do you have Shrimp Madness?

[Baby_Girl]

I knew I had a problem when I went through periods of near-obsession over shrimp. I thought about them almost every waking moment, I saw them in my head whenever I closed my eyes, when I slept I had dreams about shrimp breeding projects.

But it really crystallized for me when I lost batch after batch of shrimp, got so frustrated and disgusted that I made a declaration to give up trying to breed shrimp. ...and yet, I just couldn't turn away. Obviously, I haven't been able to stick to that conviction because I'm still here.

Not only that, but my Shrimp Madness is more serious than ever. I breed (or have bred) 4 varieties of shrimp, have immediate plans for 2 more, and who knows how many more I'll want in the future.

While I've kept fish tanks much of my life, the craze I thought I had for those is NOTHING compared to my insanity for shrimp. I'm willing to bet many of you feel the same way.


So let's here it. When did you first realize you had the Shrimp Bug and there was no going back?

I'm imagining it in a Jeff Foxworthy 'you might be a redneck'-twang:
If yooouuuuu ________ ________ _______ , you might have the Shrimp Bug

[Baby_Girl]

oh yeah, one more way I knew I was a Shrimp Nut.

I automatically converted monetary amounts into how many shrimp that equates to. Ex) my car required $200 worth of electrical repairs. In my head I did the math: OK, that means I'll have to sell 40-50 green shrimp to make up for that expense

[Neonshrimp]

Hi, my name is neonshrimp and I'm a shrimpaholic. My last shrimp purchase not including supplies and food was 2 months ago. My addiction started about two years ago with RCS. However, as a child I had a ghost shrimp in my first 10gal tank. I guess that was when my problem truly began .

[shrimpbaby]

oh yeah, one more way I knew I was a Shrimp Nut.

I automatically converted monetary amounts into how many shrimp that equates to. Ex) my car required $200 worth of electrical repairs. In my head I did the math: OK, that means I'll have to sell 40-50 green shrimp to make up for that expense

I do that, too.

[Baby_Girl]

I do that, too.

whew, I'm glad I'm not the only one

Neon, thanks for playing along

[guntank0079]

It was just a coincident when I first started...

About 10 months ago, I learned that one of my friends had given up his marine tank. In the first place, I got his tank and used that to set up my third freshwater fish tank...

But at the same time, I got his nice rocks also...I set up another 10 gallon tank for just the display of the aquascaping...but it would be so boring without any life in the nice rocky tank...but the tank was small with the rocks occupying most of the spaces...I needed something smaller in size and made that work.

I walked my LFS one day and noticed some feeder shrimps with babies...
One idea came across my mind: what if I could raise some feeder shrimp for my freshwater fishes? (Kind of embarressed now to have that idea in the first place. )

The raising of the feeder shrimp best fitted my idea back then, as the coral rocks created many hidding places and tunnels...

I did hours of researches on how to reset the rocky tank conditions...
It was my first time to learn that the feeder shrimp was named ghost shrimp instead...without noticing myself, I was sitting in front of the ghost shrimp tank and watching for hours...

I did more and more researches; and learned more about other types of shrimps...I started setting up another RCS tank...and Amano tank...and now I have more shrimp tanks than the fish tanks, and I spend more time watching my shrimps than the fishes...

I believe the shrimp bug first bit me when I was researching to raise the ghost shrimp in the first place, without myself knowing that...

I am for sure about one thing: even the ghost shrimps were relatively inexpensive, I loved my shrimps so much that I was not willing to use them to feed my fishes even they were first branded as feeder shrimp...

[Baby_Girl]

thanks for sharing, guntank

OK, update on my Shrimp Insanity. I will be increasing my breeding projects within the next few months to include snowball shrimp, opae ula, and Amano larvae. This would bring my collection of shrimp colonies to 6 (including the RCS, yellow, and green shrimp I have now).

