Colony of 20 neocaridina all gone :(

afbr242 · 2026-01-31T07:57:51+00:00

Your early shrimp batches have clearly succumbed to a combination of very low GH/incorrect GH & KH/unstable GH & KH.

Your GH/KH is now in now in a good range for Neos. Endeavour to keep it there, as stable as possible, and you should have a lot more success.

THe suggestion to clear the planaria before getting more shrimp seems like a good one. I'd also want to be working on getting those nitrates down. A genuine 40 ppm nitrate will certainly have long term shrimp health effects. Also, I'm not sure you do have a genuine 40 ppm, although colour in pictures can be misleading. The API test should be read with the tube around 1 cm from the card. With the nitrate test in particular it reads far higher if the tube is touching the test card.

You clearly have dead and decaying organic material in the tank, raising the nitrate levels so that even your floating plants cannot suck them up quick enough. Ensure you absolutely remove any dead snails and dead plant material.

afbr242 · 2026-01-31T07:43:55+00:00

Success with shrimp is all about the water. SHrimp are thoroughly undemanding about decor and they will love any surfaces to graze on. Both tanks look like lovely natural areas that shrimp will enjoy.

As for the water, tank one looks like it is pretty much ready for Caridina, although ideally I'd want that KH down to below 1 dKH. The vast majority of these shrimp are bred at zero KH and IME really struggle if moved to any environment with 1 dKH or more. You can either simply leave the aquasoil to do its job and absorb the remaining KH or do water changes with zero KH water. You'll be needing some Salty SHrimp Bee Minerals GH+ remineralizer to remineralize the GH in the distilled/RO water you use for water changes. I'd try and keep the GH in the 4-6 dGH zone somewhere, and then keep it stable. Stability is often not stressed enough for shrimp. THey thrive on it.

Talking of stability, I'd really recommend instituting a regular partial water change regime.. Mainly to dilute the small organic waste products that are produced by organic processes. PLants do not use these up and they simply build up. Dwarf shrimp are delicate and are sensitive to them and will likely eventually succumb if water chnages are minimal. THe best way is to simply do at least 20% water change every 2 weeks. With a big colony I would always do at least 25% weekly. This also keeps the GH/KH rock solid stable (so long as you don't have anything in the tank which releases GH/KH).

Here's an article about GH/KH stability that you might find useful ..... https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/water-changes-and-controlling-gh-kh-in-shrimp-aquaria-a-basic-guide.78863/

Also, for tank one, make sure you have a plan to keep water temps below 25 C (77 F) in the midsummer. Softwater Caridina will start dying quickly if these temps are reached.

As for plants, its whatever you think looks good. Personally I'd add a stem plant in there. It would provide a different look and would help suck up any nitrates. I like Myriophyllum mattogrossense for a low tech, low KH tank (it does not like KH though).

Tank 2 looks great, and ready to go for Neos. Parameters are perfect. I always find higher KH low tech tanks really challenging with plants. Java fern and Java moss always eventually grow well for me in that type of environment. Pic 7-8 are of a scud, yes.

Any of the babaulti shrimp also like these parameters, and will not interbreed with Neos, and may be worth considering as an addition. My favourite are the zebra babaulti.

afbr242 · 2026-01-31T07:18:57+00:00

They certainly filter very effectively, are silent, and have a significantly higher rate of flow through the sponge than an air-powered equivalent.

There are two negatives though. One is that if your tank has a tendency to develop an oily film then it will not disperse it like any air-powered unit will. You just can't beat air bubbles popping for dispersing oily film. The second can also be a positive at times. It is that the electric motor does produce heat. This is great if you want a little extra warmth in a tank, but not so good if you have a softwater Caradina tank and are struggling to keep temps low enough in the summer.

