Fish keeping has been changing. I got into planted tanks cause I loved the look. 7yrs later I learned so much about the benefits of plants in a tank. I did away with dyi canisters, water changes , scrubbing the tank clean, sick fish chemicals. All a waste of time. All my tanks are walsted method, planted , shrimp cleaning crew, few fish. I just top off water once a week. Now I just sit back and watch nature take its course and enjoy my tanks how it's suppose to be , for Love ❤️ 😄 Keep up the good work! Your a game changer with your knowledge. 👍
I have only been shrimpkeeping for a year. Over time I have found that less is better. Once my Java moss was growing like crazy, I gave up my filter , while keeping the air stones. Gradually I gave up water changes and only top off water as needed( daily as my area is dry). I gave up the chemical purifiers. I do test daily to make sure of the parameters. The hardest aspect was cutting down on feedings, as I love watching them feed. Recently I had an attack of midges which made me realize I was better off decreasing the feed frequency. So now I feed every other day. The shrimp and nerite snails seem great( both in my fire red cherry shrimp and cull tanks). Thank you for this video, Richard, which helped me feel comfortable moving in this direction.
i can only speak about my small tank that I started as an experiment to keep a small ecosystem going with minimal intervention. Have a 5 cm layer of substrate/gravel/sand, read somewhere that that is one of the things you need for certain bacteria. Other then that just some stones, good amount of plants and java moss. The tank had been going for a year without water changes and 5 small fish when I added shrimp and it's now almost 2 years without a change. Fish and shrimp are still happy, shrimp are breeding. I do add the occasional piece of bark or elder cone and tend to be careful with the food quantities but so far it's a huge success.
You are absolutely right, I’ve killed more shrimp trying to follow tds parameters water changes. Yet twice I set up a tank and completely let it be, it was the best results I had with shrimps
Spot on 💯. My snail actually seems happier without water changes. I only recommend water changes if theres a problem with the water like an imbalance in the tank from too many nutrients. Once you get the tank balanced you can go quite a while with out water changes. I'm learning to be a new shrimp keeper and this seems to be the most helpful channel out there! Thank you for making these videos
@LaZanyarr your aquarium will tell you When something's off like an algae bloom then you know it's time for a water change. You can actually test for iron and potassium but most people don't have those test kits
People who change their planted tank's water every week or two baffle me. I have two tanks that I couldn't tell you the last time I water changed, and one that has large fish that gets changed only to water the garden. I do clean my pre-filters when they get clogged, but that's it. I noticed the very first time I bought a live plant that the water quality was more stable than without plants, but it took me a while to learn that it was the plant doing the work. Love your content. Keep up the good work!
Great video! I only top off my heavily planted shrimp tank and it's doing brilliantly! I put a lot of that down to the number of snails I have as I never see any wasted food or poop build up. It's such a small tank, I always felt like even a small water change would hugely affect temperature and parameters. This may change now the colony is growing of course...
Clear explanation again, there are many opinions on this topic. Again you tell it works for me and it's not said it works for another. There are too many variables that must be taken into account in the decision of the aquarium owner. Clearly for me it is always sit quietly at your aquariums and observe your fish and shrimp and look at behavior if it has changed something is wrong and action must be taken. Thanks again and learn every time.
3 months back my outdoor tub was full of algae, plants were dieing & I didn't know how to control it. I bought 10 shrimps & 2 snails for the tub. Today the same tub has more than 150-200 shrimp & over 200 snails. I didn't change the water once( only top up ) , there was no filter. Tank filled with plants & zero algae.
I got 11 different (sub)species of plants in my little 40x40cm shrimp tank and a pothos growing out of it. I haven't done any water changes for months, just topping off and cleaning the filter every 3/4 weeks. They've been growing so much in population since then, and my water is crystal clear. This kind of fish/shrimp keeping might not be for everyone, but once equilibrium is achieved, it's so easy and so much fun to keep these critters. Especially the pothos has helped a lot with sucking up excess nutrients, never had any algae and the submersed plants are still growing like crazy, except for of course my Anubias and my java fern, but that's to be expected.
I only do waterchange if my tanks got more than 300++ tds. If not I'm just doing top off the water. My tanks already stable which I have many fast growing plants and my nitrates never go up more than 20ppm. But I'm still doing waterchange once every 5 months.
I’m going to be honest. I have my tank and it’s been 3 weeks since a water change. Everyone seems happy even the shrimp. I think it is sometimes hit or miss with the no water change deal.
actually your quite right. As long as the high nitrate is not from the natural occuring nitrogen cycle in that tank then its ok. if you had a lot of ammonia and a lot of nitrite to produce a lot of nitrate then thats the issue. But by using tap with nitrate already in it, that does not mean you had alot of the ammonia and nitrite to begin with, which are actually more toxic and deadly for fish. If you were doing a high tech planted tank and added regular dosing the Nitrate would even soar to 120 ppm.
quite a nice and interesting video about water changes. i use a different method where when the tds is over 20ppm from my normal parameters, i do a sight 10% or 5% water change. keep up the great work
running a successful low-tech Nano Walstad tank for half a year now. I only refill evaporated water and my shrimp are happily multiplying and doing their shrimp-thing. Even additional feeding isn't necessary, as they graze on the biofilm and dead microorganisms
I think i would do a small , about 10% water change if i see a drop in PH. By the way , you have a wonderful style to your presentations Richard, very informative and entertaining.
Im new to the hobby, spent 6 months putting together what i feel is a good home for my shrimp. I have 20 in there and its a 112L. Today and yesterday 2 shrimp died and i dont know why. Water parameters seem fine. No major water changes or anything and the other shrimp seem fine. I dont think im built for this hobby, didnt realise how upset it would make me. I keep staring at the one that died today hoping it will move
It can be tricky. My best advice (with the limited knowledge I have of your setup) would be just to hold fast and see how it pans out. Don't start making drastic changes to the tank. Maybe those two shrimp would have died anyway. If you start carrying out large water changes etc., you will most likely stress the shrimp, leading to more fatalities. Would love to hear how you get on.
@FishKeepingAnswers thank you! I'll give it some time and be sure to come back with an update. I'm glad I shared this because that is exactly what I was about to do, go into panick mode and probably make it worst. I'll be patient for now. Thank you for taking the time to advise me, really appreciate it. I don't think I can deal with thinking I'm somehow making them suffer. It's either happy, healthy shrimp, or no shrimp. All life is precious to me, I literally spend hours watching them. To think I'm causing them to die is not pleasant, and I wasn't prepared for feeling like this. My daughter loves them so much! I can't let her find one dead until I can explain to her what's going on in a way she can understand and accept. She's Autistic and we share so many amazing moments in front of this tank. I'm actually grateful to the shrimp for helping me and my daughter bond and communicate more.
My shrimp tank has never had water changes and its been fine for months. Itcsat nicely at 20 for nitrates. I did have to get an ro unit for top ups though because the water here is super hard and my gh got ridiculously high after a while. I'm doing water changes over the next few days though, I accidentally left the bloodworm in, cue ammonia spike and now crazy nitrates that my plants couldn't begin to keep up with :( lesson learnt, set a remove food timer! Love your videos. Please can you do one on how often to trim the plants and what this does to your cycle?
Plants that grow above the water can be incredible at absorbing the nutrients from the water. So if you have the space above your tank and can provide them with light, there are a lot of normal house plants that can work great. Just remove all the soil and place them so only the roots are in the water.
I was previously doing 20% water changes every week in my planted neo shrimp only tank with an active substrate and always noticed a shrimp or 2 die a few days later. So much so I lost around 12 shrimps in less than a month😢. Decided to stop water changes altogether and just top ups every week. Also increased the feeding to 6 days a week. Noticed a complete stop in shrimp deaths *touch wood*. However did notice that some of the shrimps have been losing colour. Skeptical to add any mineraliser as it increases the KH and PH which the substrate messes up again. Not sure how to deal with the shrimp colour loss though.
i have several tanks. one of my 'experimental' no water change just top offs tank got its top cover almost sealed with just small hole for the airline tubing. in case youre curious, i just use normal clear tape to seal the side gaps. 10gals (38 liters) tank. my goal is to disturb the inhabitants as minimal as possible and let nature take its course., environment wise. havent had water change for 10 mos now and just doing topoffs. i do feed them everyday at night before sleep with shrimp king sticks. started with 12 fire red neocaridina, and now got about 90 to 110 shrimps now. i got guppy grass in it too which fills about 1/8 of the tank. i have hiding places the shrimp can utilize when startled or needs to be away from the crowd.
