# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Invertebrates >  Starting a new Shrimp Tank

## AndyPeh

Hi all!

Have always been running a nano tank and recently as what you guys will always say the poison kept seeping in. So am starting a 2 feet tank to keep some nicer shrimps in the future!

You can find my blog that I started to share my start up and hopefully soon many beautiful shrimps to showcase here - http://shrimplelife.blogspot.sg/

Without any further hesitations

Here comes the fun!
After aging the water, hooking up my canister filter to the chiller and setting the tank in place here comes the part I have been looking forward to ever since I got hold of some interesting products during Aquarama!

Apparently there were only very limited number of products available on sale from the booth I visited and I was fortunate to get my hands on some of what I believe to be quality products. (Better be for what I paid!)
Before you or my girlfriend who will eventually stumble upon this have the idea that I paid an arm and leg for it, which I swear I did not! Haha.

Ok before I yak on and bore you further here is the process of my set up and some pictures of the really nicely packaged products from RAC (Think it stands for Ryu Aqua Creator).

*Soil*
For the soil I chose to wash it although I was told that it isn't necessary. 
It was more on my part as I wanted to challenge what I was told that RAC products have been baked in a procedure that results in well compacted soil that will not break apart so easily. 
My take is that always find out whether that particular brand of soil needs to be washed before opening up that packet of soil. Not as experienced but you can always ask the good people on AQ.


Normal and Powder Soil
Anyways the soil did not disappoint. I rinsed it twice with tap water and let it sit while I laid out my base layer.

 
*Laying the Base of the tank.*


Scattered the base layer of my tank with Mironeketon Mineral Powder to improve and purify my water quality and Humic Acid

So what does Humic Acid do? 
I did not know either and was simply told it is a natural mineral, being ingenious I thought I could take mineral water and my tank water would be mineralised too.
But instead of being too smart (We have a dialect saying that Smart is good enough, don't act smart.) I decided to be a tad more inquisitive, only right if I am going to put that in my tank much less share it with you. 
At least I would know how my future Shrimps and Shrimplets would feel towards it. 
Any hows Google is your best friend here. 
Basically Humic substances including the Humic Acid are known to decrease the toxicity of heavy metals to aquatic organisms, and it has been suggested that they can provide buffering protection in low pH conditions. 
Some test was run but am not going to bore you with the details. You can read more if you are interested here.

After the scatter of the base layer in went the soil!


Placed an Ikea Plastic cover over the soil layer so it does not get disrupted too much when pour water into the tank.

Poured the water in and as usual I forgot to take the pictures of that, but did not think you would need to see the process of me scooping the water in. just make sure patience is a virtue here if you want a nice layer of soil especially if like me you have 2 layers (Base - Normal, Top - Powder) or if you try to make a landscape tank even more so.


I added B-Source or a compound of natural enzyme which improves beneficial bacteria activity which is essential to the tank's stability. (Or so I am told)
FM100 was also added as a natural fulvic mineral. Am still learning as to what this does and will share with you more when I have an answer.

Now to why I forgot to take the pictures.
Was busy prepping the canister filter.


Poured 1/2 of this nice blue bottled product into my canister filter.

Here is what it is...

*Bacteria!*


MN5 & BN7 (Like you can't read) Haha
Bought them because I liked how the bottle looked and was further sold on it when I learnt it is packaged to prevent UV from killing the Micro Bacteria in the bottles. 
Cannot help it am a sucker for great and functional packaging. (Never mind that it could be a gimmick haha. Sucker innit?)

Ok so as much as I can be a fool there is a purpose to my madness. This 2 little bottles are few of the most important things that I personally feel would help 'kick start the bacteria growth in the tank. 

BN7 is like the best stuff to me. What it says it does should already get people pick up this product for the start of your tank.
BN7 is a plant based bacteria with active microbial with active microbial enzyme yeast for quick ammonia nitirifying effect. - Pretty important to getting the tank right for a start, no more bacteria bloom I would assume.

MN5 Microbial Bacteria yeast for bacteria enhancing growth.

Along with the below product,


SMB
SMB is a water improvement bacteria of live enzyme 

If I understand this correctly my tank should technically be stable really quickly, skipping the bacteria bloom pahse? That is also provided that my aged water has successfully killed all the bacteria substances from the products, chemicals in our tap like chlorine may kill off the good bacteria and inhibit/stump bacteria growth in the tank.

A thing I learned when I accidentally inhaled the fine dust cloud of BN7 and MN5 is that they smelll alot like Prebiotics and Probiotics. Haha ok never mind how I know that too.

Viola! So after an exhausting 4 hours later, here is my tank starting its cycling.


Day 0 Tank Set-Up Complete
Thank you for staying through with me!
Please let me know how I may have missed anything crucial.

All the guidance is very much appreciated! :Well done: 

Take care and have a great night!

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## nicholasliao

Can't wait for more pics. What media are you using in canister?

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## AndyPeh

Hi Nicholas thank you for the support! I bought them 2nd Hand from good bro Matt here on AQ. Was told they were PH Monoballs I think.

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## AndyPeh

Day 0.5

About 12-14 hours has passed since the initiation of the tank.
I woke up bright and early today to a beautiful sight.



Seems like the tank has cleared up quite significantly.

The water clarity is beyond what I had expected!
No unsightly bacteria blooms that I had to deal with when I started on my Nano Tank.
So this is definitely a welcome sight.
Hope it turns from clear to crystal clear when I get home tonight.


Side View Clarity

Oh in case you are wondering whats hanging off my Rain Bar its 6 Frogbits to remove ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. How effective this is am not a 100% sure so if some one can shed some light here it would be great!

Also there is sort of a tea bag like thing attached to the rain bar, that is my POWER HOUSE Micro House I do not own the kit or container for it as I only got a box from someone from the forums.
To read more on what it does. Please checkout the link for GC Shop here.

Considering this could be an overkill I might take it out soon, so you do not really need it. 
But I don't think there can be such a thing as too much good bacteria after all they tend to die off so instead of having it unused in it went.

While typing this post I realised I made a mistake.
In all my eagerness to make things look good I added a powdered layer of RAC soil as my top layer.

Will share more on why its a mistake when am back from work later.

Till next post! Take care and happy Shrimping people.

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## AndyPeh

Before leaving home I dosed 1g of MN5 and will continue to dose it as advised in the instructions 1g every 2 days for 8days. Hope the bacteria colonize and establish soon.

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## josephogk

good job.  :Smile:  consider introducing plants while the tank is still cycling? so that the whole tank will be mature when its time to introduce the shrimps. what kind of shrimps do you intend to keep in this tank?

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## nicholasliao

I don't really have frogbits. Might introduce some into my tank. Do tell me how well it helps. I currently have mini fiss and us fiss in my tank

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## AndyPeh

> good job.  consider introducing plants while the tank is still cycling? so that the whole tank will be mature when its time to introduce the shrimps. what kind of shrimps do you intend to keep in this tank?


Hi Joseph, Thank you for the positive response and the suggestion on adding some plants while cycling. I did think of tying some plants on rocks and place them in during my cycling process, however because I need to agitate and stir soil to release the bubbles later tonight and tomorrow the best I felt I should place in are some floting plants.
But while replying you on this I had an epiphany, should the BN7 bacteria does what is says of quick ammonia nitirifying effect. Then technically I should not be needing much plants or any for that matter. Shall check with the distributer I got the products from.
On the shrimps I would be keeping in this tank - The poison in this forum sets deep and I have grown in love with PRLs/PBLs and the Mutated Strains that are Taiwan Bees.
Problem is that I have heard that their gene strains are week and not as hardy as their relatives from which they may have mutated. Any thoughts? 
Keeping them and monitoring their mortality could be a true test on the tank stability from the products, but am still uncertain.

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## AndyPeh

> I don't really have frogbits. Might introduce some into my tank. Do tell me how well it helps. I currently have mini fiss and us fiss in my tank


Hey Nicholas,

I will update you on how frogbit helps when I do some test on the water tonight. 
For mini fissiden and us fissiden I used to have them in my Nano Tank - I was advised and realised that if I don't trim them often enough, the bottom layer dies and turns brown, so instead of doing what it should do it does more bad than good not to mention when you flip them over and see the amount of debris and sediments that hide in them. 
I decided on not having them in the end, tried mini pelia instead for my nano tank and will go with Bucephalandras and maybe 1 or 2 Ecinodorus likely for this tank.

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## Urban Aquaria

You'll need quite alot of frogbits to help take up nitrates... especially if there are no other fast growing plants in the tank. From my experience, they have to cover like 60-70% of the tank surface to be in sufficient mass to have an effect on nitrate levels.

