Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping => Invertebrates - Shrimps and Snails => Topic started by: Sanjo on April 15, 2015, 06:30:36 PM
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If I go to the man on Ebay (having spoken to him - hard to understand ) I'm not really confident of the quality of his shrimp and Endlers, though I might be maligning the poor man. He sells some weird things completely non fish/shrimp related ???
How many should I start of with 5 or 10 / 20 ?
I'm going to put them in my 22 litre fully cycles tank. (30x30x30)
He says they are adult shrimp on the heading but in the text body he gives a couple of sizes so that makes me uneasy.
I know they are small in any case and I'm not going to be surprised by the other half's reaction when we go all the way to the end of the tube line to collect a few tiny shrimp. !!
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If you mean how many shrimps, I would suggest 10 to start with. They add little, if anything, to the bioload. If you find they are breeding, you will need to add more every few months to prevent inbreeding, preferably from a different supplier or you will likely be buying from the same gene pool.
And if you get over run with shrimps, you can always sell them!
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EDIT -typed at same time as Sue.
I would go with 10 - 15.
I have the same size tank as you and I got 11 adults but only have 5 left (plus all the babies).
If you're not sure of the quality of this blokes fish/shrimp then I would avoid using him. You don't want to spend money on travel and fish/shrimps only to have them die or get sick.
I know that Pro-shrimp are a very good company. Not sure about your endlers though. If it were me I would go to MA but I know things aren't that straight forward for you!!!
Anyhoo, I hope this helps a bit.
FC76 :)
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Thanks both.
I'm thinking P@H for endlers since they always seem to have them. Shocking thought (me considering P@H I mean)
The trouble with MA (apart from the problem I had with the fish is that is really isn't easy to get to unless it's by car and there isn't anything to take us in that direction so would have to add in the cost of fuel)
I'm now looking at Gumtree as It looks like I can collect some from somebody closer to home, if they still have them that is.
Will update once I'm sorted.
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Try looking at http://www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk/ as well.
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Or you could try a different ebay supplier
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Problem is Steve, The postage is so high for a few shrimp, sometimes more than the value of the shrimp. By collecting them I can justify it to the other half.
As pensioners we have the bus pass so as long as it's Londonish area it wouldn't cost me.
I think I have it sussed now anyway.
I've found someone who is selling me a dozen at 80p each from her tank and I am meeting her at Victoria Station so less than half the original journey for me and less stressful timewise for the shrimp.
They didn't look particularly red in the photo certainly not the bright red that some folk were offering.
As long as they are healthy and thrive that will suit me.
Realistically speaking, I need to know how to care for shrimp before I start spending big money on them in better quality/colours etc so these cheapies will be my prototype so to speak.
I shall care for them to the best of my ability, no matter what poor colour they are and if I end up with all males and/or mixed don't breed then at least I will have learnt a lot and not too expensively.
I've chickened out of the Endlers for now. I Thought I'd better concentrate on one thing at a time so there is less to fret over and watch. I'm still head/tail counting the original fish and all present and correct !
(Apart from which the other half seems to have forgotten that he was laid back about fish in the nano and expressed surprise last night so I won't push my luck. It could be that at some stage in the not too distant future, when the Nano is settled and the shrimp thriving, they may well have babies. If those babies turn out to be little fish - well nature is wonderful isn't she ::)
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When my shrimp arrived they were all pale and washy looking, as they settled and grew so they turned brighter and brighter so don't be disappointed if what you get are not the colourful ones you want at first. It is generally considered preferable to get young shrimp as they tolerate moving and settling into a new environment much better than adults. Some people probably put pictures of their adults on EBay or whatever, but the ones you get will take time to reach their full potential. Just be patient.
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Patience. Ah my middle name is Patricia and the only connection is they both begin with "P"
Have just done a complete water change in the nano, put in another moss hide and a couple of washed oak leaves held down with a moss covered stone and tidied it up all ready for them.
The snail was nowhere to be seen in the tank this morning, not even a shell.
Just putting the tank back together and the mesh cover I made to cover the gaps in the side was on the sideboard next to the tank and so was the poor little snail.
Popped him straight back in. He was out for about 1/2 hour by the time I saw him but he still had water under him on the wooden top so hopefully he will be OK.
Would like them to be a bright red like some of the photos on Ebay but this person's were much paler so i expect more realistic to what she is supplying. We'll see but it doesn't matter
As long as they thrive that's all I care about at the moment.
