Shrimp basics

[Silverfang]

Moar salvinia!!!!!

[Laki]

lol duly noted. I will add some right now.

[MattsBettas]

What type of shrimp are they? I use nutrafin aqua plus and love it.

[Laki]

RCS and that is the conditioner I have! I added more salvinia and its now covering the entire surface, they are not up eating the infusoria or whatever though. The IAL fell so it looks like a bunk bed, they LOVE that!

[MSG]

If you have any NEW driftwood that requires cleaning, RCS love to pick at the white fuzzy stuff that grows on NEW mopani/bog/manzanita type woods.

• What did you end up doing with your seed shrimp?
• What type of prepared fish foods are you feeding your RCS?

I have yet to see a seed shrimp get swallowed by a fish. Not sure why they always reject the critters.

Last night with my magnifying glass, I spotted about half dozen ostrocod, some limpets, and 3 copepods in my fry tank.

• BTW, all the jars/vases I kept on my windowsill froze the other day when the temperatures dropped to -10F.

Those semi frozen glass containers with a mixed assortment of plants, thawed out now & the snails & the other tiny organisms are still alive & zipping around. They're quite resilient little critters.

With your new batch of shrimp, it's best to provide as many plants as possible, feed only if they look like they're STARVING. Provide them with a tiny bit of food so it doesn't pollute the water. Set up the automatic timer on the lamps to grow plants & leave the tank alone for a month. Monitor the water & conduct a water change if it's necessary.

I don't know how well effective that vintage style filter is with combating ammonia. You can be the test subject.

That's why I prefer to use 2x-3x the filtration as a preventative measure.

Keep an eye out for the berried females & make a note on the calender when eggs move to the tail section. Watch to see if they DROP the eggs.

Dropped eggs usually means....

• they're stressed (predators, being harrassed)
• there's something wrong with the the water (toxins, lack of nutrients for shell development with low quality food)
• issue with the eggs (infertile, fungus, parasites, etc)

[Laki]

I separated the ostracods. They were in the .5 with the assassins, the night before I sold them I removed all the dead salvinia and put all the living sal in a small betta cup. The ostracods that hitchhiked over on the salvinia stayed in the betta cup, they are still there, the rest went down the drain or in the garbage with the sand. I don't know what to do with the live ones.

My RCS are busy eating the IAL and moss balls. There is no driftwood. My driftwood is in the betta tank, I might get small piece for the shrimp tank eventually but as for lowering the pH I have IAL.

Prepared food for the RCS includes sinking algae wafers and sinking veggie wafers. I think both are made for bottom dwellers like cories and plecos. My sister gave them to me in a baggie when I got my nerites. The shrimp enjoyed the wafer I fed them but I have since removed it.

I already said I am pleased with the filter. It's quiet and was cheap. There is no money now for a while to invest on a sponge filter of "newer" model. And this one had decent reviews on PetCo. I am continuing to use it and I am aware of the water changes I will be making to keep the tank balanced.

Thanks for the berried female advice. I will certainly keep my eye on them for those signs.

[Laki]

Here's some more pics.
The first one is the day I got them, the rest are from yesterday. Silverfang, I thought of you when the little baby was on the thermometer. :)

(oh :( My camera is blurry when the pics upload. They were half clear on my camera..)