The good thing is shrimp tanks are usually devoid of bottom plants anyways (or just use some low light plants like moss or crypts), so no worries about having lots of floating frogbits shading the light.  :Smile:

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## AndyPeh

> You'll need quite alot of frogbits to help take up nitrates... especially if there are no other fast growing plants in the tank. From my experience, they have to cover like 60-70% of the tank surface to be in sufficient mass to have an effect on nitrate levels.
> 
> The good thing is shrimp tanks are usually devoid of bottom plants anyways (or just use some low light plants like moss or crypts), so no worries about having lots of floating frogbits shading the light.


Haha Nicholas looks like we got our answer on the efficiency on frogbits to reduce the nitrates in the tank. I will just toss my 6 pathetic pieces aside. Don't have enough to cover 60% - 70% of tank, and don't think I would want so much frogbits as they have a tad too many tentacles.

 :Well done: Thank you Bro UA for shedding some light on the floating plants in tank are there any floating plants that look good with short stems?

I have about 15-20 frogbits to giveaway to anyone who might want them. Will post it in the marketplace.

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## demoon

Duckweed? Its a good nitrate absorber. It is said to double itself in 24 hours.

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## felix_fx2

> Duckweed? Its a good nitrate absorber. It is said to double itself in 24 hours.


the smaller one? yes double if got good light. worse pest floater i know. stick on glass / nets/ my hand.

salvania natas short stem, not as good as frogbits imo.

can also consider mini lettuce, no experience with them. but they were quite popular last year and suddenly no more people giving/selling.

one popular choice is hortworts.

Sent from my GT-N7105

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## Urban Aquaria

> Haha Nicholas looks like we got our answer on the efficiency on frogbits to reduce the nitrates in the tank. I will just toss my 6 pathetic pieces aside. Don't have enough to cover 60% - 70% of tank, and don't think I would want so much frogbits as they have a tad too many tentacles.
> 
> Thank you Bro UA for shedding some light on the floating plants in tank are there any floating plants that look good with short stems?
> 
> I have about 15-20 frogbits to giveaway to anyone who might want them. Will post it in the marketplace.


Actually, you don't need to sell away the frogbits... they will multiply quite fast and very soon you will get alot. 

If the roots get long, just trim them as part of your regular weekly or monthly maintenance, its not too much additional work, and shrimps like to swing around and forage on the trailing roots too, its like a jungle gym for them.  :Grin: 

Hornwarts, like felix_fx2 mentioned, is a good choice too. Just leave them floating around and remove excess amounts when they grow too much.

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## nicholasliao

I have loads of water lettuce at my place. Anyone needs them just holla.

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## Quinn

Wow. All rac products.
Must cost a bomb, but they are good!

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## AndyPeh

> Wow. All rac products.
> Must cost a bomb, but they are good!


Hey Quinn on both you are right! Always believed in you pay for what you get if you're discerning enough. 
Also thought being so new to this shimp tank thing, a little push in the right direction wouldn't hurt. And I would be able to best learn on what I really need for the so I can share what I learnt the essentials of starting up are in a positive light.

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## AndyPeh

Thank you Demoon, Felix and UA for the suggestions on the floating plants. Am going to do a little experiment to take out the plants later just to see how the tank reacts to it and if actually BN7 will do what it says. Should the experiment fail am going with UA suggested and make a vine garden for the shrimps to swing around on.

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## nicholasliao

Bro, Sorry. I dont get it. Shouldnt the powdered soil be placed at the bottom instead of the non-powdered one?

What's the difference? If I intend to scape my shrimp tank, the powdered soil should be placed on top?

As for my tank, i'm only using ada soil. no powder or whatsoever. I do notice however that it's harder to scape as the soil are bigger and less likely to clump together resulting in a very 'loose' feel.

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## AndyPeh

> Bro, Sorry. I dont get it. Shouldnt the powdered soil be placed at the bottom instead of the non-powdered one?
> 
> What's the difference? If I intend to scape my shrimp tank, the powdered soil should be placed on top?
> 
> As for my tank, i'm only using ada soil. no powder or whatsoever. I do notice however that it's harder to scape as the soil are bigger and less likely to clump together resulting in a very 'loose' feel.


Hey Nic I think you got your answer right there in your last sentence. It is definitely harder to scape if the soil are bigger therefore having the powdered soil as a top layer makes the overall appearance nicer and more "mold-able" so to speak.
Also when planting rooted or foreground plants a finer soil would have that suction effect to ease your planting efforts easier I believe, so would be nice when you probe the roots in to have that little help of the finer soil sifting in effect to help the plants sit in better.

You can see my mistake I did with the finer soil in my next post.

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## AndyPeh

*Día Uno*

Hello peeps! Wait you're actually still here?

Lol just messing, thank you for sticking with the post and growing with me on this.

Just took some measurements.

Ammonia



NH3 / NH4+ 0.1 ppm.

Looking good! Ok because I have the variable of the floating plants and the previously mentioned BN7 bacteria with active microbial with active microbial enzyme yeast for quick ammonia nitirifying effect. 

I cannot affirm which is giving me this great result, but because I was just told by a nice forum friend that unless I have like frogbits that cover 60-70% of the tank surface it would not have much of an effect on nitrate levels. I am guessing that BN7 is working hard for its money.

Anyhows to work it harder I decided to run an experiment to see if BN7 really does what it says. I will be taking out the 6 frog-bits for now and conduct the same measurement tomorrow. 

*Soil Qualities*

Now alot of people in the forums seem to know about the quality of the RAC soil already.
Which sets me thinking what are the benchmarks on good Shrimp Soil.

Following the ShrimpNow!!! - Shrimp Soil Guide Comparison Table that I am sure many are already familiar with, I attempt to weigh how RAC fairs up.

Cant get this to show properly please see it here.

*PH Buffering*

 

On the set up day when I poured in my aged water the PH readings were at 7.1 (My tap hovers around 7.2)
And when I took measurements earlier it got to 6.2 (26 Hour Period)

*Toxic Air!*

Trapped air in the soil can be toxic so I stirred up to release them.

Remember my mistake I spoke about layering my powder soil on set up? Well here you see why and hope you won't be as big as a goon as me. During this process many of the finer soil would have sifted itself into the nooks and crannies of the bigger base layer soil therefore disrupting my very nicely laid finer granules layer.





Turbidity of the tank went up to looking like Day 0 initial set up. Am going to let it be filtered.

Unsurprisingly when I took another reading the NH3 / NH4+ went up.



That is all folks. While I patiently await the tank to clear up once again I will catch some sleep!

Goodnight all! Rest well and I will catch you tomorrow.

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Shrimple Guy
Andy.

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## Urban Aquaria

I guess shrimp soil usually don't release as much ammonia (unlike ADA aqua soil), so ammonia in an empty tank such as yours shouldn't climb too high at start up.  :Smile: 

How about nitrite and nitrate levels?

If BN7 is a bacteria-in-a-bottle type solution, then it should help the cycle by establishing some good bacteria in advance to break down ammonia to nitrite, then to nitrate. So observing how fast the conversion/cycling process works will test the actual effectiveness of BN7.

Nitrates still have to be removed by either plants or water changes though.

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## Navanod

> Duckweed? Its a good nitrate absorber. It is said to double itself in 24 hours.


 :Shocked:  Do not, I repeat. DO NOT, use duck weed. It is called a weed for good reasons.
You'll be spending more time cleaning the weed than enjoying your shrimps if you use it.

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## qngwn

> Do not, I repeat. DO NOT, use duck weed. It is called a weed for good reasons.
> You'll be spending more time cleaning the weed than enjoying your shrimps if you use it.


i almost wanted to buy duckweeds until a handsome from AQ gave me some frogbits and salviana FOC.. if not for him, i'll be clearing duckweed everyday.  :Knockout: 

but then, mutiply faster = absorb nitrate faster?

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## cheetf

> i almost wanted to buy duckweeds until a handsome from AQ gave me some frogbits and salviana FOC.. if not for him, i'll be clearing duckweed everyday. 
> 
> but then, mutiply faster = absorb nitrate faster?


Maybe you can try and then tell us.

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## AndyPeh

Hi Bro UA you are right I think the BN7 which is a Bacteria in bottle type Power works wonders breaking down the ammonia to nitrite and eventually nitrate.

I am going to get hold of the test kit to get my nitrite and nitrate levels tonight will give an update then. Hoepfully it does not exceed the 25 ppm threshold.

Am consolidating some plants to get soon.

