😂 glad to see someone else's shrimp fighting! Everyone says shrimp are absolutely not aggressive. I have witnessed them duke it out on occasion and was so worried. 😅
Hi Mark, been enjoying your channel for a long time now, even way before I started to keep shrimp! So now that im well into the shrimp keeping hobby I just set up my own little shrimp tank rack and your videos have been so much help to me with this hobby. Im wondering the best setup method for a low maintenance caridina tank, is it easier to use ugf boxes and swap them out when they expire? Or is it easier to use a deeper soil layer in the entire bottom of the tank so that it lasts a lot longer, to go with this low maintenance approach and then just move the shrimp and restart the entire tank when that expires? Just wanted to here some thoughts from a master breeder like yourself!
Hi Mark! I have raised red cherry shrimp in 750 TDS with no problems. This particular tank was heavily planted, high filteration. I ran this tank at this level for approximately 5 months. Since then, I have started using RODI water (TDS 190) and shrimp still breeding like crazy :)
Thanks so much, Marks, your experiment here give much information about caridina and this, I know, very important for development of caridina keeping hobbyists
Love the video and i'm gonna trust you with my caridina bee shrimps. I have a blue dream tank that has African Cichlids substrate with crushed coral. I haven't really done a water change on it i just top off with ro water. It is thriving. 15 years ago when i was breeding African Cichlids i rarely did water changes b3cause i had more problems when doing regular water changes. You're the man in showing this too us. Active soil needs to be left alone too work properly. Thanks for this realization on Thanksgiving bud🎉🦐🦐🦐
I'm relatively new to the Cardina shrimp hobby. I only got one tank at the moment. (shrimp king soil :( , with bleu steels and low grade galaxy boa culls). I've seen tons of youtube video's from different creators and read on lots of different site's to try to inform myself when starting up this hobby. Apparently not enough, hence the choice for schrimp king soil :) The result of this is that i can't get PH lower than 6. Luckily i succeeded in creating a good green wall and biofilm in this tank. (and first young ones showing up last night). Point is, there is a lot of different information out there and different ways of approaching the way of keeping/breeding Cardina's. Not easy for beginners to know which way to go. Common sense that stability is the key to succes. I've had the pleasure learning about Ramon (happyspace-shrimps) in one of your earlier video's. Seeing his and your results convinced me that this is the way i want to go... i have your book for a couple of weeks now. Last week i got 4 54L tanks that i gonna cycle next month with ADA v1 and storm products. I am so thankful for you sharing al this information. (and want to give a shout-out and thanks to Ramon as well) Greetings Stef B.
Great comment! I absolutely agree.. Following Mark's advice has been one of the best ideas for my shrimp room (my caridinas especially). I only perform water changes unless there is something going wrong in the tank and the parameters tell me I have to. After the tank is completely cycled and green walls, I top off with RODI water each week and 99% of my tanks are THRIVING. In my opinion, Mark offers some of the best, most honest / reliable info for shrimp keeping!! Best of luck with your tank of blue steels (my fav). sounds like they're doing great 🖤and you can always do a soil reset in the future (regarding your comment about soil choice) - trust me I get it, I used Fluval stratum in my first Caridina tank and failed miserably 😞
Hi Mark. Ive been keeping neocaridina for a couple of years now and decided to give caridina a go. Bought your book and read it 5 times. Cycled the tank quite quickly due to using an existing filter and bought ten CRS shrimp. Happy to say they are thriving and breeding well. Cheers for all the vids and book that gave me confidence.
roots as in wood? Wood can cause issues so its better to have none, its the same with rocks and other things, I know it doesnt look so nice but its better for shrimp breeding.
I have that same meter. You can choose which of the values you want to be displayed when you take your readings. Mark has his set to display the EC or "electrical conductivity" of the water. If you set that same meter to "ppm", then it will take that EC value and multiply it by a multiplier. (There are two multipliers available with this meter, and you have to choose one of them.) That math calculation will result in a number, which will be displayed on your meter, giving an estimate of the ppm of TDS.
