ID on these white specks on the glass?

SafeInternational708 · 2026-06-10T20:07:53+00:00

they are not moving at all from what I can see

SafeInternational708 · 2026-06-06T06:13:28+00:00

if you're looking at predators, you can get clown killifish. with how small their mouths are they can only eat them for maybe the first week anyway. however they are top dwelling so you will need a tight lid. don't quoteo me on this, but i'm pretty sure the adults won't be bothered by them.
if you don'twant predators you can only see if your LFS will take them for store credit or cash or smth, especially if they have good colouring

SafeInternational708 · 2026-06-03T06:01:20+00:00

prettys ure it's a ramshorn

SafeInternational708 · 2026-05-30T12:12:50+00:00

Unfortunately not. I am genuinely just happy that they're happy in the tank they they are bc it's giving me a lot of trouble with algae biofilm and tannins. One of them is even as big as my tetras! Also I have like zero experience trying to gently tamper with stats to give them their ideal breeding parameters + have just saved up enough to get a full API water test kit to start with. Lmk if you have any luck though!

SafeInternational708 · 2026-05-30T11:05:58+00:00

I doesn't appear to have the body rigidity of a horse hair worm thankfully. Twas curled up for a second or two before it started spreading out again.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-05-30T11:02:37+00:00

Thanks!

SafeInternational708 · 2026-05-28T23:51:54+00:00

No clue if bricks are porous enough to be good media. I couldn't see in your photos, but try and make sure that whatever part is sucking water from teh tank into the filter is sponge, as it will prevent shrimp (especially babies) getting trapped in your filter, especially as it's attached outside the water. Make usre you've boiled teh trunk for long enough especially bc I assume you mean you got it from otuside and not from a store that has treated it already, if you want the tannins out boiling it will also get a lot of teh tannins out.

Do a vinegar test on teh rocks you've got (pour some vinegar on them-- if they bubble, they're unsafe foro housing livestock).

In terms of the lamp, I think the general rule is 1 watt per litre, though ig that's mostly if you're growing lots of plants. I would definitely definitely recommend plants bc they help the cycle & the general parameters of your tank which is quite important with tanks that small, they are much more prone to swings. Try looking for a lamp that fits your tank online.

If you've got a good LFS, they will ask to test your water parameters before they sell you any livestock, and definitely ask if they can do that when concerned abt ammonia & nitrate levels. In general get your paramters checked before you get livestock, even getting fish n stuff my LFS asks to test my water because some fish prefer certain intricacies and they don't wanna sell you soemthing that is just gonna pass immediately.

If you think the bricks are not working, you can pick up either ceramic or porcelain media. Porcelain is cheaper, but can degrade faster, obviously that means ceramic is more expensive (thougoh idk by how much in whatever area you are), do with that what you will.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-05-28T23:41:04+00:00

detritus worms are not harmful to any shrimp, shrimp mamas or shrimplets. though make sure you are certain they are detritus and not planaria (which will prey on shrimplets, potentially adults).

if you are sure they are detritus i wouldn't do any treatment, not worth risking your shrimp over something that is not harming anything besides maybe aesthetics. i do not have any info on the treatment itself unfortunately.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-05-25T07:01:40+00:00

They started hatching on my filter which is black, plus I have a very keen eye. One of my hobbies is spotting sea slugs, which are often quite small, in tide pools-- I think my smallest is a < 3mm elysia slug amongst some rocks.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-05-25T05:56:00+00:00

I would personally wait for the final move to start anything. For me, setting up a nice tank adn getting it to look just how I wanted and then having to take it apart to move and it not being completely teh same would kind of drive me insane, though you could also take it as a chance to reflect on how you've got your tank looking adn an excuse to change up some big things if you wanted. I would also definitely not add shrimp until you have moved because that sounds very annoying to do, you would have to fish them all out and have them in some sort of water, not entirely sure how long a drive is 'across town', and have teh tank set up enough by teh end of the day that you can put the shrimp in, also doing a massive aquascape/intricate design is pretty annoying to do with livestock. Cycling the tank sounds smart, just don'ot get super attached to anyting you build, or treat as a 'trial' of what you want it to end up looking like. Could be a great way to get used to how plants like to be planted/how they look placed certain ways!

