aotf

What a weird coincidence.

I inherited one of these months ago and thought it was so cool that I've been wanting another for a while. The problem is that I've never known what it was called.
This morning I finally did some research and --while I couldn't find anyone who sold it stateside-- I did stumble across this item on ebay. I'm all for supporting the local shrimp/aquarium industry when possible but if no one else is selling it here... I might have to grab this.

I have to question the assumption that the peat is cheaper than a buffering substrate. A super quick google search showed that 500g of it goes for just under $20. Sounds more expensive than substrate by weight, even more so if you have to swap it out of your tank once or twice a year.
 
Why not get a buffering substrate and throw a cup or two in the filter? Swap it out when you start to notice pH creep and you should be able to use a single $40 bag of substrate for a loooong time (and multiple tanks). (I just read @ClownPlanted's strategy, basically the same thing)
 
Disclosure: I'm doing this with one of my tanks right now but it hasn't been long enough to say whether it's a viable strategy. Just hoping to avoid having to rip up the entire tank to replace substrate when it runs out.

Those stardusts are really something. Who did you get them from?
Any updates on the tank/shrimp?

Good to see that you've lowered the temperature on the tank (to what?). That might help the spread of the infection but this shrimp may already be toast. My experience is that if you can tell that there's something wrong with a shrimp, they are not going to recover 90+% of the time.

Have you quarantined this shrimp yet? Get him out of there!

If it is a bacterial infection, large water changes over the next couple days are you friend. You want that bacterial stuff gone. If it's not, you might be unnecessarily stressing out your shrimp. Decisions decisions.

Yeah, if your tank is already set up then posting the parameters can help people guide you to a suitable shrimp. It's likely your parameters won't be great for shrimp right off the bat but depending on what you're working with, you might be able to modify it enough to make it a better fit.

I'm seeing some mystery stones in there, if they leech minerals into the water you'll see a kH rise and high pH, meaning you're looking at amanos, neos, and maybe some tigers (a hardy subset of caridina). Fancy caridina won't do too well.

Quick reference:
Neocaridina tend to like pH 6.5-7.5, kH 3-5, gH 6-8 while most caridina prefer pH 6.2-6.4, kH 0-1, and gH 4-6.

The CO2 is an issue for a couple reasons: pH swing every day and CO2 poisoning. It's my impression that shrimp are much more sensitive than fish to stress from CO2 in the water. There are people who pull off low-CO2 injection in shrimp tanks but they are the exception rather than the rule.

I do apologize if I'm coming down on you. You're trying to do something very hard (high-tech community tank with breeding shrimp) and I want to convey that to you so you can manage expectations and your course of action appropriately. It would really suck for you if you got really into shrimp, bought $200 of fancy caridina, and watched them die 1 hour after putting them in the tank. If there's one thing I've learned with shrimp is that you really can't ask too many questions or do too much research, they can be very finicky creatures.

Shrimplets often have lighter colored eyes that will darken as they age, I would wait a couple weeks before going all out on your breeding setup for these guys since there's a good chance it will fade.

Don't want to stamp out your enthusiasm, just keep an eye (ho ho) on them as they get older.

I don't know that it actually helps but I try to do it close to when the eggs would normally hatch for two reasons:
- the momma has to deal with the stress of the new environment for less time before her normal post-hatch molt, and is therefore (I think?) less likely to molt and drop the eggs prematurely
- if the momma does drop the eggs, you can try to hatch them yourself. The closer you are to the normal hatch date, the higher success rate you'll have.
 
That said, I've only had one egg drop as a result of moving a berried shrimp but that was because she was shipped berried so the stress was much higher than a normal inter-tank transfer.

Good job on the culls, those are looking really good.

You've got me curious, that is a weird coloration for cherries. Really interested to see what you can cull towards.

The only other thing I can think of is some sort of shell disease but it looks really distributed and if the females who have that color are still breeding... you may have something cool.

Update!
I covered half a rock with a thin layer of epoxy. I did my best to rough it up with a toothbrush but it is noticeably shinier and smoother than the untreated portion. The upside? It actually looks better both dry and wet, providing more contrast and making the colors of the rock more visible. My only concern is that mosses are going to have a hard time adhering to the rocks.

I'm strongly leaning towards covering all my rocks since I'd have to replace them anyway. The next test will be to see what happens to kH with more epoxied seiryu in the tank. I'm thinking that if I can cover 95-98% of the rock surfaces with epoxy, kH creep should be negligible to manageable.
 
