# 4 feet of shrimps! - updated Apr 17 - shrimplets!



## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Well, I'm just about to start my first shrimp tank, so let's start a journal.

I've been thinking about starting a shrimp tank for a while. I looked at a few nano tanks, was tempted by an Eheim Aquastyle, but not quite ready take the plunge. And then a certain 33 Long became available in the neighbourhood... (http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/tank...jobbers-33g-long-south-american-biotope-9867/). I had a 33 Long before and I loved the footprint, so I decided that this was the right opportunity. The tank coming from my good friend Ming made it a safe buy. I went for it.

First step: reassembling the stand. There were no feet on it, and I didn't want the bottom to lie flat on my wood floor, so I went to my favourite hardware store and bought levelling glides.



















Shortly after that, the stand was up.










Next step is to paint the back of the tank in black, and find a way to make myself a light fixture reusing the Hamilton LED strips that I had for sale for a couple of weeks. They should be plenty of light for such a shallow tank.

Stay tuned...


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Love seeing the tank put to good use. Shrimps are going to love their new home. 
That's quite the beautiful stand you got there, contrasts well with the hardwood floor 

Looking forward to seeing this project develop and shrimp farm grow.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Getting closer...

Plants from The Master :bigsmile:










Goodie from J&L:










Super goodie from J&L! I had been drooling over these for a while; I indulged.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

That'll be a sweet set up man. I miss my shrimp tank.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

effox said:


> That'll be a sweet set up man. I miss my shrimp tank.


Thanks Chris. This will be my first ever shrimp tank. Pretty excited.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

They're surprisingly entertaining to watch. A 33 gallon is a good size if your room has swings in temperature during summer. My shrimps cooked, and then froze once the AC was turned on in my 10g.

What type of shrimp are you going to get?


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Indeed indulged but doing it the right way from start by going big and not going home. I've had my eyes set on that controller for awhile and probably indulge as well. Nice project and coming along fruitfully. Thanks for the teasing pictures.

Sent from my mobile phone


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

effox said:


> They're surprisingly entertaining to watch. A 33 gallon is a good size if your room has swings in temperature during summer. My shrimps cooked, and then froze once the AC was turned on in my 10g.
> 
> What type of shrimp are you going to get?


I don't know yet. Nothing too sensitive at first. PFRs, perhaps, but we'll see.



jobber said:


> Indeed indulged but doing it the right way from start by going big and not going home. I've had my eyes set on that controller for awhile and probably indulge as well. Nice project and coming along fruitfully. Thanks for the teasing pictures.


Thanks Ming. The controller seems pretty cool. I don't know how to operate it yet but that's part of the project.


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

Awesome! this will be a fun project.. be sure to keep us updated with photos!


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

shift said:


> Awesome! this will be a fun project.. be sure to keep us updated with photos!


Thanks. Will do. 

Ran into a big of a snag tonight, as one of the Hamilton LED strips had a wire come off loose. I'm so much of a handyman that I don't even have a soldering iron. Off to home depot tomorrow morning on my way to work...


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

At least it's an easy fix. Pick up some of that heat shrinking wire tubing too so condensation doesn't rust up the wiring. I found black tape doesn't work that well.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

effox said:


> At least it's an easy fix. Pick up some of that heat shrinking wire tubing too so condensation doesn't rust up the wiring. I found black tape doesn't work that well.


Thanks for the tip. I was going to go with silicone all the way around the metal. Do you think that would work?


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Yeah that'd do the trick. I prefer the shrink tubing because it doesn't make a mess. I'm a messy kid when it comes to grease, silicon and foam. I'm always ruining something whenever I use them.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Yes I'm sure it will be messy, but then the way I'm planning to mount the strips the mess will be hidden anyway. Hidden mess is the best! :bigsmile:


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

I just noticed tube insulation you placed bt the opening. Great idea. I just went to Rona to buy sone pipe insulation for my tubes. Keep the warmth and saving tank heat bit by bit.

Sent from my mobile phone


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Yes, I don't think that the heat loss to the air through the tubing is significant at all compared to that through the glass, but it's probably more through the back wall if the tubing touches it, especially as we keep our house really cool at night in the winter. I had this insulation foam from a repair outside a while back, so I thought that at least it couldn't hurt to reused it here...


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

All right. First pics of the first incarnation of my first shrimp tank. With the first shrimps in it. The pics are on good but that's all I have for now.

Tank shot:










Right-hand side:










Centre:










Left-hand side:










The little guys. Red Rilis from Fantasy.




























I'm a little worried about there being too much flow. The shrimps get swept away by the current in a few places. There are other corners with less current so hopefully they'll find what they like....


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## Clownloachlover (Apr 21, 2010)

what substrate are you using? that black looks awesome!


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Clownloachlover said:


> what substrate are you using? that black looks awesome!


Thanks. You know, I'm not even sure what it is exactly. I bought it from jobber together with the tank. Might be Caribsea. Ask him in you want to be sure.