To all seniors here, any advices on plants? Are rooted plants such as Echinodorous and Bucephalandra effective in removing Nitrates?

Need to figure out how much plants I should get, I am thinking it should be directly correlated to amount of shrimps I intend to keep.

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## AndyPeh

> Do not, I repeat. DO NOT, use duck weed. It is called a weed for good reasons.
> You'll be spending more time cleaning the weed than enjoying your shrimps if you use it.


Thank you for the warning!
I would not want to have to go through the painstaking process of clearing weeds.

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## Berny

Amazonia frogbits Looks good, those floating plants with long roots, But It's quite hard to find though

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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## AndyPeh

Everyday is a shrimple day shrimple day shrimple day!
Lol all the long hours of work is making me a tad cranky.

Ok back to why you even bother reading this blog. If you have not been following 2 days has past since I started up my 2ft Shrimp Tank project.
(Please please read the rest of my blog? I beckon you to if you have not!  :Smile:  )

Today we look at me doing 2 things. The taking of necessary measurements and the important task of water change.

1st up my favorite part - Results.



Nitrate - 10ppm
Not a bad result considering there are no floating plants whatsoever. Could be like what Bro UA suggested that shrimp soil usually don't release as much ammonia (unlike ADA aqua soil)

 

PH Dropped Further from 6.2 - 5.9 (24 hour interval) looks like it will probably come to an eventual pH of 5.6~5.7 if I am not wrong.

I finally turned on my chiller so the temp is a nice 26.0. I held out on turning it on earlier as I think bacteria will thrive better in slightly warmer waters.

Ok with measurements out of the way the itchy hands got to work and I did my water change, before doing it I repeated the important step of releasing the potentially harmful trapped air bubbles from the soil layer as I showed yesterday.

Purpose of today's water change was to bring down the nitrate level, while 10 ppm is nothing deadly (Threshold for Shrimp keeping is 25ppm as I understand.) I decided to go through with it as previously advised when I brought my products.



Oh remember to turn off your filters and chillers. (As witnessed in the picture I realised it only mid way through)
Would be good if you have double taps for your canister filter.



Kept only around 10% - 15% of my water. I used my soil height on the amount of water I wanted to keep. level of water to match soil height level or slightly more.



Due to my little blunder I made on my set up day I topped up a little more powder soil on the top to make the top layer look better.
If you are left out on why I had to do this you did not do as advised! Haha please read Dia Uno / Day 1.
Basically this was done to cover up the bigger granules of normal soil.

 

According to the descriptions given I added -
1.5 g of SMB a water improvement bacteriaIntroduced aeration to the tank via air pump and air stone (Thing caused bursting bubbles and water everywhere annoying as hell)60 ml of B-Source which is a compound of natural enzyme that improves beneficial bacteria activity.12 presses (12ml) of FM100 - Natural Fulvic mineral supplement.1g of BN7 & MN5

That is all! Adieu.

I have a surprise in the morning that I have been itching to do, will post then.
To those who are in the know.

Commandos are awaiting deployment.

Till tomorrow!

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## AndyPeh

> Amazonia frogbits Looks good, those floating plants with long roots, But It's quite hard to find though
> 
> Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 4 Beta


Hi Bro Fozenduck if you want let me know can pass you mine have about 16-20 of them.

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## Berny

> Hi Bro Fozenduck if you want let me know can pass you mine have about 16-20 of them.


Thanks for the offer, But my tank isn't ready for them yet. 1 is on dsm stage while the other doesn't have light 

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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## AndyPeh

Ok no worries a Bro Brianz pm'ed me for them so will pass them to him instead! Maybe when you need it mine would have populated to have enough to give again.

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## AndyPeh

Operation Test Water (Day 2.5)
Hi Guys I thought I was damn smart with the tongue in cheek quote lol, that did not lasted very long unfortunately.
Showed it to my colleague and I explained how it was funny - She just rolled her eyes. Oh well not everyone has a funny bone. 

Ok so am pretty sure many of you already could have guessed what I am up to.
But remember (quoting WWE here) - 'This is entertainment but the hazrards are real. Please do not try this at home.
Unless you do not mind sleeping shrimps with big X's on their eyes.

That being said... It is a fresh drop of 2 well trained Commando Shrimps into unknown waters early this morning!

I know its a little early to be introducing life stock so and as much as I value lives, in the name of science and being a jackass I decided to see how they would do.





The water actually cleared up when I released them in the tank but I added these.



Mineral rock that says it also absorb heavy metal in water, caused the water to turn a little cloudy but I think that would clear by the time I get home.

Alright thank god for dropbox that has made this post possible.

Andy out! Laters.

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## Navanod

Welcome to the cult. Your offerings to the gods of the cycling tank is well received

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## felix_fx2

almost walk till fall down when i read you told female colleague. 
most don't even think highly of shrimp keeping.

another evil shrimp cult member....
btw, what dropbox god? picture not showing? photobucket la....

Sent from my GT-N7105

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## Berny

Oot abit: I managed to psycho my colleagues to keep shrimps and fishes few months back, they've sold their souls to the devil like us

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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## AndyPeh

Haha you know honestly till this day I haven't been good with photobucket. Will try that though. I use dropbox cause can just drag and drop all pictures from the home desktop and have it instantly on the cloud.

On the FrozenDucks comment I think I really need to say this. Good man! But not girls right? hahaha Like what bro felix said I felt stupid telling my colleague about the blog thing now the rest of the girls are asking how are my hei bi's (dried shrimps). Although they like the colours. Showed them some pics of Taiwan Bees that I dream to be able to keep and they all say very pretty. Then one said shrimps are cockroaches of the water lol.

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## AndyPeh

Day 3

Hi All, 
Quick post today! Got to go spend time with the GF or run the risk of incurring wrath of a woman. 
Much worst than... 2 flipping Shrimps.

Not! 

Haha imagine my delight getting home and looking at these 2 happy couple (I assume, though could be gay and still be a couple.)

Anywhos this shrimps seems to be good with the water parameters grazing about nibbling soil and not doing a mad dash flying around the tank like they want to get out.

 
  
Going to stay over at the GFs house tonight so will have to keep you guys updated on more either tomorrow night or Sun.

Till then have a great weekend ahead!

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## felix_fx2

Thai table says cats love them  :Opps: 

i normally click on "direct" , then click "Insert Image" & paste the direct link

It should look like the below. ( [IMG]picture source[/IMG] )
[ IMG ]http://static3.thaitable.com/images/ingredient/5dried-shrimp.jpg[ /IMG ]

there is a evil suggestion, make a tank at your gf's place.  :Smile:

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## AndyPeh

Hahaha what the  :Smile:  love the picture! Damn random.

Bro I passed a tiny tank I made for my GF with Blue Pearls and Red Rilis and she wouldn't event bother topping it up with distilled water (or so she claims she forgot). 
Ended up there were more parasitic worms in it then there were shrimps. TDS was at 1000 for that tank when I measured.
I was like gg nvm I ended up taking it back.

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## AndyPeh

Day 4
Salutations my fellow Shrimple,

Si. The shrimps have not been sacrificed to the cycling gods as of yet. They seem totally unperturbed that this tank is only 4 days old. Super rad.

Another quick post today. Itchy hands went out to get a Odyssea T5HO Double Tube Light for the tank and it was serious overkill.

Think for this 2 guinea pigs it was like a halogen searchlight shone up on them. only took 5 seconds for the SS grade cull to squeeze itself under the rock. Will see if this is something I need to make adjustments to when the plants and driftwood go in.




Airstone to promote aerobic bacteria growth


Flash Bang Incoming!

So with the lights problem I now had to look for some nice plants to tie on a driftwood as shade for the shrimps.

I went on a little gathering of plants and spent quite some time staring so long and asking so many questions that the guy probably thought - "Omg this guy is probably asking a lot of questions and not getting any."

Well in my defense I never thought plants could be so expensive.

This range of plants called Bucephalandras are mainly wild harvested from Indonesia and due to over harvesting are being stretched close to disappearing from the wild entirely. Include that they are considerable slow growers you should be expecting to pay somewhere around USD$15 - $150 for 1 stalk of them (Yes 1 stalk! Not a branch of 3 - That is bloody 3 stalks)






Anubias White above is sold at USD$100 up per Stalk

So not to waste someone's time I made a purchase of 

4 Bucephalandras
Artemis
Brownie Ghost
Baby Green Skeleton king
Lamandau Purple
If you remember am a sucker for gimmicks and what not and after staring for very long because they were more or less the same to me I went with the ones with the coolest names. Nice!

