# Shrimps (new video added in reply #76, Feb 5th, 2014)



## Duck5003 (Oct 1, 2012)

What a post! Those are some amazing shrimp, the white on those PRL's is stunning. Beautiful shrimps, thanks for sharing


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

+1 Good luck with your ventures. You have some great shrimp to breed from!


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## steakman (Feb 3, 2012)

Beautiful shrimps ... 

How much do you sell them for? Do you ship to U.S.A?

JUST KIDDING ... 

One day I'll go to Canada and smuggle some back here ...


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

Looking good  !


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## gobluewolverines4 (Apr 23, 2013)

Can you post some more full tank shots? I like the minimalist idea to make catching shrimp easy.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Here is another shot to show the tank setup.



The idea is the simpler the better. Water change scheme varies, from 10%-15% every 10-14 days to 10% every 1.5-2 months.

Feeding wise, we feed high quality specialized shrimp food 2-3 times a week and spinach or mulberry leaves once a week.

Parameter-wise, all CRS tanks are TDS 80 -120, GH 3-5, TB tanks a bit higher, TDS 100-120, GH 5. We used to use Saltyshrimp GH+ with RO but slowly changing to a new product in liquid form.

Temperature around 73-75. 

Hope this helps. Not saying this is the best way but just for your reference. We don't keep secrets unless it's from others and we don't have the permission to share.


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## sjp502 (Nov 28, 2013)

that is awesome!!! have fun and good luck ^^


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## mayphly (Jul 20, 2010)

Those are some sexy looking shrimp! Looks like they prefer hanging out on the plai. Bottom floor than in the substrate. Digging on the algae walls too!


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

mayphly said:


> Those are some sexy looking shrimp! Looks like they prefer hanging out on the plai. Bottom floor than in the substrate. Digging on the algae walls too!


Good observation. I dropped in some food to lure them to the substrate area for easy photo taking. When they graze in the tank (i.e. without introduced food), most of the shrimps prefer the bare bottom area. Very little would stay on the substrate area. This was one of the reasons we tried this half bare bottom configuration. I myself have observed that shrimps sometime would jerk off on substrate, but that almost never happens on the bare bottom area. My guess is something in the substrate that irritates them thus this design. We're also trying breed shrimps in tank without active substrate (or with active substrate that doesn't lower PH anymore), it's still in experiment stage so I won't bore you with too much uncertain hypothesis.


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## cah925 (May 18, 2007)

I am amazed at the tremendous colors you have achieved with these shrimp. I imagine the initial culling period must have been very tedious to get to this point.


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## mayphly (Jul 20, 2010)

Just curious to what PH you keep your TB at? My first batch of TB shrimp are scheduLed for arrival today.


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

How many mineral balls you got there randy? and what brand are they?


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

I dont think those are mineral balls, they look like the azoo bacteria balls


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

You mean those in the background? Those are eheim substratpro that came with some of the eheim canisters we use. We use mineral and trace element additives developed by our own weekly, very similar to SMW which is highly praised by Asian breeders.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

mayphly said:


> Just curious to what PH you keep your TB at? My first batch of TB shrimp are scheduLed for arrival today.


We don't muck around with PH, we let ADA Amazonia take us where it desire ;-) Our TB or CRS tank PH is anywhere between 5.8 - 6.2, but like I said, not because something we do differently or special. 

One of the shadow panda tanks in the picture was set up with Netlea CRS substrate which brings the PH down much more, new tanks get about 5.2-5.5 depending on how fast the UGF operates.

Oh, one things we do differently (at least I am not aware of anyone doing the same), is to treat our RO (before re-mineralized). We have a larger tank (30G) that constantly is filled with pure RO. We then run a AC70 that doesn't have any filter media but a big bag of peat moss in panty hose. We let it run for 3 days or more and the PH of the RO would stay at around 5 to 6.2 (depending on how much water this peat moss has treated). Without the treatment, our straight RO PH would go back to 7.0+ after a few days out of the RO system. After this treatment though, the PH will not come back up. To be honest though, we don't do that just for PH, this process also adds a lot of good stuff to the new water, and it's been working very well for us. Water change is done after this treated RO is re-mineralized.


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## Aquasapien69 (May 7, 2011)

Thanks for the very informative thread and the beautiful pics! 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Wow. You have some gorgeous shrimps.


