Re-starting 15 gallon, 1st time with sand

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Hopefully that one will recover...

Good for you for adding them over, they look happy.

Thank you, I hope they are. They did settle down much faster than I expected considering I had to chase a lot of them around with the net and pull the first tank apart a bit to catch them all. Then acclimated them in a bucket just to make myself feel better even though I really didn't need to, then netted them again. But within minutes most were settling down to eat. Tough little things really.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thank you, I hope they are. They did settle down much faster than I expected considering I had to chase a lot of them around with the net and pull the first tank apart a bit to catch them all. Then acclimated them in a bucket just to make myself feel better even though I really didn't need to, then netted them again. But within minutes most were settling down to eat. Tough little things really.

They ARE tough little things sometimes. Not as sensitive as other types of shrimps that’s for sure. It’s quite amazing what these little guys can put up with which can surprise us!

But hopefully your shrimps will be fine now in their new home

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

They ARE tough little things sometimes. Not as sensitive as other types of shrimps that’s for sure. It’s quite amazing what these little guys can put up with which can surprise us!

But hopefully your shrimps will be fine now in their new home

Thank you I hope so! I liked the idea of shrimp before I had shrimp, but once I actually had some, fell totally in love with them. Awesome little critters.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

I saw the Zebra Oto at the LFS..
They are beautiful but not cheap at $8 each.
The normal Oto are cheap at less than $2 each. But my tank doesnt have enough algae because my Panda Loaches, one Whiptail and one Twig seem to clear all my algae.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Moved 40 odd shrimp, maybe more, just a guesstimate really. I was going to try to count how many females/males/juveniles etc, but quickly realised that was a fools errand. I counted 12 adult females though, plus loads of males and a ton of shrimplets of different sizes. Still expect to be finding the odd one in the old tank that escaped my net.
Mine get white rings just before they molt. It’s not always bad news. As far as leaving a lone shrimp, it happened to me. Last year I took over 100 to my lfs. I was going to close down my shrimp tank. Left it alone for a couple of days and when I went to drain it, low and behold there was a huge berried female. Don’t know how she hid when I had taken out all plants and decor. Now I’m back up to about 60 shrimp again. I need to buy a few new ones to bring in new blood.

They're settling in and down for dinner pretty quickly View attachment 114140View attachment 114141View attachment 114142
The one in the background does seem to have the white ring of death Just hoping that this was caught in time to save a lot of the them, and I don't lose the whole colony. All was well with the shrimp until I picked up those plants at my LFS, kicking myself for not knowing about the pesticide thing before.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Moved 40 odd shrimp, maybe more, just a guesstimate really. I was going to try to count how many females/males/juveniles etc, but quickly realised that was a fools errand. I counted 12 adult females though, plus loads of males and a ton of shrimplets of different sizes. Still expect to be finding the odd one in the old tank that escaped my net.


They're settling in and down for dinner pretty quickly View attachment 114140View attachment 114141View attachment 114142
The one in the background does seem to have the white ring of death Just hoping that this was caught in time to save a lot of the them, and I don't lose the whole colony. All was well with the shrimp until I picked up those plants at my LFS, kicking myself for not knowing about the pesticide thing before.

Nice to have to shrimps keep breeding.
I don't really see mine breeding after 1 month. Could be something wrong.

Do you have any fish in your shrimps tank?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

This morning, no dead shrimp that I've been able to see, but have seen four perfect looking moults! One of those was quite large, so hopefully the one with the ring yesterday was just due a moult, Now I don't expect this move and or adding the beta g to be a miracle overnight cure - it's easier to see moults on the dark sand than the white gravel and heavy planting they were in before - I am still encouraged that some are still clearly able to moult. And that none died overnight.

The nasty thing about these pesticides used is that they're not obviously on the plants. They don't cause deaths overnight - they interfere with chitin production, so the losses begin gradually. So my shrimp have been in the same tank as suspect plants for a good three weeks now before it was clear what was likely happening.

Hopefully the fact that some are still moulting means they're not too badly affected perhaps, and the colony overall will bounce back. Really tempted to keep that tank shrimp only in fact.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Nice to have to shrimps keep breeding.
I don't really see mine breeding after 1 month. Could be something wrong.

Do you have any fish in your shrimps tank?

Shrimps tend to breed more easily when there is plenty of plant foliage to hide and to feed micro foods from.

Also large or predatory fish can sometimes scare shrimps into dropping their eggs or attempting less breeding.

