The following relates to getting going with CRS, Taiwans etc.
LESSON !
In shrimp keeping patience is not a virtue. It is an absolute essential.
There is plenty of guidance on setting up a tank and it is for very good reason that the general perceived wisdom is that at least 4 weeks maturing is required before introducing stock. There are now products which help this process but only time will allow bacteria to develop in the filter and the biofilm and beneficial bacteria to grow in the substrate and generally within the aquarium.
In creating an environment for the shrimp, at least those needing acidic water, we are also creating an alien environment for bacteria.
LESSON 2
Instability in the aquarium environment is disastrous. Our shrimp are sensitive little souls and do not like change and fluctuations in water parameters. Given stability though they are really rather robust and not that difficult.
I guess one of the problems created by the nano fetish is that people try to keep shrimp in smaller and smaller bodies of water. In these circumstances it is extremely difficult to get stability. I now use tanks of a minimum 50L and even better 60L plus.
The typical cube nano is in any case not really the ideal shape for shrimp. Less height and more width / depth works much better in providing better viewing and a better surface area to volume ration.
LESSON 3
Get a proper test kit. Those strip test things are next to useless. General Hardness reading between 0 and 50 is not very helpful.
LESSON 4
Use a substrate "designed" for your intended breed. Rainwater can work but Reverse Osmosis water really enables total control with the addition of minerals.
LESSON 5
There is no such thing as too much filtration in a shrimp tank. It comes back to the need to have a strong colony of bacteria a in harsh, for them, conditions.
After my first internal power filter minced my shrimp, the shop assured me that it was shrimp safe, I moved over to sponge filters. I will be setting up three new tanks with under gravel and sponge. Old technology yes, but a sound and reliable process.
LESSON 6
Find a shrimp specialist. Listen to their advice. Shrimp can be very expensive - not listening to sound advice is even more expensive.
LESSON 7
Acclimatise new shrimp slowly. Put the shrimp in to a clean container of at least 1 litre and very slowly drip in aquarium water. A clamp on airline works well as a siphon, a knot in the airline works nearly as well.
1 maybe 2 drips per second is fine. You can't take too long over this process but you can easily take too little time - as I know very well!
LESSON 8
If new stock is to be introduced and a water change is due, make the water change prior to introducing stock. It's back to the old stability thing again!
LESSON 9
The nitrate level is very important for shrimp and really needs to be 0 otherwise there are likely to be problems at moult.
And there I was getting paranoid about ammonia. Apparently though a smidge of ammonia is not the end of the world in an acidic environment.
LESSON 10
In a normal domestic environment shrimp aquaria do not need heating. I could have saved lots of money if I had appreciated this earlier.
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| Planaria |
I've got planaria! You may have, I thought I had. These ugly little things need removing and here you will find a chemical free way of getting rid of them. There are also shrimp safe treatments such as these.
Initial panic over I actually had detritus worms which although not harmful distract visually. Stop feeding, and be patient, and you will find they get progressively thinner and eventually disappear.
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| Detritus worms |
LESSON 12
Quiet air pumps are not quiet. This one took me a little while to resolve. I just wanted to hear the sound of water and not a constant buzz.
I've made little acoustic boxes and this helped significantly but should not really be necessary.
I tried all sorts of makes and finally found the Hailea v-10. This will easily power 3 Jetlifts and is produces less than 35dB. My sitting room is 36dB with no one in it! You can get them here.
If you get an RO unit also get a pump. With anything like normal domestic water pressure it takes an age. Pump added and now I get a steady trickle from the RO unit and can fill two 25 litre containers in a morning rather than in a weekend!.
LESSON 14
Don't take a Google answer as being definitive. All lot of information is well meaning but may well have applied some time ago.
Take Taiwans, the general guidance is that they should have a pH in the low 7s. It is true that their natural habitat is more alkaline than CRS/CBS etc. But they have now been bred for years in CRS/CBS conditions and in my tanks, thriving.
LESSON 15
PRL, and PBL, have thicker skins than most other shrimp. It is a good idea to take the TDS up to 250ppm to help them through their first moults. After that TDS can slowly be brought back down with 10% water changes. I will be giving my new arrivals a month at the higher TDS - fingers crossed.
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