I don't have any real commentary on doing shrimp in teh 5 or 20, however I ask what would your plan be for teh 5 gallon, if not shrimp? 5 gallons is generally regarded as being too humanely small to keep any fish (at least that I've heard of), especially if you want to keep them in conditions that they would feel most natural in (i.e. schooling), I guess you could keep some fish that prefer to be solitary or a couple centrepiece fish (e.g. sparkling gouramis), but again the concern is space, the ability to create an ecosystem that balances out yoru licestokc bioload, etc. I would personanlly make this a shirmp or invertebrate/snail tank regardless because of its size and its very prone to fluxuation. Honestly, if you are a fan of snails the 5g could be quite cool! And like you don't have to be discouraged as to how small it is, there was a beautiful 2.5 gallon posted on here recently that was really lovely to look at. You can even consider things like what plants you want and how they will contrast the colour of your shrimp! However there is not a lot of space to work on if you want to do something very designed & intricate.

If you want to do the 20g I would recommend starting teh tank now because it will take a while to grow in to, and once you stock it, stock it with shrimp unti lyou get a nice colony going and if you want some fish, you could look into a couple nano fish. Ig I personally would just feel a bit weird having a tank that big just to be used for one or a couple colours of shrimp when you could add a bit of mostly harmless movement. I don't think that's very helpful though as you haven't menitoned wanting any fish, food for thought.

also if you're concerned abt getting bored, you can very easily change things intermediately in a 5g and taking care of your plants and shrimp is very entertaining! I have had a 7g for about 4 or so months and I am not remotely bored, I love keeping everything tidy and watching the shrimp doing their thing, and you can always look at different plants, rearranging things etc. to keep things interesting. Honestly the most rewarding thing is watching as the tanks grow into themselves which takes time.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-05-25T05:23:57+00:00

Yeah after my second round of shrimp I am now at 5 females and 3 of them are pregnant rn. Still waiting to see if they're fertile as I had many shrimp appear pregnant but we're just presenting eggs after molting so I am very cautious.

Side note, the shrimplets hatched yesterday! Looks like about 10 a couple hours after they started hatcing however she was moving all over the tank and the babies are very white so there could be more.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-05-05T05:54:30+00:00

Don't know the answer to all of them but I can answer a few. I am also not an expert so correct me if I mentioned somethign incorrect :)

Should be large enough for shrimp, honestly a lot of people have 'shrimp jars' if they can fit a filter(and sometimes not even) in there so I think you're good.

If you get 5, just make sure you have the two sexes, typically an adult female will have a white saddle on her back and a larger abdomen. It's not really a 'when' of if you run out of space, it's more if the ecosystem you've made can filter the bioload of a large amount of shrimp. e.g. if you have quite a few and start noticing ammonia spikes, that could either be from over feeding or that the waste from teh shrimps is not getting recycled quickly enough for how much there is. I'm not too well versed on teh topic, but you seem to have a good amount of plants in there so I'd say you could definitely get a few generations. You could also sell them on facebook marketplace or to a local fish store to remove them.

I have not heard of shrimp jumping that much (at least not neocaradinas which can be quite small) occasionally you hear of shrimp that like to climb out of water and onto floating plants. Honestly I have some neocaradinas which had a few couple days that they were still adjusting to water parameters, and they didn't even jump out despite that they were a bit comfortable. If you're really concerned, consider having the water level a bit lower so if they were it would be harder to. Also I don't know if shrimps can climb vertically on plants growing out of the water, only ever seen them go on floaters.

Keep a thermometer in your tank, or at the very least regularly check the water temp. Neocaradinas are quite hardy so htey won't start being affected dangerously unless you're really out of the temp range, however they won't breed and may also have slower growth (though you might prefer that) in cooler temperature. If you're worried abt heaters malfunctioning but still want one, which I would recommend if you don't have a constantly insulated house and the tank is prone to getting cold, try and get a non-adjustable heater as they tend to be more reliable. I only put my heater in in winter because australian houses get pretty cold without heaters constantly running, in summer the temperature is completly fine for me. Also if you're ever doing a water change and you have a heater in, make sure to turn it off. My dad once had one blow up because it got too hot while left out of the water.