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Franck, you did an amazing job on the tank's transformation. Very nicely laid out scape, clean and simple. That's a beauty of a setup and shrimps choice. Hope they procreate into the hundreds for you. Has it been that soon since you got the setup. Very impressive.

The black sand is the Estes Black sand from J&L Aquatics.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Great job Franck! looks awesome! Didn't you have a 33g before? Nice to see Mings tank found a great new home! look forward to the updates


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

jobber said:


> Franck, you did an amazing job on the tank's transformation. Very nicely laid out scape, clean and simple. That's a beauty of a setup and shrimps choice. Hope they procreate into the hundreds for you. Has it been that soon since you got the setup. Very impressive.
> 
> The black sand is the Estes Black sand from J&L Aquatics.


Thanks Ming. I got my inspiration from one of Bien's tanks. But of course he's a master and I'm a joker. So that's only how close I could get. 



Diztrbd1 said:


> Great job Franck! looks awesome! Didn't you have a 33g before? Nice to see Mings tank found a great new home! look forward to the updates


Thanks John. Great memory! Yes I did have a 33 Long before and I loved it. I sold it but regretted it when I started to toy with the idea of setting a shrimp tank. These long shallow tanks (22L, 33L) are perfect footprints for shrimps. So when Ming's tank became available, ...


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

I love it so far. Keep up the good work!


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

shift said:


> I love it so far. Keep up the good work!


Thanks. 

I found 2 dead this morning. Hopefully it's just the shock of new tank / conditions. The other ones seem to be doing well. They took a bit of food tonight. Hopefully they survive the next few days.

Looking to add more soon...


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

One week in, and I finally figured out how to use the DA controller. Their firmware doesn't have Mac support, so I was left with only the buttons on the control panel. Not that bad at all actually. Overall I really like the flexibility and the peace of mind of knowing that the heater going mad can't wreck my tank. I'm happy with my purchase.

Stock wise, I added a few more rilis from BaoBeiZhu, and a few tigers from Pat. Also many thanks to Frank (Jiang604) at Ebi Ken for his time and advice. Much appreciated.

No more deaths that I can tell since my last update here, and I do find a molt regularly, so that's a good sign.

On with the pics!

Tank shots:



















Rili:










Tigers:



















Thanks for looking.


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Very nice red colour from the rillis. Tank is coming along very well Franck. Looking forward to seeing the colony grow.

Sent from my mobile phone


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

jobber said:


> Very nice red colour from the rillis. Tank is coming along very well Franck. Looking forward to seeing the colony grow.
> 
> Sent from my mobile phone


Thanks Ming. I don't know about a colony, but I'll sure be excited when/if I see the first berried female!


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Looking good man!


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

effox said:


> Looking good man!


Thanks Chris. I am enjoying it so far. They're funny little things, shrimps. As you said before: quite entertaining to watch.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Wow, I knew I missed some threads. Never saw your tank setup even though we met at Ming's during your pickup. I'm very envious as I've not had success with rilis and Tigers yet. Planning to indulge in some Tigers some time soon I think. Great job Franck. Looks fantastic.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Thanks Gary. Don't be envious quite yet though. Keeping them alive for a week doesn't exactly qualify as success. I have much grander plans for them. Like keeping them alive for a month. :bigsmile:


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Must have been inspired by you. Found a rili today.  So maybe there's hope in that tank.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

Love it!! really nice setup, i really like how the black sand looks with the grey slates


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## Bien Lim (Apr 21, 2010)

Really nice set up u got here...very clean!!


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

Looking real good


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Thank you all for the kind words. 

Bien, this is where your plants went. In fact, all the plants in here came from you, with the exception of a couple of anubia cuts that I took from my Vicenza. I might add some floating plants here, but otherwise I'm done with plants in this tank. Just waiting for them to recover from the clumsy tying/attachment job, and grow, grow...


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Do berried shrimps have a tendency to hide? There is this one rili that's deep in the moss, and although it's hard to see, I honestly think that I see eggs under her (actually over her, since she's upside down hanging off the moss right now). Would that make any sense? Or is it more likely just a mirage?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I have not found that berried shrimp tend to hide, but I also have not had berried rilis. But they should be the same as Cherries as far as that goes.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Thanks Gary. There's a thread here on plantedtank where a few shrimp guys claim that berried shrimps tend to hide more. Gives me hope. 

Berried fire reds are hiding...not eating


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## Sploosh (Nov 19, 2012)

Most of the berried shrimp I've had seem to hide a lot more when the lights are on. Quite often I don't know how many berried females are in the tank, until a few hours after lights out.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Thanks Darryl. My tank is in a fairly dark room though, so with the lights off I essentially don't see the shrimp, let alone her eggs. 

I'll keep an eye out for her tomorrow. It would be very fitting on Easter week-end. :bigsmile:


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

Wow that looks great! Where did you get your rock from?


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

DBam said:


> Wow that looks great! Where did you get your rock from?