2 Echinodorus
Rataj
Verde
Echinodorus are beautiful leafy green plants and I my budget had allowed I would have gotten some of the bigger ones like this.


Echinodorus spIguaza from Argentina ('09) - SGD$150 up / Stalk

Maybe sometime later when I am setting my next tank I would get them.


I paid about SGD100+ for my plants and I will tie them tomorrow on my Drift Wood and the Montmorillonite stones. Post more pictures then!

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## cherabin

Wouldn't LED light be a better option as they don't heat up the tank water that much? On another note, I'm genuinely envious of shrimp hobbyist who are able to maintain plants in a shrimp tank with no fertilizing involved. My humble sakura shrimp tank is still plagued with BBA since eons back. Even with practising a siesta period of 3 hours light on, 3 hours light off and lastly, 3 hours light back on, I'm still unable to reduce BBA to a more tolerable level. Can shrimp experts like you brother Andy able to shed some light (pun intended, he he) on how to prevent BBA in a shrimp tank? Many many thanks  :Smile:

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## AndyPeh

> Wouldn't LED light be a better option as they don't heat up the tank water that much? On another note, I'm genuinely envious of shrimp hobbyist who are able to maintain plants in a shrimp tank with no fertilizing involved. My humble sakura shrimp tank is still plagued with BBA since eons back. Even with practising a siesta period of 3 hours light on, 3 hours light off and lastly, 3 hours light back on, I'm still unable to reduce BBA to a more tolerable level. Can shrimp experts like you brother Andy able to shed some light (pun intended, he he) on how to prevent BBA in a shrimp tank? Many many thanks


Hi Cherabin,

First up you are right as much I hate to admit it you are right. Dammit lol. I went out to get myself some nice 2 feet LEDs from a nice bro. 
Shout out to Bro UA nice meeting you and catching up hope to meet you again sometime soon.

Next I think there is not much to envious about for me haha maybe am lucky it has not happen to me yet (touch wood) but from my personal learning and experiences is that algae happens due to excess nutrients or excess light so in your case BBA could have happened due to an imbalance. Now you have set the timer for the lights to turn on only on intermittent periods of 3 hours each I think you just have to feed the shrimps a little less and toss in a few floating plants to absorb some of the excess nutrients that you might have and hopefully the BBA goes away.

One thing I have learnt on keeping shrimp tanks is that less is more. The more you tamper with the tank the more trouble you're going to get. If the presence of BBA has not caused your Sakura population to decline or if the opposite is true and that they are breeding well then the more you should leave them be.

Hope more senior bros can shed some of that light that I clearly have no spark for lol.

Would love to learn how treatment is done for BBA in shrimp tanks too.

----------


## AndyPeh

Day 5
Howdy Ho Folks,

Yesterday I spoke briefly about my plants shopping. So today I spent the whole morning tying the plants to the Drift Wood and the Montmorillonite rocks, but before we get to that I took the pH of the tank earlier and it is now currently at -



Think this is a really good pH for my shrimp housing.

Ok back to the plants I spend an arduous 2 hours tying a pathetic few plants and Mini Pelia to the DW, guess am not that good with plants tying yet, also I should have just used black thread. 
Fishing lines are much tougher to tie.

Anyways I am really happy with how it looked in the end.
If not I honestly cbf'ed about re-tying. Oops haha.

After the placement of the DW, Montmorillonite Rocks , I planted the 2 Echinodorus which are deep rooted plants into the soil.


Frontal Shot of the Centerpiece

I dosed the the tank with 1.5mg of SMB, 20ml of B-Source, 20ml of FM100, 1g of BN7 and 1g of MN5.
Then waited for another hour or so for the slight turbidity to clear and...

I introduced some Hinomaru and Mosura CRS into the tank!

Hahaha Hope they do not give up on life and go be with the proverbial cycling god.

Here are some nice pictures of them.





More pictures can be found on my blog.

I think my Double Tube T5HO lights are way too bright, and am not very bright for not just sticking to my 1.5 Feet LEDs. Ended up I went out to buy another 2 feet LED. Will post more on that tomorrow.

And granted if the shimpies are still grazing / swimming / frolicking about I would post more pics of them along with some water para tests too.

Mucho gracias for checking out my blog once again. Post soon!

----------


## josephogk

:Well done: for the setup so far. Anyway, with such sophisticated setup, never consider keep PRL/PBL ?  :Grin:

----------


## cherabin

> Haha you know honestly till this day I haven't been good with photobucket. Will try that though. I use dropbox cause can just drag and drop all pictures from the home desktop and have it instantly on the cloud.
> 
> On the FrozenDucks comment I think I really need to say this. Good man! But not girls right? hahaha Like what bro felix said I felt stupid telling my colleague about the blog thing now the rest of the girls are asking how are my hei bi's (dried shrimps). Although they like the colours. Showed them some pics of Taiwan Bees that I dream to be able to keep and they all say very pretty. Then one said shrimps are cockroaches of the water lol.





> Hi Cherabin,
> 
> First up you are right as much I hate to admit it you are right. Dammit lol. I went out to get myself some nice 2 feet LEDs from a nice bro. 
> Shout out to Bro UA nice meeting you and catching up hope to meet you again sometime soon.
> 
> Next I think there is not much to envious about for me haha maybe am lucky it has not happen to me yet (touch wood) but from my personal learning and experiences is that algae happens due to excess nutrients or excess light so in your case BBA could have happened due to an imbalance. Now you have set the timer for the lights to turn on only on intermittent periods of 3 hours each I think you just have to feed the shrimps a little less and toss in a few floating plants to absorb some of the excess nutrients that you might have and hopefully the BBA goes away.
> 
> One thing I have learnt on keeping shrimp tanks is that less is more. The more you tamper with the tank the more trouble you're going to get. If the presence of BBA has not caused your Sakura population to decline or if the opposite is true and that they are breeding well then the more you should leave them be.
> 
> ...


Well said indeed. The BBA is growing only on equipment, namely the undergravel filter air pipe. I guess I'll live with that for the time being.

----------


## AndyPeh

> Well said indeed. The BBA is growing only on equipment, namely the undergravel filter air pipe. I guess I'll live with that for the time being.


Haha take a pic am curious to see how they are in the tank! But am sure you will be able to live with it because I have seen seriously bad ones with like a whole plant (side of the leaves) covered in BBA and the tank actually is thriving.

----------


## AndyPeh

> for the setup so far. Anyway, with such sophisticated setup, never consider keep PRL/PBL ?


Hey Joseph thank you! Umm... Challenge accepted! Haha honestly I was thinking of letting this group run a full course of getting berried and breed. 
Once the offsprings survive past the 2 weeks benchmark with not too many issues on mortality I think it will be due time I move forward with the true test.

Stay tuned for the brutally honest assessment of the products when that happens.

Still contemplating on PRLs/PBLs or Shadow/Taiwan Bees think will need some support from here on which to go for, because as much as I love the quality I don't think I can afford the High Grade PRLs like Senior Soon Hong's or Alvin Chan's that cost like $150 - $200 a piece much less the few k kind.

Hope I can work out the sums for a bulk buy soon.

----------


## AndyPeh

Hey All,

Busy day at work again today and had to attend a colleagues wedding dinner.

For all those that we waiting for today's update. It is always better late than never right?

Yesterday I spoke about giving some parameters so here was the recording I just did.

TDS - 153 ppm
PH - 5.5
Ammonia NH3 / NH4+ I would say it is around 0.1 ppm
Nitrate NO3 seem to have gone up a little. About 15ppm. 
KH -1, GH - 4

Shrimps looks like they are doing very well. Fed them some Lowkeys food.


It's mine. It's mine. 


Mosura Crown


Whatcha looking at.

Made some additions and adjustments to the tank. Purchased a new light that I mentioned yesterday and added a sponge filter. Really wanted the better sponge filters from Japan but couldn't find it so had to settle for the XY China copy first (on the bright side, it is black).



Please find the rest of the images on the blog. - Shrimplelife.blogspot.sg

Nights all. Adios.

----------


## alvinchan80

Nice and neat tank set up...

Hope to see those shrimps of yours give birth to nice shrimplets to flood your tank soon and you can take on your 'challenge'.. lol..

Happy Shrimping~~

----------


## nicholasliao

> Operation Test Water (Day 2.5)
> Hi Guys I thought I was damn smart with the tongue in cheek quote lol, that did not lasted very long unfortunately.
> Showed it to my colleague and I explained how it was funny - She just rolled her eyes. Oh well not everyone has a funny bone. 
> 
> Ok so am pretty sure many of you already could have guessed what I am up to.
> But remember (quoting WWE here) - 'This is entertainment but the hazrards are real. Please do not try this at home.
> Unless you do not mind sleeping shrimps with big X's on their eyes.
> 
> That being said... It is a fresh drop of 2 well trained Commando Shrimps into unknown waters early this morning!
> ...