Just an update, dont do zero water changes. This tank that im referring in this thread has not exactly 'crashed', but ive seen it lose about 3 to 4 shrimps a day which is totally unnacceptable to my standards. I also observed that there are no new borns recently in that tank. I checked the tds and it is about 220ppm, also as expected my nitrate is quite highly likely causing the deaths. So now I'm thinking, tds over 200 is bad (going up from 150ppm of saltyshrimp gh+ kh+). I did 2 water changes of 220 to 175, then 175 to 140 after 2 days. and boy oh boy, 3 weeks later, i got tons, and i mean tons of babies. i cant even clean my tank without putting a sponge on my python, its just impossible, thats how many they are 😂 tldr, if you did tds of 150ppm of saltyshrimp gh+/kh+, reaching 200ppm is critical zone (at least from my experience). im thinking, i probably should keep doing water changes so at least to keep my tank at tops 175ppm and closer to 150ppm the better PS: all water i use is rodi water, i never use straight tap
Can you? Yes, absolutely. Do you need to? In my opinion, no. If your source water is safe for you to drink, it should be perfectly fine for your shrimp-just make sure to dechlorinate it first, if necessary.
Hi Richard Nicki from Australia again. My tank has been running a few months now. It is a 20 litre tank. I put 5 yellow cherry shrimp in after running it for a few weeks. Now I can’t count them and they keep on breeding. My plants are going crazy. Java moss, crested Java fern, Anubius. I got the small tank because we live from rain tank water and was concerned about water usage with water change requirements during drought. A have been doing 10% changes weekly. We live in a dry climate so I top off daily ( when I remember). Must confess I can’t remember when I last checked any parameters, except tds when I make up my water change water. As there is ‘nothing’ in our heavily filtered rain water I use Shrimp King - Shrimp Salt GH+ KH+ for water changes and top offs are just my tap water. I’m sure I would be horrified if I checked my parameters but have been thinking about it. Even if they are horrific I’ll probably leave them be. Would happily stop doing water changes but where will the GH and KH and minerals they need come from? Just the food I occasionally feed them? Thanks for all the wonderful videos.
Hi. Glad to hear it’s going well. In my experience, if it’s working, don’t worry about it, just let it do it’s thing. Sometimes we over complicate the hobby by checking and adjusting this or that. I wouldn’t worry about any parameters unless the shrimp seem to be struggling. If they are breeding and colourful, they are clearly happy 😊
You can, but you don’t necessarily have to. Shrimp and snails will consume much of the debris and break it down further making it easier for you filtering to remove.
My fish tank is about 4 months old. I haven’t done any water change in about 2 month and I’m not planning to do any (unless necessary). I top up quite a lot because the evaporation where I live In unbelievable. My parameters are great and the tank is looking better every week
I have 1.5 gallon shrimp and snail tank only with lots of plants and small sponge filter. At first the water is very clear but after 2 weeks with weekly 20% water change the water always turns dark and cloudy ( not white cloudy its more dark and smells rot). Im only feeding few algae pellets every other day. Should I do water change daily for such a small tank?
This channel convinced me to give shrimp a shot ordered my first batch. Does anyone know the song that is playing in the background ? I work long hours and this song is so peaceful and relaxing.
Hope your first batch of shrimp goes well. Would love to hear how you get on. The music is just taken from the RUclips creators library of royalty free music 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers Hey thanks for replying so quickly. If by any chance you could tell me the name of it so I can look it up would be so appreciative. Also I just subbed been watching your content all day good stuff 👍🏻.
@@FishKeepingAnswers ah I’ve heard you mention that food a-lot but the major problem is its literally impossible to get repashy gel food so is there any other foods that don’t spoil water?
There are a lot of variables. Personally I do 50 to 75% a week but mine are too large for their tank really. If I had a larger tank I would do fewer water changes.
My shrimp tank is a walstad tank and I only do partial water changes (about 1/3) once in a blue moon. Last time I did one it was because I accidentally put too much sinking food in 😅
I use hornwort in all of my tanks and a 5 inches sand substrate and i never do water changes even on my 265 gallon aquarium which is heavily stocked with 100+ mixed chiclids and my nitrate never exceeds 30 ppm i just top off the aquarium, i have a 15 gallon which is heavily planted with deep substrate too and my nitrates is always under 5 ppm on this one , i believe water changes are only necessary when the tank is new and there is no enough benefical bacteria and its to get rid of ammonia not nitrates
@@FishKeepingAnswers yup it is 😅 it's a mix of mabunas,rainbows,severum,tiger barbs,clown loaches, blue accara,Chinese and simaese algae eaters and denson barbs basically all semi aggressive and fast swimmers they are doing well no aggression, equipped with a 50 gallon sump with a refugium that I keep cherry shrimps,plants and snails and everyone is thriving + two canisters full with around 10 kg of boi media so filtration is optimum , I did this setup after being 20 years in the hobby 😀
Hello, I have a question. I have been watching all of your videos and I'm pretty sure I'm doing everything right but I will ask anyway because my problem won't go away. I have set up a small aquarium of about 10L with live plants and cherry shrimp. My tap water is hard. PH is about 8.5 0 nitrite a very little nitrate (almost white on the test strip) I have house plants on top of the aquarium to suck out the nitrate but for some reason, my newly added cherry shrimp are just sitting in one place and not moving for almost 4 days now since I bought them. I tried lowering the PH slowly by mixing in RO water with a drip system and I think I got the PH to about 8.0 but they are still not moving :( Any advise for me cause I'm getting really frustrated here.
I filmed a tour, but it just came across as boring. If I’m bored editing it, imagine how you guys would feel watching it! Also, I love the idea of a mug that says ‘hello friends’ 😂🤣😂🤣
Maybe break it up a bit and do a small series, focusing on a couple tanks at a time, what you keep in these tanks and how it's developed, would make a good few short videos I think
I haven't changed my water since I got my tank from a friend.... And it's a green water tank with live plants and snails and shrimp and an air stone..... And not once have I changed my water and my shrimp have babies so I have a successful ecosystem
Hello ik accidentally had 1 red shrimp with my blues will that be a problem in the future? I removed it by now but it has been with them for a good 6 months
This is what I always say: do your research set your tank up for success and then leave it be and test occasionally. By setting up for success, I mean that: you add plenty of live plants, your fish choices cover all areas of the tank, meaning you have fish that feed at the top, middle and bottom + a cleanup crew suitable for your tank size. I set all my tanks according to this philosophy and I hardly ever need to do anything to them.
I added fertilizers to my tank a week or 2 ago and noted the tds climb from 205 to 241.Noticing berried females but less than expected babies (possibly due to egg droppings). I lost a shrimp due to moulting failure last week. So I changed 20% of water this week. Earlier was doing 20% changes every 2 weeks. Was wondering if the ferts might have had a role to the demise. Mine is a 4.1 gallon tank. Any suggestions if I need to do weekly changes to bring TDS down ?
Hi. TDS is a great parameter to measure in freshly prepared RO water prior to remineralising it for your shrimp tank. Unfortunately, it really offers no insight if you just measure the TDS of your tank water. What is that TDS made up of? Calcium? Ammonia? Fertiliser? If you are concerned, then carry out a 10 to 20% water change each week. Personally, I would just leave the tank be. Sadly, shrimp do sometimes just die, often for no apparent reason. If you are using a well known brand of aquatic plant fertiliser, then no I don’t think that is what is causing your tank issues. I hope this little ramble helps 😏
I in first time was changing about 40-50% of water every week, due to the fear of the appearance of algae and excess fertilizer in the water column. Now in the fish tank I do water change weekly and in the shrimp tank every 2 weeks. Do you have problems with algae in aquariums where you don't change the water and do you add any fertilizer ?
