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Hmmm once those cherry are adults ull have a insane breeding box Hahas!
so far, manageable.. and doable for my tank..Originally Posted by markus92
i using a 200 or 300 drop in filter, with ceramic and cotton, along with purigen.
inside this current tank, 13 snails and around 46 cherry shrimps.
Bean + Kurt
Hmmm once those cherry are adults ull have a insane breeding box Hahas!
yeah, hopefully they will breed.
who knows, maybe i can sell the offsprings away and make a living out of it
Bean + Kurt
Seeking some help in keeping cherry shrimps..
From the initial number of 200+, only left less than 5 of them..
Snails are growing and breeding Well.
Also upside a bigger filter to handle the bioload.
I'm using sand with quartz as a base for this tank.
Found a lot of worms looking bugs at the walls, what are they?
Apart from the worms, what is wrong, how come the causalities of the shrimps are so high.
Bean + Kurt
Hey bro sorry to hear that u had such a terrible loss. How long did it tske 200 to reduce to 5? Was it very fast pace deaths?
Worms are usually due to overfeeding and uneaten food. Did do anything different to the water?
Did you know that if you dont wash the cucumber properly there could still be pesticide on it, that may have been the reason or any other chemicals that have been recently introduced
I also went through the same issues of shrimps dying when i started keeping them and wondering why its happening, the LFS and shrimp breeders sure made alot of money from me during that time.
Maybe i can offer some tips...
Constant loss of shrimps are usually due to unstable water conditions that affect them negatively, either the tank is still cycling, or the water keeps accumulating excessive waste due to high bio-load and becomes toxic (ie. unseen spikes in ammonia or nitrites) or the tank water lacks certain minerals which cause the shrimps to have trouble molting properly.
Water volume makes a huge difference in keeping the water parameters stable for shrimps, larger tanks are much easier to keep shrimps than smaller tanks.
If you have a smaller tank, make sure the tank is completely cycled first, then only add a few shrimps at the beginning, give the beneficial bacteria in the tank time to build up and handle the existing bio-load before putting in more shrimps, too many shrimps added at one go will quickly overload the tank's holding capacity and create toxic spikes which kill the shrimps... snails can usually survive such toxic spikes as they tend to be much more hardy, hence earn their name as pests to some people.
Don't overfeed the shrimps too, that is a common cause of tank issues, shrimps require alot less food than we think.
If you notice the shrimps dying with cracks on their backs or with their shells only partially molted, then it could be lack of essential minerals in the water for them to molt properly (this is usually more common than too much minerals). Mineral additives or slow-release mineral rocks can be added to the tank to supplement their shell building requirements.
How the shrimps are introduced into a tank also affects their long-term survival rate, if they are added to the tank too quickly, they cannot adapt in time to the new tank conditions, get stressed and tend to die in a short time.
The best method when getting new shrimps is to do a slow drip acclimation, use an air line hose and adjustable flow valve, then slowly drop water from the main tank into the bag of water that the shrimps are packed in (around 2-3 drops per second is good), remove excess water when necessary, 1-2 hours of slow drip is usually sufficient for them to settle down, de-stress and transition properly, then they can be added to the tank. I've found that when i do drip acclimation, the shrimps long-term survival rate are much higher, very minimal losses.
Hope that helps!
If I recall correctly, it should be around a month. 1st batch of 200, died because of blue lotion.
2nd, 40 of them and transfer to a new tank with snails.
So here they are, 5 of them.
Yeah, Just learnt about this worms. Did nothing much.. water cycle weekly but sand bed is Really dirty..
This could be a good cause, I Just cut some vegetables from the fridge and dump it in.
I ought to cook them..
I didn't do much, water cycle will contain some Aquarium salt, iron, excel, fertilizer for the plants.
Anyway I Just planted a few more plants in the tank, hopefully it helps with the waste.
Bean + Kurt
Blue solution 'medication'?
I read that the general guideline is that copper medication (typically blue solution) are highly toxic to invertebrates (shrimps, crabs & snails).
Also, what kind of salt is added?
Salt is also generally bad for a planted tank. Do google it. Its more suitable for fish only setup or for treating sick fishes.