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## xavinovic (May 30, 2012)

Amazing !!!!


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## plamski (Sep 25, 2009)

Congrats for the setup and great looking shrimps.
What peat moss are you using?


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

plamski said:


> Congrats for the setup and great looking shrimps.
> What peat moss are you using?


Canadian Sphagnum, something like this. The cheapest ones we can get in local garden centre, around $4 for 5 gallons. Make sure you get the cheapest one and there is no fertilizer added to it (if any is added, they would mark it on the package)

http://fertilomesoils.com/fertilome_peat.html


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

randyl, I just wanted to compliment you on sharing so freely. Secrets are often a pet peeve of mine. If more people shared knowledge, I really think shrimping would take off faster as well as make it easier for new varieties to be developed.

So, kudos to you, my friend!


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Soothing Shrimp said:


> randyl, I just wanted to compliment you on sharing so freely. Secrets are often a pet peeve of mine. If more people shared knowledge, I really think shrimping would take off faster as well as make it easier for new varieties to be developed.
> 
> So, kudos to you, my friend!


I'm honored my friend. Glad it's of some value.


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## xavinovic (May 30, 2012)

Soothing Shrimp 1 ++++++


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

Agreed as well, thanks!


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## usgetata (Dec 28, 2012)

Hi Randyl,
Awesome Shrimps!!
And thank you for sharing your secret on treating the RO water. Being in Miami Beach my RO water has PH 8+ naturally. You just gave me a new DIY project idea :-D


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

usgetata said:


> Hi Randyl,
> Awesome Shrimps!!
> And thank you for sharing your secret on treating the RO water. Being in Miami Beach my RO water has PH 8+ naturally. You just gave me a new DIY project idea :-D


Tap water in Toronto area is PH 7.8, TDS 175, GH 8, KH 5. Run my filter and I can get it down to PH 6, TDS 100, GH 5, KH 0 (pretty much perfect parameters for CRS by number). If I let it run longer PH can get to less than 5 if the peat moss ball is new. We're experimenting use this water for CRS on non-PH-lowering substrate. I think it still isn't nearly as good as RO because of other harmful elements in our water, adding active carbon as media first may help and we're trying to find out.


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## usgetata (Dec 28, 2012)

randyl said:


> Tap water in Toronto area is PH 7.8, TDS 175, GH 8, KH 5. Run my filter and I can get it down to PH 6, TDS 100, GH 5, KH 0 (pretty much perfect parameters for CRS by number). If I let it run longer PH can get to less than 5 if the peat moss ball is new. We're experimenting use this water for CRS on non-PH-lowering substrate. I think it still isn't nearly as good as RO because of other harmful elements in our water, adding active carbon as media first may help and we're trying to find out.


That would be awesome to keep CRS without active soil. Who wants to redo all the tanks every year just to keep a ideal stable PH!


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## Duck5003 (Oct 1, 2012)

usgetata said:


> That would be awesome to keep CRS without active soil. Who wants to redo all the tanks every year just to keep a ideal stable PH!


I'm curious, since you condition your water before it goes into the tanks and buffering substrate, do you notice a longer lifespan of your active substrates? Since they really dont need to buffer much by the time you get that water in, i would think it would extend it.


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Amazing!


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Duck5003 said:


> I'm curious, since you condition your water before it goes into the tanks and buffering substrate, do you notice a longer lifespan of your active substrates? Since they really dont need to buffer much by the time you get that water in, i would think it would extend it.


I would think so too. We've only started this for all tanks a couple of months ago so I can't tell you for sure. 

I also set up a tank with old substrate that doesn't lower PH anymore. And I can keep the PH at around 6 with the treated RO. However, I do believe that PH is not the main thing these active substrate provides the shrimps with. The nutrients for microorganisms, the trace elements, the minerals, ... etc probably contribute a lot to a good shrimp tank too. So our experiment is more complicated than I have mentioned. We will post any result we think reliable enough when the time comes.


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

lol what is your opinion of me filling an external breeding box full of netlea substrate and having it be my buffer for my 30 gallon?

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u221/rem1nisce/DSCN1212_zps223e33f9.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u221/rem1nisce/DSCN1211_zps208b836c.jpg

I did this because I was too lazy and not confident enough to create a sump for this purpose lol.

I would definitely try to set up my breeding tank like yours because it seems much cleaner in the future.


