Halocaridina rubra

[KenCotigirl]

My question is, am I ready to keep Halocaridina rubra? I have spent hours researching on-line about this shrimp and have read the threads in the forum.

Some backup info on me may be helpful. I have been keeping shrimp for about 5 months. I have both RCS and Tigers. To be honest to both the forum and myself, my success with my current shrimp has been hit or miss. I seem to go several weeks with no mishaps, females with saddle, berried females and baby shrimp then bamm! Dead shrimp here dead shrimp there. Why? I do not know. (Rhetorical questions) Did I forget to dechlorinate the water? Was the dead snail that I removed polluting the water with bacteria? My son caught the dog drinking out of the tank. Can that be good? Do I have too many plants in my tank?

What have I learned in the last 5 months? Shrimp are way harder to keep than fish. Exponentially harder. I kept fish for years and never had problems maintaining them. My koi outside are idiot proof compared to shrimp. Make a mistake with fish usually nothing happens. Make a mistake with shrimp you have dead shrimp. Patience is required. Go slow. If you want to make changes do it over time and only change one thing at a time. Be prepared for losses. Do not chase water parameters. If your water parameters are within the allowable limits maintaining them is more important. (More rhetorical questions) When people say RCS are hardy what are they comparing them to? Not Aquarium fish. Don't believe the hype when people say I started with 10 shrimp now I have a huge surplus. At least do not let it depress you. Are people honest about their failures?

Assuming that this forum does not think I am a complete dolt and shouldn't have shrimp in the first place I would like to start my tank of Halocaridina rubra properly with the following:

10 gal tank
commercial ocean salt mixture
declorinated water
live sand substrate
one piece of live rock
a few pieces of lava rock for decor maybe some dead coral
hydrometer to maintain sg of 1.015 or 20ppt
heater 73 deg F
sponge filter/ aerator
flourescent light 30-40 watts
60 shrimp with a piece of live rock and some Cerithium zebrum snails (snails live in the same tank as the shrimp, small piece of live rock provided with shrimp)
Spriulina fish flake food (once a week)

The shrimp supplier said I should not worry about cycling. The live sand and rock maybe overkill and costly but I prefer to err on the safe side. The live sand and rock come from full salinity water. Will moving them to brackish water kill the benificial bacteria?

Sorry for the long post. Any thoughts positive or negative will be appretiated.

Ken P

[southerndesert]

I have been keeping H rubra for several months and your setup sounds like it will work fine, I would however let the tank cycle and mature regardless of what you were told. A good healthy matured tank with a healthy growth of bio film is always best for any shrimp in my opinion. I also feed a couple times a week and they swarm and consume the food as any shrimp would in my experience. You mentioned patience with shrimp keeping and the same rule stands for setting up your H rubra tank IMHO

[Fuzzy]

Have you tested your water for heavy metals? Fish can tolerate it a lot better than inverts.

[KenCotigirl]

I never tested for heavy metals. Sorry for my ignorance but what heavy metals would you test for? Are there inexpensive tests available?