The less I do, the better, it seems...

[dr0p]

Being the shrimp addict I am, I have tanks all over the house, as I am sure some(most) others do. Also, being the stickler for documentation that I am(IT work...grumble grumble) I keep overly detailed records of just about everything that goes on with them.  

 

Comparing notes, I'm finding the less I do for tanks, the better. Example - I have a small 5'er in my garage that has been setup for a few months with some decent orange neos. The garage is uncooled/heated so it's at the whims of the weather. The tank itself is bare bottom, uses a dual sponge filter only, and I just threw in a large horde of java moss, and a few peices of assorted driftwood that I am waiting to sink for use in other tanks. I have NEVER fed this tank, do zero water changes, and only top off with RO/DI every couple weeks. Checked the tank last night before leaving for work and to my utter shock, it is thriving! I have yet to lose even a single shrimp in this tank, and I must have HUNDREDS of fry of various sizes.  

 

My other tanks, nothing like it. Random deaths, low shrimplet survival rates, surviving and growing, but not like the oranges. Not sure why. It makes me want to try it with others, but at the same time, I don't think I could deal if I killed off a tank of CRS or TB.

Perhaps i'll pull a few PFR and see if I can duplicate the success in another small tank, or at least figure out what the major difference is.  

 

The others tanks all have substrates, oversized filters of various types, and are fed a rotating diet sparingly.  

 

Anyone else ever experienced something similar?

 

On a good note, in the next few months I should soon be swimming in orange neos. If only they were TB :-P

[DETAquarium]

Drop the overall concept is a great point! Through my experience with keeping and breeding shrimp I found and attempt to convey to my fellow hobbyists exactly this: Less is more. I know many hobbyists check all water parameters constantly, and even if their shrimp are doing well they think something may be wrong if their water doesn't compare well to a guide on the internet. I tell many people I only test TDS after initial setup, unless something looks or seems drastically wrong. 

 

If your shrimp are doing well, molting, breeding, thriving, etc. it is not necessary to always check these parameters. Another topic is water changes, if your water chemistry is where your shrimp are doing well, and its constant, then its not necessary to constantly perform water changes. I usually top off about twice a week, and perform a water change maybe every 3-4 weeks at this point.

 

Overall my conclusion is that shrimp enjoy a constant stable environment. Care for your shrimp but don't smother them, and as Drop said "The less I do, the better..."

[TheGardenofEder]

Drop I just want to point out that my orange shrimp are one of my most hardy shrimps their neos and I have several tanks that left alone with scuds and hydra and seemed like my shrimp did so much beter. I feel like now that I messed with the tanks killed off the hydra removed the scuds my shrimp just don't do as good so I've been reduing tanks with the hopes of minimum care just go back to when I saw a problem I took care of it unless that happens I do nothing. The no food thing is blwoing my mind one thing I recently did was up the amount of food I believe I was truly underfeeding. What shrimp are yu having a problem with Shrimplet mortality rating?

[monty703]

Yes I have found that to be true in the past with one of my tanks.  I purchased a secondhand 12 gallon tank from a petstore that was putting in new tanks...it was still in good shape but not esthetically pleasing to look at....big square with green tinged glass.

 

I filled it up, put in a sponge filter a few rocks, some regular soil (think it was fluval when it first came out) driftwood and moss. I had about 20-30 OEBTs in a 20 gallon that I wanted to move out, so I netted them all and dumped (and I mean just dropped them all in, no acclimation at all) into this tank.

 

I only topped up the water, dropped in some algae wafers (Hikari and some shrimp pellets) and left them alone.  I didn't check them all that often, I would see a few fighting over the algae wafers and a berried one every so often, but I never vaccumed up any food, or tested the PH, no heater, just a regular light over the tank.   So it went on for months like this, then one day I noticed a leak and the water level was down quite a bit.   OK panic time!   Now I have to move everyone out and find out where this tank is leaking from.   I had another 10 gallon tank with some Neos in it, so thought OK well for now the OEBTs can go in there.

 

I started to count them as I netted them, and finally after I got to 300+ I just gave up...Yep, I had over 300 of these dark blue, light blue and some (not many) blondes in this tank.   I have a huge sale on them!   Made enough money to buy more nicer tanks, and scrapped the old one!  

 

Never again did I get this to happen...new tanks, new equipment, new everything, better food, nicer bred

shrimps you name it!   Ive lost more shrimps since that time than I can count.  

 

Conclusion to this story.....KISS     Keep it simple stupid.   Shrimps don't like ANY change, be it water, soil, new tank, things for them to crawl/play in or us tampering with the water quality!  They will happily live in a

bucket of dirty water, with NO food, or inside your whisper filter or HOB in the Dark! 

[julianzh]

Same thing happened to me. I spent a lot for my shrimp tank and they hardly breed. Now i don't really care them much, except water change and feeding, they breed crazy. Even got ~20 tb from my mischling.