Hey Mark I have a question, how much water do you top off your tanks with every week? I ask because I also have an open top tank that I top off with an ATO and echanges about 1 gallon a week. I may hold off on water changes at least until my colony gets bigger to help promote stability and soil longevity
Hello Cliffy, topping us is fine at any time, I use a few liters a week in each tank in the shrimp room and I top up just when I see the waters down, I always age my water for at least one day before I use it. hope this helps.
@@MarksShrimpTanks Hey Mark, this was the question i had as well. Do you top off with straight RO water that you have aged? Thank you for all the amazing content. Been watching you for years!
TDS is a meaningless reference when comparing results from one fish room to another, or even in the same fish room when tanks are managed with different methods. TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) approximates how much 'stuff' is dissolved in your water. It makes no attempt to classify what type of substances that 'stuff' is. It will measure dissolved calcium as easily as dissolved copper, dissolved sodium as easily as dissolved selenium. If you don't know what was in your water to begin with, or what you've added, TDS can't tell you anything. Fishkeepers fall into the trap of having a consistent water profile from whatever water source they use ("plain" water), whether it is well water, RO water, local municipal water, rainwater, etc, and use TDS as a proxy for how much "plain" water they have vs "developed" aquarium water they have. They may also use TDS to dilute municipal water with RO or rainwater. They may have to dilute 2 parts well water with 1 part RO water to achieve a desirable gH/KH, and use a TDS meter to approximate when they've achieved the correct ratio. However, they fail to recognize that as soon as you change to another fishkeeper's well, or a different municipality, or otherwise some other source of water that is chemically different than their own, that TDS goes right out the window. The same applies within a fish room if they're using chemically different substrates, feeding substantially different foods, growing substantially different plants, or following substantially different water change schedules, or any/all the above.
It keeps it low enough roughly about 5.5 if you use enough of it, my reports on the substrate is that I seem to get mixed results from it and so do a lot of people indicating it might have been a production issue with the soil in th early days.
The primary concern with limpets is that they are voracious consumers of algae. So, once they're in a tank, you generally cannot maintain any decent amount of algae for your shrimp.
How To Keep Caridina Ebook sowl.co/s/XBZN7
US Paper Back Version www.amazon.com/dp/B0DFCGP13M
UK Paper Back Version www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DFCGP13M
Mark how long did it take to cull the spotted head pinto and galaxy fishbone cross to get boa
The boas came by me 😂 @@topfisherman.
Lol I love the moment at 3:35 where you say "omg" as you turn the camera around to your face. Idk if I'll ever get used to seeing my face on camera
The camera is a pain in the ass 😂
@@shrimplyexplained Hahaha 😂 This was my favorite part too! It was so relatable.
😂 glad to see someone else's shrimp fighting! Everyone says shrimp are absolutely not aggressive. I have witnessed them duke it out on occasion and was so worried. 😅
Happy and healthy New Year to you and yours Mark. Thank you for all your informative shrimpy videos and here’s to many more 🍻 🙏✝️
Hi Mark, been enjoying your channel for a long time now, even way before I started to keep shrimp! So now that im well into the shrimp keeping hobby I just set up my own little shrimp tank rack and your videos have been so much help to me with this hobby. Im wondering the best setup method for a low maintenance caridina tank, is it easier to use ugf boxes and swap them out when they expire? Or is it easier to use a deeper soil layer in the entire bottom of the tank so that it lasts a lot longer, to go with this low maintenance approach and then just move the shrimp and restart the entire tank when that expires? Just wanted to here some thoughts from a master breeder like yourself!
Hi Mark! I have raised red cherry shrimp in 750 TDS with no problems. This particular tank was heavily planted, high filteration. I ran this tank at this level for approximately 5 months. Since then, I have started using RODI water (TDS 190) and shrimp still breeding like crazy :)
@@usmc187 same here
@@usmc187 higher TDS is always good for neos
Thanks so much, Marks, your experiment here give much information about caridina and this, I know, very important for development of caridina keeping hobbyists
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for sharing! The tanks are doing very well!
No problem 👍
En het is heel eenvoudig , less messing around less killing around......let nature be nature.❤
Thank you for the excellent explanation :)
You're very welcome!