Hi Bro, where can i get the mineral rocks? been wanting to get some of those for a long time to replace my solid rock in my tank.

how much will it cost

----------


## AndyPeh

> Hi Bro, where can i get the mineral rocks? been wanting to get some of those for a long time to replace my solid rock in my tank.
> 
> how much will it cost


Hey Bro Nic you can find contact Aquarist Chamber on their FB just drop them a message cause I bought mine during aquarama.

Price wise got to check with them as I purchased a whole lot of stuff then, but if am not wrong I paid $30 for a big enough pack for my 2ft tank (200g).

----------


## nicholasliao

Thanks bro, I already have them on FB. Will check with alvin!

----------


## AndyPeh

Day 7
Today I was looking at some blogs and I came across some stunning pictures.

It was a love at first sight. I will most likely be getting some Hinomaru / Mosura WRs and KKs and the standard Shadow Bees in the next month or so. I know they will prove to be a challenge to keep and I pray when they arrive the conditions would be perfect for them to procreate.


Credit Aaron Li - Crimson Taiwan Shrimps 


Credit alvinchan80 - 蝦毒之家 

These are beautiful specimens and hope soon I will be able to post pictures of my own shrimps of these quality.

Meanwhile in a tank closer to me...





More picture on my blog. - A Shrimple Life - http://shrimplelife.blogspot.sg/

Hope you liked the pictures. I think my photography still has much room for improvement, but will do my best with what I can on my iPhone 4 first.

Take care and have a good night!

----------


## AndyPeh

> Thanks bro, I already have them on FB. Will check with alvin!


Hey no worries Nic!

----------


## AndyPeh

Hi All,

Hope everyone is well and good! 
It has not been so well in the now not so sunny island of Singapore.
We have been smoked like mosquitoes with the dense haze that defiles our once fresh air, no thank you to the selfish and environmentally unconscious people in our neighboring region.

You need to stop whatever you are doing now and start taking ownership of this situation.

Good riddance to you when the wind changes.


If you stare hard enough you will see the Singapore Art Science Museum

Back to the tank.
In so far the little once look to be doing rather well. (Wish I had gills no really. Que aquaman jokes am still good being Him or Namor at this point.)





More at A Shrimple Life

Alright that is all for now. Stay healthy peeps.

Those in Sg, stay and work from home if you can.
Not that I need excuses to be home shrimp gazing but this is viable lol.

----------


## nicholasliao

wah bro. i work near you. mbfc as well. LOL. paiseh side track. HAHAHAHA.

anyway your plants are tied to rock or mud rock?

----------


## AndyPeh

> wah bro. i work near you. mbfc as well. LOL. paiseh side track. HAHAHAHA.
> 
> anyway your plants are tied to rock or mud rock?


Hey Nic. Haha no worries I think your office is close to my Girlfriends. not mine she is at Barclays. You? Am at SPH so way far from where you're at.

As for the plants they are tied to Montmorillonite Rocks

----------


## AndyPeh

Day 14
Hi All,

Sorry I have gone MIA for a couple of days.
Been swarmed with work and had to work throughout the weekend for a project.

Speaking of a new project I made a tiny tank for my girlfriend with a few plants I previously tied and set aside. If you can spot there is actually a CBS cull inside test the waters - The sacrificial shrimp  :Razz:  .

If anyone has any ideas on how I can keep this tank sustainable since evaporation would be very high please share it with me. Would likely be going to get a glass or acrylic top cover but most likely have to get some hardier shrimps to keep in this tank. Opae Ula maybe?



Ok back to the main event.

I did a water change on Day 10 and here are some pictures to just show the drop in Nitrate.


Right: Aged Water - Left: Tank Water

Managed to bring down the Nitrate to 10 ppm. (Sorry forgot to take the picture will show one when I do it tomorrow.)
TDS for aged water is 73 ppm and the tank hovers around 155 ppm 

I am quite concerned with water change and in preparation I added FM100 a natural fulvic mineral supplement to the aged water and did a 10% water change.
Thereafter I added 2g of water improvement bacteria (SMB) and 10ml of natural enzyme which improves beneficial bacteria activity into the tank itself.

Some pictures of the happy shrimps munching on the Lowkeys food I dropped in.





More pictures can be found on my blog.


Spotted this little guy nesting in a hatchery net. This guys get everywhere.

Oh also I got myself a new plant!
Remember I posted sometime back on my Day 4?
I made an order for one! And my own Echinodorus spIguaza from Argentina ('09) is here with a friend!

 

Post more on this beautiful plant tomorrow.
Till then good night and sleep tight! Don't let the seed shrimps bite.

Cheerios.

----------


## joshuatang

Hey Andy, Kudos to your very informative thread.

Subscribed!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

----------


## nicholasliao

Is the hatchery net useful? How do you set up one and what is it use?

I doubt shrimps will know that it is a place for them to spawn. So what for?

----------


## AndyPeh

> Is the hatchery net useful? How do you set up one and what is it use?
> 
> I doubt shrimps will know that it is a place for them to spawn. So what for?


Haha Hey Nic! You have the same thoughts as me initially, good thing Alvin clarified my confusion and I read this review -
http://www.planetinverts.com/Artific...ng%20Eggs.html.

The Shrimp Hatchery nets purpose is to provide a area of moving water for the eggs of a dead shrimp. - If you happen to find one in your tank. 
The net is placed under or at the side of fast moving water to simulate the fanning of the mothers legs as if they were still hanging under.
The main challenge we would possibly face in our tanks is either one of the pest that exist or even other shrimps feeding on the eggs and carcass. And that the net would not be a good defense. So if you have a high rate flow from above the net or at the sides you can minimise this too a certain effect.

Alternatively having read Ryan Woods insights this would be mostly likely the technique I would employ should one of my shrimps pass on berried. - 

I have a Satellite breeding box like this

Attachment 36075

Utilising it I would stick my hatchery net right underneath the inlet so water from my main tank will continously flow through the eggs and pest and other shrimp attacks would be minimised. 

What I would do is pick out the dead berried mama put her and the eggs in the hatchery net in the satellite box and put a bunch of moss into the satellite box and hope for the best.

Only challenge I foresee in this is that it will not rectify the issue of the ammonia caused by a decaying rotting mama but I have faith some doses of my BN7 would fix that for me, and that the ammonia from it would not have that big of an effect in the total ppm of ammonia in the tank - Should that happen the bigger problem probably lies elsewhere than 1/2 dead shrimp.

----------


## AndyPeh

> Hey Andy, Kudos to your very informative thread.
> 
> Subscribed!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


Hi Joshua,

Means alot to me bro. Thank you!
These posts would not have been made possible if not for Seniors here that guided me throughout my learning process and getting the basics right.

AP

----------


## nicholasliao

So all you need is a net? Sounds simple enough.

----------


## AndyPeh

> So all you need is a net? Sounds simple enough.


Yeap!

Made a post on this here - http://shrimplelife.blogspot.sg/2013...chery-net.html

May need to improvise on the flow rate because it has to be quite fast flowing waters.

----------


## AndyPeh

*'09 霸王*

Plants Plants Plants!

On Monday I posted on a special plant that I managed to get a hook up for.
Am delighted to share with you some pictures of it!

Echinodorus sp Iguaza from Argentina ('09) - Unlike the Satan and Terminator variants, the Iguaza or my more favored name for it - 霸王 (Overlord in Chinese), this awesome looking plant spots an unusually stout and short stems with well rounded leaves that gets rounder as the plant grows.

Love how the plant looks in the tank and I hope over time the leaves will rise upwards toward the lights.
Enjoy the pics! - More pics on blog


'09 霸王

While taking pictures of the plants I noticed this shrimp walking under to seek shelter from the glaring light.



And here is a new resident to the tank!



Mr. Not so Blue Blue Bolt! - It was a test shrimp from a friend who wanted to see how a Taiwan Bee would take to my water what is only 3 weeks old. Well he told me if it survives it is mine so cycling deities please don't take them away from me!

Meet the other of the Blues that was culled for this purpose. Lol sad shrimp but am confident that they will be good.



*The New Layout of the tank*



Some of my older and smaller Echinodorus and the love they get from the shrimps.





Also I did some water test. - Pictures found here.