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## lemonnoodle (Apr 1, 2013)

Beautiful! I'm very curious about what plant that is attached to the drift wood. Some sort of vine?


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

shrimpzoo said:


> lol what is your opinion of me filling an external breeding box full of netlea substrate and having it be my buffer for my 30 gallon?
> 
> http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u221/rem1nisce/DSCN1212_zps223e33f9.jpg
> http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u221/rem1nisce/DSCN1211_zps208b836c.jpg
> ...


I don't know. We tried to have a stackable tray to hold the substrate and move them out when "expired" and have new ones cycled in a tank without shrimps so we always have usable tray to swap. But that seems a lot of work. I know you're already doing it so you should be able to let us know how it works. I think it's a good idea if you can get a big enough breeder box to hold enough active substrate for the tank. It seems to me you will need a huge one for a 30G.





lemonnoodle said:


> Beautiful! I'm very curious about what plant that is attached to the drift wood. Some sort of vine?


You mean those phoenix moss (fissidens fontanus)?


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## lemonnoodle (Apr 1, 2013)

Yes! Very cool I'll have to look into getting some of that.


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## Melted (Nov 22, 2013)

I really like the way you designed the tanks. using the idea in the future, please dont sue.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Melted said:


> I really like the way you designed the tanks. using the idea in the future, please dont sue.


LOL, it wasn't invented by me anyway, I was just convinced that it works the best out of many other setups I've tried. Since I didn't get sued, you should be okay ;-)


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## Drewsplantednutz (Jan 25, 2012)

Nice, very nice setup. My question is what is the UGF hooked up to if you have the sponges on the AC70? Is the UGF airdriven or hooked to a canister?


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Drewsplantednutz said:


> Nice, very nice setup. My question is what is the UGF hooked up to if you have the sponges on the AC70? Is the UGF airdriven or hooked to a canister?


Air driven. A lot ppl hook it up to canister intake but personally I think it's too strong, plus it's easier to set up than hooking up to canister/HOB intake.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

*New Pictures Added: Jan 26, 2014*

2014/01/26 update: Some more pictures I took two days ago....

Wine Red just molted. 



BKK Extreme (no, it's not chocolate ;-)

BKK Extreme fighting over a small piece of food... the babies are from BKK extreme x Pinto mischling.


One of the berried TB mischling.


BB and BBB (baby blue bolt lol)



This one is a half pinto (is there such thing?). I haven't found a mroe official definition for pinto so don't know what to call them. I'm using these hoping to get zebra pinto with spots on head. I love the fish bone line too but that is too expensive to own. May wait until they are more affordable or try to get some mischlings with fish bone gene.

The under side


I have high hope on these ones. I have about 8 of them and they all have the same pattern. A ingredient to breed pinto.
The pattern on the head looks more brownish in person, but with a macro lens taking close up you can see the tiny red dots.


Another adult pinto mischling. She is saddled again so will see what happens in this clutch.



Some of the high end CRS I just received. I got some from the same source in November. First batch of babies were born a few days ago and so far no golden seen yet. A few more berried female should release soon, so these might be pure red line? Regardless, their colour is amazing for the price I paid for.




Group shot



I kind of like this shot, it was accidental ;-) The shrimp in photo is a Tangerine Tiger from Germany.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Oh, right, how do I change the thread subject? Or it requires special privilege?


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## Lia (Aug 2, 2007)

Your shrimp are stunning. Is it as popular hobby n Canada as USA?

I read that the most popular place is Japan but you wouldn't know it considering you never see any posts from there nor any shrimp sites from there .


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Lia said:


> Your shrimp are stunning. Is it as popular hobby n Canada as USA?
> 
> I read that the most popular place is Japan but you wouldn't know it considering you never see any posts from there nor any shrimp sites from there .


I don't know how popular shrimp keeping is in Canada comparing to USA. But when I post on here I normally get more feedback than in Canadian sites. There are for sure some diehard shrimp keepers with fantastic shrimps I know of. Promoting shrimp keeping hobby is a long term goal of mine.

The market in Japan is huge, but language is a barrier. Even if you use online translator you still don't the full picture. I'm orginally from Taiwan where shrimp keeping is big. In any city you will find many serious breeders with amazing shrimps. I know a few guys there with 100+ tanks and it's just a hobby for them, although hobby normally translates to $$$ somewhat in the culture there together with bragging right.