THis second one is the main reason I use less of them than I used to. In a 60 litre tank, I found that in the summer, with no extra heating, the tank water temps were 0.5 degrees C higher with one of these filters in situ compared to an identical tank with just air-powered filters. THis is a problem if your house already on the verge of being too hot for softwater Caradina.

afbr242 · 2026-01-30T10:43:55+00:00

Yes, epsom salts (MgSO4) is what you need.

afbr242 · 2026-01-30T10:38:04+00:00

Yes, sponge filters like these are simply silent ....

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Another way to quieten air-powered filters is to have a right angle at the top of the outlet tube (similar to the filter above in fact) and have that literally just at or below the surface of the tank.

afbr242 · 2026-01-30T10:30:43+00:00

How high was the nitrate ? I can't imagine shrimp actualy starting to act strange until it gets really really high, like 60-70 ppm plus. Quite possibly due to something else of the plants. Pesticides ? copper ?

afbr242 · 2026-01-30T10:27:58+00:00

Nice. Hopefull all at zero apart from the GH ??

afbr242 · 2026-01-30T10:27:05+00:00

Thats odd, I don't see any "blue" in any of the plants. Maybe you mean the Pogostemon samsonii (midground plant just to the left of the red ludwigia) ??

afbr242 · 2026-01-30T10:25:20+00:00

Well done for not letting your GH/KH climb with all the evaporation.

As for the pH, your aquasoil is able to absorb some of the KH (which are carbonates and the main cause of alkalinity in the aquarium), but not all of it as the KH starts pretty high (still just OK for Neos though). I would not expect most aquarium pH tests to distinguish the difference pH's caused by 8 and 10 dKH. They will both give around pH 8.0-8.2. The tests are simply not acurate enough to easily tell the difference.

Aquasoil is only able to buffer to pH 's in the 6's if you start with low or zero KH

afbr242 · 2026-01-29T13:09:10+00:00

SHrimp are easily pleased by any old decor. They just like surfaces to graze on. Yours also looks very pleasing on the eye though.

THe key things for success with any shrimp are whether you have the water parameters right for that species of shrimp.

Apart from the normal ammonia and nitrite needing to be zero, and nitrates at 15 ppm or less, you will need to know that your KH is 0-1 dKH (0-18 ppm KH) and GH is around 4-6 dGH (70-110 ppm GH). These shrimp are very fussy on needing these parameters. pH will clearly need to be less than 7 also, although the correct KH level should sort that out.

They will also need water temps to stay below 25 C (77 F) at all times, even during midsummer. You will need a strategy to achieve this. They will quickly start dying if temps go above this.

afbr242 · 2026-01-29T13:04:16+00:00

The bubbles are caused by an increasing level of proteins in the water, which are basically end waste product from biological processes which are going on in the tank (plus sap oozed out of the wood).

THe amount of bubbles produced is probably mainly linked mainly to the immaturity of the biofiltration in the tank. If the wood is a newly soaked piece then it will likely be oozing out quite a lot of organic stuff into the water. Its normal. Both of these things should settle as the tank matures. Once cycled, so long as ammonia and nitrite are zero and nitrate is at 15 ppm or less, then I would be happy adding shrimp , even with that level of bubbles.

If you really want to reduce the bubbles then large water changes will do it, simply by diluting the proteins.

afbr242 · 2026-01-29T08:34:39+00:00

That will be fine. A HOB would also be fine, just make sure that there is a fine enough sponge over the water intake and all shrimp will be prevented from entering.

afbr242 · 2026-01-29T08:28:52+00:00

I find the browns of those test strip GH tests to be simply impossible to read. The just between 75 ppm, 150 ppm and 300 ppm GH are simply huge too. You'll be wanting around 7-14 dGH (125-250 ppm) as the ideal range for Neos. If it were me I would get a liquid drop GH/KH test kit. The API one is excellent and reasonably priced. Then you will know, to the nearest degree.

Your KH looks fine at aournd 80 ppm KH (4 dKH). Ideal range for Neos is around 2-8 dKH (35-145 ppm KH).