Hi. I don’t have any algae problems, but I think that’s because I have managed to get the balance right with lots of live plants. I do fertilise, but not as often as I should 😞
@@FishKeepingAnswers It is quite common. In our home Facebpok groups, they say that every third day is enough, but this is more often that it is excessive and that it slows down the metabolism of the prawns. I need to find some literature on the subject 😀
@@FishKeepingAnswers amazing as always, LOVE your channel mate! i was wondering this as well and have been told as much and that to prevent this build up i must use distilled water. So you're just topping up with tap water?
I tried to not do weekly water changes for my shrimp tank after 8months. half of my population died two weeks later. It depends what kind of water you have.
@@CoolNumber1 I do and plenty. I find that some shrimps may do better than others, my red cherries are super tough their appetite is better than my yellow backs which are super sensitive 🤷♂️
I prefer to do small water changes every 2 weeks in my neocardinia tanks, but I do weekly water changes in my betta tanks and yes all my tanks have plants (stem plants, Anubias, mosses, sword plants, lotus, red root floaters). I add calcium and Bacter AE to my shrimp tanks - also I add plant fertilizers
Hai Richard.. I have a query.. I get my shrimp water(Well water)from my LFS, (u had suggested it.. Thnx). So they give me water in plastic bag which are normally used for packing fish... Now, I store te water as it is in the given plastic cover tied wit rubberband. Is it safe to store water for long in that cover? Will te plastic leach or change te water chemistry over time which might turn te water unsafe for my shrimps? Thnx
Hi. I think it should be fine (provided it is kept in the dark as sunlight may make it turn green). Alternatively, could you pour it into a tub and have an airstone running to keep the water moving and well oxygenated?
@@FishKeepingAnswers Thnx for te reply Richard... Yes I do keep them away from direct sunlight.. Cus u pls elaborate te advantage of using aerator on this water?
Having the water in a tub with an airstone running will just prevent the water going stagnant. If the water is in a bag which is air tight it should be fine, but to my mind, in a tub with a bubbler going gives you a great source of water ready for water changes etc.
I noticed you had wisteria floating in one of your tanks, is it best to let it float in the water or should it be planted in the soil for the roots to grow?
I never do water changes in my shrimp or nano tanks. I test my water regularly. Removing excess plant growth and snails is how I remove excess nutrients. Only issue I have is I have to fertilize my tanks. But my tanks are gardens with fauna.
I have city water it I tested it had surprisingly hi ammonia in it so I just let it evaporate in a bucket for a few days and it prefect water .@@Prettyswagdad
@@FishKeepingAnswers nice one and looking forward to it. Yesterday started putting iced bottles of water in my tank as it was reading 29 degrees. Today found one remains of a shrimp the others munched on. Don't know if the death was related to me putting the iced bottles in
@@BigFadZ give us a few tips 👀. Might look into getting a chiller for these hot months or I saw these cooling fans which people claimed to have reduced the water temps
After watching this channel religiously, I got myself a load of Christmas java moss, some ludwigia, a small power head filter and an air operated sponge filter. I stuck some root tabs in the gravel and doss with API Leaf Zone. I had algae diatoms inside a fortnight and that was there weeks ago. All water parameters are fine but more importantly stable. I think I'm ready for some shrimp. Do you sell them as part of your channel? 🙂🍺🍻
My 155g Tetra tank frequently runs at over 100ppm Nitrates. The internet would have you believe anything over 10ppm and you are abusing your fish. Beleive me, if the fish are looking and doing fine, they are fine. Thanks for sharing
I used to do weekly water changes, topoffs, etc and it was alright, didn't see anything negative, however, I test my water every week and noticed that in my shrimp tank, everything was spot on, so, I chose not to do a water change. I tested the next week, samething, so again, no water change. This has been going on for weeks with the quality of water being great. I haven't done a water change for over a month, kept up with topoffs and my shrimp are breeding like crazy. I think it just depends on the species really and the size of the tank. I have a 65-gallon African chiclid tank that I change weekly because the nitrates go crazy...if I don't, the fish start to show signs of stress. I typically do a water change if nitrates get to 40ppm or above, if not, I will hold off. Ultimately, I believe if people are testing their water and the parameters are at healthy levels, there is no need to do a water change. If something is high, then go ahead and do a water change. Thanks for the great materiel Richard, I always look forward to your videos!
I’ve only been in the hobby for a year, this hobby becomes somewhat of an addiction. It has grown to 7 tanks, my shrimp seem to do good for a while then start dying. They are on an extreme dying spree right now and I have no idea why😐 My nitrates are at 5ppm, everything else is at 0. I have 3 floating plants because the snails rip every plant out so I gave up. Red root floaters, Salvania and frogbit.My gh is high but they are all raised in my cities water which is very hard. I read and I watch video’s a lot! But obviously I’m doing something very wrong. I only use Seachem and Glasgarten thinking this would help at a higher cost with less pollution from feeding. If you could give me any suggestions what could be causing this I’d really appreciate it. There are plenty of molts but some die from molting. It really breaks my heart and shrimp are my favorite. I have many other critters but 2 shrimp tanks. At this point any advice could help.
One thing that you should try is to get a good, comprehensive test of your water. I'm talking about testing water parameters that we, as aquarists, do not test! Get your test results from a good lab. Then look to see if you have copper, silicates, manganese or other things, in your source water, which could be building up in your tanks and causing troubles.
@ I have never thought to do that, I bet my pet shop that I go to can do such tests or may even know what the start content is. My yellow tank crashed and I’m down to 7 females and 1 male😣 Something keeps absorbing all the KH from the water so I have resorted to using 1/4 teaspoon on alkaline buffer every day to keep it up. I have no clue even after researching what can possibly be absorbing it. Starting water is 8 drops then colour change. I did a 50% water change because I had nothing left to lose really. Within 2 days the KH dropped to 0. I mostly didn’t buff because I wanted to see after the water change it was 4 drops for change. The only new addition to the tank in months was frog bit, I have taken that plant out now.
Topping off isn’t a water change. It’s maintaining the stability. It treats your water like it’s own colony of life, you’re feeding it with top offs, and feeding the stability because of the smaller influence it has on the water stability.
Are you still selling shrimp? If so where can I buy them from, I can see you take good care of them and they look healthy in the videos I’ve seen. Please add a link to your page, I can only find you website where you write about the hobby, can’t see you store?
Thanks for reply, I’ll have to buy some from the garden center then. You videos have made me very interested in shrimp I will be following you RUclips channel as find you videos helpful and informative. Keep up the great work.
If you only top off and do no water changes, your TDS can become dangerous for shrimp. I did that and tds rose to 500. I had to use distilled water for water changes to get it under control. Shrimp do best at 200 or less. A TDS meter is inexpensive and, in my opinion, absolutely necessary.
Potentially true, but the problem with TDS is the fact it measures the TOTAL dissolved solids, and total will include ANYTHING dissolved in the aquarium water including nitrates, plant fertiliser, medications, dechlorinator etc. TDS meters are really only useful when remineralising RO water. To say a TDS of 500 is harmful to shrimp is not true. If I carry out a water, and add dechlorinator plus fertiliser for my plants, and let’s say I already have hard water with lots of dissolved calcium and magnesium, my TDS can be high, but my water is perfectly safe for shrimp 👍🏻
I chose to crash my tank to try to rid it off scuds. Normally I would not have especially if it was going to be a fish only tank. But since I have been having a nightmare of a time with plants and don't want to risk the shrimplets being eaten, or having to complete with the scuds I opted to remove as many snails as I could with the shrimp, and some scuds to grow a culture, and then dropped the pH to 6. Air stones brought the pH up to a 7.8 in just a few hours. As expected Ammonia was at 1 (previously after a year of just top offs the tank maintained an ammonia level of 0), I added nitrifying bacterial which dropped the ammonia closer to 0.3 in about an hour, the nitrites remained at 0, and the nitrates went up 5 ppm... Even after "nuking" the tank, losing micro-fauna with the scuds that remained, I have been able to avoid water changes.
