New SuperShrimp Fan!

[KenCotigirl]

I would wait the two days. Don't see how moving them to another container wouldn't cause more stress.

KenP

[Arquisto]

Waited the two days! And didn't move any of the shrimp out of the bags.

Made the drive today from Washington DC back to Toronto Canada.
I was worried but i knew they weren't called Supershrimp and Super snails for no reason. All of them are now in the tank and seem to be enjoying themselves.

Half of the snails are burrowed into the sand where they landed when I dropped them in and the other half are already exploring the caves and crevices of their new home.

The shrimp are behaving similarly. With half of them just enjoying slowly grazing on the algae growing on the stone and the other half are swimming around exploring the tank.

I also just ordered a reverse macro lens adapter to hopefully get some better and more focused pictures of them up close but for now here are some I've taken already.


Here's a photo of them shortly after I introduced them all to the tank. I took the piece of yarn out an hour afterwards and moved the super macro algae to the side of the tank so it doesn't take away from the stones.

Here's a shrimp I'm assuming wasn't thrilled about the whole traveling since it got pretty white. I think most of the shrimp now are actually no longer as white and are starting to get pink. But it could be my imagination.

Here's a close up shot of a shrimp who decided that they've found their favorite resting spot.

And an obligatory shot of the snails.

Thank you to everyone for your advice throughout this process and especially thank you to Mustafa for keeping in contact with me and answering my emails. I'll keep you all posted of new developments and as my macro photography skills get better.

[Edwin]

Amazing! Looking forward to more photos of your beautiful tank and shrimps!

[Arquisto]

I think I'll be making a thread in the photography section so I don't flood people with my photos.

Amazon prime shipped me the reverse macro lens adapter in 12 hours so I started shooting with it today.

Here are the best shots I managed to snag.

And of course a shot of a snail doing a good job eating brown algae off a mos ball.

[Varanus]

Definitely looks like they've gotten redder even since you posted the previous group of pictures. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised just how red a lot of them end up, like tiny rubies scattered about the tank. Some may stay pale but they make a nice contrast.

[Mustafa]

I'm glad things worked out with the road trip and all. Thanks for the pictures! Don't worry about flooding this thread. Just keep posting the pictures here. I'm actually going to "retire" the photography section as it's really inactive. I may keep it around for people to view but disable posting. But most likely just get rid of it altogether.

Also...don't worry about matching the salinity in my tanks. I don't really have a *set* salinity in all of my tanks. It really varies...somewhere between 1.008 and 1.012SG or so but I've seen them breed at even wider ranges of salinity in the past. I *still* haven't gotten around to do doing salinity experiments with regards to when breeding would stop at the extreme ranges of salinity (i.e. almost freshwater or almost marine salinity), but I'll do that in the near future hopefully. In the meantime, just don't worry..as long as you followed the setup instructions here, you'll be more than fine. There is really no *perfect* salinity.

[Arquisto]

Most shrimp are now mostly super red and the few that aren't are just pretty transparent but interesting to look at since you can see their deep red innards.

Sadly I believe I have a snail that has moved onto the next life. It's been in the same spot on the gravel for the last 3 days with no movement. Zooming in with the macro lens i can see the other snails eat but this one really hasn't shown sign of movement. I'm hoping it was just old age, the rest of the snails are doing well, moving round, eating diatoms from the glass of the tank, and just being snaily.

Salinity of the tank is now at 1.009, so within the good salinity range and hopefully optimal conditions for breeding.

More photos!

[Edwin]

Nice photos and good looking shrimps!

[Arquisto]

It's been one week now since the shrimp and snails have been introduced into the tank. I had green algae and clear signs of brown diatom growth on the tank's glass but the snails and shrimp seem to now have eaten it all up. I found 3 snails for the first time today eating the protein film at the surface of the water.

I'm guessing I'd be okay now to feed them a tiny amount of mini algae wafers I bought to feed them. Sadly I haven't seen molting yet but I'm hoping maybe they're choosing to molt in one of the many hiding spots that exists in the dragon stones.

[Varanus]

Also its not unusual for molts to get eaten before you get a chance to see them.

[Arquisto]

Added the algae wafer yesterday night and for the first time since they were released into the tank I was able to count all 21 of them! Alas they've finished it all today with some help from the snails. I even cut the already mini wafer in half.

[Arquisto]

Molting!

My fiancee and I started noticing the shrimp being very active over the last couple days. Some of them look like they are galloping in the water and after some research I'm hoping this is a sign of the males looking around for a recently molted female.

I finally saw a molt today and took a photo! I'm hoping these are all good signs and maybe will catch some berried females soon though I know normally that's in the 4-6 months mark.

[Mustafa]

Thanks for the pictures and updates! Yes, molting usually means they are growing and maturing. It's hard to say when exactly the females get berried but it looks like your shrimp are moving towards that direction.

[Arquisto]

So a few weeks ago I thought I saw a baby snail but wasn't sure... they probably start off like specks. This particular speck floated to the top of the water and then dropped down to the bottom of the tank. It was confirmed when I managed to snag a photo of the tiny baby snail.

I'm hoping this a good sign that the conditions are right for the shrimp to breed when they are ready.

At the moment the tank is going through its brown algae/diatom phase... the walls are in dire need of some snail and shrimp to clean it up all. I'm following the sage advice and not going to touch anything. I have however turned off the artificial light timer and now am just going to let the tank be lit by the natural indirect sunlight it gets.

Here are some photos! I've taken so many photos of them I'm actually starting to recognize some of them as individuals.

[Oople]

Your tank is beautiful! Thank you for sharing.