That would mean my number of shrimp tanks would equal the number of 'Other' tanks. I must admit, though, that I spend proportionally much more time on my shrimp both in terms of maintenance and simply watching/enjoying. I could literally watch my shrimp crawl around ALL day, and STILL see them in my dreams at night. My fish tanks have basically stagnated, and now it's just a task of keeping them healthy with feedings every other day and water changes every week. Yawn. (Spoken like a true Invert Nut )

[shrimpbaby]

thanks for sharing, guntank

OK, update on my Shrimp Insanity. I will be increasing my breeding projects within the next few months to include snowball shrimp, opae ula, and Amano larvae. This would bring my collection of shrimp colonies to 6 (including the RCS, yellow, and green shrimp I have now).

That would mean my number of shrimp tanks would equal the number of 'Other' tanks. I must admit, though, that I spend proportionally much more time on my shrimp both in terms of maintenance and simply watching/enjoying. I could literally watch my shrimp crawl around ALL day, and STILL see them in my dreams at night. My fish tanks have basically stagnated, and now it's just a task of keeping them healthy with feedings every other day and water changes every week. Yawn. (Spoken like a true Invert Nut )

I'm glad that you decided to keep your greens. I love my snowballs. They're absolutely stunning. I have mine house with my green shrimp, but I now have to move half of my greens into another tank(they'll share with a few ghost shrimp) due to the about of breeding that's going on.

[Baby_Girl]

I'm glad that you decided to keep your greens. I love my snowballs. They're absolutely stunning. I have mine house with my green shrimp, but I now have to move half of my greens into another tank(they'll share with a few ghost shrimp) due to the about of breeding that's going on.

Wow, that's exciting that you're having THAT much breeding with your green shrimp. Is it just the original adults who are still breeding, or are some of your babies from this summer at breeding age? I ask becuase I lost all but 1 adult female from my order, but the babies are still not mature yet (but they're getting close). At this rate, I'm thinking the generation time of green shrimp must be 6-10+ months!

Yes, the greens sure are great. It's funny that when I had them in a tank by themselves, they weren't as outgoing as they are now when they're living with the yellows. It's like having more confident shrimp around encourages them to be braver. It is only after seeing this more outgoing side of the green shrimp that I've decided to keep at least a small number going.

Like you, I plan to eventually house snowballs with my greens. Those guys are absolutely 'stunning', as you said. I can't wait to get them, but I have to move all my yellows out first.

[shrimpbaby]

No, these are just my originals. Sinces the offspring take so long to mature, none of them are carrying yet. My adults are carrying constantly, so I have many different sizes going on in there.

[Jackie]

1. I missed an important family event because one of my M. assamense was "giving birth" in broad daylight, right in the front corner of the tank.

2. At a time of financial problems I wandered around in torn sneakers (they actually had holes in the soles) for a month and ate mainly hot-dogs because I was saving for setting up a few new shrimp tanks.

3. My new apartment must be able to hold at least 10 tanks. I'm still looking

[Neonshrimp]

Hi Jackie, you are truly bitten, and yet it brings you enjoyment

[southerndesert]

With me it was Ghost Shrimp that led to that fateful night on the PC while trying to learn more about the Ghosts... I saw a whole new world of freshwater shrimp and...well...as the wife says "lost my mind"

I then made the newbie move of adding RCS to my community tank with fish and GS and although doing well were not staying visible and active as expected. In the process of finding out why I hit the forums and with their and your help I now have gone seriously nuts over shrimp through the last 6 to 8 months.

That led to shrimp only tanks.... RCS then Malaya and CRS, Indian Zebra, Bee, as well as Yellows. With the wealth of knowledge and info learned the hard way I have so far met with great success with raising my various shrimp populations.

I now have 5 shrimp only tanks with 2 more cycling I fear there is no cure for this madness....

Bill

[Baby_Girl]

I fear there is no cure for this madness....

Bill, it certainly looks like you have contracted the fatal Shrimp Insanity

Jackie, thanks so much for your input! You may have the Shrimp Bug even worse than me Don't forget about your own health even when you're saving up for more shrimp and tanks. Splurge a little once in awhile for some fresh produce. At the very least, you can share it with your shrimpies (<-that's an odd emoticon, isn't it?)

[badflash]

Shrimp madnes can be overcome, but only by something worse!
Crayfish Madness!