I’ve been telling people this for years! Just imagine where our fishes originally come from. We can’t go soft people! Sometimes it’s worse for the fish and we don’t even know it
Hi Richard, Great video I have heard that it’s naturally impossible for nitrogen to get to such a high level that fish will die naturally! This is where green algae will take over eating it up! Now we do not want algae in to high levels! More plants is the key to this! mug under sand giving great substrate for large plants and rafting plants!
@@FishKeepingAnswers Bacteria decompose organic matter(proteins) into nitrites and nitrates. That's, how you get them in the first place. From there plants transform in their own tissues.
Easy Neo Breeding Recipe: Phase-1 Start w/ 20 gallon storage bin or trash can. Cover bottom with thin layer crushed coral then aquarium gravel. Make 3 rock piles of dice size rocks. Super glue java moss to top rock on each pile. Let hornwort grow in water column. Top with frog bit or red root floaters. Tie pothos to the rim so roots are in the water. Filter with sponge filter. Light with something cheap and has a built in timer. I like a heater for 74° to 76°. Add 4 olive nerites. 1 dose liquid fertilizer. 4 katapa leaves. 1 algae wafer per week. Let system run for 4 weeks. Phase-2 Once algae is growing on walls add in 10 adult neos. Feed 2x a week shrimp food in dish. Clean dish every 24 hrs. Top off with dechlorinated tap water as needed. Phase-3 When you start to see babies, feed 3x a week. Phase-4 When tank hits 20 weeks start selling off the ones with the worst colors.
nature does not do water changes. it recycles. the hydrological cycle. different process. can we recycle in an aquarium? not sure to be honest. some have done it it seems. people think that water changes in a river. lol. the new water coming from upstream is old water. somewhere upstream is another fish just like the one you are looking at now. your fish is getting the water from that fish. its old water. the bioload upstream is just as high as downstream. the new water is just as polluted as the existing water just leaving.
Water changes do a lot of good, especially for shrimp. They come from rivers and they like oxygenated water and dilution. Water changes also, importantly, trigger behaviors in shrimp.
Hey, thanks for taking the time to share. In my experience, water changes make little to no difference. With that said it’s early days. Let’s see how they look in 5 or 6 months 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswersyou'd be surprised at my shrimp doing "amazingly well" and my setup then. Even just a planted tank, if you're not doing mineral replacement the plants suffer in the end. It's your tank, do what you want, but for me.... the value of water changes is pretty useful as a tool.
@@FishKeepingAnswers for context on the topic, I'd really be curious about your targets for something like GH/KH in your neo tanks. I would ask that in a future video you test the tank, test the tap, and see what you can see. How far off are they. I'll look for a video on some of your methods and how you care for things, ultimately, I'm just curious about the topic for my own interests. As mentioned, your tanks, your care. The goal in the end is to have happy, healthy animals and plants. Thanks again for the chat.
You need to lower your head at the camera, it looks like you are turning up your nose at us and I'm staring at the barrel of your nostrils. Otherwise 10/10 content! I am trying to follow your advice.
Never change the water on any of my fish tanks. Wasting your time and not good for the fish. Just check you ph levels and just top them up now and then and you'll be good for life.
Ok no issue . Actually following are my queries. First of all . I have 1/5 of water filled in my tank as I have some peace Lilly and bamboo plants and pothos . Hence can't fill the tank. Front portion is with soil with xmass moss and pearl weed. All plants growing beautifully. Now I have cherry shrimps only. Not using any filters . Only airstone. TDS is 160. pH is arround 7 . I don't give them food. Only natural algea . Problem is shrimps are breeding but not growing in sizes and adults are vanishing. Can't see them for more than 2/3 months. Whenever I buy and put them in tank. After 2 to 3 months they vanish. Means mostly dyeing.
Fish keeping has been changing. I got into planted tanks cause I loved the look. 7yrs later I learned so much about the benefits of plants in a tank. I did away with dyi canisters, water changes , scrubbing the tank clean, sick fish chemicals. All a waste of time.
All my tanks are walsted method, planted , shrimp cleaning crew, few fish. I just top off water once a week. Now I just sit back and watch nature take its course and enjoy my tanks how it's suppose to be , for Love ❤️ 😄
Keep up the good work! Your a game changer with your knowledge. 👍
Thank you for your kind feedback 🫶🏻
Thanks to Father Fish and Walstad,I don't have to change the water in my turtle tank. Crystal clear 0 nitrate 0 nitrite 0 ammonia
I too believe that nature has solutions for everything, we just need to let her do her job and enjoy the show. ❤
I have only been shrimpkeeping for a year. Over time I have found that less is better. Once my Java moss was growing like crazy, I gave up my filter , while keeping the air stones. Gradually I gave up water changes and only top off water as needed( daily as my area is dry). I gave up the chemical purifiers. I do test daily to make sure of the parameters. The hardest aspect was cutting down on feedings, as I love watching them feed. Recently I had an attack of midges which made me realize I was better off decreasing the feed frequency. So now I feed every other day. The shrimp and nerite snails seem great( both in my fire red cherry shrimp and cull tanks). Thank you for this video, Richard, which helped me feel comfortable moving in this direction.
i can only speak about my small tank that I started as an experiment to keep a small ecosystem going with minimal intervention. Have a 5 cm layer of substrate/gravel/sand, read somewhere that that is one of the things you need for certain bacteria. Other then that just some stones, good amount of plants and java moss. The tank had been going for a year without water changes and 5 small fish when I added shrimp and it's now almost 2 years without a change. Fish and shrimp are still happy, shrimp are breeding. I do add the occasional piece of bark or elder cone and tend to be careful with the food quantities but so far it's a huge success.
You are absolutely right, I’ve killed more shrimp trying to follow tds parameters water changes. Yet twice I set up a tank and completely let it be, it was the best results I had with shrimps
Spot on 💯. My snail actually seems happier without water changes. I only recommend water changes if theres a problem with the water like an imbalance in the tank from too many nutrients. Once you get the tank balanced you can go quite a while with out water changes. I'm learning to be a new shrimp keeper and this seems to be the most helpful channel out there! Thank you for making these videos
Thank you so much for taking the time to offer your feedback. It’s appreciated 🫶🏻
How can you check if Theres too many nutrients in the water (from feeding liquid plant fertilizer for example)?
@LaZanyarr your aquarium will tell you
When something's off like an algae bloom then you know it's time for a water change. You can actually test for iron and potassium but most people don't have those test kits
"Stability over Perfection." Good philosophy for life let alone fish tanks :)
I am clearly wise beyond my years! 😂
People who change their planted tank's water every week or two baffle me. I have two tanks that I couldn't tell you the last time I water changed, and one that has large fish that gets changed only to water the garden. I do clean my pre-filters when they get clogged, but that's it. I noticed the very first time I bought a live plant that the water quality was more stable than without plants, but it took me a while to learn that it was the plant doing the work. Love your content. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for taking the time to share. As you say, live plants are the key. 👍🏻
Great video! I only top off my heavily planted shrimp tank and it's doing brilliantly! I put a lot of that down to the number of snails I have as I never see any wasted food or poop build up. It's such a small tank, I always felt like even a small water change would hugely affect temperature and parameters.
This may change now the colony is growing of course...
Sounds like you have it dialled in 💪🏻🦐
Clear explanation again, there are many opinions on this topic. Again you tell it works for me and it's not said it works for another. There are too many variables that must be taken into account in the decision of the aquarium owner. Clearly for me it is always sit quietly at your aquariums and observe your fish and shrimp and look at behavior if it has changed something is wrong and action must be taken. Thanks again and learn every time.
Hi. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. It is much appreciated 🫶🏻
I lowered my waterchanges frequency for months and have observed no changes. I do have jungles tanks though but no fertilizers needed. Thank you!!
