Merth

Congrats!

Sad thing is serious shrimpers spend as much on cameras as they do on shrimp but thankfully it allows the rest of us to enjoy them as much!

Or better yet as in most cases can barely speak english to the point of frustration and just give it up!

Or better yet as in most cases can barely speak english to the point of frustration and just give it up!

Or better yet as in most cases can barely speak english to the point of frustration and just give it up!

I think I’ve made posts about these new shrimp “specialty” products before on previous threads but let me express my thoughts regarding these goods.
You are very correct when you said there has been an increasing in the amounts of shrimp related goods available now as compared to only a few years ago. My personal opinion is that this is true and false. True, because there are many brands available to choose from and of those brands, there exist many products doing similar things (mineralizers, foods, etc). False, because of those many brands, if we don’t account for the duplicates, there are many products that I’d like to call “repurpose” products. IAL is an example of one such product. IAL was first introduced for betta breeding and have since been adopted for shrimp breeding. Another would be pelleted foods. Snowflake, barley, and those Nettle+ pellets are nothing more than industrial feed, pond clarifier, and bird feed, respectively.
You have to remember that although we consider this a hobby; many folks do this as a business and this is their main source of income. This is particularly true for overseas farm where shrimping is big business. What can you do when you’ve already sold all the shrimps you can and a market for shrimps is saturated? Well... a good start would be selling corresponding goods to keep/breed said shrimps. This is where we start seeing ridiculous things such as “feeding nets” and “absorption” tablets. The latter has yet been proven to actually help absorb any ammonia as it’s advertised. Ask anyone who has it and they will surely tell you they’ve not noticed it work and it’s more a comfort/peace of mind item. If you have excess income or the urge to consume, it’s a good item to buy. For the former, I do not get the concept of a feeding net. I understand and can see the benefits of have food contained in a spot for easy removal, but then again, why feed so much that you’re require to remove the excess on a regular basis. It is just wasteful. I’m a firm believer in a natural sustainable tank and so, I believe a healthy tank should contain more than just shrimps. A health tank consists of a health substrate that contains natural decomposers. Decay and decomposition is almost a taboo in shrimp keeping as these words strike fear and thoughts death inside a tank. The natural cycle of breaking things down will help feed the substrate and help it breakdown and release natural humic and fluvic acids back into the system, ultimately recharging your substrate…. Why fear that? If you don’t feed your substrate and keep it healthy you’ll face more problems down the road. I also find that it’s crazy when folks so adamantly defend a certain product only to reverse their thought process and defend a product that is equally opposite of the first. Example – Folks where seems to love certain pelleted foods only to turn around and adamantly defend/advocate for the natural/organic foods. I’m seeing more and more folks feeding fresh left foods to their shrimps. The general censuses seems to be “if they don’t die, it must be healthy” and I would have disagree. I think a few years ago folks were feeding dandelion flowers. It was the entire rave, huge vitamin C, super nutritious, organic… haven’t seen a post since then regarding anyone feeding this. About a year ago, it was all about cholla wood and adder cones… now I barely see anyone using it or even discussing the subject. It seems like we seek to try new things to keep the hobby interesting and refreshing but that causes us to lose sight of the more important stuff. Sure, dark chocolate is super healthy and full of anti-oxidants, but you won’t find me feeding my dog that… What’s healthy for one species doesn’t always translate over to another.
That said, there have been many products introduced/developed for the hobby that has greatly helped ease the process of keeping shrimps. One such product that comes to mind is mineralizers, both dry and liquids and buffering substrate. Prior to the release of these mineralizers, it was blind luck breeding the more difficult shrimps. Unless you were a top tier breeding or had the ideal tap water, it was blind luck if you were successful at keeping shrimps. My tap water was idea for breeding Tiger species, but I never had luck breeding CRS.
Buying mineralizers and substrate suitable for shrimp keeping is important. Investing in a good RODI system for the more sensitive shrimps is also important. Food is important (to a degree), but overall, be smart on what you buy. Is it necessary going around buying a “new” substrate (costing more) when ADA Aquasoil has been tested and proven to work? If it sounds ridiculous, it most likely will ridiculous. Rarely do I ever see products sold by name brands having any real data supporting it. It’s always word of mouth and/or a nice picture that supports their claims.
Sorry for the long vent-like writeup, but these are my views on the current trend of shrimp keeping. Buy or don’t buy, don’t let me deter you. This is just my personal views developed from years of shrimp keeping and thousands spent on shrimp products.

