Shrimphaus has highly unorthodox water chemistry, yet successfully breeds both Caridina and Neocaridina freshwater shrimp. Modern water chemistry analysis shows what really matters and what might be hobby-lore myth. Let’s dig in. Really important: low alkalinity and low copper Low alkalinity: around 1 dKH / 20 ppm CaCO3 equivalents Shrimphaus water is prepared by hydrochloric […]
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Low-tech shrimp+snails aquarium; no CO2 injection; project-specific notes, observations, and maintenance.
I picked up a set of 10 wine red panda shrimp a little over 3 months ago. These are a super-attractive Caridina species with dark wine-red patches alternating with pure white patches. This is a showy shrimp that stands out against any type of aquarium background. The pandas have done well but historically I haven’t […]
Read more →The new Caridina babies are getting bigger and it’s a little easier to see what they look like. Because they have a stripey appearance I thought they were wine red panda children but they have no real white colouration anywhere on them. To me they look like tangerine tiger shrimp that have some black stripes.
Read more →Successful caridina breeding! Baby wine red panda shrimp Shrimp love rocks! Woo-hoo! The neocardinas in the Shrimphaus have been breeding at a pretty steady rate for a year, but not much luck with any of the caridina species – CRS, Tangerine Tigers, Wine Red Pandas – until now. Three possible reasons below.
Read more →It is common knowledge that copper is bad for shrimp, but it’s hard to find actual numbers on that. Let’s dig in. Tap water contains significant copper Your water report will tell you how much copper you have in your mains tap water. My water report, which is pretty typical, shows a minimum value for […]
Read more →TL;DR: Problems with algae? Turn down lighting intensity Sometimes there is wisdom online if you know where to find it and then actually listen to it. Clive at UKAPS for example advises against the “photon cannon” approach of blasting your aquarium with too much light. Too much light causes problematic algae. Lately I haven’t been […]
Read more →It perhaps will not come as a big surprise that the hobby sometimes ascribes common names incorrectly to species names. Tangerine Tiger shrimp are a case in point. Tangerine Tiger shrimp are almost universally described in the hobby as Caridina serrata, but actually they are Caridina cantonensis (much more on that below). Does it matter […]
Read more →It is a struggle to find plants that can thrive in the Shrimphaus. The combination of low-KH high-GH “low tech” not-CO2 injected water seems to make things difficult. I recently gave up on the reputedly “easy” Staurogyne Repens. Still, lots of plants left to try. This time we’re having a go with another “easy” plant: […]
Read more →I thought the Blue Velvet neocaridina shrimp had all died off, but then suddenly, babies! There are at least 5 new little guys in the Shrimphaus. I have no idea where they came from – there is no sign of their parents. I gave them some protein flakes and they seem to be enjoying those. […]
Read more →I recently put some Rotala rotundifolia ‘Blood Red’ into the Fireplace Aquarium and it came in more of a burnt ochre shade of dusky reddish orange than ‘blood red’ as such. I looked around for the (potentially mythic) ‘Singapore’ (SG) variant of the Rotala which is claimed to be more red under a broader set […]
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