How do you keep a jungle without fertilizer??
it just works @@LaZanyarr i dont know why. i even have sun on 2 tanks and they grow like crazy
so well said !!! i hope everyone who’s looking for shrimp advice find your page
You are too kind 🫶🏻
I'm always looking for new shrimp channels and this is such a nice one, I like your accent to boot !😂
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I have found the top off method also , baby shrimp and adults doing wonderfully!
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3 months back my outdoor tub was full of algae, plants were dieing & I didn't know how to control it.
I bought 10 shrimps & 2 snails for the tub. Today the same tub has more than 150-200 shrimp & over 200 snails. I didn't change the water once( only top up ) , there was no filter. Tank filled with plants & zero algae.
Sounds like you have got the balance spot on. That’s the secret I reckon 👍🏻
I got 11 different (sub)species of plants in my little 40x40cm shrimp tank and a pothos growing out of it. I haven't done any water changes for months, just topping off and cleaning the filter every 3/4 weeks. They've been growing so much in population since then, and my water is crystal clear. This kind of fish/shrimp keeping might not be for everyone, but once equilibrium is achieved, it's so easy and so much fun to keep these critters.
Especially the pothos has helped a lot with sucking up excess nutrients, never had any algae and the submersed plants are still growing like crazy, except for of course my Anubias and my java fern, but that's to be expected.
Sounds like a great setup. Thanks for sharing 🫶🏻
My tank is 3 months without water changes,i do sometimes add water to refill my tank.
I only do waterchange if my tanks got more than 300++ tds. If not I'm just doing top off the water.
My tanks already stable which I have many fast growing plants and my nitrates never go up more than 20ppm.
But I'm still doing waterchange once every 5 months.
Sounds like you have the balance just right 😎
I’m going to be honest. I have my tank and it’s been 3 weeks since a water change. Everyone seems happy even the shrimp. I think it is sometimes hit or miss with the no water change deal.
Sounds like you got it spot on to me 👍🏻
Love this video. My water comes out at over 40 and i do not want to buy RO water etc.
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I was waiting for you to touch this subject, Richard, and you are spot on 😊
Thank you 🙏🏻
actually your quite right. As long as the high nitrate is not from the natural occuring nitrogen cycle in that tank then its ok. if you had a lot of ammonia and a lot of nitrite to produce a lot of nitrate then thats the issue. But by using tap with nitrate already in it, that does not mean you had alot of the ammonia and nitrite to begin with, which are actually more toxic and deadly for fish. If you were doing a high tech planted tank and added regular dosing the Nitrate would even soar to 120 ppm.
Interesting! I'll try that in my most planted shrimp tank :)
Would love to hear how it goes.
quite a nice and interesting video about water changes. i use a different method where when the tds is over 20ppm from my normal parameters, i do a sight 10% or 5% water change. keep up the great work
Thanks for taking the time to share 👍🏻
I don't do any water changes, i have floater and planted plants,
running a successful low-tech Nano Walstad tank for half a year now. I only refill evaporated water and my shrimp are happily multiplying and doing their shrimp-thing. Even additional feeding isn't necessary, as they graze on the biofilm and dead microorganisms
Finally someone that understands the full nitrogen cycle. Great vid
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I think i would do a small , about 10% water change if i see a drop in PH. By the way , you have a wonderful style to your presentations Richard, very informative and entertaining.
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback 🤜🏻
Im new to the hobby, spent 6 months putting together what i feel is a good home for my shrimp. I have 20 in there and its a 112L.
Today and yesterday 2 shrimp died and i dont know why. Water parameters seem fine. No major water changes or anything and the other shrimp seem fine. I dont think im built for this hobby, didnt realise how upset it would make me. I keep staring at the one that died today hoping it will move
It can be tricky. My best advice (with the limited knowledge I have of your setup) would be just to hold fast and see how it pans out. Don't start making drastic changes to the tank. Maybe those two shrimp would have died anyway. If you start carrying out large water changes etc., you will most likely stress the shrimp, leading to more fatalities.
Would love to hear how you get on.
@FishKeepingAnswers thank you! I'll give it some time and be sure to come back with an update. I'm glad I shared this because that is exactly what I was about to do, go into panick mode and probably make it worst. I'll be patient for now. Thank you for taking the time to advise me, really appreciate it.
I don't think I can deal with thinking I'm somehow making them suffer. It's either happy, healthy shrimp, or no shrimp. All life is precious to me, I literally spend hours watching them. To think I'm causing them to die is not pleasant, and I wasn't prepared for feeling like this. My daughter loves them so much! I can't let her find one dead until I can explain to her what's going on in a way she can understand and accept. She's Autistic and we share so many amazing moments in front of this tank. I'm actually grateful to the shrimp for helping me and my daughter bond and communicate more.
@@blackjackcwcthat’s very beautiful! How is your tank doing now..?
My shrimp tank has never had water changes and its been fine for months. Itcsat nicely at 20 for nitrates. I did have to get an ro unit for top ups though because the water here is super hard and my gh got ridiculously high after a while. I'm doing water changes over the next few days though, I accidentally left the bloodworm in, cue ammonia spike and now crazy nitrates that my plants couldn't begin to keep up with :( lesson learnt, set a remove food timer! Love your videos. Please can you do one on how often to trim the plants and what this does to your cycle?
Hey, thanks for taking the time to comment and the video suggestion. Leave it with me 👍🏻
Plants that grow above the water can be incredible at absorbing the nutrients from the water. So if you have the space above your tank and can provide them with light, there are a lot of normal house plants that can work great. Just remove all the soil and place them so only the roots are in the water.
What plants do you recommend?
I was previously doing 20% water changes every week in my planted neo shrimp only tank with an active substrate and always noticed a shrimp or 2 die a few days later. So much so I lost around 12 shrimps in less than a month😢.
Decided to stop water changes altogether and just top ups every week. Also increased the feeding to 6 days a week. Noticed a complete stop in shrimp deaths *touch wood*. However did notice that some of the shrimps have been losing colour. Skeptical to add any mineraliser as it increases the KH and PH which the substrate messes up again. Not sure how to deal with the shrimp colour loss though.
i have several tanks. one of my 'experimental' no water change just top offs tank got its top cover almost sealed with just small hole for the airline tubing. in case youre curious, i just use normal clear tape to seal the side gaps. 10gals (38 liters) tank. my goal is to disturb the inhabitants as minimal as possible and let nature take its course., environment wise.
havent had water change for 10 mos now and just doing topoffs. i do feed them everyday at night before sleep with shrimp king sticks.
started with 12 fire red neocaridina, and now got about 90 to 110 shrimps now. i got guppy grass in it too which fills about 1/8 of the tank. i have hiding places the shrimp can utilize when startled or needs to be away from the crowd.
Sounds like a great setup. Would love to hear how it progresses over the next 6 to 12 months 👍🏻
Just an update, dont do zero water changes. This tank that im referring in this thread has not exactly 'crashed', but ive seen it lose about 3 to 4 shrimps a day which is totally unnacceptable to my standards. I also observed that there are no new borns recently in that tank. I checked the tds and it is about 220ppm, also as expected my nitrate is quite highly likely causing the deaths. So now I'm thinking, tds over 200 is bad (going up from 150ppm of saltyshrimp gh+ kh+). I did 2 water changes of 220 to 175, then 175 to 140 after 2 days. and boy oh boy, 3 weeks later, i got tons, and i mean tons of babies. i cant even clean my tank without putting a sponge on my python, its just impossible, thats how many they are 😂
tldr, if you did tds of 150ppm of saltyshrimp gh+/kh+, reaching 200ppm is critical zone (at least from my experience). im thinking, i probably should keep doing water changes so at least to keep my tank at tops 175ppm and closer to 150ppm the better
PS: all water i use is rodi water, i never use straight tap
Just bought your book, now let me read the 97 pages of pure awesomeness! thanks for your hardwork on sharing your knowledge to us!
@@ArchangelHornet hey can we have an update plz
Can you add distilled water to replace evaporated water, no added minerals
Can you? Yes, absolutely. Do you need to? In my opinion, no. If your source water is safe for you to drink, it should be perfectly fine for your shrimp-just make sure to dechlorinate it first, if necessary.
