[sbarbee54]

So I use specific products but I want all to share so newbie shrimp people can get a feel for what to try and what people like. I am talking all from food to vitamins to minerals to water conditioners to additives to all.

I will start

When starting a tank I always use between the 2 layers of substrate the following

Mosura old sea mud
EM bacteria powder or AI Taiwan bacteria powder
Calcium montromilite powder
Shikirua mineral powder

I then dose API start or any other quick start bacteria like the directions say.

I use rocks wood and moss and plants In all my tanks. I think it is key to a natural environment and to balance out everything. I like all moss, bylxa jap, and s repens. I use different rocks depending on the shrimp. Seiryu stone, onko stone, lava rock and others. I also put the recommend amount of borneowild mineral rock in each tank. I use Malaysia drift wood or manzanita in all my tanks.

I run a canister filter a sponge filter and hob on all my tanks. Call me paranoid but I like filtration. I use filter guards from over seas or Han for all my filters.

Other natural stuff I use in my tanks are the following leaves, oak, maple, cherry, apple, ial, banana, mulberry. I also use alder cones as well as Indian almond bark.

I keep ebiken shou in all my tanks as I really like it. I will be trying the lowkeys absorption pad soon.

I put 1-3 small Pyrex dishes in all my tanks to keep food out of the substrate.

Water treatment I always use prime to declorinate, I use a generic Taiwan vitamin liquid supplement to the water change bucket, I also dose some bio coulter smw as a pure extra mineral supplement, and use nutrifin African ciclid water conditioner or ss gh+ to remineralize. That is my water change stuff

I dose to the tank a day after water change glasgarten bacteria ae, glasgarten betaglucen + immunoglobulin, and ebiken soesie.

For baby foods I like my home blend, and I like glasgarten baby food, and borneowild bebi. I like others but have settled to these.

Foods

My staple is peter ladens food, all types. I like the AI Taiwan snow flake too. I love his product and will continue to use it. I feed frozen hikari blood worms once a week. I blanch and feed all the following veggies spinach, kale, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, stinging nettle, sweet potato and that is all I can think of now. I also like and have tried lowkeys supple, borneo wild frenzy but I no longer feed this because I have so much peter laden.

I do water changes 1 a week at 20%. I run eheim canister filters ac hob and large sponge filters. Finnex lights or current satellite plus ones. Switching all my tanks to mr aqua rimless ones. I run aqua top digital heaters in all my tanks in the winter, and aquatop adjustable air pumps to power the sponge filters.

I use aqua fans on all my tanks durring the summer.

Note.... I also use cholla wood in all my tanks.

I also cycle all tanks for 2 months before shrimp, no matter what!


Substrates used

Tb and crs/CBS/snow whites and mischlings I use ada Amazonia or drl Akadama
For neos and tigers. I used pool filter sand or black blasting sand. But I am switching these over in the new tanks to Eco complete or floral max. As I think it holds root structures better and allows any debris that might be there settle to the bottom instead of on the substrate.

 

[greenteam]

On a new tank I just use:

Mosura Old Sea Mud
Mosura BT-9 (layer under gravel then dose Day 3, 7, and if I do a large water change)
Have tried Tetra Safestart (grant it I still wait at least a month before adding shrimp)

Then I add Filter:
-UGF
-Sponge
- If large tank I use eheim canister

For plants:
-moss is the best for shrimp tank (If I use X-mas or Java moss I let it free float in a corner to avoid dead spot like it gets if attached to driftwood.)
-Anubias or Java ferns since slow grower and minimal maintenance.
-Free Floaters

Extras:
- Like to add 2+ Indian Almond leafs
- Cholla wood
- If I have no nice rocks I use (red) lava stones since it's cheap and easy to find.
- And a some kind of Driftwood

Water Treatment:
- Using RO in all tanks so just add SS+
- I also like to use Shield & Stout when I do a WC

Food:
- Lowkeys (Kayle, Spiral, & Ultra Supple)
- Borneowild (Shield, Stout, Frenzy, & Barley)
- Jake's nom nom
- Fresh veggies they like the most baby spinach & blanched zucchini.

I feed a wide range because they seem to do best for me when I provide a good variety.

I just do Top off RO water 2-3 weeks then I do a 10% WC with RO & SS+
I also run a small fan on top of tank and use LED light (Finnex Planted+) to keep temps down.

 

[bostoneric]

great thread...

I'll follow greenteam's formant and update when I get a chance. will take me a while to think of everything
but for now...

 

[neilshieh]

how do you prepare your leaves? are they dried or fresh?

 

[DUKENDABEARS]

Sbarbee-My shrimp like the omni pro the best, piles of shrimp similar to when i use lowkeys ultra supple or the original. Thanks for the samples.

 

[sbarbee54]

Dried leaves, let them float in the tank until they sink

 

[ch3fb0yrdee]

Great thread Steve!

I'll post when I get home.

