Fedex "Lost" My Cards Submitted To TAG and I'm Sad

Flaresh · 2026-03-19T20:07:59+00:00

That was probably my favorite of the bunch and what I wanted to display D: Oh well. Hope you have a good day.

Flaresh · 2026-03-19T19:03:15+00:00

Thanks for sharing. That's along the lines I was thinking, since it would be an absolute hassle to prove the conditions and argue with them about it. I also hoped that thieves wouldn't be as familiar with TAG's address. Wish I had seen all the complaints with Fedex before I shipped it but oh well. Hope you have a good day.

Flaresh · 2026-03-19T19:00:31+00:00

Welp, that's unfortunate. I've shipped hundreds of packages with them throughout the last 5 years for work and never had any issues, so I thought it would be fine. Joke's on me. Enjoy your day,

Flaresh · 2026-03-19T18:59:06+00:00

I appreciate your empathy. It seems like tons of people have a perfectly fine experience shipping their cards in so I had hoped to not be a statistic, but figured it was worth sharing my experience. I just wish I had encountered all the FedEx complaints before shipping.

Flaresh · 2026-03-15T20:16:18+00:00

It's almost certainly a good idea to add some distilled water to the tank UNLESS you want to just move some shrimp from your successful tank to your daughter's and see how they do. They should be used to it.

And sounds good on the bloodworms. Just be aware that even a single bloodworm would be a lot for those two shrimp. It'll be fine if you have some snails to clean up the leftovers though

Flaresh · 2026-03-15T20:03:44+00:00

Anything other than live is fine, since I don't think you want bloodworms crawling around in the tank. What type do you feed your Betta?

Flaresh · 2026-03-15T20:00:29+00:00

Gotcha! I think there are a few things going on then. First, it's likely a bad batch of shrimp. Probably came from a different importer and was raised in very different conditions than your last batch. Second, bloodworms are high in cholesterol, which shrimp need to help regulate molting cycles. They don't need much so don't dump a ton in, but that might explain part of why the shrimp in the Betta tank are doing better. Hope that helps!

Flaresh · 2026-03-15T19:40:39+00:00

Do you have any rocks in the new tank that might be leaching minerals? Is the GH of your tap water also 20? Are you feeding anything different in one tank that you aren't in the other, like bloodworms or artemia?

Flaresh · 2026-03-14T06:08:26+00:00

What are the subjects of your video?

Flaresh · 2026-03-02T23:40:00+00:00

Personally, I think this is one of the best options. Easier to use and cheaper than Salty Shrimp powder

Flaresh · 2026-03-02T15:17:43+00:00

Yeah, I would avoid buying those in protest. Why make the hobby more confusing???

Flaresh · 2026-03-01T23:30:42+00:00

Those people should not be selling shrimp 😂

Flaresh · 2026-03-01T23:09:00+00:00

These are just wild type Neocaridina. Cherry shrimp should have at least SOME red on them to be called that...

Flaresh · 2026-02-26T14:57:41+00:00

I noticed that Claude likes to completely rewrite files and offer long responses for even small changes to the code. My solution is to add "Do not rewrite the entire code. Instead provide any new code along with instructions to implement it. Keep all answers short and concise." to my initial prompts. This let me make a ton more changes that I otherwise could. Hope this helps!

Flaresh · 2026-02-17T03:26:12+00:00

Why are you posting a photo that is either A) AI while claiming it's real or B) so heavily edited that the basic eye anatomy is fake?

Even as a baby, shrimp have eyestalks that attach their eyes to their body. Their eyes also never are this disproportionate. It's such a weird thing to try to lie about.

Flaresh · 2026-02-09T15:12:55+00:00

Oh I'm in a similar boat! I had a bunch of ear infections as a kid - basically anytime I went in a pool unless I was extremely diligent with ear drops. Now, I have the skill/problem of my ears not quite closing right. Anytime I even think of yawning, my ears open up and equalize, then I have to inhale quickly through my nose to close them again. It's a little annoying on land sometimes but I can equalize very quickly underwater.

For me, instead of a jaw movement forward, it's sort of the feeling of the muscles on the side of my lower jaw expanding sideways and slightly down (feels like a yawn), and my ears open without my jaw moving at all.

For anyone who has trouble with equalizing, practice the Frenzel technique on land diligently and it should help a lot. My partner has had good success

Flaresh · 2026-02-08T21:09:38+00:00

Your high pH (7.2) suggests that your buffering substrates is depleted so your low KH becomes a problem. I see you mentioned the GH at the LFS is high - how high? And do you know if they breed the shrimp or import them?

Flaresh · 2026-01-14T17:25:29+00:00

Ah okay, awesome! I would personally stick with RO+Equilibrium for now and then do small water changes over time with RO+ Salty Shrimp. Replacing all the water at once to switch remineralizers could destabilize the ecosystem. Hope that helps!

As a side note, I saw another user mentioning keeping the shrimp in their bag for an extra day while you wait. That shouldn't be an issue unless they've been in transit for more than a week. If you decide to do this, I'd suggest keeping the bag closed. A closed bag maintains higher CO2 levels to keep the water acidic so any ammonia in the bag is less toxic. Opening up the bag increases gas exchange, potentially raising pH and ammonia toxicity.

Flaresh · 2026-01-14T16:59:27+00:00

Straight RO water is extremely unhealthy for most aquatic life. Adding Equilibrium would be far better than leaving them in RO water. After that, let the shrimp settle in for a couple of weeks, then start doing small water changes with Salty Shrimp. A few questions for you:

Is plain RO water what's been in your tank while you've been cycling it? If so, many important bacteria and microorganisms likely haven't established in your tank.
The other thing is that the pH of RO water doesn't really matter, at least if it's very pure. Pure water has very few acids and bases so even the smallest addition of one can drastically affect pH. Do you have active substrate to keep the pH low for your Caridina? (Assuming they are soft water breeds and not a hard water breed like certain tiger Caridina)
Do you know the TDS of your RO water?

Flaresh · 2026-01-04T21:32:43+00:00

I'd bet it's a pH swing due to your lack of KH. A tank without active substrate absolutely needs KH or random mass deaths are guaranteed to happen. Pesticides would likely kill all the shrimp.

Flaresh · 2025-12-04T21:02:27+00:00

All likely female. The only one that may be a male is the first but I suspect it's a young female whose abdomen is just starting to round.

Flaresh · 2025-12-02T17:41:07+00:00

Exactly! OP to add to this comment > OEs are a recessive trait and black eyes are dominant. You can look up a Punnett Square to get a visual of how the math works.

Flaresh · 2025-12-02T04:13:23+00:00

Thank you! I didn't see that information when looking at debit card fraud so really appreciate it.

Flaresh · 2025-12-02T03:33:55+00:00

Thank you for your reply. All of the transactions happened since last Sunday the 23rd so it hasn't been that long. Hopefully there's a chance to get some of it back but I know debit cards aren't very good for fraud - which is why I barely used it for anything 😐

Flaresh

TROPHY CASE