Progress updates

[Varanus]

I just gotta say, after all the frustrations I've had with (and money spent on) freshwater shrimps over the years I wish I had started keeping these guys long ago. I recall actually coming across your site long before I got your shrimp, and while I was intrigued by what I saw and read I still decided against it at the time because a brackish water tank just sounded intimidating (and the lack of possible tank mates made it seem like the big variety found in freshwater shrimp was a better option).

Now looking back, this tank has been the least stressful one I've ever owned. In the close to two years I've had the shrimp I have not seen a single one die (except perhaps some larvae). Such toughness is simply astounding, and I continue to be enchanted by the beauty and activity levels of the supershrimp.

[Mustafa]

You know...I went through something very similar..just on a much larger scale. After *literally* establishing the freshwater shrimp hobby in the in the US (and the English speaking) world by putting up this website and informing people, writing articles and giving lectures about freshwater shrimp etc. I finally settled on almost exclusively concentrating on supershrimp. I used to have dozens of tans with dozens of species of freshwater shrimp, but now only a few of those tanks and species are left. The rest is *all* Supershrimp.

The simplicity of the Supershrimp setup, their long life span, nice colors, active nature, and (almost) lack of any kind of maintenance (except to feed once in a blue moon and top off their water) is just incredibly appealing. "Brackish water" sounds intimidating until people actually read how simple one time setup is and realize there are no water changes involved. But yes...lots of people hear "brackish" and panic.

Glad to hear/read that these tiny shrimp still fascinate you. It's been 13 years for me and they still don't cease to fascinate me.

[Varanus]

A couple pics of a recent feeding time. Not professional and not detailed enough to really do the shrimp justice by any means but the clearest I've posted here.

As you can see, my little population seems to have most of the major color and pattern variations. A few orange individuals are even present (one is in the first pic in the foreground to the right, though its a bit blurry and to the naked eye it looks more orange than in the pic), and while I have to admit the deep red ones are my favorites, the pale ones make a nice contrast and the speckled red ones a nice gradation between the extremes.

[Mustafa]

Thanks for the pics and update! This is a great example of the variation in coloration of individuals in a typical Supershrimp tank!

[Varanus]

Well its accomplished. I waited a few days before making this post, wanting to make sure everyone adjusted smoothly and they seem to have.

Namely I went ahead and transferred my shrimp colony to what was a long-time freshwater tank, after hearing here that it would be likely to succeed. viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6316. It took much of the day, but I did it. The shrimp now have a 20 gallon tank to call home.

One really cool thing was that the move enabled me a semi-accurate count of the current population of shrimp (as I only moved one to four at a time). In all it seems my original 20 shrimp have multiplied to about 160 in the last two and a half years. I look forward to seeing how much more they grow in this larger tank.

Another motivation for changing tanks was to change the flora over from the stringy macroalgae to Mustafa's moss balls (which I think will be more pleasing for me aesthetically, the macroalgae is wonderful but mine just grew too fast and required routine removal, plus tiny pieces fell apart all over the tank). One pretty little ball now sits in the middle of the tank, and I am eager to see how long it takes to start reproducing (though I know it will take quite a while).

Algae left over on the back wall from when the tank was freshwater is providing an all-you-can-eat buffet.

A full look at the expanded accommodations. Yes, somehow there are 160 shrimp in this tank, though a comparative few are apparent in the picture. More have come out in the day since I took this.

<><><>

The water did admittedly turn slightly cloudy the first day or two after the move, but has already cleared up nicely in the couple days since then. None of the shrimp seem to be in any distress either, indeed they settled down and colored back up a good deal faster than when I first got them.

Another interesting observation is that today I counted no less than five shed skins in the tank. For a long time now I have rarely seen any shed skins, and when I did it was pieces disappearing into the hungry mouths of the shrimps. I'm theorizing the sudden increase in visible molts is due to the shrimp adapting to the new tank, combined with them having so much more algae than before that they haven't bothered to eat the molts yet.

[SuperProofer]

Awesome!!

[Super Jess]

New tank looks great! Must have been really neat to get a real count. 20 to 160 is super. Lots of happy shrimp!

[i<3Opae]

I like the looks of the rock in the middle, not to mention plenty room for growth Did you transfer everything except for the macro algae?

[Varanus]

I like the looks of the rock in the middle, not to mention plenty room for growth Did you transfer everything except for the macro algae?

Tried to, digging out every last snail was a bit too much to attempt.

[Varanus]

Though, speaking of the snails, I am a bit concerned about them. I actually moved a bunch of snails over a couple days before moving the shrimp, to make sure the water was acceptable. They behaved like normal so I then moved the shrimp. But in the days since then the snails have become almost completely inactive, only two of the couple dozen on the surface seem to be moving at all (and even at night, when they are more active, I only found five moving). There's been no notable ammonia spike (not to mention they weren't bothered at all by the ammonia when the original tank was cycling), so hopefully they're just resting after feeding so much those first few days.

Part of the worry comes from how this was the tank that as a freshwater tank mysteriously seemed to kill every snail I put in it for some time (while so many more fragile animals survived fine). I thought it was past that though.

[Mustafa]

How are the snails doing? If they are dying still, you may want to do a 80-90% water change. Obviously there's something in the water that is killing the she snails if they keep dying.

How is the tank doing otherwise?

[crittersni]

I used a sharpie for a small line on the outside glass. When the water goes down a small amount, I add distilled water to keep it at that line. The water evaporates, but the salt doesn't. If you lose a significant amount of water, or keep adding salted water, you will increase the salinity.

[Varanus]

How are the snails doing? If they are dying still, you may want to do a 80-90% water change. Obviously there's something in the water that is killing the she snails if they keep dying.

How is the tank doing otherwise?

Its the strangest thing, I think almost all the snails died over the course of a few days (and provided quite a feast for the shrimp). On the other hand the shrimp have shown zero signs of distress, if anything they seem even more outgoing than they were in their old tank. I guess I'll know for sure they are fine once they start breeding again. But as far as I can tell, just like when this tank was a freshwater one, whatever it is about it that bothers snails doesn't seem to bother shrimp.

Further, at least one or two snails survived the apocalypse and seem to be doing fine a month later. Given they are parthenogenetic I wager the population will come back over time.

[Varanus]

About 30 shrimp larvae bobbing about now brings the population to 190 assuming they all survive to metamorphose. All else routine, including the surviving snail seeming to be fine.

[jonesinfershrimp]

i dont do much here posting wise, but theres a few threads ive been watching the last couple years (this being one of them) that have blown me away. things that would set the rest of the internet on fire for fear of the unknown. i have a couple tanks with these amazing creatures myself, thanks toi these couple of threads. Varanus, thank you for keeping this thread alive. ive let mine die (though i suppose i could resurrect it) but the information you and some others have been able to share i think is invaluable.