Vpier

I'm totally against releasing any non-native's but man would I love to fish those canals. Would bring me back to the days when I use to fish/collect in the Amazon all the time.

The problem with MIA is the customs facilities at the airport that holds animal shipments. In the 70's-80's they would release the animals at the airport if no one claimed them. The banded Eurasian dove is great example. They released about 100 of them and less than 30 years they have made it as far as CO and Utah. Now they are displacing the native morning dove by dominance and interbreeding. One of the advantages for this dove is the ability to survive all winter and not needing to migrate like the morning dove..

That's why I said go for it and buy whatever you can. We have the luxury of being patient and picky and you dont.  You never know what you will get with those mischlings. You might end up with some really cool looking baby/babies and become the main supplier in Z.A.

If the otto has food, good water and feels safe then it should be happy even though it isnt very active. When I'm being a couch potato eating pizza and watching TV, Im pretty happy.

Unless your home is kept at 60-70%, the humidity is most likely coming from the foam. Once it dries the humidity will go down to the levels of your home until you add moisture to the tank.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/

Super easy to keep and reproduces faster than neo's. The clutches are huge. So far about 1/3 of the babies have the amount of black that people see in the pictures that SteveR posted.

When my group of banded sulawesi's arrived there was two berried females. I just found babies walking around and I have an additional six berried females. Things are looking good.

I obtained two batches from original breeder and are breeding like rabbits but they wont be for sale until late spring, was -31 degrees Sunday morning here in central MN.Cant sell or buy anything for a while.

I obtained two batches from original breeder and are breeding like rabbits but they wont be for sale until late spring, was -31 degrees Sunday morning here in central MN.Cant sell or buy anything for a while.

I obtained two batches from original breeder and are breeding like rabbits but they wont be for sale until late spring, was -31 degrees Sunday morning here in central MN.Cant sell or buy anything for a while.

I obtained two batches from original breeder and are breeding like rabbits but they wont be for sale until late spring, was -31 degrees Sunday morning here in central MN.Cant sell or buy anything for a while.

Here's a quick update on these guys.
Some more cool looking shrimp are coming from this tank

I ordered plants from alpha pro breeders before, I'm not a huge fan of the pricing, but the customer service is good. I would not advise ordering anything which is alive a few days from now from anywhere, as Christmas is roughly a week away and during this time the mail services get delayed and do not guarantee packages arriving on time.

easiest way to find out is with hydrochloric acid or white vinegar will work too.  put a few drops on the rock in question and if it fizzes, it will change your water parameters.

If your RO water's PH is at 7.5, it really isnt that PH since there is nothing in the water to buffer, it takes very little to change the PH in RO water. The  remin and soil will drop PH down

When my group of banded sulawesi's arrived there was two berried females. I just found babies walking around and I have an additional six berried females. Things are looking good.

ok so I have put some limits on the upload size of photos.  The photo above was originally 5mb and 5312x2988 and was resized to about 1000x750 which is the new size limit (this was previously the display limit so the photos would show up this size but previously you could click and view the full size).  This photo is now only 84kb so this should help a lot with some of the storage problems.

I've been having great success using the 45ppi sponge. Only a couple times my water flow has slowed down because the small holes on the bottom of the jetlifter tube have become clogged. A quick scrub with a small brush takes care of that issue. I don't see a sponge of this size getting clogged up anytime soon. I will more likely have to change out my buffering substrate before that happens.
As long as there is water behind the foam you should always have good flow using a jetlifter.


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I always have a few extra sponge filters running in various tanks. When I setup a new tank with HMF I will first run the sponge filter only and once the tank is cycled and the temporary sponge filter has filtered out the particulates and the water is clear I will run the HMF for a couple weeks. I know this might sound time consuming but If you have a seeded sponge and using a soil like controsoil, brightwell or sl-aqua the cycling process is very fast. I have added shrimp within a few days but I normally wait a week.

That is why I never became a member at TPT .
There are many successful techniques when it comes to raising shrimps, pick/find one and stick to it. The most important thing is consistency.

That is why I never became a member at TPT .
There are many successful techniques when it comes to raising shrimps, pick/find one and stick to it. The most important thing is consistency.

Okay, just letting off a little frustration here.
 
I'm noticing a trend on facebook groups saying, "Look at my new shrimp strain I created." or something similar.  I've notice it mostly for neos. Probably because my first love is neos.
 
For better or worse, here's my opinion.  It's just like food- you don't have to eat it. heh
 
A sport (a genetic one off that doesn't breed genetic information) or a new mutation is an accident.  A happy/pretty accident, but an accident none the less.
 
One can do a pet name for the shrimp, but there is no "strain" to name.  There also is no proof that the color will continue on.
 
A strain is a group of shrimp that breed true a majority of the time.  This doesn't just happen.  It takes hard work to select and decide which shrimp to breed and cull.  It is not unusual for years of work to be involved.
 
Watch out for anyone who says I've created a new color or new strain, if the shrimp is one of a few or only one.  Either they are ignorant what a strain is- or are deliberately misleading.
 
An obvious example is if more than one type of neo are housed together in the picture.

"Ghost"

Anyone knows this shrimp? From my mix-tank with TB's, zebra pintos and Tai-tibees (I try to make some better photos, my macrolens just arrived) The first photo has some brown-red reflection, but the shrimp is completely black and white.