Thanks for your content bud! New to shrimp and I appreciate your input!😊
Hey, glad to help 👍🏻
Excellent! Thank you for this video!
You are very welcome 🫶🏻
Hi Richard
Nicki from Australia again. My tank has been running a few months now. It is a 20 litre tank. I put 5 yellow cherry shrimp in after running it for a few weeks. Now I can’t count them and they keep on breeding. My plants are going crazy. Java moss, crested Java fern, Anubius. I got the small tank because we live from rain tank water and was concerned about water usage with water change requirements during drought. A have been doing 10% changes weekly. We live in a dry climate so I top off daily ( when I remember).
Must confess I can’t remember when I last checked any parameters, except tds when I make up my water change water. As there is ‘nothing’ in our heavily filtered rain water I use Shrimp King - Shrimp Salt GH+ KH+ for water changes and top offs are just my tap water. I’m sure I would be horrified if I checked my parameters but have been thinking about it. Even if they are horrific I’ll probably leave them be. Would happily stop doing water changes but where will the GH and KH and minerals they need come from? Just the food I occasionally feed them? Thanks for all the wonderful videos.
Hi. Glad to hear it’s going well. In my experience, if it’s working, don’t worry about it, just let it do it’s thing. Sometimes we over complicate the hobby by checking and adjusting this or that. I wouldn’t worry about any parameters unless the shrimp seem to be struggling. If they are breeding and colourful, they are clearly happy 😊
What about any food debris or fish poop from the few fish in the shrimp tank? I should suck that out correct? And under the drift wood ect?
You can, but you don’t necessarily have to. Shrimp and snails will consume much of the debris and break it down further making it easier for you filtering to remove.
Interesting i have near zero nitrates in my planted 75gal . I don't do water changes other then what a vacuum
My fish tank is about 4 months old. I haven’t done any water change in about 2 month and I’m not planning to do any (unless necessary). I top up quite a lot because the evaporation where I live In unbelievable. My parameters are great and the tank is looking better every week
Sounds perfect 😎
Do you just top off with dechlorinated tap water?
what plants do you have in the tank on your left near the gold fish? and what are their requirements, like do you use co2, fertilizer, etc.
I think that main plant is Hygrophila polysperma. I fertilise occasionally but never add CO2.
I have 1.5 gallon shrimp and snail tank only with lots of plants and small sponge filter. At first the water is very clear but after 2 weeks with weekly 20% water change the water always turns dark and cloudy ( not white cloudy its more dark and smells rot). Im only feeding few algae pellets every other day. Should I do water change daily for such a small tank?
This channel convinced me to give shrimp a shot ordered my first batch. Does anyone know the song that is playing in the background ? I work long hours and this song is so peaceful and relaxing.
Hope your first batch of shrimp goes well. Would love to hear how you get on.
The music is just taken from the RUclips creators library of royalty free music 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers Hey thanks for replying so quickly. If by any chance you could tell me the name of it so I can look it up would be so appreciative. Also I just subbed been watching your content all day good stuff 👍🏻.
I will look it up for you. Welcome to the channel 🫶🏻
Great video I agree.✌️💗👍💯
Thank you kindly 🫶🏻
I'm all for no water changes in planted tanks, but what about all of the poop at the bottom of the tank?
8:18 transition to a no water tank system 😂
Oh yeah 😂😂😂
I was wondering what are foods that don’t spoil the water that you can feed shrimp (other than biofilm)
I like Repashy Gel food. That stays water stable for 24 hours or more.
@@FishKeepingAnswers ah I’ve heard you mention that food a-lot but the major problem is its literally impossible to get repashy gel food so is there any other foods that don’t spoil water?
In that case I would feed frozen bloodworm or brine shrimp. You could also try algae wafers 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers ah ok ill try them all thanks as always
I have a 75gallon tank with 10 shrimp I have lots of floating plants and amazon sword. Will shrimp and snails make enough waist to feed the plants?
Honestly, probably not. The bio load of shrimp and snails is typically tiny 👍🏻
How much water change do you recommend for goldfish?
There are a lot of variables. Personally I do 50 to 75% a week but mine are too large for their tank really. If I had a larger tank I would do fewer water changes.
@@FishKeepingAnswers thanks
My shrimp tank is a walstad tank and I only do partial water changes (about 1/3) once in a blue moon. Last time I did one it was because I accidentally put too much sinking food in 😅
🙂
I use hornwort in all of my tanks and a 5 inches sand substrate and i never do water changes even on my 265 gallon aquarium which is heavily stocked with 100+ mixed chiclids and my nitrate never exceeds 30 ppm i just top off the aquarium, i have a 15 gallon which is heavily planted with deep substrate too and my nitrates is always under 5 ppm on this one , i believe water changes are only necessary when the tank is new and there is no enough benefical bacteria and its to get rid of ammonia not nitrates
Thanks for sharing. The 265g sounds like a great set up.
@@FishKeepingAnswers yup it is 😅 it's a mix of mabunas,rainbows,severum,tiger barbs,clown loaches, blue accara,Chinese and simaese algae eaters and denson barbs basically all semi aggressive and fast swimmers they are doing well no aggression, equipped with a 50 gallon sump with a refugium that I keep cherry shrimps,plants and snails and everyone is thriving + two canisters full with around 10 kg of boi media so filtration is optimum , I did this setup after being 20 years in the hobby 😀
Those black roses you bought look real nice! Curious to know what you have to say on their lack of babies
They are nice, although I reckon at least 2 are chocolates and one is definitely blue 😂
Hello, I have a question. I have been watching all of your videos and I'm pretty sure I'm doing everything right but I will ask anyway because my problem won't go away.
I have set up a small aquarium of about 10L with live plants and cherry shrimp. My tap water is hard. PH is about 8.5 0 nitrite a very little nitrate (almost white on the test strip) I have house plants on top of the aquarium to suck out the nitrate but for some reason, my newly added cherry shrimp are just sitting in one place and not moving for almost 4 days now since I bought them. I tried lowering the PH slowly by mixing in RO water with a drip system and I think I got the PH to about 8.0 but they are still not moving :( Any advise for me cause I'm getting really frustrated here.
when will we get a fish room tour Rich?
also merch idea for you. a coffee/tea mug that has a shrimp saying says "Hello Friends"
I filmed a tour, but it just came across as boring. If I’m bored editing it, imagine how you guys would feel watching it! Also, I love the idea of a mug that says ‘hello friends’ 😂🤣😂🤣
@@FishKeepingAnswers lol aren't all fish room tours boring 😴 😆 I would still watch it
😂
Maybe break it up a bit and do a small series, focusing on a couple tanks at a time, what you keep in these tanks and how it's developed, would make a good few short videos I think
@@scottseabury4014 yes!
I haven't changed my water since I got my tank from a friend.... And it's a green water tank with live plants and snails and shrimp and an air stone..... And not once have I changed my water and my shrimp have babies so I have a successful ecosystem
Sounds like a great setup 👍🏻
My neocaridina bloody mary shrimp tank looks neglected, but the shrimp thrive in it. I quadrupled my shrimp colony in less than 3 months
Sounds like you have got the balance just right 👍🏻
Hello ik accidentally had 1 red shrimp with my blues will that be a problem in the future? I removed it by now but it has been with them for a good 6 months
Maybe, maybe not. I would just wait it out and remove any red babies that come along 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers thnx
This is what I always say: do your research set your tank up for success and then leave it be and test occasionally. By setting up for success, I mean that: you add plenty of live plants, your fish choices cover all areas of the tank, meaning you have fish that feed at the top, middle and bottom + a cleanup crew suitable for your tank size. I set all my tanks according to this philosophy and I hardly ever need to do anything to them.
I added fertilizers to my tank a week or 2 ago and noted the tds climb from 205 to 241.Noticing berried females but less than expected babies (possibly due to egg droppings). I lost a shrimp due to moulting failure last week. So I changed 20% of water this week. Earlier was doing 20% changes every 2 weeks. Was wondering if the ferts might have had a role to the demise. Mine is a 4.1 gallon tank. Any suggestions if I need to do weekly changes to bring TDS down ?