Welcome!

I was going to comment on another thread but didnt want to hijack or derail it with opinions.
 
My question is this ...with the increasing amounts of products finally being more readily available compared to a couple years ago it becomes confusing to the average or casual shrimper as to what is necessary.
 
I understand the need to provide the most stable and "perfect" environment for our babies especially when we are talking about shrimp that costs upwards of $50+ apiece.
 
What I'm curious about is the expense related to alot of these products really so beneficial to the average hobbyist? Is someone keeping rcs for instance going to see increased longevity, increased growth, better breeding, better survival rates, increased hardiness? Or are these products really designed for folks keeping the high end shrimp in order to increase survival rates and thereby allowing them to breed and sell? 
 
Cause really whats the point of breeding and selling these super fantastic shrimp that the average hobbyist may fall in love with and splurge to buy only to lose them because they dont have the products and skills to keep them alive?
 
Sure its great for the seller (for a time) but is it really in the best interest of promoting the hobby?
 
I know this is probably a can of worms but would love to hear opinions

Congrats!

Holy cow thats pretty! That would be Birthday, Christmas and anniversary rolled into one

To me, for Caridina, active substrate and RO are necessary for easy success, everything else, if picked properly and know what they are for, add a few more % to the success, but not necessary.
 
Also it adds some confidence for me too, and I have found confidence an important factor in shrimp keeping. Sounds weird? It's true. I tried OEBT three times before it finally worked for me, I don't know what I did wrong and I don't know what I an doing right, but OEBT becomes very easy for me.

I have been setting up planted tank for almost 20 years and these are like been there done that. You get what I mean?

Can post a WTB in marketplace and probably get some offers there

https://www.ifixit.com/Store/iPhone/iPhone-4S-Display-Assembly/IF115-000

Full Video step by step.

I am fairly handy and its a 4S

Thanks for the offer. Mine should be delivered Tuesday

Aquarium salt 1 tbsp/gal and temp raised to 84 at a rate of 2 degrees per day...typically clear in a few days but continue treatment for 2 weeks in a minor case. I do 50% wc every 3rd day

I think your tank is beautiful. I was torn in trying not to vote for every one of them. Looking at the fts it really looked more like a beautiful planted tank then a shrimp tank. I agree would have been nice to have 3 closer up photos where you could have highlighted specific aspects and possibly some of your livestock.

I think your tank is beautiful. I was torn in trying not to vote for every one of them. Looking at the fts it really looked more like a beautiful planted tank then a shrimp tank. I agree would have been nice to have 3 closer up photos where you could have highlighted specific aspects and possibly some of your livestock.

Congrats to the winner.
Thanks for liking my tank Doc, I deffinatly like the idea of 3 photos it was hard to get the whole 75 gallons in the shot and not being on the other end of the room.

So I was trying to take a photo up close of one of my Blue bolts. She turned and stared at me. She stayed that way for 5 minutes until I gave up. I came back and tried again, same thing. Too funny!

Here are a couple other shots of my BBs. [emoji1]

The larger section is going to have substrate, the smaller portion will be bare.  The partition is 5" tall, going to have a UGF and seachem matrix under the substrate, so should be about 3" of active substrate when all said and done. The HMF is 45ppi. Still trying to decide if I will use a large air pump or canister to power the UGF.
 
UGF was delivered yesterday, had to trim the tubes as this was meant to fit a 29G, split it in two and the fit is almost perfect! Could not resist during the last $/gallon sale, empty 40B sitting underneath .

You any good at DIY? What version?

Always sux to lose them especially the breeders sorry for your loss!