Love the video and i'm gonna trust you with my caridina bee shrimps. I have a blue dream tank that has African Cichlids substrate with crushed coral. I haven't really done a water change on it i just top off with ro water. It is thriving. 15 years ago when i was breeding African Cichlids i rarely did water changes b3cause i had more problems when doing regular water changes. You're the man in showing this too us. Active soil needs to be left alone too work properly. Thanks for this realization on Thanksgiving bud🎉🦐🦐🦐
I'm relatively new to the Cardina shrimp hobby. I only got one tank at the moment. (shrimp king soil :( , with bleu steels and low grade galaxy boa culls).
I've seen tons of youtube video's from different creators and read on lots of different site's to try to inform myself when starting up this hobby. Apparently not enough, hence the choice for schrimp king soil :) The result of this is that i can't get PH lower than 6. Luckily i succeeded in creating a good green wall and biofilm in this tank. (and first young ones showing up last night).
Point is, there is a lot of different information out there and different ways of approaching the way of keeping/breeding Cardina's. Not easy for beginners to know which way to go.
Common sense that stability is the key to succes.
I've had the pleasure learning about Ramon (happyspace-shrimps) in one of your earlier video's. Seeing his and your results convinced me that this is the way i want to go...
i have your book for a couple of weeks now. Last week i got 4 54L tanks that i gonna cycle next month with ADA v1 and storm products.
I am so thankful for you sharing al this information. (and want to give a shout-out and thanks to Ramon as well)
Greetings Stef B.
Graag gedaan Stef 🤗
Great comment! I absolutely agree.. Following Mark's advice has been one of the best ideas for my shrimp room (my caridinas especially). I only perform water changes unless there is something going wrong in the tank and the parameters tell me I have to. After the tank is completely cycled and green walls, I top off with RODI water each week and 99% of my tanks are THRIVING. In my opinion, Mark offers some of the best, most honest / reliable info for shrimp keeping!! Best of luck with your tank of blue steels (my fav). sounds like they're doing great 🖤and you can always do a soil reset in the future (regarding your comment about soil choice) - trust me I get it, I used Fluval stratum in my first Caridina tank and failed miserably 😞
Ótimo trabalho irmão! Cultivo pitú e peixes. Abraço - Rio de janeiro - Brasil.
Hi Mark. Ive been keeping neocaridina for a couple of years now and decided to give caridina a go. Bought your book and read it 5 times. Cycled the tank quite quickly due to using an existing filter and bought ten CRS shrimp. Happy to say they are thriving and breeding well. Cheers for all the vids and book that gave me confidence.
Thank you for the awesome feedback!!
When it zoomed on your face and you said OMG I died laughing
Hello Marc, very nice video as always. How often do you actually feed your animals?
1-2 times a week my friend, if you dont have so much shrimp one is enough and then you must remove what they dont eat.
@@MarksShrimpTanks Thanks Mark I've been feeding every day and my shrimp are slowly dying. Thanks for your answer. Now I will feed twice a week.
Do you just top up then? With reminerilized water or RO? Thanks
I just top off with aged pure ro once a week. 👍
@MarksShrimpTanks thank you
I wonder if using those charcoal filter things would help, like the ones that come in hang on backs, since they absorb heavy metals, chlorine etc.
yeah maybe👍
Hello Mark, i noticed you dont have any roots inside your shrimp tanks? does it have any reason? or you just dont like them?
roots as in wood? Wood can cause issues so its better to have none, its the same with rocks and other things, I know it doesnt look so nice but its better for shrimp breeding.
@MarksShrimpTanks yes that's what I thought. I heared lava stone or dragon stone would be the only safe bet. You think so too?
It's been months for me too, but I have enough plants to still read zero nitrates... :)
see the way I work it is to try and just have enough moss and no more, I know if have to much plants when my green walls fade.
SUPER VIDEO 👍
Very interesting
Glad you think so!
@MarksShrimpTanks i did 10% water changes. I am going to try your méthode.
They say 120 tds is ideal but I have 220 tds or more
Your tester said right on it TDS/EC/TEMP it should read TDS..... right?