Hi. TDS is a great parameter to measure in freshly prepared RO water prior to remineralising it for your shrimp tank. Unfortunately, it really offers no insight if you just measure the TDS of your tank water. What is that TDS made up of? Calcium? Ammonia? Fertiliser? If you are concerned, then carry out a 10 to 20% water change each week. Personally, I would just leave the tank be. Sadly, shrimp do sometimes just die, often for no apparent reason. If you are using a well known brand of aquatic plant fertiliser, then no I don’t think that is what is causing your tank issues.
I hope this little ramble helps 😏
@@FishKeepingAnswers Many thanks Richard. Will try to minimize the water changes!
I in first time was changing about 40-50% of water every week, due to the fear of the appearance of algae and excess fertilizer in the water column. Now in the fish tank I do water change weekly and in the shrimp tank every 2 weeks.
Do you have problems with algae in aquariums where you don't change the water and do you add any fertilizer ?
Hi. I don’t have any algae problems, but I think that’s because I have managed to get the balance right with lots of live plants. I do fertilise, but not as often as I should 😞
@@FishKeepingAnswers And how often you feed your shrimps ?
Usually once or twice a day 🙂
@@FishKeepingAnswers It is quite common. In our home Facebpok groups, they say that every third day is enough, but this is more often that it is excessive and that it slows down the metabolism of the prawns. I need to find some literature on the subject 😀
What about the potential mineral buildup? If you just top off the aquarium, won't the GH slowly rise until is unhealthy for the shrimp?
Hi. Live aquatic plants absorb minerals, including calcium and magnesium as they grow, helping prevent a build up 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers amazing as always, LOVE your channel mate! i was wondering this as well and have been told as much and that to prevent this build up i must use distilled water. So you're just topping up with tap water?
I tried to not do weekly water changes for my shrimp tank after 8months. half of my population died two weeks later. It depends what kind of water you have.
You need plants lol
@@CoolNumber1 I do and plenty. I find that some shrimps may do better than others, my red cherries are super tough their appetite is better than my yellow backs which are super sensitive 🤷♂️
U sure? You need fast growing plant, slow growing plant wont work.@@3abdangry
I prefer to do small water changes every 2 weeks in my neocardinia tanks, but I do weekly water changes in my betta tanks and yes all my tanks have plants (stem plants, Anubias, mosses, sword plants, lotus, red root floaters). I add calcium and Bacter AE to my shrimp tanks - also I add plant fertilizers
Hai Richard.. I have a query.. I get my shrimp water(Well water)from my LFS, (u had suggested it.. Thnx).
So they give me water in plastic bag which are normally used for packing fish...
Now, I store te water as it is in the given plastic cover tied wit rubberband.
Is it safe to store water for long in that cover? Will te plastic leach or change te water chemistry over time which might turn te water unsafe for my shrimps? Thnx
Hi. I think it should be fine (provided it is kept in the dark as sunlight may make it turn green). Alternatively, could you pour it into a tub and have an airstone running to keep the water moving and well oxygenated?
@@FishKeepingAnswers Thnx for te reply Richard... Yes I do keep them away from direct sunlight.. Cus u pls elaborate te advantage of using aerator on this water?
Having the water in a tub with an airstone running will just prevent the water going stagnant. If the water is in a bag which is air tight it should be fine, but to my mind, in a tub with a bubbler going gives you a great source of water ready for water changes etc.
@@FishKeepingAnswers Noted...Thnx for te info.... Will keep them aerated...
I noticed you had wisteria floating in one of your tanks, is it best to let it float in the water or should it be planted in the soil for the roots to grow?
Either way works. I have it growing both ways
In all honesty it depends on many factors but mostly tank age the older the tank the more it becomes beneficial to just top it off.
Also active substrates can make it 100% necessary to change waters
I never do water changes in my shrimp or nano tanks. I test my water regularly. Removing excess plant growth and snails is how I remove excess nutrients. Only issue I have is I have to fertilize my tanks. But my tanks are gardens with fauna.
Sounds like a great set up 🫶🏻
sometimes water changes are counter intuitive because the tap already has ammonia and what not in it
eh it doesn’t have ammonia it usually just have chloramines which read as ammonia on ammonia tests
I have city water it I tested it had surprisingly hi ammonia in it so I just let it evaporate in a bucket for a few days and it prefect water .@@Prettyswagdad
Could you make a video on best methods to cool shrimp tanks? Would be excellent especially during our hot UK weather currently 😊
I have one about heating and cooling in the works. Bear with 🤦🏻♂️
@@FishKeepingAnswers I've been in the HVAC field for 17yrs now. Reach out if you have any questions 😁
Thank you 🙏🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers nice one and looking forward to it. Yesterday started putting iced bottles of water in my tank as it was reading 29 degrees. Today found one remains of a shrimp the others munched on. Don't know if the death was related to me putting the iced bottles in
@@BigFadZ give us a few tips 👀. Might look into getting a chiller for these hot months or I saw these cooling fans which people claimed to have reduced the water temps
I haven't changed water in years. I add some from time to time. I am careful with feeding and have plants. Your mileage may vary.
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I add ,but never remove 😊
After watching this channel religiously, I got myself a load of Christmas java moss, some ludwigia, a small power head filter and an air operated sponge filter. I stuck some root tabs in the gravel and doss with API Leaf Zone. I had algae diatoms inside a fortnight and that was there weeks ago. All water parameters are fine but more importantly stable. I think I'm ready for some shrimp. Do you sell them as part of your channel? 🙂🍺🍻
Hi. Sounds like you are right on track. Unfortunately, we stopped breeding and selling shrimp in favour of making RUclips videos 👍🏻
Keet it up! 👍
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My 500L tank always 80 to 100ppm Nitrate. Change water every second week 50%. But fish are so far so good. 🙂
My 155g Tetra tank frequently runs at over 100ppm Nitrates. The internet would have you believe anything over 10ppm and you are abusing your fish. Beleive me, if the fish are looking and doing fine, they are fine. Thanks for sharing
Have you ever done a blackworm culture tank? Kept shrimp with blackworms? I'm wondering if thats part of my mistake.
I used to do weekly water changes, topoffs, etc and it was alright, didn't see anything negative, however, I test my water every week and noticed that in my shrimp tank, everything was spot on, so, I chose not to do a water change. I tested the next week, samething, so again, no water change. This has been going on for weeks with the quality of water being great. I haven't done a water change for over a month, kept up with topoffs and my shrimp are breeding like crazy. I think it just depends on the species really and the size of the tank. I have a 65-gallon African chiclid tank that I change weekly because the nitrates go crazy...if I don't, the fish start to show signs of stress. I typically do a water change if nitrates get to 40ppm or above, if not, I will hold off. Ultimately, I believe if people are testing their water and the parameters are at healthy levels, there is no need to do a water change. If something is high, then go ahead and do a water change.
Thanks for the great materiel Richard, I always look forward to your videos!
Thank you for taking the time to share 🫶🏻
I only top up the water
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I’ve only been in the hobby for a year, this hobby becomes somewhat of an addiction. It has grown to 7 tanks, my shrimp seem to do good for a while then start dying. They are on an extreme dying spree right now and I have no idea why😐 My nitrates are at 5ppm, everything else is at 0. I have 3 floating plants because the snails rip every plant out so I gave up. Red root floaters, Salvania and frogbit.My gh is high but they are all raised in my cities water which is very hard. I read and I watch video’s a lot! But obviously I’m doing something very wrong. I only use Seachem and Glasgarten thinking this would help at a higher cost with less pollution from feeding. If you could give me any suggestions what could be causing this I’d really appreciate it. There are plenty of molts but some die from molting. It really breaks my heart and shrimp are my favorite. I have many other critters but 2 shrimp tanks. At this point any advice could help.
One thing that you should try is to get a good, comprehensive test of your water. I'm talking about testing water parameters that we, as aquarists, do not test! Get your test results from a good lab. Then look to see if you have copper, silicates, manganese or other things, in your source water, which could be building up in your tanks and causing troubles.