If you can avoid it, don't add salt to a tank with plants to optimize growth
yes, the blue lotion medication really wipe the invertebrates, along with the plants initially.
i had no choice during that time, as i'm inexperienced and battling with ick problems.
noted with salt, i shall remove that for future water change, i actually go very little with them as a preventive measure application.
Bean + Kurt
it sure helps, thank you. shall feed lesserI also went through the same issues of shrimps dying when i started keeping them and wondering why its happening, the LFS and shrimp breeders sure made alot of money from me during that time.
Maybe i can offer some tips...
Constant loss of shrimps are usually due to unstable water conditions that affect them negatively, either the tank is still cycling, or the water keeps accumulating excessive waste due to high bio-load and becomes toxic (ie. unseen spikes in ammonia or nitrites) or the tank water lacks certain minerals which cause the shrimps to have trouble molting properly.
Water volume makes a huge difference in keeping the water parameters stable for shrimps, larger tanks are much easier to keep shrimps than smaller tanks.
If you have a smaller tank, make sure the tank is completely cycled first, then only add a few shrimps at the beginning, give the beneficial bacteria in the tank time to build up and handle the existing bio-load before putting in more shrimps, too many shrimps added at one go will quickly overload the tank's holding capacity and create toxic spikes which kill the shrimps... snails can usually survive such toxic spikes as they tend to be much more hardy, hence earn their name as pests to some people.
Don't overfeed the shrimps too, that is a common cause of tank issues, shrimps require alot less food than we think.
If you notice the shrimps dying with cracks on their backs or with their shells only partially molted, then it could be lack of essential minerals in the water for them to molt properly (this is usually more common than too much minerals). Mineral additives or slow-release mineral rocks can be added to the tank to supplement their shell building requirements.
How the shrimps are introduced into a tank also affects their long-term survival rate, if they are added to the tank too quickly, they cannot adapt in time to the new tank conditions, get stressed and tend to die in a short time.
The best method when getting new shrimps is to do a slow drip acclimation, use an air line hose and adjustable flow valve, then slowly drop water from the main tank into the bag of water that the shrimps are packed in (around 2-3 drops per second is good), remove excess water when necessary, 1-2 hours of slow drip is usually sufficient for them to settle down, de-stress and transition properly, then they can be added to the tank. I've found that when i do drip acclimation, the shrimps long-term survival rate are much higher, very minimal losses.
Hope that helps!
part of the learning curve, i did notice that this shrimp tank base is super dirty..
i had never vacuum the gravel as i don't have the equipment, apart from this, the other 2 tanks don't seem to have this problem.
i guess its the advantages of soil over sands.
i'm thinking of getting some soil as top up over the sands, i can't redo the tank as it may kill the incumbents..
Bean + Kurt
Its a constant learning process. I appreciate the help folks give in this forum. Helped me a lot.
You can use a simple air tube to siphon out the dirt out of the shrimp tank. Having a small firm plastic tube (like a straw) attached to the air tube during siphon helps with productivity.
The hard plastic tube is $2 (for 1M) at C328.
Shrimps don't eat that much.
I notice that my shrimp tanks are cleaner when I feed them with cucumber (small slice, seeds removed so they don't float around, microwave for 20s) instead of pallet/dry shrimp food.
talking about siphoning, why planted tanks don't need to siphon while shrimp need?
i thought they are scavengers, they ought to clean up the mess?
most likely i will be getting those siphon pumps, easier for someone like me who don't know how to siphon..
my only concern is the sand and quartz, i don't want to mess them up..
ok, next time i better boil the vegetable before feeding them. didn't know can also microwave, haha.
anyway here is the tank..
more like a snail tank..
Attachment 44411
Bean + Kurt
Nice tank.
Those siphon pumps you mention suck a lot of water & very fast. You have a small tank, so take note of it.
Try not to change too much water each time. General guideline is 30% max.
I recommended a small air hose/tube method because these suck water slowly & you can slowly point it to areas with more debris. This method sucks things out more slowly & hence less chance to mess things up
Shrimps are scavengers. They scavenge for left over food or dead flesh. But they don't eat poop.
Whether or not a tank needs siphoning really depends on the filtration system. Not so much related to whether its a planted / shrimp tank.