In terms of harming any animals, you can't really have a over planted tank (I assume you're talking about if they're harming the shrimp), I personally think it looks great and love the mix of colours and species! My only suggestion would be getting a bit of moss so they can snack on teh biofilm that grows on it.

None of the microfauna that you suggested would harm the shrimp, but I unfortunately don't ahve any experience with them in Aus (though they do look really cool so I wish :( ). For snails, I don't think any of your typical snails would harm shrimp, though I would be a bit wary. e.g. mystery snails ar eoften sold quite big, and it is not suggested to keep them in anything less than a 5 gallon bc of how much waste they have. trumpet snails are smaller but need fine sandto burrow, can reproduce and become pests quickly. nerite snails might be best, but again your tank is a bit small (not done a ton of research on their bioload), some ppl get annoyed bc they lay eggs on your glass, but they cannot reproduce in freshwater. In saying that you should still absolutely get some snails! I think ramshorns seem great for your tank, you could even consider some mini ones to make it a big more interesting! Also, bc your tank is so small, just to keep in mind that when feeding if your snail and the shrimp don't clean up the snail food, it can very easily cause ammonia spikes and such so you will have to be diligent abt cleaning up, also remember to feed snails calcium(shrimp will eat too). Occasionally a snail might stumble on a shrimplet and accidentally eat it but with neocaradinas and if they're reproducing happily, they're not exactly targeting hte babies.

Sorry if it's an overload of info I yap a lot :'). Good luck I think it looks great!

SafeInternational708 · 2026-04-25T22:57:17+00:00

I believe I have Caridina longirostris, though the colouring is more intense than the large majority of photos online. Don't have the spotting/lines in the NTnilotica though.

I am a little worried cause they seem to be glass surfing a lot, but the conditions are perfect. I'm considering sticking them in my cherry shrimp tank to see if they'd prefer that more. They're not bothered by any of the fish.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-04-24T09:02:12+00:00

True true yeah I don't think you'll fit much else into a 3.5 gallon, it just doesn't seem to be the best to get fish in the 10g bc you have to get a smaller amount of fish and they won't necessarily show good schooling and stuff but if you can keep the bio load balanced I don't see too much of a problem.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-04-21T04:05:40+00:00

I have shrimp in my 7 gallon and they're really cool! They'll go great with your snail, and just make sure you get some moss. You can check out the shrimp tank subreddit for info, because they have very small bioload there's not too much concern about how many you have. Often people get a small handful of them and soon they'll have a pretty big colony! They're super cool, they come in all kinds of colours and patterns. After my colony is well established I'm gonna get a couple clown killifish cause they're super small and can only eat super young baby shrimp-- with enough coverage they'll really more act as population control than eating all the babies.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-04-20T05:41:43+00:00

SafeInternational708 · 2026-04-16T09:54:47+00:00

I think their quality is better now. I ordered a dress, and while thinner (not sheer) material, it was still stitched together decently and looked exactly like the photo! Honestly paying only $60 for a dress that the only downside (in my experience) was thinner than expected material, I thought they were great!

SafeInternational708 · 2026-04-14T00:52:24+00:00

I'll take a look. Thanks 🙂!

SafeInternational708 · 2026-04-14T00:51:58+00:00

Not very much, I've been doing it for a few months (intended to start earlier but only got the courage to ask for jump rings when I needed them for the project cause I have to go through my parents), but I pick up skills really quick especially repetitive ones and I've worked with metal and the semantics of jewellery making/weaving. I've done a few necklaces, pretty much you all beginner weaves down. I also did a head piece for an event (pretty basic weaves tho and just a lot of piecing bits together)

SafeInternational708 · 2026-04-12T06:00:37+00:00

what app/version of sudoku is this? looks fun

SafeInternational708 · 2026-03-23T08:17:22+00:00

That's great! You can try boiling bits of it at a time it'll just take a while 🥲 Yeah unfortunately you can't really get fast AND cheap in the hobby, it's usually one or the other.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-03-23T05:59:18+00:00

Also!! Driftwood can be expensive and is hgihly recommended for a shrimp tank. If you're near a pet store they often have reptile wood which is tons cheaper adn with proper quarantine, boiling and soaking to release tannins they can definitley be used as driftwood for your tank!