GH - 5
KH - 1 
Ammonia NH3 / NH4+ - 0.0 ppm
Nitrate NO3 - 10- 15ppm

Prepped age water for Water Change tomorrow!
Good night my fellow Shrimpletons.  :Very Happy:

----------


## anakkucing

[QUOTE=AndyPeh;730636]*'09 霸王*

Plants Plants Plants!

On Monday I posted on a special plant that I managed to get a hook up for.
Am delighted to share with you some pictures of it!

Echinodorus sp Iguaza from Argentina ('09) - Unlike the Satan and Terminator variants, the Iguaza or my more favored name for it - 霸王 (Overlord in Chinese), this awesome looking plant spots an unusually stout and short stems with well rounded leaves that gets rounder as the plant grows.

Love how the plant looks in the tank and I hope over time the leaves will rise upwards toward the lights.
Enjoy the pics! - More pics on blog



This plant is very nice.. Does it need co2?

----------


## AndyPeh

Hi Bro Anakkucing no it doesn't but with CO2 and Excel it would probably grow faster and nicer. But shrimp tanks so playing it safe.

----------


## nicholasliao

What's so good about this plant? Everyone seems to be using alot of it. I see alot of it in alvin's, soon hong, bai and koji's post.

----------


## AndyPeh

Hey Nic! 
I don't it is as much as what the plant does. More of the ownership of a beautiful plant that will do the same job that all plants do.

----------


## AndyPeh

*Day 18 / 19? I Can't Remember*

Hi All,

As you can tell from the title, I sort of lost count and can't be fussed on the exact number of days.
What I am certain is that Thursdays will be my Water Change day. - Which was what I did Thursday night after my run.

Took some water for water test in the morning. Nitrate has been removed some what and is now a lighter shade of orange.



0 ppm Ammonia FTW.



And to my pleasant surprise. These look like they will be mine hahaha!
Although I might just get better quality ones myself.


Mr Not so Blue BB Caught Stunned.


His compatriot on the Montmotillonite Rocks

Yeap they are very much enjoying the tank from what I can tell.

Nice Blue Bolts that I hope to eventually own.


High Grade Blue Bolts - courtesy of*AlvinChan80



With the glass panels on my tank looking like the lights are turned on a little too much, I dug out my algae scrapper so when I get fed up and need to take away some algae for pics I will have it at hand.

On a separate note a friend told me he would be getting some Tibees and shared with me *a pic on the pair he would be getting.
Boy are they cool looking! Hope he succeeds in breeding lots of them and I would likely buy a pair myself from him then.


Skunk Pintos

Alright thats all from me now. Got to go watch a movie with the GF.*
Take care and have a good weekend ahead. Lates!

----------


## AndyPeh

Hej Shrimples!

Aren't you glad you checked on in today? Beacuse I am not going to disappoint!

Got some beautiful new shrimps! Have scoured far and wide to bring them to you. (Not really. Haha just drove around.)

Spent a good hour and a half acclimatizing them with the breeder box - Slow and steady dripping and I let the breeder box overflow do its job...

Spotted a few of the adventurous shrimps clinging on to the grill eager to get into their new home. - Maybe next time I will take the grill out and let them use the overflow as a water slide to go into the tank straight LOL. Will record that next time.  :Razz: 



To those who are keen on picking up the shrimp hobby, I cannot over emphasize the importance of acclimatizing the shrimps to new waters.

My analogy would be it is akin to humans in a plane without pressurized cabins and air thermostat regulators. - We would not be able to compensate for the variances in altitude changes and the thinning air, no to mention the drop in temperature.
So for the shrimps it would be nice if we take care of them and give them sometime to get adjusted to the new waters they will be placed in.

Ways to acclimatize shrimps and getting them out of a bag is simple and everyone has their own way of doing this.
I will show my way when in a separate post later this week so do keep a look out of it if you are interested in how I do mine.


Wine Red Hino exploring its new surroundings


The Jayden Smith Look 
(Perpetually caught between stunned and worried look)


Bad *** looking King Kong 


The lot scavenging for food 

Algae on wall growing fast.


Blue Panda with a nice catch of light showing blue cheeks.
(Maybe some would say not black enough, but I love it)


Wine Red has an itchy back. *Scratch Scratch 


Another look at my Mr. Go!


My best friends favorite. Shadow Pandas!


Small Fella

Alright hope this lot brings me many many offsprings!
Will update tomorrow on my plans to make that possibility a reality.

Till then thank you for viewing.

Your Fellow Shrimple Folk out!
Adios.

----------


## nicholasliao

Is wine red harder to care for than crs? Chiller still needed?

----------


## AndyPeh

> Is wine red harder to care for than crs? Chiller still needed?


Hey bro! Yeap. Chiller definitely needed for wine reds. They are similar or in fact a little harder to keep compared to CRS.

----------


## AndyPeh

Bro Stardus your mailbox seems full can't send you the reply.

----------


## AndyPeh

Day 21/22 - Shrimple Town

Hi All,

Thank you all for the appreciation and comments you have been sending via private message!


Wine Red out for a climb on the Rataj

I spotted my little Wine Red walking about and noticed although the red is not very solid on this one it looks a lot like a red ant. Haha just a quirky observation.


Hiding in the huge leaves of my 霸王


Out he comes! 



More pictures on my beautiful Mr. Go! with his WR Hinomaru friend.






Away from the glaring lights. 

Wine Red molted and seemed to have grown, could be my eyes haha.




My WR No-Entry very elusive fella.

Ran some water test.

GH - 5
KH - 1
Nitrate NO3 - 20-25ppm - About time for Water Change soon. Thursday.

That is all for now good night folks!

----------


## es.

nice tank you have there with all the combination!

----------


## AndyPeh

> nice tank you have there with all the combination!


Thank you es. for the support!

----------


## AndyPeh

*2nd Wave*



Hi Fellow Shrimples!


Hope this post finds you well.


As suggested by the title there is a 2nd wave of inhabitants this week. 
This will be the last mass migration for the Shadow Colony, now all that is left for them to do is what Mr Spock would deliver in his salute - Live Long and Prosper (Well in this case Procreate!)


Here are some pictures of them spending sometime getting adjusted to the new world.
And a short video of them being acclimatized to the new water parameters.


Area 51 - Quarantine and Adjustment Breeder Boxes



Wine Reds - 11 Immigrants





Blue Bolts - 06 Immigrants


Drip Drip Drip.

I did an acclimatization period of 6 hours on this batch for them to be better localized to the new world. - Culture shocks can be nasty.

*Water Change*
I had to change my water change plans because of their arrival and did in only on Friday night.
Ran some water test this morning.

Nitrate (NO3) - 10 ppm
Ammonia (NH3 / NH4+) - 0 ppm
GH - 5
KH -1
TDS - 158
PH - 5.3


Pictures of them in the new environment.






Find more pics on the blog.

Thank you for your time!
Take care and have a great weekend ahead wherever you are at.

----------


## AndyPeh

Hey all sorry meant to have posted this yesterday but for some reason my internet is refusing to connect to AQ.
If anyone knows anything please share.
Good thing for 3G and the iPad

*Monday Blues*

Hi Shrimp Lovers!

Here is Monday update from Shrimple Town. Today we mourn for the loss of one of *the beautiful occupants. - One of the lined King Kongs passed on.
Was taking pictures when I noticed a shrimp hanging on the frogbits had an orange head, on inspection I noticed it was not moving so used a net to disturb it only to have it floating peacefully into the net.

RIP my little one. I guess you went peacefully swinging on those 'trees'



If you are curious like me as to why the head turned orange what I got from checking with a friend is that it already started to mold and rot.

Other than that the rest are looking good!

Finally managed to catch hold of this little guy my gf calls Denim.


Full Denim Colored Blue Bolt


Tell me if am wrong but this fella looks deformed. Probably from too much in breeding.


Big Blue*

Tossed in a piece of LOWKEYS food and as usual there was a manic charge when it started flaking.


LOWKEYS! Nom Nom Nom

Ok for all of you who are probably very observant and noticed the fade out on the colors for my pictures, that because my iPhone 4 finally gave up on me - well the camera function at least.*
So now as what my girl friend reminded me - Beggars can't be choosers so I am using her old Samsung Note to capture this crappy faded images.
Till my contract expires! I need a new iPhone!*

That is all good night and take care folks.

----------


## cheetf

What is a lined King Kong?

----------


## AndyPeh

> What is a lined King Kong?


Hi Bro Cheetf haha thank you for asking, think the appropriate term is Single Stripe King Kong instead.

----------


## Nec

Nice tank and shrimp

----------


## AndyPeh

> Nice tank and shrimp


Thank you for the support!