Once can leave the poop & food in there. It'll slowly decompose & the nitrogen cycle takes it course. I brought it up because you mentioned that your tank bottom is quite dirty.
Objective of cooking cucumber/carrots is just to soften them. Boil, microwave or soak in hot water will work.
For me, microwave is the simplest - only 20s needed.
ok, but i don't really know how to siphon using air tube..
must really suck it?
haha, later i accidentally drink the water.. and ate their poop...
i always wanted to learn how to make vegetable sink, i guess by cooking or microwave them, i could 'clean' or even sink them.
Bean + Kurt
That info on the use of medication should have been included in your previous query post... it would have easily explained the low shrimp survival rates.
Shrimps are very susceptible to the toxicity of most medications, so have to either net them out and re-home them temporarily during medication, or use other less toxic methods.
Note that after the medication is done, there will still be residual amounts of the medication in the tank water, hardscape, substrate, bio-media, so the tank will still continue being toxic for shrimps. Therefore you have to flush out and dilute the remaining traces of medication by water changes or using activated carbon to absorb them.
Planted tanks that have lots of plants rooted in the soil usually require less substrate cleaning (most people don't even do any substrate cleaning at all, especially if the entire tank has dense carpet plant growth), because the excess food and waste that fall into the soil are broken down into ammonia and nutrients by the beneficial bacterial and then quickly used by the plants to grow.
In shrimp tanks without much plants rooted in the substrate, most of the trapped food and waste just rot in the substrate and since there isn't anything to use it up, the excess ammonia and nutrients end up releasing back into the water column and polluting the tank, hence the need to clean the substrate to reduce such issues.
actually its not low, its a wipe out.. 200 of them got poisoned..That info on the use of medication should have been included in your previous query post... it would have easily explained the low shrimp survival rates.
Shrimps are very susceptible to the toxicity of most medications, so have to either net them out and re-home them temporarily during medication, or use other less toxic methods.
Note that after the medication is done, there will still be residual amounts of the medication in the tank water, hardscape, substrate, bio-media, so the tank will still continue being toxic for shrimps. Therefore you have to flush out and dilute the remaining traces of medication by water changes or using activated carbon to absorb them.
that's why i move to a new tank - shrimp and snails (double S tank) :P
UA, your knowledge really deep and vast.
talking about beneficial bacterial, i actually 'reuse' my other tank filter which already homing the bacterial.
probably will take a while for them to 'reactivate'
it always interest me, those so called bacteria or nitrate out.
how they actually harvest the bacterial into the bottle?
and we pour them to introduce bacterial growth. simply amazing
Bean + Kurt
Yeah, those bacteria solutions are usually a proprietary mix of alternative bacteria species which can live in a dormant state in the bottle, then only get re-activated when they are introduced into tank water. They are useful in newly setup tanks that need to add livestock quickly (ie. quarantine tanks, hospital tanks, temporary holding tanks etc).
Most people consider those as immediate but temporary bacteria which help to process waste and maintain an initial cycle, while buying time for the actual longer-term natural beneficial bacteria to slowly grow and establish in the tank (it can take weeks and often even months for those types of natural bacteria to multiply to required levels in order to maintain a stable cycle).
The natural beneficial bacteria in our established tanks need constant food and oxygen to live. They live and multiply (and die) based on the amount of food they get, so they would just mostly die out in a sealed bottle since they don't get that supplied constantly.
UA,
may i ask,
if i redo the whole setup, what plants can i consider for carpeting?
No Co2, only excel and fertilizer.
safe for shrimps.
something small and cute as not to hide the shrimps.
Bean + Kurt
For small low-tech tanks, glosso or monte carlo could work as carpeting plants in such setups (both can adapt to growing with a combination of excel and ferts). Just that their growth rate will naturally be slower than compared to Co2 injected high-tech tanks (may take months to grow out, instead of weeks).
Having more plants at the start helps to establish the carpet faster though, so try to plant as densely as possible.
When you have carpet plants, the shrimps will naturally hide in them if they can, especially after molting as they prefer a safe place to strengthen their new shells. I guess it helps to reduce their stress levels when a tank has high plant density for them to hide and forage in.
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