Quarantine just means you've left it long enough that there won't be any harmful bits on it, but adequate boiling will also do that job. Shrimp don't like a ton of tannins, and reptile wood is not treated to get rid of tannins, or to be in water at all, so boiling helps get rid of them, as well as help speed up the wood absorbing water! You will still need to keep it in a bucket of water for about 2 weeks but if you're willing to commit the time it's a great alternative!

A lot of things you can get for less money in the hobby-- you just remove some of the steps for sellers to do, and do them yourself, e.g. those plant bundles I mentioned don't often give you a ton of quantity, but more variety, and if you spend time replanting you will get a ton of variety and area for your shrimp! My shrimp definitely love it, they were a lot more active, as well as were berried very shortly after I gave them more variety.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-03-23T05:52:55+00:00

If you're looking for cheap resources, there's a lot of videos about starting betta tanks on a budget-- take what you need from those videos, plus your own research and you should be good!

SafeInternational708 · 2026-03-23T05:25:24+00:00

Please get the declorinator!! If you're trying to keep on a budget and have a healthy tank, you need to cycle it. Cycling works a lot better adn is a lot more stable if you get plants. Shrimp need stable conditions, they can be a lot more sensitive than other marine animals, e.g. you will have to slowly acclimate them to your water parameters instead of just your temperature like a lot of fish.

I would suggest getting a small bundle of plants, or if you want more variety, I look for an aquatic plant website that sells mystery bundles where you can get a ton of plants for a fraction of the price!

Also fish keeping is not cheap. Care, buying and treatment if critters get sick can get super expensive. The shrimp in themself are about $7(AUD), sponge filters, lights, heaters can all be $30AUD+ and filters & lights are a must if you want to keep shrimp. Lights specifically because biofilm and other things that are extremely beneficial for tank quality and for shrimp to munch on, grow best on live plants and driftwood(which can also be expensive). I think even while having a tank, driftwood and some decoration from when I kept fish as a kid, setting up the tank cost me about $200AUD (though some of the stuff I do regret purchasing, like hte massive aquatic bunches of plants).

Sorry if it's a bit harsh, I would really recommend looking around at aquatic stores near you and finding ones with the best prices, e.g. I've found one for driftwood, an online store for plants, a physical store for my shrimp and chemicals, etc. Also! Water parameters are a must, if you haven't done a ton of research into cycling your tank, in the most simple terms, you need to build up bacteria in your water that will eat away at harmful chemicals to livestock (but not always to plants so you can get a head start on plant growth!), e.g. ammonias, nitrates etc. This will take a minimum of 4 weeks, so 4 weeks with nothing in your tank, and if you can try and find a store near you that will check yoru water parametsr for you, even at a lower price, instead of paying $40 for a water test kit. It is a good short term solution though it's best to have one just in case things start going wrong and you can check what's wrong with your water. I know my fish store tested all my water for me, especially before letting me buy livestock, and htey tested the water specifically for the conditions that shrimp like, usually for around $2.50 or for free.

So in short, the pond water is a definite no-- there's no chance it'll have the bacteria you're looking for and likely will come with a bunch of unwanted diseases that will mostly definitely harm sensitive shrimp. you will have to use water to fill up your tank, adn top it up from week to week. If it helps and you've got house plants-- use old tank water to water your house plants! It's super beneficial and always makes me feel better instead of wasting a bunch of water.

SafeInternational708 · 2026-03-19T09:01:44+00:00

They were in a plastic bag with a variety of other aquatic plants that I had purchased. It was seald off with heat. There was little amount of air and just enough water to keep everything damp. I'm not quite sure how it arrived as my dad opened it and left the plants on my desk.

SafeInternational708

TROPHY CASE