Think might be one of the defence mechanism of shrimps, drop their eggs in hope predator will not eat the shrimp but eat the eggs instead.

But give it time, let your tank become more established and plants grow out etc and shrimps become more settled then more likely than not you’ll have more shrimps than you can count!

Always find counting shrimp numbers nigh on impossible as they hide so well and of course if there being so many you start to wonder if you’ve counted some of them twice!!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Nice to have to shrimps keep breeding.
I don't really see mine breeding after 1 month. Could be something wrong.

Do you have any fish in your shrimps tank?

I had the shrimp in with guppies and otocinclus (guppies being moved out next, then water in original tank softened for otos) and the tank was densely planted and well fed, so I think the guppies weren't eating many shrimplets. But it took months when I only bought like five shrimp at a time before I saw breeding happening. Then they bred like mad, berried females and shrimplets everywhere for a while, then it seemed to slow right down and I didn't see a berried female for a while - @seangee says that shrimp will control their own population and stop breeding once the colony is at its max for that tank, and once you move a few of them to a new tank, those ones start breeding again. He's kept shrimp for years, I believe him. So whether mine slowed down breeding because 40-50 is the max my tank can hold, or because of the pesticide, I guess we shall see!

Hope you see some breeding going on again soon

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Mine get white rings just before they molt. It’s not always bad news. As far as leaving a lone shrimp, it happened to me. Last year I took over 100 to my lfs. I was going to close down my shrimp tank. Left it alone for a couple of days and when I went to drain it, low and behold there was a huge berried female. Don’t know how she hid when I had taken out all plants and decor. Now I’m back up to about 60 shrimp again. I need to buy a few new ones to bring in new blood.

You're right, hopefully this time it was just a moult. I'm just paranoid now after having several losses. They're so good at hiding! Glad you kept your berried female despite the plans to shut down the shrimp tank - guess she had other ideas, lol!

Always find counting shrimp numbers nigh on impossible as they hide so well and of course if there being so many you start to wonder if you’ve counted some of them twice!!

Even when you've gathered all of em (or most of them) into a bucket, it's impossible! I suppose I could have netted out a few at a time and kept a tally, but I didn't want to stress them more than I already had and it would have taken ages. Plus they jump pretty well even in a net, so I just netted a few at a time, covered it with my hand then transferred them to the tank. 40-50 ish is a good enough count for me, lol.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Shrimps tend to breed more easily when there is plenty of plant foliage to hide and to feed micro foods from.

Also large or predatory fish can sometimes scare shrimps into dropping their eggs or attempting less breeding.

Think might be one of the defence mechanism of shrimps, drop their eggs in hope predator will not eat the shrimp but eat the eggs instead.

But give it time, let your tank become more established and plants grow out etc and shrimps become more settled then more likely than not you’ll have more shrimps than you can count!

Always find counting shrimp numbers nigh on impossible as they hide so well and of course if there being so many you start to wonder if you’ve counted some of them twice!!

Thanks for the info.
Currently, I have Cabomba, Anacharis, Flame moss and a few other plants in my tanks. They are growing well.
I may add Anubias Nana and Java Ferns.

I am using Bacter AE for the biofilms to grow faster.
I feed them with Shrimp King complete, Hikari Mini algae wafer, Hikari shrimps pellets, Shirakura soft shrimp food and some fish food.
Recently, I bought a packet of powder food for shrimplets. I used it to feed my Bamboo Shrimps.
I have some Mosquito Rasboras(1-2cm) and some small Panda Loaches (1-2cm).
I have a mix of shrimps - Fire Red, Yellow, Super Blue, wild Tiger and Bamboo shrimps.
My shrimps are out in the open. I guess there are no predator.
They are ao colourful and so interesting. I find them to be more interesting than my Discus fish which are in another tank.

 

[seangee]

Even when you've gathered all of em (or most of them) into a bucket, it's impossible! I suppose I could have netted out a few at a time and kept a tally, but I didn't want to stress them more than I already had and it would have taken ages. Plus they jump pretty well even in a net, so I just netted a few at a time, covered it with my hand then transferred them to the tank. 40-50 ish is a good enough count for me, lol.

An easier way is to siphon them into a bucket and then empty the bucket into a net.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

An easier way is to siphon them into a bucket and then empty the bucket into a net.

I do that accidentally when I perform water changes, lol. Super easy to do, but be careful, you can actually hurt these little guys!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Wait, is this your first time ever having sand in any tank?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Wait, is this your first time ever having sand in any tank?

Yes. Why?