I will also not have to watch every word I say to the Grandsons as they still don't know I replaced the tank. My excuse now is that I wanted a proper shrimp tank.
4 months ago I was a happy old pensioner with a clean but untidy house pursuing my various hobbies (which do not in any shape or form include anything other than necessary housework - life's too short)
Now I'm back to looking after something alive, other than the other half that is! and it is a big responsibility.
I don't take the view that my adult children do which is "For goodness sake mother, they are fish!!" etc
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If you are in London there is this place (http://www.freshwatershrimp.co.uk/). They are shrimp specialists and claim to be in Walthamstow! I don't know what map they are looking at cause they live in Chigwell. I keep meaning to visit them myself but have never got round round to dragging myself that far east!
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Not in London itself Steve, just a suburb (Havering).
Possible I think to get to Chigwell on a bus or something. Would have to check it out.
They certainly have some nice stuff, although the bits I was looking at were all unavailable., No Cherry shrimp or lava rock.
Still, if I manage to keep these shrimp alive for a while and gain confidence - who knows, I might one day get there.
Thank for the link.
I absolutely loved the dark blue ones
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Sopent a long while this morning getting the tank ready. Thinking the flow from the 400 lt an hour filter would be too much I have put some black sponge across the holes of the spray bar which has stopped the spray obviously.
The tank is now lovely and clear from the messing around with the substrate/sand which made it cloudy.
I've just read on a shrimp site that shrimp love to play in the outfall from a filter/pump. Should I leave the extra sponge off. ?
Also there is a large gap all round the top edge of the tank because of the way Aquanano make them. Will shrimp escape this way.
I thought they only left the water if conditions were poor but according to what I've read today they can be quite adventurous even when conditions are excellent
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I don't know about playing in the water flow, mine don't do that but then i might just have peculiar shrimp!
Mine have never attempted to leave the tank. My red nerites have done from this tank - I had to be very careful crossing the kitchen to draw the curtains for fear of trading on one - but they haven't done that for a couple of years now and neither have the shrimps.
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Hi,
If you want very red shrimps then Sakura shrimps are redder than cherrys. I have these and they have always been a beautiful red colour since I got them. My yellows were a bit wishy washy when they arrived but they are now lovely and my blues have always been a lovely blue!!
I have never had any experience of shrimps leaving the tank either. I didnt think they could survive out of water but I could be wrong.
FC76
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Apparently shrimps can survive long enough to walk a fair distance from the tank before the lack of water finally kills them!
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I'm getting very nervous !!
What with the snail getting out this morning and now the possibility of walkabout shrimp.
Just used up the last of the Christmas moss which has been hanging around for the last week or so. Made another hide which is in a water jug in conditioned water to see if it "takes".
The tank is all ready and looking very nice I think.
I hope they don't cancel at the last minute.
Steve, I emailed those people because my husband says it is possible to get to it. They emailed back very promptly but it appears you have to let them know you want to visit because they aren't actually a shop !!
I can get there on the tube though I'd be a bit daunted to have to make arrangements to go and then only buy a couple of shrimp, even the expensive ones. It looked very nice though - very posh.
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Check out Gumtree too. I bought a dozen shrimps from MA for 25 pound, then found someone selling them down the road on Gumtree for a tenner for a dozen. Granted they don't appear to be a deep red as the ones I got at MA but they still look good. I hope they've increased the gene pool too!
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A few years ago in the summer, I did a water change on my tank. After I'd finished and had put everything back together again, I sat in front of the tank to admire my handywork. Suddenly I felt a cold something moving around on the back of my hand. Looking down, it was one of my shrimp merrily walking around doing some sightseeing! I'm afraid I over-reacted; I went one way, the chair went the other and the shrimp vanished in a fit of pique. It took me about an hour scrabbling round on the floor to find the little bugger.
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I gave up on the Ebay one as I really wasn't confident and as I had changed my mind about the Endlers it was not necessary to go to him. I did check out the Aquarist too as per the advice from Sue and there were some there too.
In the end I did find this person on Gumtree and there was a choice of four pick up points so that made it fairly doable (going on the district line and wouldn't you believe it there is a massive problem there this morning)
Steve, you have done NOTHING to set my mind at rest, thanks for that ;D
However, it did give me a very good laugh.
I thought it was only me who did slapstick.
Will update when (If) I get them