Lots of questions

[Varanus]

And with such a small reading of ammonia I don't know if you should keep redosing every 48 hours. Not sure if too much Prime could have any negative effects, but I do assume the recommendations are presuming your tank is producing a lot more waste than a supershrimp tank does. I'd wait a week or two and test the water again.

[shrimpnoobie]

Helloooo,

So just wanted to post some weird and cool stuff that happened.
I followed Varanus' advice and put some prime in and waited. Although I did redose, there are no negative effects of prime unless you put like a bunch in according to their FAQ so thankfully I did not see any negative effects. After that I left it alone.

Well I have been trying not to feed at all but I still have no visible algea growth (I think it is the lack of light) and recently my shrimp and snails have been crazy active. I think they are looking for food. I dropped in like 1 miniscule pellet and left. Ten minutes later, it is gone. I look around and see there is a shrimp holding it and my three other shrimp are around the shrimp with the food. They would go up to him but my shrimp with the pellet would jerk away and stuff. Learn to share am I right. Fine, I drop in another pellet and watch. And again there is like a pattern of aggressiveness as all the remainder shrimp try to grab the pellet and they kind of dart at each other ha ha. I thought these shrimp were sharers!

Anyway. Should I buy one of those bacteria in a bottle things to jump start some more bacteria in my tank?

[Varanus]

From what I've heard the jump starter things are no replacement for good old patience. And looking for food doesn't mean the shrimp and snails are starving, just that they have to work a bit for it. If you watch the snails on the glass then you should be able to see their radulas (kind of like a tongue with teeth) scraping the surface at times, if they are it means there is food there even if you can't see it and they are eating it.

And yeah, these shrimp don't exactly share if the food is small enough to carry around. They eat as much as they want and then drop it, then someone else picks it up and so on until its gone. Others also seem to be able to sense when another shrimp is eating, as I've noticed they will often pursue a shrimp with food even if other bits of food are nearby and untouched. Feel free to feed every two or three weeks if you see no algae, so long as the shrimp remain eager and everything is consumed within a couple hours you should be able to avoid overfeeding. If you notice they start to lose enthusiasm then reduce how much or how often you feed. Just keep in mind overfeeding is a much more realistic risk with these than underfeeding, even in a tank with no visible algae it is highly unlikely any will starve even without supplemental feeding (but they still appreciate it).

[Super Jess]

With such small environments it doesn't take much to throw them out of whack. I'd skip the added bacteria to avoid the possibility of creating a bigger problem than you intend to treat.

As far as feeding, if your shrimp have full guts and are pooping then they have enough food, even if it's not visible. Full digestive tracts appear as a dark, pale, or silvery line inside that extends the length of their bodies.

Even though they don't need it, I feed once a month with the tiniest spirulina pellet I've ever seen. It floats, and swells as it takes on water. It's fun because the shrimp get super excited, and they kind of play soccer with it and pass it around at the water's surface. The snails clean up any bits that make it to the bottom.

[shrimpnoobie]

Thanks for both of your replies! Yes my snails do seem to be “licking” the glass full time, and my shrimp are always throwing sand around with their little hands so I am just gonna trust.
Superjess, I wish my shrimp were as smart as yours. When I put in my tiny pellet the shrimp practically had to trip on it to realize it was there. But once one of them did they all freaked out, like Varanus said.
Thank you (-:

[shrimpnoobie]

Hey everyone!

I set up my tank (2.9 gal) in late April. I believe and things have been running smoothly. The tank is pretty much on auto pilot except for me adding some water every now and then. The shrimp look pretty relaxed. They are from an ecosphere so there is only four, 3 of them are always red and another trends fairly gray but I guess that’s just how he is.

So anyway I would like some babies. I only have four shrimp so I understand there is a possibility I could have all of the same gender. Something I do have a question about is my snails. I have ten snails from Mustafa but they’ve made so many babies!! I can easily count 18 little snail shells. I’m wondering if my snails are outcompeting my shrimp for resources and for that reason my shrimp will never try to make babies. So, other then buying more shrimp, is there anything I can do to help my shrimp out?

Some more info about my tank: there is still no visisbke algae on my tank pretty much. Sometimes I see it but it goes away. I never feed my shrimp. The temperature looks like it’s about 75-80 according to the sticker. My tank sits next to a window and gets a good amount of light. I know my shrimp get enough food because they’re usually sitting in one place just moving their little arms, so I know they don’t have to look for food. Thanks for reading all this.