@ I have never thought to do that, I bet my pet shop that I go to can do such tests or may even know what the start content is. My yellow tank crashed and I’m down to 7 females and 1 male😣 Something keeps absorbing all the KH from the water so I have resorted to using 1/4 teaspoon on alkaline buffer every day to keep it up. I have no clue even after researching what can possibly be absorbing it. Starting water is 8 drops then colour change. I did a 50% water change because I had nothing left to lose really. Within 2 days the KH dropped to 0. I mostly didn’t buff because I wanted to see after the water change it was 4 drops for change. The only new addition to the tank in months was frog bit, I have taken that plant out now.
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Topping off isn’t a water change. It’s maintaining the stability. It treats your water like it’s own colony of life, you’re feeding it with top offs, and feeding the stability because of the smaller influence it has on the water stability.
Are you still selling shrimp? If so where can I buy them from, I can see you take good care of them and they look healthy in the videos I’ve seen. Please add a link to your page, I can only find you website where you write about the hobby, can’t see you store?
Hi. Unfortunately we stopped breeding and selling in favour of producing RUclips videos 👍🏻
Thanks for reply, I’ll have to buy some from the garden center then. You videos have made me very interested in shrimp I will be following you RUclips channel as find you videos helpful and informative. Keep up the great work.
If you only top off and do no water changes, your TDS can become dangerous for shrimp. I did that and tds rose to 500. I had to use distilled water for water changes to get it under control. Shrimp do best at 200 or less. A TDS meter is inexpensive and, in my opinion, absolutely necessary.
Potentially true, but the problem with TDS is the fact it measures the TOTAL dissolved solids, and total will include ANYTHING dissolved in the aquarium water including nitrates, plant fertiliser, medications, dechlorinator etc.
TDS meters are really only useful when remineralising RO water.
To say a TDS of 500 is harmful to shrimp is not true. If I carry out a water, and add dechlorinator plus fertiliser for my plants, and let’s say I already have hard water with lots of dissolved calcium and magnesium, my TDS can be high, but my water is perfectly safe for shrimp 👍🏻
I chose to crash my tank to try to rid it off scuds. Normally I would not have especially if it was going to be a fish only tank. But since I have been having a nightmare of a time with plants and don't want to risk the shrimplets being eaten, or having to complete with the scuds I opted to remove as many snails as I could with the shrimp, and some scuds to grow a culture, and then dropped the pH to 6. Air stones brought the pH up to a 7.8 in just a few hours. As expected Ammonia was at 1 (previously after a year of just top offs the tank maintained an ammonia level of 0), I added nitrifying bacterial which dropped the ammonia closer to 0.3 in about an hour, the nitrites remained at 0, and the nitrates went up 5 ppm... Even after "nuking" the tank, losing micro-fauna with the scuds that remained, I have been able to avoid water changes.
Its a co incident to day i changed my water . During this i got lots of babies of shrimps 🍤 its amazing really happy thanks to you bro
Any tank i have with duckweed gets no Nitrates. Duckweeds are among the fastest growing plants in the world.
I could not agree more 😎
I’ve been telling people this for years! Just imagine where our fishes originally come from. We can’t go soft people! Sometimes it’s worse for the fish and we don’t even know it
Exactly!!!
Hi Richard,
Great video I have heard that it’s naturally impossible for nitrogen to get to such a high level that fish will die naturally!
This is where green algae will take over eating it up!
Now we do not want algae in to high levels!
More plants is the key to this!
mug under sand giving great substrate for large plants and rafting plants!
Hey. That’s interesting. I had not heard that. Thanks for sharing 👍🏻
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It's not bacteria that converts nitrite, nitrate, but plants.
Bacteria break down organic matter. Nitrate>nitrite>amonia(NH3).
It’s definitely bacteria that does it 👍🏻
Plants also absorb them, but bacteria does all the hard work
@@FishKeepingAnswers Bacteria decompose organic matter(proteins) into nitrites and nitrates.
That's, how you get them in the first place.
From there plants transform in their own tissues.
really enjoy what you do. I would like to buy some of your shrimp. so what is your name on eBay. I really enjoyed watching you😁
Hi. Thank you for your kind feedback. Sadly we stopped breeding and selling shrimp in favour of making RUclips videos 👍🏻
More plants less water changes
100%
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Easy Neo Breeding Recipe:
Phase-1
Start w/ 20 gallon storage bin or trash can. Cover bottom with thin layer crushed coral then aquarium gravel. Make 3 rock piles of dice size rocks. Super glue java moss to top rock on each pile. Let hornwort grow in water column. Top with frog bit or red root floaters. Tie pothos to the rim so roots are in the water. Filter with sponge filter. Light with something cheap and has a built in timer. I like a heater for 74° to 76°. Add 4 olive nerites. 1 dose liquid fertilizer. 4 katapa leaves. 1 algae wafer per week. Let system run for 4 weeks.
Phase-2
Once algae is growing on walls add in 10 adult neos. Feed 2x a week shrimp food in dish. Clean dish every 24 hrs. Top off with dechlorinated tap water as needed.
Phase-3
When you start to see babies, feed 3x a week.
Phase-4
When tank hits 20 weeks start selling off the ones with the worst colors.
Yep, you pretty much nailed it 🥳
For what it’s worth, it seems like there are as many ways to keep shrimp as there are shrimp keepers, but this method works pretty good for me.
nature does not do water changes. it recycles. the hydrological cycle. different process. can we recycle in an aquarium? not sure to be honest. some have done it it seems.
people think that water changes in a river. lol. the new water coming from upstream is old water. somewhere upstream is another fish just like the one you are looking at now. your fish is getting the water from that fish. its old water. the bioload upstream is just as high as downstream. the new water is just as polluted as the existing water just leaving.
You make a good point 🤔
Water changes do a lot of good, especially for shrimp. They come from rivers and they like oxygenated water and dilution. Water changes also, importantly, trigger behaviors in shrimp.
Hey, thanks for taking the time to share. In my experience, water changes make little to no difference. With that said it’s early days. Let’s see how they look in 5 or 6 months 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswersyou'd be surprised at my shrimp doing "amazingly well" and my setup then.
Even just a planted tank, if you're not doing mineral replacement the plants suffer in the end.
It's your tank, do what you want, but for me.... the value of water changes is pretty useful as a tool.
That’s what I love about this hobby, we can all do our own thing and we all get different results. You have a good weekend 🤜🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers for context on the topic, I'd really be curious about your targets for something like GH/KH in your neo tanks. I would ask that in a future video you test the tank, test the tap, and see what you can see. How far off are they.
I'll look for a video on some of your methods and how you care for things, ultimately, I'm just curious about the topic for my own interests. As mentioned, your tanks, your care. The goal in the end is to have happy, healthy animals and plants.
Thanks again for the chat.
In a natural aquarium
You need to lower your head at the camera, it looks like you are turning up your nose at us and I'm staring at the barrel of your nostrils. Otherwise 10/10 content! I am trying to follow your advice.
Never change the water on any of my fish tanks. Wasting your time and not good for the fish. Just check you ph levels and just top them up now and then and you'll be good for life.
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Yeah only work if you have a lot of plants, otherwise you have to to water change.
This is true. But we could all add plants to our shrimp tanks 👍🏻
I have tanks with plants in and tanks with plants out all shrimp look happy and fish too
Hi Richard, I have few neocardina shrimps . No other fishes are there. I need some tips from you. Can u share your WHAT'S AAP NUMBER.
Sadly, I can’t. Sorry 😔
Ok no issue . Actually following are my queries. First of all . I have 1/5 of water filled in my tank as I have some peace Lilly and bamboo plants and pothos . Hence can't fill the tank. Front portion is with soil with xmass moss and pearl weed. All plants growing beautifully. Now I have cherry shrimps only. Not using any filters . Only airstone. TDS is 160. pH is arround 7 . I don't give them food. Only natural algea . Problem is shrimps are breeding but not growing in sizes and adults are vanishing. Can't see them for more than 2/3 months. Whenever I buy and put them in tank. After 2 to 3 months they vanish. Means mostly dyeing.