I have that same meter. You can choose which of the values you want to be displayed when you take your readings. Mark has his set to display the EC or "electrical conductivity" of the water. If you set that same meter to "ppm", then it will take that EC value and multiply it by a multiplier. (There are two multipliers available with this meter, and you have to choose one of them.) That math calculation will result in a number, which will be displayed on your meter, giving an estimate of the ppm of TDS.
@@RocsAquatics Is there a benefit to that..?
Ec gives you the raw data and its becoming more common to use its also more accurate than TDS.
Thank you for taking the time to explain it to him. 👍
Mark, curious about the temps in your shrimp tanks, do you heat the room? What's the water temperature?
right now I have a heater in the room with digital display on it set to 22c, in my tanks you can see on the video the temps are 22-23c.
Hi Mark, just wanna ask, is it okay to use ADA Amazonia v2 for caridinas? I cannot find v1 anymore in my country. Thanks
yes you have to make it work with something else, I would buy ADA v2. 👍
For sure you can use V2
Ther is only less nutriënts in it.
Do you think I could set up a 5 gallon shrimp tank but somehow included dried stingray skin?
It would rot?
Hey Mark I have a question, how much water do you top off your tanks with every week? I ask because I also have an open top tank that I top off with an ATO and echanges about 1 gallon a week. I may hold off on water changes at least until my colony gets bigger to help promote stability and soil longevity
Hello Cliffy, topping us is fine at any time, I use a few liters a week in each tank in the shrimp room and I top up just when I see the waters down, I always age my water for at least one day before I use it. hope this helps.
@@MarksShrimpTanks Hey Mark, this was the question i had as well. Do you top off with straight RO water that you have aged? Thank you for all the amazing content. Been watching you for years!
Hi Mark, can you please make a video of a shrimp tank without using any filter?
Its not something I do Kimosailo. try Lucas brets aquatics I think he does this method?
TDS is a meaningless reference when comparing results from one fish room to another, or even in the same fish room when tanks are managed with different methods.
TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) approximates how much 'stuff' is dissolved in your water. It makes no attempt to classify what type of substances that 'stuff' is. It will measure dissolved calcium as easily as dissolved copper, dissolved sodium as easily as dissolved selenium.
If you don't know what was in your water to begin with, or what you've added, TDS can't tell you anything.
Fishkeepers fall into the trap of having a consistent water profile from whatever water source they use ("plain" water), whether it is well water, RO water, local municipal water, rainwater, etc, and use TDS as a proxy for how much "plain" water they have vs "developed" aquarium water they have.
They may also use TDS to dilute municipal water with RO or rainwater. They may have to dilute 2 parts well water with 1 part RO water to achieve a desirable gH/KH, and use a TDS meter to approximate when they've achieved the correct ratio.
However, they fail to recognize that as soon as you change to another fishkeeper's well, or a different municipality, or otherwise some other source of water that is chemically different than their own, that TDS goes right out the window.
The same applies within a fish room if they're using chemically different substrates, feeding substantially different foods, growing substantially different plants, or following substantially different water change schedules, or any/all the above.
Yes I agree, for me its only really a tool to measure water parameters in my RO mixing bucket after that I dont really care what the reading say.
Yep even just feeding will increase your TDS. Or bad air quality days.
Hello what ph does fluval stratum keep the water at
It keeps it low enough roughly about 5.5 if you use enough of it, my reports on the substrate is that I seem to get mixed results from it and so do a lot of people indicating it might have been a production issue with the soil in th early days.
All my tanks have limpets wondering if they are good or bad or should I restart my tanks?
The primary concern with limpets is that they are voracious consumers of algae.
So, once they're in a tank, you generally cannot maintain any decent amount of algae for your shrimp.
yea this is true, goldfish will eat them so thats what I am trying to source for new setup tanks.
Hello Mark, do you have an eBay store where I can order your shrimp line?
I dont I dont sell shrimp online anymore I havnt done for years, its a lot of hassle.
The shrimp will breath but out off survival action.
They will be weaker as they would be with regular water changes
That isn't true