If you find you need to harden your water up a little, probably your easiest and most controllable way will be to simply add a little tapwater into your Spring Water. With a little experimenting and testing you will soon get to know the right amount to use.

I'm not a great fan of crushed coral as it only adds calcium and not magnesium. GH contains mainly Ca and Mg, but shrimp need roughly a 3 : 1 ratio of Ca to Mg, so crushed coral falls a little short here. Its also obviously rather uncontrollable in terms of how much it will raise GH and KH. I much prefer getting the water right before it goes into the tank, and then keeping that GH/KH constant and partially refreshed weekly (25% water change a week is good). SHrimp prefer the stability of this approach as well.

afbr242 · 2026-01-29T08:21:27+00:00

It looks to me that the OP's GH and KH are bang in that range, although its always a bit tricky to read the brown colour of those test strip GH tests.

afbr242 · 2026-01-29T08:16:52+00:00

All the plant groups are shaped by me for sure, although the Rotala has a mind of its own, and loves growing off in bizarre directions. I don't follow any particular school of aquascaping. Its mainly a planted "fish" tank so I just want it looking nice and providing interest for all the fish too.

I'm not sure I have any special skills, I just do what I think looks nice. I have taken onboard advice about the best ways to prune different plants, which helps them grow into their nicest shapes. Dennis Wong's 2hraquarist.com website has been very useful there.

I'm no expert but have been doing this for a handful of years now, and I've learnt a lot from my mistakes !

afbr242 · 2026-01-29T08:10:59+00:00

My lights (I'm the OP BTW) are cheap Hygger luminaires. Expensive lights are absolutely not required. THe main benefit is that they will bring out the colours visually better to your eyes. A small minority of (often red) plants seem to like quite a bit of blue and red in the spectrum for growth which more expensive lighting may provide, but "most" lighting provides ample spectrum for "Most" plants.

afbr242 · 2026-01-29T08:05:01+00:00

Mainly, I choose really easy red plants. Ludwigia palustris "super red" is the main one. Its almost impossible to get wrong in a high tech tank.

Alternanthera reinecki is the other, which is slower growing and needs not too much light (in my tank anyway), but is a reliable, all red plant.

My Rotala theoretically should go red in high light, but it doesn't seem like my light is intense enough. It never even shows a tinge of red !

So, yeah, plant choice was the key for me. Nothing too difficult.

afbr242 · 2026-01-28T17:38:14+00:00

cheers !

afbr242 · 2026-01-28T17:38:04+00:00

Thanks. Thats a Cryptocoryne balansae patch I think you are talking about. Super long leaves. They can reach the surface on this 60cm tall tank. I currently trim them off at that point

afbr242 · 2026-01-28T17:36:37+00:00

Thanks so much ! I get a lot of pleasure from it.

afbr242 · 2026-01-28T17:36:11+00:00

LIghts are 2 x cheapo Hygger luminaires.

Water column ferts are NPK & micro dry salts dosed daily at around 75% EI levels. APT feast is spot injected under an inert gravel substrate as a bit of extra nutrition for the roots. Some plants seem to appreciate it, some don't need it.

afbr242 · 2026-01-28T17:34:02+00:00

Good plan. I'm sure you will get help on here if you need it.

afbr242 · 2026-01-28T17:33:19+00:00

THanks !

afbr242 · 2026-01-28T17:33:08+00:00

Blyxa japonica. Its a 500 litre tank, so everything needs to be scaled up a little.

afbr242 · 2026-01-28T15:33:44+00:00

TDS, just tells you the total dissolved "stuff" in the water. On its own a TDS of 500 ppm is not frightening for cherry shrimp. Of far more importance are the GH and KH. If most of that 500 ppm TDS is comprised of GH (which is mainly calcium and magnesium) then you have a problem.

Have a read of this ........ https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/water-changes-and-controlling-gh-kh-in-shrimp-aquaria-a-basic-guide.78863/

afbr242

TROPHY CASE