My snowball shrimp setup

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:02 pm

Hi there. It has been a long time since I post anything at all in the forum. It is time to do so. Here is some information on my snowball shrimp and what has been successful for me in keeping and breeding them.

My tank parameters are as follow:

-Ph: 6.8-7.0
-Ammonia: 0
-Nitrites: 0
-Nitrates: 0
-GH: 5dKh
-KH: 3dKh
-Temp: 73-75F (I have air conditioning on all day long and this is the temp variation in the tank)
-No fertilizers and no CO2
-Lights are provided by two shop lights from Home Depot: 160watts

The shrimp are housed in a 75G tank and share the tank with:

-red and blue ram shorn snails
-olive nerites
-one bumble bee shrimp
-ten orange dwarf crayfish
-one orange-brown dwarf crayfish

The flora of the tank consists of:

-Different Hygros
-X-mas moss
-Najas grass
-Red Myrio
-Java Fern
-Ludwigia
-Egeria Najas

The substrate that I used was a 50lb bag of Soilmaster Select Red and ¼ of a bag of ADA Amazonia. Soilmaster select is used for golf courses and is an inert gravel.

What the shrimp eat?

-HBH Crab and Lobster Bites
-Shrimp Pellets
-Zucchini
-Occasional algae wafer
-Algae

Cheers,
Pedro

Here are pictures of a pregnant snowball shrimp in the tank:

These are photos of baby snowballs and other snowballs I have in the tank:

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 4:27 pm

milalic
Thank You for sharing the information and the photos. Nice group of Snowballs.

It is nice to know they like the lower PH.
My Snowballs are keep in 7.7 .

Thank You Again
John

nemesis1337 · Post by **nemesis1337** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:01 pm

wow very nice tank
keep the photos coming

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 5:05 pm

I'll keep updating it from time to time. Thanks for looking.

Pedro

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:44 pm

Hi milalic

Do any of your Snowballs, Have white dots in there tail ?

I know they are not Eggs.

I would post a picture, if I could get them to hold still long enough.

John

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:18 am

I have not notice that, I will see later today if I see anything similar in mine.

-Pedro

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:39 pm

John,

I have looked at them and do not seen any white dots.

-Pedro

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:42 pm

Pedro
Thank You, For looking.

I still can not get a good picture.

As soon as I can get one I will Post It.

John

Post by **Mustafa** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:02 pm

I've seen some faint (*very* faint) dots on the tails of some of my shrimp. Not all of them seem to have it, or I just did not look closely enough. You really need good eyes to see them though, and even then you need to look really closely. I'll see if I can take a picture at some point...it'll be tough.

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:41 am

This is the best picture I can get.

I had a few other Shrimp that had alot more.
but, I pulled them out. I was afraid that they might be parasites.

John

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:36 am

How have the shrimp that you have pulled out of the tank been healthwise? I hope it is not too serious and they are alright.

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 10:19 am

I did not want to take a chance. And I did not have a hospital tank.
Do I need to say anymore.

John

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 10:27 am

Sorry to hear that

Sometimes we have to do the hard thing to protect the rest of the tank. Hope this solves the problem.

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 1:38 pm

Well here is a better shot.

It is hard to get it on camera

John

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:55 pm

Oh..now I see what you are saying. That's not their tail, it's their abdomen. I was looking at the actual tail (=telson and uropod area) of my shrimp to try to see what you are talking about.

I'm not quite sure what that is actually. I have seen similar things before on some of my red cherries, but never on my snowball shrimp. All I know is that it does not spread. The affected shrimp continue their lives seemingly normally. I have never seen too many shrimp in a tank affected by this. It's usually just one, rarely two, and I've only really seen it two or three times in several years. Right now I don't have any shrimp that have this.