 

[35ppt]

Great thread! I appreciate the insights.
But now I feel inadequate ...:icon_neut

 

[wicca27]

i keep things simple

inert pool filter or black sand for neo's and tigers
ada amazonia for TB

only additives i add is salty shrimp GH+ for TB
i use already running filters (mostly sponge filter) to jump start my tanks
and i feed spinach, hikari crab cuisine, and kens veggie sticks with calcium
i just bought prime for tb tank but use jungle start right for the rest of the tanks for a dechlor

 

[mayphly]

Here are some of the things I use or have used

Kou-Yang
Benibachi bee balls
Mosura Old Sea Mud
Mosura BT-9
Mosura Mineral +
Borneo Dance
Borneo Shield
Borneo Stout
Azoo Bioballs
Amy's Catappa tea
Amy's Catappa bark
Amy's IAL Leaves
Tantora Mulberry Leaves
Peter Laden foods
Jake's Foods
Jake's Shrimplet Growth
Jake's White
Golden Pearls
Hikari Crab Cuisine
Ken's Veggie Sticks & 5 Stick Blend
Tetra Color Flakes
Wardley Shrimp Pellets
Fresh Veggies from Garden
Aquaclear HOB Filters
Deep Blue Mini Filters
Eheim 2215
Seachem Matrix
Seachem Purigen
Seachem Ferts
Osmocote Plus
Catalina Heaters
Ebay Sponge Filters
Ebay Air Pumps (super quiet)
Ebay Digital Thermometers
Beamswork Lights
Archaea Lights
Aquatop Tanks
Deep Blue Tanks
Top Fin Tanks
Mr Aqua Tanks
ADA Tanks
GLA CO2 Regulators
Milwaukee Regulators
Fluval Shrimp net

Thanks for posting this thread. It'll give me a chance to come up with a list of items to try out in the future

 

[sbarbee54]

Nice list, I was more looking for ones you use, and more a less a explanation. As I could list everything under the sun, but I was more looking to what you have standardized on and why.

 

[ravensgate]

Ok, things I use consistently

Organic Baby Spinach (blanched, frozen, fed, food source)

Organic Baby Kale (blanched, frozen, fed, food source)

Organic Zucchini - (blanched, frozen, fed, food source)


fresh Stinging Nettle (blanched, frozen, fed, food source)

fresh mulberry leaves (blanched, frozen, fed, food source)

Dried green walnut leaves (dunk in boiling water to kill any bad stuff or just drop straight in my tank, used as food source and antibacterial/antifungal properties)

IAL leaves - dried, I use A grades and C grades, C grades are for leaf litter for biofilm purposes. A grades leech more tannins (the A grades I have do) so I save those for suspected bacterial or fungal issues or as a preventative with new stock

Catappa bark - Used if I know bacterial infections may be present, careful with dosage as they are known to be quite potent but make great caves once they have been in the tank a while so dual purpose

Guava leaves - I have only used these 2-3 times, don't know if they work or not but the shrimp munch on them, they take a while to break down though. I keep them on hand for antibacterial properties, feed dry, boil first for 5 minutes or so. Don't use consistently but want them on hand regardless.

Food products I refuse to run out of (I have tried 40-50 different food over the years, these are the ones my shrimp prefer)

Borneowild Barley - to me a must have due to its ease of breaking down for both adults and babies

Repashy Soilent Green - pain to make (stinks up the whole house) but they adore it...I don't feed it often just because I have so many other feeds I use, might use once a month

I do like the Peters Laden Foods, my shrimp prefer some over others, Omnipro is a good all around food though, loved their baby food when it was in pellet formula, I think it's switched to powder now which I don't care to switch to

Shrimp King Complete - they love this, but it's new and fresh, so I will reserve my true opinion of the food when it's been opened a few times over the next few months and see if they still go as nuts for it

Mosura Graze - Like Barley I love the ease of the foods breakdown, easy to feed babies and avoid too much powdered supps

Then I alternate my 'hard' foods between the Azoo Breed, Azoo Growth, Peters Laden foods (whatever I grab out of the sample bag really), Shirakura Soft Taste, Scape Staple, Benebachi Golden Food/Golden Eye food, and they love the Lowkeys Ultra Supple and Original which I need to get more of.

As for powdered foods I ALWAYS keep Ebiken EI on hand and feed it to once a week whether there are babies present are not. It's my fav baby food but wonderful for adults too. I also feed Earthworm powder, Gravidas, Tonic Pro, and occasionally Bioplus and Excel. Powdered foods raise TDS quite a bit so I only feed once or twice a week, and only twice a week if I have a LOT of babies in the tank.

As far as supplements go I stopped using under substrate additives as I really see no true benefit. I've had tanks succeed and fail regardless if it was used or not. I use BT-9 on occasion, especially with startup or big filter maintenance stuff but I don't use ANY supplement how it is supposed to be dosed unless the tank is empty (no livestock beyond snails). Even when I have used Shield in the past I have suffered casualties if I used full doses as the label said. Cranks the TDS up (any powdered supplement) and I just think a lot of these folks crank the doses up on their products so you run out more. I honestly feel if I used the recommended doses on these foods and supps according to the labels I would have dead shrimp and planaria/fauna EVERYWHERE. I stick with my gut instinct on these and use a pinch between my fingers when in doubt.


