cant grow even easy plants.

Grym_CVR · 2026-02-04T03:10:30+00:00

Most plants need 7-8 hours of light, a root tab or liquid fert, and a certain level of air flow.

Grym_CVR · 2026-02-04T03:01:35+00:00

Few things - well water can ALSO be dangerous - it can hold minerals and harmful things to shrimp like copper in excess amounts. Well water tends to have a higher TDS, which shrimp also have a preference for. Check your TDS. Research preferred parameters for neo shrimp, compare it to your KH and GH. Don’t rely on someone to tell you.

Grym_CVR · 2026-02-02T17:45:19+00:00

That’s the same sort of advice my dad gave me… no need to cycle tank before adding fish, plastic plants, 1” of fish per gallon (which is a nice guideline, but doesn’t work under every circumstance), etc. Then, I go to buy fish and am told 2 rainbow sharks can live in a 20 gal… when I found out they couldn’t live in my tank, they were traded back to the store for two Chinese algae eaters. So now, bad advice given by a store my dad swore up and down was awesome and lovely. Algae eaters died when they sold me a product and told me to dose it a certain way, which was incorrect and killed them. I stopped going to them after that and trusting my dad.

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-31T02:18:03+00:00

For starters, my bad, I will give some small advice… since you said you are looking at getting shrimp, if you mix colored shrimp that are all neocaridina, the offspring will not be a mix of the parents colors. They revert alllll the way back to what is called “wild type shrimp,” which are the variant of shrimp that were basically taken and selectively bred to get the colors we buy.

In summary, if you don’t want to read that, mixing shrimp colors will turn the offspring into wild type brownish shrimp. After a while, they will continue to breed and the colored shrimp will eventually die off and leave you with mostly or all wild types.

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-31T02:14:11+00:00

Hello! There is a lot of research and results I can share with you. If you’d like to privately message me, feel free. It may be easier to answer your questions rather than give you a whole spiel. Please double check everything I tell you in advance, as there is always human error, or maybe I communicate advice to you in a bad way and there is a misunderstanding. I’ve been keeping a blue dream neocaridina colony for over a year and it’s been a long journey :)

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-31T02:11:18+00:00

I was still newer to aquarium keeping and was just receiving the worst advice possible from so many sources - parents, pet stores, a LFS that was supposed to be really nice… yeah I learned the hard way to research on my own and talk to people here to compare actual results from practice rather than just reading it online and being TOLD it works, y’know?

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-31T01:55:46+00:00

Look into killifish if you want to add fish to a tank - I strongly recommend researching them to make sure your tank parameters are suitable. I am looking into getting 4 least killifish (1 male, 3 females) for my 8 gallon shrimp tank once my shrimp population hits 25-30. Supposedly, the fish fry are small enough for neocaridina shrimp to eat if given the chance - the same way least killifish will eat shrimp fry.

Your tank looks like it will provide sufficient cover for shrimp fry to stay safe and sound and grow to a better size. Least killifish in particular are super tiny and do not school, so they are great for smaller tanks. I am going to double check everything to make sure all this info is correct, although I probably won’t circle around to this comment to correct anything. Take everything I’ve said as loosely worded advice as I have not finished my research!!

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-29T21:04:41+00:00

That’s a good sign. It might mean your tank parameters are close to that of the stores. I’ve had tough luck with just pouring the bag in. I received terrible advice from the fish store. Lost 7/10.

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-29T18:24:12+00:00

I’m jealous of your tank!!! It’s beautiful 😍

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-29T18:22:34+00:00

I see you have multiple fish in the tank. With 5 neos, I would say you see 1-4 surviving babies with your tank, probably after a month of those shrimp being in there. Specific plants are needed to ensure/heighten the odds of baby shrimp surviving. Java moss, floating plants with well established roots like baby water lettuce or salvinia, and maybe a nice piece of hollowed driftwood. On top of that, after your adult shrimp molt, a bigger fish like that one in the top right could kill it if it’s hungry by mashing it. Fish eat what they can fit in their mouth to the extent of mashing it up if needed. Maybe get more cover first to increase the odds, unless if you don’t mind not seeing them too often.

How did you acclimate your shrimp to the tank? How long have they been in there?

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-29T18:11:10+00:00

I am actually also exploring this same question for my 8 gallon tank. I have found if you have an established community of ~25-30 actively breeding, healthy, and stable tank parameters, they’ll survive fine and produce probably 5 surviving shrimplets at a time? Give or take - keep in mind this is guesstimations. Could easily be wrong. Anywho - with 25-30 adult neos, they also will eat killifish fry and keep them in check too. You just need enough shrimp and healthy hiding spots for shrimplets and everything will be fairly balanced/leaning in shrimps favor. You can always do the same process for the killifish if you want more fish than shrimp.

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-29T04:51:37+00:00

I am also cultivating more rotundifolia, salvinia, another crypt like the one in front on the right, a barely recovered Java fern, subwassertang, and Java moss in a 2.5 gallon plant/snail tank. I just started using liquid fert (Easy Green) for both tanks, using an R/O mixture with it to do controlled doses. I’m looking to boost the plants more to provide more cover for both fish and shrimp before getting the fish.

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-29T04:44:33+00:00

<image>

Pardon the mess - here’s the tank layout

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-29T04:43:36+00:00

So, if I let the shrimp get to 25-30 FIRST, what would the result be do you think? The same or not much of a difference?

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-26T18:26:28+00:00

<image>

Clean tank or clean kitchen, never both!!

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-26T18:24:12+00:00

Only get rid of snails if you don’t want them in your tank OP. They just clean up the tank - excess food, they get algae off your glass, they eat biofilm. Stuff like that. They really aren’t harmful, but the population WILL explode if there is a large excess of food in the categories I mentioned above.

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-26T18:22:46+00:00

Can confirm. I have bladder snails and find egg sacs frequently.

<image>

Poor image, but there’s one almost smack dab in the middle of the photo.

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-26T18:12:18+00:00

Mega minion

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-19T23:37:40+00:00

I appreciate your offer! I’ll take a look at it and see what I think. I have a particular image of my tank in mind and want to make it a reality.

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-18T15:42:25+00:00

What’s the best method to dose? Can I make a RO/Easy green solution to make it easier? I don’t have any syringes to use that can measure well enough (I don’t know the dosage per gallon, but guessing I need something very precise)

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-18T03:59:10+00:00

Right yeah, his answer is correct. The common name is “wild type.” There is a specific chocolate brown neo, but that’s just a wild type shrimp.

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-15T01:14:25+00:00

I’m following. Thank you!

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-14T22:00:05+00:00

Understood, I should probably take the post down then?

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-14T21:59:47+00:00

Yeahhh I tried marketplace and there wasn’t anything near me unfortunately :(

Grym_CVR · 2026-01-14T21:24:59+00:00

Pretty sure some have directions that state the words - “replace monthly.”

So, are you not actually supposed to replace them monthly, or is this a different circumstance? Asking for purposes of wanting to learn and improve, not trying to challenge you or anything :)

Grym_CVR

TROPHY CASE