----------


## AndyPeh

Howdy Ho' Fellow Shrimples!

I have something awesome to share with you today! The very first copy of Breeders 'n' Keepers hit shores earlier this week and am super thankful to have someone in our community who could hook me up with a copy. 
Kudos to Mr. Alvin Chan!

Here is a picture of my read of the week.



Nothing much went on this week and my apologies to all who have been following the blog for my absence the last few days.

Here are some of the things I did this week in periodical order.

Thursday - Water Change of 12% for Shadow Bee Shrimple Town 

As always I followed the same regime of 

Preparation of Aged Water -
2ml of API Stress Coat+
2.5 / 3 ml of FM100 
Allowed to sit for 22-24 hours before WC

After WC followed up with dousing of 
2g SMB
1g Humic Acid Powder
3ml B-Source (every 20L - 10ml ofB-Source)

Friday - Picked up my 2nd 2ft tank from a friend who was giving away his.

Saturday (Today) - Pumped 20ml of S1 into the tank, hopes this creates breeding water to simulate 1 or 2 big females on getting berried.



Pictures from Shirmple Town


King Kong and Shadow Panda

My Shadow Panda seems to have lost a little of its blue hue as it gets bigger. Anyone has any insights as to why this is happening?



Blue Bolt - Little Denim


Side Shot of the KK


Shadow Panda


Wine Red on the Verde


Small Shadow Panda 


King Kong feeding on the Algae Wall


Couple of Shrimps enjoying a day out at the Rataj


It's Feeding Time!

A couple more pics on the A SHRIMPle Life Blog

Alright thats all for now, thank you for checking out the blog every now and then!
Out.

----------


## Atham

Beautiful shrimps. I like the wine red and blue bolt, solid blue. It is difficult to maintain such low ph. Thanks for sharing.

----------


## AndyPeh

> Beautiful shrimps. I like the wine red and blue bolt, solid blue. It is difficult to maintain such low ph. Thanks for sharing.


Thank you for the support and compliments.
Your pH can be easily maintained with Active Soil for shrimps (the one I use for mine) and things like Power House Soft Media.

----------


## AndyPeh

TGIF


Hi All,

Now with every thing in Shrimple Town being stable, I started to discover that the most beautiful thing in shrimp keeping was never the final product.

The process that took me here will eventually gain dividends (in this case berries!) and when it comes it will definitely bring much joy.

However the most fun I had was definitely working out and establishing the art and science of making the perfect environment for the shrimps.
Temperature, Ammonia, Nitrate, pH, KH, GH and TDS not to mention getting the right plants - frogbits vs mini salvinias has all been part of a great learning session for me and a steep learning curve from my early days on the nano tank.

Now that is said I think in the end it is justification for me to set up another new tank!
Haha. Am still considering on what is next as I may not have as much time as I would like to do the weekly maintenance stuff with too many tanks to clean. Will work that out while I am on re-service next week.

Some pics of the blues.
 

Female Blue Bolt has been growing up well and fast


Mosura Flower Head Blue Bolt


The Blues feeding on some of their favourite LOWKEYS


Denim showed up at the dinner table and the rest scampered off - Like a boss!

Alright TGIF fellow Shrimples.
This is your friendly neighbourhood shrimple signing off.


AP out.

----------


## changyao

very nice shrimps!!

----------


## AndyPeh

> very nice shrimps!!


Thank you! Glad you liked the pics.

----------


## AndyPeh

*Cycle of Life*

Que the Lion King song -
_It's the Circle of Life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle
The Circle of Life_

Last Sunday we witness a loss of a beautiful female. 
Of whom I have placed great hopes on. 
She was due to be the one that would bear the first offspring and the fruit of my labor (on the tank).
But all was not to be, gave her a proper burial, I told myself that through despair there will hope and decided to move on.

Here is to big hot red. Thank you for being a beauty while you lasted.



In her glory days


Hot Red you will be missed!

Back to the other residents of Shrimple town!


Blue Bolt Mosura


Panda


The lonely Wine Red Male now that his prospective mate has gone (He'll live to shag others)

Mr Hamburglar!


Got to love this pic of it. 
Have got a whole series of him on the glass wall lol.


And down he came

My favorite of the Wine Reds


Wine Red Hinomaru



And here is why the Circle of Life song was so apt...

I noticed the Shrimps were 'dancing' on Sunday night was initially worried something might be wrong with the water, but on closer inspection I realized that only those I could ID as males were doing their little dance and most of the females were just going about with their thing.

I am lying if I said i did not run some water test to check if everything was good before I went to bed.
Yeap. I did. :P

Here were the results.



Nitrate (NO3) - 10-15 ppm (I need more plants)
Ammonia (NH3 / NH4+) - 0 ppm
GH - 5
KH -0
TDS - 159
PH - 5.4

Everything seemed well enough so left the tank alone and went to bed.

and Monday Morning they were still dancing I knew something was up and was waiting just to see which of the females would it be.

Without further blabbering -





A picture speaks a thousand words.
Hopefully it also signifies a thousand shrimps for me soon too.

Cheerios. Happy Shrimping.

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## nicholasliao

Awesome bro. With one lost come many smiles indeed.

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## AndyPeh

Just to clarify I think I may have named it wrongly and it should be KK Shadow Mosura to be precise instead of Blue Bolt Mosura.
Apologise for any confusion I may have caused.

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## AndyPeh

> Awesome bro. With one lost come many smiles indeed.
> 
> Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 4 Beta


Haha Thanks Bro hope they will grow up well!

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## AndyPeh

Shrimply Stunning Shots

My best friend who also happens to be a professional Videographer came over earlier for a photo shoot and I was blown away by the quality of pictures that we got at the end of it.

As usual I used some LOWKEYS food that the shrimps seem to love so much as bait.

Shrimply Stunning. Enjoy.













Thank you for viewing! Will share more pics tomorrow.

Till then remember your water change! And be nice to shrimps.

Andy Out.

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## magpie

Your shrimps are very swee.

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## nicholasliao

Loving the wine reds

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## AndyPeh

> Your shrimps are very swee.


Thank you bro Magpie




> Loving the wine reds


Haha Nic get your chiller soon!

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## skvin2002

Simply love your pics. Keep up the great work. ")

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## AndyPeh

> Simply love your pics. Keep up the great work. ")


Thank you Skvin! Appreciate the support.

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## AndyPeh

*Shrimple Sundays*

Good Sunday All,

A few more pictures from Shrimple Town!


Red Ant looking Ruby Red Shrimp making it's way to the food.


Nom Nom Nom


Wine Red Hinomaru 
(Sorry about the algae at the hard to reach area)


Panda



Here is a unique piece given by a friend.


Flower Head Mosura Blue Bolt (I think)

Good day y'all!

Shrimple Folk Andy Out!

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## AndyPeh

Tolerable Thursdays

Bare with Thursdays.
Although they are not exactly terrific they are only a day away from Friday.
So good Thursday to all! Here are some pics of the little friends to hopefully light up your Thursday and bring you one closer for you to say TGIF.


Blue Bolt Mama out for Food


Single Stripe King Kong

My favourite elusive little Blue Bolt is out for a walk again and I spared no space in the SD card snapping away vehemently lol.

Here are the 2 nicest shots I got.


Blue Bolt codenamed 'Denim' Tracking the food 


Viola! Bon Appetit.


Another great shot of the one and only 'Hamburglar'

Have a good day. Cheerios shrimple folk.

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## Navanod

> *Shrimple Sundays*
> 
> Here is a unique piece given by a friend.
> 
> 
> Flower Head Mosura Blue Bolt (I think)
> 
> Good day y'all!
> 
> Shrimple Folk Andy Out!


Blue bolt with such dark spots?
I would call it a mosura shadow panda  :Razz: 
Very nice specimen

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## AndyPeh

Hmm that's makes better taxonomic sense too! Haha thanks Nav!

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## AndyPeh

Hey all! After a short hiatus am back again. Sorry I have been out for awhile had to go back for a high key reservist and thereafter had crazy email pile up to sort out at work.
Anyways I made full use of this period to work with some great friends on setting up a proper site for shrimplelife  and I have decided to go wordpress with my own domain!

Hope you enjoy the site as much as I spent making it. - Will continue to improve on it with comments from community and would work on improving the information in there.

Oh and last but not the least check out the shrimply fun video we did for the site launch! Enjoy! 


 :Well done:  Like Shrimple Life on Facebook

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## AndyPeh

*Shrimplets Spotted!*





A joyous week as I welcome the new batch of shrimplets from shrimple town! Sorry they are still very much tiny and only managed to get 1 good shot of it. Will take more as they grow a little older!
And looks like more of their cousins are on their way too.

