, although the colour of the blue bolts fluctuates.
 
It also depends on the time of day, as after lights off or in dim light they seem to loose colour no matter what the grade.
 
I removed a few A to SS grades that did not have great intense colour into a cull tank and within a week or so they had great intense colour. The perplexing thing is the water condition and filtration in this tank was nowhere near as good as their main breeding tank, well so I thought.. confused to say the least !

Yes, but if your population is large enough you'll very likely include a few males. Or just wait 'til they're breeding age and sex them the best you can.

You're seeing the black carbon gene show back up which makes them look kinda dark. My blue carbon rilis do the same. Most shrimp's quality "decline" over generations without aggressive culling. However, in my opinion, the black carbons and dark blue dreams look nice. Just look out for those that are losing coverage or are more brown than black, as they will definitely lessen your color and quality.

Ok thanks for this info, so blue diamonds and fantasy blues boils down to semantics as mentioned and are the same ? I have these blue dreams from german imported stock..which do vary quite a bit as can be seen, some are much darker almost black like blue diamonds ?
This photo is not so good to show the black ones, I must take an update ..
 

 

Honestly I don't do very much. Yes I cull occasionally, but ultimately I have bred all of my Taiwan Bees from 10. I haven't crossed them with anything aside from my Pinto Project which I have separated from the primary colonies. I started with 10 quality Taiwan Bees and haven't had to look back, that coupled with a good diet and clean water.

Taiwan bee is a diferent story...
I dont think that it can be an ugly shrimps from this species.

From my limited experience it seems with almost all ornamental shrimp you need to breed selectively to some degree otherwise you will gradually downgrade in quality and the scales will tip towards not so attractive shrimps, well to human eyes anyway, as they naturally revert to their original and wilder forms. After all the shrimp hobby/craze was born when we created these invert hybrids through selective breeding and now we have the challenge of keeping up with it. That's the fun and secret of the hobby ! 
 
This is the case with all my shrimp varieties bar the TBs it seems..

From my limited experience it seems with almost all ornamental shrimp you need to breed selectively to some degree otherwise you will gradually downgrade in quality and the scales will tip towards not so attractive shrimps, well to human eyes anyway, as they naturally revert to their original and wilder forms. After all the shrimp hobby/craze was born when we created these invert hybrids through selective breeding and now we have the challenge of keeping up with it. That's the fun and secret of the hobby ! 
 
This is the case with all my shrimp varieties bar the TBs it seems..

Yes agree Densna , I drip in all my 20 to 30 % shrimp tank water changes, it's so easy so why take the risk and do it faster. It also reduces the likelihood of overfilling the tank, well rather catching it in time, which most of us have done at some point