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## usgetata (Dec 28, 2012)

Loving the pictures! I am originally from Hong Kong and shrimp keeping is very popular there too. But due to expensive real estate people usually have one or two 5 or 10 gallons. But they do have many nice high end shrimps there.


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## bostoneric (Sep 7, 2011)

randyl said:


> I'm orginally from Taiwan where shrimp keeping is big. In any city you will find many serious breeders with amazing shrimps. I know a few guys there with 100+ tanks and it's just a hobby for them, although hobby normally translates to $$$ somewhat in the culture there together with bragging right.



which breeder are you importing your shrimp from in Taiwan?


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

bostoneric said:


> which breeder are you importing your shrimp from in Taiwan?


From many different sources depending on species. Mainly I import from MK-Breed. Here is one of his crazy super CRS. It is probably the most stunning CRS I have seen.


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## Aquasapien69 (May 7, 2011)

Wow! What a beauty! 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk


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## bostoneric (Sep 7, 2011)

lots of great photos found here!

thanks


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## usgetata (Dec 28, 2012)

Wow That's the $1,000 grade or higher? Stunning!

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

great shrimp man!


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## c_gwinner (Mar 23, 2012)

randyl said:


> From many different sources depending on species. Mainly I import from MK-Breed. Here is one of his crazy super CRS. It is probably the most stunning CRS I have seen.


Wish I had time and money for a shrimp like that. I'm sitting here drooling at my desk staring at it. :eek5::eek5::eek5:


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

usgetata said:


> Wow That's the $1,000 grade or higher? Stunning!
> 
> Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk


That shrimp was eventually sold to a breeder in Hong Kong, for more than that amount ;-)

Here is another one he just took for Chinese New Year. Don't forget to go back to reply #40 to see other pictures I added today... I know mine don't compare to MK's in terms of photographic skill or shrimps but I'm trying ;-)


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

All we have to do is try in North America, as one day maybe with everyone trying and helping the hobby we will be there


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

sbarbee54 said:


> All we have tod do is try in North America, as one day maybe with everyone trying and helping the hobby we will be there


Can't say it better myself... that's my goal. I have invited people new to to hobby to visit my shrimp room (so they see how basics are done), I've given many shrimps out for free so people can try out, organizing shrimp meets, ....etc. Sharing is what it's all about.... just hope to get more hobbyists to share with.


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## xavinovic (May 30, 2012)

Hopefully one day america can be at that level.  cant wait!!


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## bostoneric (Sep 7, 2011)

takes time. a lot of us are working hard to produce high quality shrimp. takes many generations to get the colors to really pop. 

dont be fooled by the different grades. you can have very low quality SSS+ with horrible coloring. grade isnt all its cracked up to be. always request good photos of the shrimp you plan on purchasing and purchase from a reliable person.


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## usgetata (Dec 28, 2012)

Well at least on this forum we have a few of us trying to breed higher grade PRL now. The problem is that we are all spread out and almost impossible to all meet up and look at each other's tanks in person :'(

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## bostoneric (Sep 7, 2011)

Very true, but nice to know there are more and more people helping establish this fun hobby in the US. seems like we have a lot of catching up to do!


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

usgetata said:


> Well at least on this forum we have a few of us trying to breed higher grade PRL now. The problem is that we are all spread out and almost impossible to all meet up and look at each other's tanks in person :'(
> 
> Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk



Divide and conquer !! 

It may be next to impossible for all us to meet, thus we use this forum to share ideas. A few breeders in TW suggested that we should have a shrimp contest in North America and they are willing to sponsor, that would be an incentive and opportunity for us to meet up ;-)


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## Menace (Jan 15, 2014)

That BBK Extreme looks wicked!


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

A few more from my tanks.....


I like spiky moss .....



I like willow moss ..........



I like to sneak up to a baby red....



And I just like being a shrimp


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## Pika (Jan 13, 2014)

Beautiful... And great captioning.


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## austin.b (Feb 9, 2012)

Pika said:


> Beautiful... And great captioning.


+1! haha


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## usgetata (Dec 28, 2012)

👍👍

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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Dream Blue (Neocaridina) in my tank, the bluest shrimps I've ever seen....









Midnight Rilis...






Hope you enjoy these new pictures.


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## usgetata (Dec 28, 2012)

Is it a hair algae ball that they are munching on?