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## nicholasliao

Congrats bro. Makes the hobby all the more rewarding

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## AndyPeh

> Congrats bro. Makes the hobby all the more rewarding
> 
> Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 4


 
True that!

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## gryphon

Really nice and impressive setup and shrimps you have. Congrats on the shrimplets, hope the grow big and more generations to follow

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## skvin2002

Once again, lovely pics. Realli envy u ") I had a few batches of berried crs myself but somehow the survival rate is very low for the shrimplets.

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## J_shrimp

Wow....all really nice shrimps. Hope one day I could be as successfully as you guys..... :Roll Eyes:

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## Atham

:Jump for joy:  Shrimplets. Sweet home.

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## AndyPeh

> Really nice and impressive setup and shrimps you have. Congrats on the shrimplets, hope the grow big and more generations to follow


Thank you Gryphon for the awesome well wishes! Certainly hope so too!




> Once again, lovely pics. Realli envy u ") I had a few batches of berried crs myself but somehow the survival rate is very low for the shrimplets.


Hi Bro! Thank you for the compliment. Are you still having the CRS? I will PM you to further this discussion.




> Wow....all really nice shrimps. Hope one day I could be as successfully as you guys.....


Don't worry man that day will surely come. Just need to set the foundations right sure can one! Anything just ask around the forum, got lotsa support.




> Shrimplets. Sweet home.


Haha they certainly look happy! Hope they grow up well.

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## Ifish

Looks like a fun place for the shrimps, can update some poison pics for us?


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## AndyPeh

> Looks like a fun place for the shrimps, can update some poison pics for us?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free


Haha thanks Ifish, been really busy with work and mostly just post on the easy post to the Shrimple Life facebook. Will post more here soon! Thank you for lookign out for it!

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## WiNd08

beautiful & stunning collections. after years of hiatus from shrimp keeping, im really contemplating to come back. 

my new job (cabin crew) makes it hard for me to maintain my predatory / pleco tank.. so i guess coming up with a solid system for a shrimp tank would be easier for me to maintain. what do you think?

anyway, love your website. you're a website designer?  :Smile:

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## Jay91

I've been reading this post for the past 2 hours! Seriously bro, YOU ARE GOOD! =D 

cheers~

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## AndyPeh

Hi all! Sorry been really busy these past few weeks but thanks to the nice support from bros in the forum I felt I should keep this hard earned thread alive.

Here are some pics of the shrimps with a point & shoot I just got my hands on, with some manual tweaking and a stable stand I realised it it is able to come up with really good shots - just as long as you don't blow it up too big lol

*King Kongs*







*Blue Bolt*

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## AndyPeh

More Pics (less text)!

*KK Mosura*





*KK Hinomaru No-Entry*



*WR Hinomaru No-Entry*

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## AndyPeh

Lastly some new additions.

*By Birth*



*By Selection and the Greenback Boogie* aka Cash

*Zebra Pinto*

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## Ifish

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1379515834.859216.jpg


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## AndyPeh

> beautiful & stunning collections. after years of hiatus from shrimp keeping, im really contemplating to come back. 
> 
> my new job (cabin crew) makes it hard for me to maintain my predatory / pleco tank.. so i guess coming up with a solid system for a shrimp tank would be easier for me to maintain. what do you think?
> 
> anyway, love your website. you're a website designer?


Hey Wind! Glad I am the one that can infuse some venomous shrimp blood back into you. Remember you want that beautiful little things because they are a joy to keep. Succeeded yet? Haha!

On your new job and lack of time to mess around with the tank? Definitely man. The great thing about shrimp keeping is once you've got the foundations laid, then less is always more (fruitful) yea? 
So on long haul flights you're good even you miss a week of WC, besides its always the itchy hands that harms the shrimps more so than the lack of it.

And nope unfortunately my talents only extends to watching youtube videos and learning how to edit wordpress templates lol. So yea most of it are done by the true designers and programmers I just learn well on adjusting to what I want.

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## AndyPeh

> I've been reading this post for the past 2 hours! Seriously bro, YOU ARE GOOD! =D 
> 
> cheers~


Thank you Jay! Would not have been made possible with the guidance of the true pros lurking in the midst of this forum.

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## Aventador

Nice collection of shrimps and congrats on the shrimplets... just started my shrimp tank and I hope to be able to run the tank like yours... learning new stuff everyday  :Smile:

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## AndyPeh

> Nice collection of shrimps and congrats on the shrimplets... just started my shrimp tank and I hope to be able to run the tank like yours... learning new stuff everyday


Thank you and I certainly hope you will succeed on your tank too!

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## Ifish

Revisited your pics again, simply awesome!


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## AndyPeh

> Revisited your pics again, simply awesome!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free


Thank you Ifish!

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## WiNd08

> Hey Wind! Glad I am the one that can infuse some venomous shrimp blood back into you. Remember you want that beautiful little things because they are a joy to keep. Succeeded yet? Haha!
> 
> On your new job and lack of time to mess around with the tank? Definitely man. The great thing about shrimp keeping is once you've got the foundations laid, then less is always more (fruitful) yea? 
> So on long haul flights you're good even you miss a week of WC, besides its always the itchy hands that harms the shrimps more so than the lack of it.
> 
> And nope unfortunately my talents only extends to watching youtube videos and learning how to edit wordpress templates lol. So yea most of it are done by the true designers and programmers I just learn well on adjusting to what I want.


No more delays for me  :Razz: 

Decomm'd my South American tank, removed my Overhead filter, added a Teco chiller, ehiem canister.

Re-did the soil with GEX Shrimp soil, and now my tank is cycling  :Evil: 

With good faith, I should be testing out with commandos late next week.

Anddddd if everything goes well I'll be adding some shrimps from Hong Kong on my SIN-HKG-SFO-HKG-SIN Sector! :Angel:  :Grin:

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## Senses92

Thanks for sharing. Very inspiring! Just started my tank and I hope I can have the same results as yours in 2 years time!

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## AndyPeh

Hello all! I have been out and about for abit and only been posting on the Facebook.
Just created a fun video on some of my shrimps with a good friend who runs a Videography business.







Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did making it!

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## nicholasliao

Link broken andy

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## AndyPeh

Hey Nic! Thats strange though works ok when I click in on my comp and with the iPad.




> Link broken andy
> 
> Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk

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## eugenecj

hey andy bro, i'm curious about something, having so many different type of shrimp, won't they cross breed to wild shrimp?

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## AndyPeh

Hi Eugene! To clarify for the video I am keeping the Spotted Head Pintos (mix of males and females) in a tank with Taiwan Bees Females and F3 Pinto Gene Shrimp Females so while there might be cross breeding it is controlled cross breeding, while some culling might be required over time it is to the effect of refining the genes before I add even better ones to introduce and build immunity into the gene pool.

However if you do a quick google search you should be able to find shrimps that are good together, hope that clarifies and happy shrimping!


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## burp

[ATTACH]42008[ATTACH]
uploadfromtaptalk1403096452326.jpg

Anyone can ID this worm that's floating? About few mm long and very thin. It wiggles. 

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## AndyPeh

They wiggle and swim in an S shape?
Those are a type of nematode. They are harmless.


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## burp

Is that good or bad news for a cycling tank? Lol 

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## AndyPeh

It doesn't mean much sadly lol. If you see copecods after a while that can be treated as a good sign.


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## burp

Aw. That's sad to know. Lol

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## burp

Sorry Andy. Realised I hijacked your thread. I've a thread that has similar name to yours. Lol

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## AndyPeh

Haha no worries Burp. All good.

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## saltnpepper

So.. i just spent almost half an hour reading this thread and admiring your shrimps!
I've just embarked on shrimps in my nano tank about 4 months ago and this is really inspiring!
kuddos to you! I'm sure your shrimps are as happy as their breeder : )

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## AndyPeh

> So.. i just spent almost half an hour reading this thread and admiring your shrimps!
> I've just embarked on shrimps in my nano tank about 4 months ago and this is really inspiring!
> kuddos to you! I'm sure your shrimps are as happy as their breeder : )


Hey Saltnpepper! Thank you for the kind comments and yes I certainly hope they are happy to be in my tanks too! Hope you find success in your shrimp keeping endeavours!
Sorry I have been lazy and not updating over here just been focusing on sharing some pics of the little guys on the facebook instead.

https://www.facebook.com/shrimplelif..._type=bookmark

Feel free to hit me up over there and I look forward on your progress of your tank!

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