[Sasquatch]

Unfortunately you can’t really do anything to speed up reproduction (other than the Mustafa method which it sounds like you’re following). You just have to wait. I don’t have any berries yet but I can tell I have females because of the dark eggs developing in the back of their heads. Do you see anything like that? If not I’d guess getting more shrimps is the only way to get babies since you need a female for that.

[Mustafa]

The snails won't affect shrimp breeding. I'd say 4 shrimp just isn't enough to make sure you have both genders. Have you ever seen a dark "saddle" in the head/back area of any of your shrimp? That's a sure sign you have at least one female.

[shrimpnoobie]

Hey all. I think my tank is about four years old at this point, it is an ecosphere tank with four shrimps in it. Originally I set it up with Mustafa's algae. That algae seemed to grow/become hair algae so I separated it with the help of this forum's advice. Well now it seems all my algae has become hair algae.

1) is this normal
2) I should throw it out and buy new algea right? Is any brackish water algae ok, can I get some from my LFS or am I better off buying Mustafa's?

Thanks for your help time and time again

[kyleaz]

Are mts able to live in salt water? I am not sure I understand is it Petshrimp and Mustaffa selling the shrimp of is Mustaffa the owner of Petshrimp? I would like to buy more but I am not sure about shipping charges and weather. I am in Arizona.

[Mustafa]

Hey all. I think my tank is about four years old at this point, it is an ecosphere tank with four shrimps in it. Originally I set it up with Mustafa's algae. That algae seemed to grow/become hair algae so I separated it with the help of this forum's advice. Well now it seems all my algae has become hair algae.

1) is this normal
2) I should throw it out and buy new algea right? Is any brackish water algae ok, can I get some from my LFS or am I better off buying Mustafa's?

Thanks for your help time and time again

1) Macroalgae can become really thin resembling hair algae when light levels are really and nutrient levels near zero.
2) You can try to find some thick strands and keep those and throw away the rest. And no, not all macroalgae will do well in Supershrimp tanks. This particular species is different, because it can do well (and thrive) in very low salinity water and doesn't go "sexual" (i.e. melt and pollute the water) like most other macroalgae.

[Mustafa]

Are mts able to live in salt water? I am not sure I understand is it Petshrimp and Mustaffa selling the shrimp of is Mustaffa the owner of Petshrimp? I would like to buy more but I am not sure about shipping charges and weather. I am in Arizona.

MTS need to be acclimated slowly to brackish water. Our snails have been in brackish water for over 15 years, so there is no acclimation required. You just pop them in there. And, yes, this site sells shrimp, snails and other stuff. Just click on the "shop" link above.

[shrimpnoobie1]

Hi everyone, this is the same user as the original shrimpnoobie. I locked myself out of my account and the reset password link isn't working ):

I established my tank in 2018 with 4 ecosphere rescues. All I have done since is top off with distilled water and extremely rarely throw in food. Lately, I have had some contamination with dust (my tank is a bit open; I cover it with saran wrap but still let some air in). I have been wanting to do maybe a partial water change to make sure it does not get too dirty.

My question is this.... would you measure the current salinity of the tank, remove some water, and then add new water that has been mixed to the same salinity? Or would you just mix to any appropriate salinity, remove water and dump new water in... I am scared of oversalting basically. Sorry if this seems naive. I don't keep any other aquatic life. Just started this tank when I was gifted an ecosphere and realized it wasn't fair to the shrimp.

Additionally, is there any other care I should consider doing for this 2.7gal tank? It still has the same eggshell from when it was established. Should I swap it? The algae is also the same, it has died down quite a bit and is a little wispy. Should I swap it? Can I get appropriate algae for these animals at a LFS or do I have to order from here?

OK as always thank you for reading all this and to this community for making this project possible and helping me save these shrimpies (:

[Hammi3203]

I am also new to Opae Ula so I will try to answer one of your questions. I use a refractometer I purchased on Amazon to check on the salinity in my tank. I also purchased an Instant Ocean aquarium hydrometer from Petco but I prefer the refractometer.

[NeptuneDreamer23]

The info in this thread got me dizzy but they're all very insightful!