I use Tetra Safestart on all my new tanks, regardless on if livestock will be going in the next day or two months from then. I've seen it work and believe in the product. Of course I have to trust it has been stored appropriately and such but willing to risk money on it every time because I've had my tanks cycle in 48 hours or less with it. I trust it over any shrimp specific product I've ever used for the same purpose.

Azoo Bioballs

I like bee pollen as a natural food source for babies and adults, its cost effective (dirt cheap) and lasts a LONG time. And disintegrates easily for babies.

I also am a big believer in cholla (roots, logs, whatever, it all has nice structure for biofilm and bacteria. I also am a big believer in lava rocks, large, small, attach mosses or plants to or just put in by themselves. They are wonderful for nom noms and biofilm to grow in and inert, so they don't affect params at all. Same for the cholla, no affect on params unless leeching heaving tannins.

I'm sure there is more but that is what I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[mayphly]

Right now I'm in to feeding a lot of the powder foods since I have a lot of babies going on in my tanks. I like the Peter Laden Baby Pro and Jake's Shrimplet Growth. The Baby Pro breaks down like a powder even though it comes in pellet form. Jake's Complete Veggie is one food all my shrimps go crazy for. They'll fight for the stuff. I always mix in fresh veggies (blanched) at leat once a week. As far as setting up tanks I use Old Sea Mud and BT-9 on all my tanks. I have used Mosura Mineral Plus since the beginning to build my water. R/O top offs and usually change water once a week. Aquaclear filters accompanied with sponge filters are on most of my tanks. They are simple and effective. I can fit a good amount of Matrix or bio-rings in the AC filters. I use just about everything on the list mainly because I have it. I use all the Borneo stuff. I can't tell you that the shrimp go crazy over it but there are no ill effects. I have IAL in all my tanks and add a mulberry leave every other week. They all go crazy over the mulberry.

 

[ravensgate]

The old Baby Pro came in pellet, that's what I loved. The new stuff is powder.

 

[sbarbee54]

No one else cares to share? We should all have I put here.

 

[ctaylor3737]

I use a lot of powdered food for my shrimps. I have a mortar and pestle to grind up food for them. I usually tend to combine different food to give them a mixture.
I use craze, color, spira, earthworm,

Benebachi breeding liquid for crystals, bio max, Indian
almond leaves, vegetables.

I use Salty Shrimp sulawesi 8.5, mosura minerals, RO in all tanks.

Dual sponge filters and fluval q2 air pumps. Hobs on my tanks with sensitive shrimp. Purigen in all the tanks. I use inert sand I'm them. Aragonite in my cardinal tanks. All low-tech, moss, ferns and most.

-Chris

 

[ctaylor3737]

Right now I'm in to feeding a lot of the powder foods since I have a lot of babies going on in my tanks. I like the Peter Laden Baby Pro and Jake's Shrimplet Growth. The Baby Pro breaks down like a powder even though it comes in pellet form. Jake's Complete Veggie is one food all my shrimps go crazy for. They'll fight for the stuff. I always mix in fresh veggies (blanched) at leat once a week. As far as setting up tanks I use Old Sea Mud and BT-9 on all my tanks. I have used Mosura Mineral Plus since the beginning to build my water. R/O top offs and usually change water once a week. Aquaclear filters accompanied with sponge filters are on most of my tanks. They are simple and effective. I can fit a good amount of Matrix or bio-rings in the AC filters. I use just about everything on the list mainly because I have it. I use all the Borneo stuff. I can't tell you that the shrimp go crazy over it but there are no ill effects. I have IAL in all my tanks and add a mulberry leave every other week. They all go crazy over the mulberry.

With the Mineral plus what dose do you use for 5g? Just wondering if it's close to,what I use.

-Chris

 

[mayphly]

I mix it in a 5 gallon bucket with RO and just keep adding drops until I reach my desired TDS. I shoot for TDS 150 which still gives me GH of 5.

 

[stanjam]

For my crs tank, 10 gallon:
Filtration: Tom's rapids hob canister with sponge prefilter, foam to 100 micron, Purigen, and bio Matrix

Water conditioning: tap water (40 ppm tds), add Prime, then Salty Shrimp Bee Shrimp gh+ unitil tds reaches 150 ppm. Sit for 20 minutes before adding.

Substrate: active: Fluval shrimp stratum

Indian almond leaves

Other inhabitants: 2 ottos, mts (for substrate aeration, reduces chance of poisonous gas buildup).

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk

 

[sbarbee54]

Come on all you shrimpers tell your secret products so we can further the hobby. This thread is for products, but feel free to ask people about the ones they use.