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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

usgetata said:


> Is it a hair algae ball that they are munching on?
> 
> Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk


Yes. They stay on it all day long.


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## usgetata (Dec 28, 2012)

I had one tank full of it but took it away because people said too much hair algae will create poison(?) And strangle the shrimp to death

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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

usgetata said:


> I had one tank full of it but took it away because people said too much hair algae will create poison(?) And strangle the shrimp to death
> 
> Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk


I have tanks full of that stuff too, mostly when cycling. I trim them down a bit but most of the time shrimps will take care of them.... I don't know anything poisonous from it or it strangles shrimps/shrimplet, but I think too much of it will reduce the water circulation and creates dead spots in the tank. Also, it can be an indication of chemical imbalance in your tank.


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## usgetata (Dec 28, 2012)

I was growing it on purpose like a farm, thinking that it could be nice "food" for my shrimps but was scared by the articles. You now proved me that it can be done :-D

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## seagrasser (Dec 29, 2013)

really like the Dream Blue's and Midnight Rili's.

Looking for some like these for an upcoming tank. Can you tell me where you can purchase these?


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## Lia (Aug 2, 2007)

Gorgeous shrimp but being that I love Rilli's , Those midnight Rilli's are amazing.


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## Lia (Aug 2, 2007)

randyl said:


> I don't know how popular shrimp keeping is in Canada comparing to USA. But when I post on here I normally get more feedback than in Canadian sites. There are for sure some diehard shrimp keepers with fantastic shrimps I know of. Promoting shrimp keeping hobby is a long term goal of mine.
> 
> The market in Japan is huge, but language is a barrier. Even if you use online translator you still don't the full picture. I'm orginally from Taiwan where shrimp keeping is big. In any city you will find many serious breeders with amazing shrimps. I know a few guys there with 100+ tanks and it's just a hobby for them, although hobby normally translates to $$$ somewhat in the culture there together with bragging right.


Thanks.

A family friend lived in Japan for a few years (business) . He kept cichlids and said that he has seen cichlids there which he has never seen in USA.


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## Drewsplantednutz (Jan 25, 2012)

Nice rilis. Whats the tan tube things in the pic? Fertilizer or planaria traps or something?


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Lia said:


> Thanks.
> 
> A family friend lived in Japan for a few years (business) . He kept cichlids and said that he has seen cichlids there which he has never seen in USA.


Yeah, I'm from Taiwan and there are fish/shrimp there that are hard to find here in North America.



Drewsplantednutz said:


> Nice rilis. Whats the tan tube things in the pic? Fertilizer or planaria traps or something?


Those are Prodibio prodibio biodigest vials. I use it when introducing lots of shrimps to a tank. In theory it boosts the beneficial bacteria colony, I use it just because it has worked well for me and the empty vials look cool in tanks.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Sharing my friend's new youtube video, he is a professional photographer, a shrimp breeders, and owns his own line of aquarium related products in Taiwan ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-JDT8iVGM8


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## Drewsplantednutz (Jan 25, 2012)

Pure zen video! You can really see all the tiny particles of food that go flying into the tank as they eat.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Love the jazz.


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

great video. are those crs or prl?


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## Aqualady (Jan 14, 2013)

Nice video clip...


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

wicca27 said:


> great video. are those crs or prl?


They are PRL CRS ;-)


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## Forumsnow (Feb 22, 2012)

I follow MK on fb, he's got some great looking prl.


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## sumaliong (May 31, 2014)

randyl said:


> Oh, one things we do differently (at least I am not aware of anyone doing the same), is to treat our RO (before re-mineralized). We have a larger tank (30G) that constantly is filled with pure RO. We then run a AC70 that doesn't have any filter media but a big bag of peat moss in panty hose. We let it run for 3 days or more and the PH of the RO would stay at around 5 to 6.2 (depending on how much water this peat moss has treated). Without the treatment, our straight RO PH would go back to 7.0+ after a few days out of the RO system. After this treatment though, the PH will not come back up. To be honest though, we don't do that just for PH, this process also adds a lot of good stuff to the new water, and it's been working very well for us. Water change is done after this treated RO is re-mineralized.


how there is no change in the color of water when using peat moss in your water treatment? thx


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## rajapanda (Dec 29, 2015)

hey are the white connecting part on the intake tube DIY or from somewhere? great idea


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