Thanks DBam. I got the rocks from Northwest Landscaping in Bby. That was for my Vicenza but I got too many so I thought I'd reuse some of them for this tank too. I find they look good both against the white sand and against the black sand actually.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Confirmation.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Very nice. Congrats Franck.


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

Woooahh Franck, you got it going on  Love the slate work, very cool. I see you have a distinct style in aquascaping


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Very nice. Congrats Franck.


Thanks Gary. I'm a bit surprised that it's a rili actually. And relieved. I have been finding a dead rili every 5 days or so. Including one just on Wed I think. So I would have guessed that the first berried shrimp in this tank would have been a tiger. But there you go. Only they know...



Nicole said:


> Woooahh Franck, you got it going on  Love the slate work, very cool. I see you have a distinct style in aquascaping


Thanks Nicole. Part of it is reusing what I have (slate, wood). Part of it is going with what I've done before and know works for me, since I like low maintenance and low worry tanks. And part of it is just a lack of imagination. :bigsmile:


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## Sploosh (Nov 19, 2012)

Congrats on the berried female  your soon to have many happy shrimplets scooting about in that fantastic tank


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Thanks Darryl. I have to do some reading to get myself a little better educated about what to expect next. It's my first time with shrimps so I don't know. Is it pretty much a done deal once they're berried, or is there a significant likelihood of problems either with the egg release or with the shrimplets themselves? Do you know?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

It's a done deal unless something hunts down and eats the shrimplets.


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## Sploosh (Nov 19, 2012)

Lots of different things I have experienced depending on tank conditions. If its a first berry, there's a possibility of dropped eggs, also if water parameters don't agree with the shrimp, or vice-versa. The shrimp could have health issues and pass before the eggs hatch, in that case you can attempt artificially hatching them (my attempt here, here, and here). 
Or, and this is what I would lean towards , she will carry for a full term, and hatch all the eggs successfully. 
With the shrimplets, I found they have higher survival rates the "older" the tank is. I suspect it's because they feed off the micro-organisms that only grow in established tanks. It all depends on circumstances though, one example I have is one shrimp that was my main producing female, 50 each clutch with over 30 surviving, once moved to a different tank she stopped producing eggs, not even a saddle. Moved her back, saddled and berried twice, then moved again to a different tank, saddled no berry for months. Now she's in a different tank, and the saddle has disappeared.
If you are at all worried about shrimplets getting enough food, you could add some moss from an already established tank, which should provide some food for them.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Funny thing. I had to share. Tonight I noticed a few tiger shrimps swimming around frantically. All around the tank, along the glass but also around the moss. Everywhere. Non-stop. So I ran a quick online search, and it turns out that female shrimps release in the water a substance called pheromone when they're ready to mate, and that causes the boys to get nuts and look for the said female in great excitement. I can't say for sure of course, but it's so unusual behaviour for them, and there's only a few of them doing it while others are perfectly calm, that it's likely what it is. I told my kids about it and my 7 year-old found it extremely funny. He watched them for a few minutes, and then he burst out laughing, telling me that he had seen one of the excited ones stop by a rili that was there doing its thing, and the tiger stopped for a second before going off again. My little guy made his best shrimp face and said "Is it you? Is it you? No, dang, you're a rili" and he burst out laughing.

Kids + shrimps = endless entertainment.


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## Chappy (Apr 21, 2010)

Gotta say, Franck - when you do a tank, you do it *GOOD*!!! What a beautiful set up. If you need any kribs, I can set you up - just let me know 
Shelley


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Chappy said:


> Gotta say, Franck - when you do a tank, you do it *GOOD*!!! What a beautiful set up. If you need any kribs, I can set you up - just let me know
> Shelley


Shelley!!! Are you back? Please say yes!

Kribs still going strong? Still producing babies by the pound?


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Time for an update. The Tigers have scored a superb equaliser. Pic below. Meanwhile, the captain if the Rilis, who showed great leadership by getting berried first, is still holding and seemingly doing well. Her belly is so big now that it's clearly difficult for her to move around. No pics of her as she spends more time under cover and I didn't have the patience to wait to snap one.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Very Franck. I gotta get me some tigers.


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## blurry (May 10, 2010)

You got some nice shrimps in that tank


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Seeing some shrimp success. Looking forward to seeing updates of those little ones soon.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Thank you guys. Hopefully I have shrimplets to report soon...


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Well, I didn't mean THAT soon when I wrote that last post last night! But I definitely saw a couple of shrimplets tonight. Absolutely without a doubt. So tiny that I thought at first it was just a minuscule air bubble or something. But then it didn't move like an air bubble caught in the current. It actually swam! Looking closer, sure enough, they were shrimplets. Too small to photograph; I'll try to take a vid later this week. If they're still there, that is. The survival rate is yet to be seen. But they sure are cute.


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

I'm sure there's some little shrimplets in and about the tank at this time....hundreds of them yet?


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