Dry:

 
Wet:

Update!
I covered half a rock with a thin layer of epoxy. I did my best to rough it up with a toothbrush but it is noticeably shinier and smoother than the untreated portion. The upside? It actually looks better both dry and wet, providing more contrast and making the colors of the rock more visible. My only concern is that mosses are going to have a hard time adhering to the rocks.

I'm strongly leaning towards covering all my rocks since I'd have to replace them anyway. The next test will be to see what happens to kH with more epoxied seiryu in the tank. I'm thinking that if I can cover 95-98% of the rock surfaces with epoxy, kH creep should be negligible to manageable.
 
Dry:

 
Wet:

Update!
I covered half a rock with a thin layer of epoxy. I did my best to rough it up with a toothbrush but it is noticeably shinier and smoother than the untreated portion. The upside? It actually looks better both dry and wet, providing more contrast and making the colors of the rock more visible. My only concern is that mosses are going to have a hard time adhering to the rocks.

I'm strongly leaning towards covering all my rocks since I'd have to replace them anyway. The next test will be to see what happens to kH with more epoxied seiryu in the tank. I'm thinking that if I can cover 95-98% of the rock surfaces with epoxy, kH creep should be negligible to manageable.
 
Dry:

 
Wet:

It's hard to tell from the pictures but did one of its antennae get ripped off at the base? I can see what looks like a corresponding antenna on the other side. In that case, the white stuff is dead tissue.

Here's some MS Paint to make my point even more confusing:

Pretty sure that's just an OERBT (orange eye royal blue tiger), next to some cherries. I'm guessing Valek is asking about the white nob on the front of its head.
 
Looks like a parasite but I can't say what, doesn't look like scutariella or vorticella, more pics?

Thanks! Hopefully the next update will be pictures of TT shrimplets!

SS GH+: Measure out some powder with a scale and dump into a set amount of water or add powder, shake water, test with TDS until you get the right measurement.
SL BW: Pump a squirt bottle into your water container.

For both, this is assuming you've already figured out how much of each you need for a given amount of water/TDS.
 
Don't see why you wouldn't be able to store it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Salty-Shrimp-GH-110g-Minerals-Trace-Elements-Crystal-Red-Shrimp-CRS-FREE-SHIP/282452042632?hash=item41c3742388:g:JTgAAOSwnHZYQv0q
 
I bought it on Amazon, same vendor, same price. Less convenient than Blue Wizard (I have both) but not by much. It's a trade-off between price and convenience.

Good to hear, sounds like the acclimation went well!

https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Splitters-Performance-Terrariums-Hydroponics/dp/B00TA7BTRC/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1515632847&sr=8-16&keywords=air+tubing+valve
 
You'll thank me later

https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Splitters-Performance-Terrariums-Hydroponics/dp/B00TA7BTRC/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1515632847&sr=8-16&keywords=air+tubing+valve
 
You'll thank me later

What's in the jar full of gravel on the right?

Sounds like you've got it figured out!

If possible, I would suggest moving the old water back in and letting the tank filter through it for a couple hours before plopping the shrimp in. The move might disturb the substrate, causing a possible ammonia spike or release of other nasties. Hope it goes well!

I can tell you but it would be bad advice, most snails in my tanks don't get really big. I'm changing the water they are in to be slightly harder so hopefully more will make it but in the past they've been at:
pH 7.4-6
kH 3
gH 4-5
TDS 180-220
Temp: not regulated
 
but I think the harder the better.

100% RO w/ Salty Shrimp gH+ up to gH 6, buffering soil for your pH (or get something that will leach tannins into the water: IAL, alder cones, wood).

I've also heard some success stories from just increasing water flow in the tank (especially to areas with the cyanobacteria). Harder to achieve with a HOB but easy if you have access to a pump or are using a canister. Super low risk to the tank inhabitants.

Those are the two that I have snails around for. They help keep the glass clean (ish) and I usually feed my shrimp before work so I'm not around 2-3 hours later to remove anything they haven't eaten. Knowing the snails will tank care of it is kind of nice.

I also personally like the look of some snails (mystery and nerites are super cool) so I bought some blue ramshorns because I wanted something that would survive and reproduce in low pH water. They're not as decorative as I hoped but overall I like having them.
 
It's a rarer occurrence but I find them useful in setting up new tanks. I don't have any fish so I use snails to establish a tank for shrimp. They also help control algae at the time when a tank is most susceptible (i.e cycling through the first month).