nevesj98 Posted November 14, 2015 Report Share Posted November 14, 2015 Hello shrimpkeepers My name is João Neves, but you can just call me neves. I'm making this journal to share my beginning experience in the shrimp hobby, which is also my first experience in aquarism, and to know your toughts and opinions on my aproach to the hobby. I'm only 17 years old and since im paying for everything since the hobby is mine, not my parents hobby, some choices may be sub-optimal because of my budget. So i wanted a small tank as i didn't have much space , so i purchased a 20L tank. Since i wasn't very aware of proper shrimp tank setups i made some not so effective choises in my set up so here it goes : 20 L tank Plant growth substrate from tropica with a layer of neutral black soil on top; A piece of spiderwood; Java moss; Echinodorus tenellus green; Some small rocks; A hang on filter from blau that came with the tank ; And a 15W nano nature heater from blau. So i set up the tank, waited for it to be cycled and ordered 10 TB mischlings from Shrimp-Visions, 7 arrived dead, in a water with gh 20! Aclimated them to the tank, in about a week only 1 shrimplet(yes, they did a 5 day trip from germany to portugal AS SHRIMPLETS, about 5mm) survived.Remember this shrimplet, he is a funny case to look at. Then i decided to try again with 10 more mischlings from a local breeder here in portugal, they arrived in perfect condition, aclimated them, but for what i think is the GH being too high for bee shrimps (gh 7 from the tap water that im using) they died at a slow rate during a month. I decided to take some weeks of and think on how to come up with a solution to this problem. I cleaned my filter really well(better than most of the times eheh) , scrubed a little bit of the spider wood since it was breaking a little bit and giving the water a tea like colour and continued with my regular water changes. Next tuesday 10 more shrimps will arrive from the local breeder i mentioned and hopefully this time i can set up a good colony. My parameter are ph 6.4, kh 1 , and gh 7 Oh and by the way, the shrimplet from germany which arrived in a awfull condition...is still alive and healty All toughts and opinions are welcome, have a wonderfull day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaykidding Posted November 14, 2015 Report Share Posted November 14, 2015 Can't wait! I have a couple of questions and comments, how long has this tank been set up? If your shrimp are coming in a week and your tank has just been set up, that is going to be bad. Also cleaning your filter might not have been a good idea as the benficial bacteria is going to disappear. Also the tea color in your water from your wood is fine, it's natural and not harmful. Also have your tried neos before jumping into the hobby? I would reccomend trying neos and breeding them and see if you can get a RO unit. Also is there a way for you to lower your Gh to around 4-5? 7 is a little high for them. But overall I'm excited to see Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2015 Can't wait! I have a couple of questions and comments, how long has this tank been set up? If your shrimp are coming in a week and your tank has just been set up, that is going to be bad. Also cleaning your filter might not have been a good idea as the benficial bacteria is going to disappear. Also the tea color in your water from your wood is fine, it's natural and not harmful. Also have your tried neos before jumping into the hobby? I would reccomend trying neos and breeding them and see if you can get a RO unit. Also is there a way for you to lower your Gh to around 4-5? 7 is a little high for them. But overall I'm excited to see Hello Jay no, the shrimp didn't entered the tank until it was cycled, which was about 1month and 2 weeks (being the end of the cycle in setember) , tanks with less than 30L are really slow on getting the parameters stable therefor the cycle is kinda slow. Cleaning the filter basicaly was taking out some waste that got stuck at the bottom of the filter due to tanins, the sponges are really well populated with bacteria for what i understand since i have 0 amonia and 0 nitrites. For neos...meh...they dont really make me nearly as much excited as caridinas do. About that RO unit i will get one but i cant afford one now so i will hope this shrimps can create a colony so i can sell some to help me buy it As lowering the gh goes , ppl said that i should gradualy put some RO/Distilled water in the tank until i get the desired parameters but im really afraid to loose the little shrimp i have Have a nice day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 15, 2015 Report Share Posted November 15, 2015 So you are using tap then. Do you have chloro in your tap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2015 I Think so, so i use tetra aquasafe to make the water usable. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 Here is a pic of my tank is anyone is interested, some tanins the water but overall i really like it Tomorrow the shrimps arrive, im going to post it here pics of them when they arrive. Wygglz and dr0p 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wygglz Posted November 16, 2015 Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 Nice job. Can't wait to hear that they are doing great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 Hello shrimpkeepers So the shrimps arrived today and looking preety good like the last order i did, even got a little plant as a gift Two are not in the picture but they were 12 shrimps Added them to the tank and they are really active, dont know if they are stressed or just doing fine. Im gonna keep the post updated on further shrimp developments Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted November 17, 2015 Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 How long did you drip acclimate them? If they're walking around munching biofilm, it's fine... but if they're swimming all around nonstop, this is a bad sign. Either you didn't acclimate them long enough, or there is something wrong with your tank water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 Yes they are swiming looking for the biofilm for what i saw of their behaviour, i aclimated them for 1h30mins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wygglz Posted November 18, 2015 Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Good luck! I'm keepin' my fingers crossed for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Just talked to the breeder, one of the shrimps with a odd patern is actually a spotted head pinto mischling he offered me as a gift, and also sent a red wine by mistake instead of a mischling, he said its ok and i could keep it he he he he, so currently i have 10 mischlings, 1spotted head pinto mischling and 1 Tb red wine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Water7 Posted November 18, 2015 Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 I enjoyed looking over your journal, and I will be following your progress! Your shrimp are pretty. That's nice you got two of different kinds, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Properly acclimated shrimp should land after putting them In and just eat where they are. Any swimming around I see as stress. I always drip for 2-4 hours depending on how different the water is. Hopefully you have some luck since tap water is very unpredictable. sarah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Today they were much calm, all eating biofilm after the food i fed them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Today i saw a molt no deaths yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wygglz Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Congratulations! One success at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Another molt heheheeh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Just found a dead one, probably one of the shrimps who molted :c parameters still the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaykidding Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 It's the tap water..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaykidding Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 In order to keep these shrimp you need an RO water unit.... Its difficult to keep them in tap, I don't even know if anyone keeps them in tap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Probably someone has the perfect tap water but im not that lucky guy, im gonna buy distilled water and put a little bit, next water change, to lower the gh, meanwhile anyone can tell me some food/vegie to give shrimps to help them molt? im preety sure the one who died was the one that molted . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaykidding Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 But isn't the molt good? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, if you just put in shrimp wouldn't it mean they are trying to adjust to the water by molting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Yes i think it is good, but what i meant is i think they die in my tank due to getting weaker after molting, ive read that high gh like mine dificults the absortion of minerals during the molting process so yeah im gonna put distilled to make the gh optimal and see what happens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevesj98 Posted November 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2015 Well today i made a water change, and intorduced distilled water with tetra aquasafe to the tank, gonna check the gh tomorrow and see if i can make it a stable 4/5 gh for them to not have molt problems. Have a nice day people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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