# Just being nosey !.....any Neocaridina keepers out there?



## david boden (22 Oct 2019)

HI  folks, just wondered if anyone wanted a friendly chat about their Neo tanks and inhabitants.
Also, any good tips you've learned along the way.
I've got a few tanks of various  Neos , and learned some simple tips in the last few years of " pain and joy", (all joy these days) -----but I didn't start the thread to talk about me, --I'm more interested in you !
Beginners, experts,----all welcome.


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## Aqua360 (23 Oct 2019)

david boden said:


> HI  folks, just wondered if anyone wanted a friendly chat about their Neo tanks and inhabitants.
> Also, any good tips you've learned along the way.
> I've got a few tanks of various  Neos , and learned some simple tips in the last few years of " pain and joy", (all joy these days) -----but I didn't start the thread to talk about me, --I'm more interested in you !
> Beginners, experts,----all welcome.



Hi David,

Welcome to the forum! What colour of neo's do you keep?


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## david boden (23 Oct 2019)

HI Aqua-----thanks for replying.
I've currently got a 50 L with Dream Blue, and Dream Blue Rili.
Another 50L with Orange, and Orange Rili.
A 50 L with Gold back Yellow, and Red Rili,-- ( naughty I know, but they do tend to breed with their own colour for some odd reason, and I separate out any "dodgy" lookers ).
A 100 L with Blue Jelly, and Blue Jelly/Red Rili---and I'm waiting to add a few Green Babaulti to this tank when they're back in stock.
A 100 L with all my various separated shrimp that aren't true to type, and they live in there with 6 Cardinal Tetras that are 3 years old now , and they're large beautiful fish now,-- ( they totally ignore the shrimp as they hover past their mouths ! ).

And that's it for me, my bedroom's now  full      =lol......the dog sleeps in here too !

How about yourself, are you into Neos at all ?


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## Fisher2007 (23 Oct 2019)

Hi David

Can I jump in from the opposite end of the spectrum, as I'm about to start keeping neo's for the first time and looking for tips and pointers?

My tank will be 200l high ish tech with a mix of tetra's and or rasbora's (not decided exactly yet) but hopefully fish that 'should' leave the shrimp alone

As for the shrimp, I've not decided on which strain but just thinking normal cherries or bloody mary (if that's what they are called)

Any obvious pointers re temp, food, etc?  I've heard calcium is something they need too

Thanks


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## Fisher2007 (23 Oct 2019)

And forgot to add - would love to see some pics of your tanks and the various strains you have


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## Kalum (23 Oct 2019)

stability is key and the no.1 factor with them for me, I've found them to be pretty adaptable but keep things simple and they will thank you for it


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## Zeus. (23 Oct 2019)

I have quite a large colony of RCS in my 500l which took some time to get going. I bought about 20 at time from LFS only when the quality was good as very red. I was cheeky and ask for bulk discount and got them for £2.00 each.
All I feed them is algae pellets and  blanchedn leaves. Had to relocate my SAEs when they started to hunt the RCS and as soon as the SAE was removed it didnt take long to start seeing the RCS a lot more. As to how many I have I dunno, normally get about 40 out of my FX6 when I do it's weekly clean but some of the younger smaller ones must be lost when squeezing the sponges out ,


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## david boden (23 Oct 2019)

Fisher, I agree with Kalum about stability, but that is something for the future in your case, as you have no stock yet.

So, I'm not going to ramble on about the loads of good things you can do in future.

I would simply say that in your start-up situation, in my own view, the most important thing is to get your tank properly established before stocking .Then landscaped and well planted up to your liking , filled with water treated correctly dosed with Prime Conditioner,  get your filter set up correctly and then ---(and you're not going to like this bit )---leave it running 24 hrs a day, with the lights on for about half that time daily , ---------and then leave it alone for about two months.
During that time, you could add a few dried mineral rich beneficial leaves to biologically  break down into the water column, or even a TINY bit of fish food once a week.
All this is merely to allow time for the plants to get going properly, the bio -film to start building up, and the various beneficial bacterias to colonise your landscape and filter.
I'm not going to advise further on water parameters etc, CO2 etc,  plants etc,  as others on here are more technically adept than myself.

Of course , I'd be more than happy to tell you MY own methods of Neocaridina  care and feeding when you're ready to stock...( though others may care for their shrimp differently from me, and very successfully they do too ).
Finally, I'm unable to post pictures of my tanks on this forum, as I'm digitally illiterate...however I could probably manage to message them to a mobile phone, but you would need to provide your number, which you may not like to do.
Anyway, I hope everything goes well for you in future, and that you enjoy watching your shrimp colony thrive, ( sometimes they thrive more than other times !! )
Bye for now.


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## dw1305 (23 Oct 2019)

Hi all, 





david boden said:


> Then landscaped and well planted up to your liking , filled with water treated correctly dosed with Prime Conditioner, get your filter set up correctly and then ---(and you're not going to like this bit )---leave it running 24 hrs a day, with the lights on for about half that time daily , ---------and then leave it alone for about two months.
> During that time, you could add a few dried mineral rich beneficial leaves to biologically break down into the water column, or even a TINY bit of fish food once a week.
> All this is merely to allow time for the plants to get going properly, the bio -film to start building up, and the various beneficial bacterias to colonise your landscape and filter.


This is what I recommend for the start up for all tanks. 





david boden said:


> -........(and you're not going to like this bit )-.....


 You're OK, it is a bit different on this forum, we are a <"broad church">, but generally people have bought into the <"plants and time" > concept of setting a tank up.

The rationale, and <"scientific back-ground">, is in this <"thread">.

Personally I'm not a fan of the <"binary cycling concept">, <"Quick Start products">  or of adding ammonia to <"cycle" the tank>. I know @jaypeecee has had success with one of the <"new generation bacterial starters">, so I'll add him in.

cheers Darrel


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## david boden (23 Oct 2019)

Darrel---thanks for agreeing with me-----I can relax a bit now with a nice cuppa !


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## dw1305 (23 Oct 2019)

Hi all,





david boden said:


> Darrel---thanks for agreeing with me-----I can relax a bit now with a nice cuppa !


I'm 99% sure it is the best way. 

If you belong to any <"cichlid keeping forums?">, you might get a less friendly response. 

cheers Darrel


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## david boden (23 Oct 2019)

I'll keep away from those burgers then,-- just want a quiet life !


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## Fisher2007 (23 Oct 2019)

Thanks for the tips.  I'll definitely be taking it slowly.  They're expensive enough as it is without losing a load!


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## david boden (24 Oct 2019)

Zeus-----sorry I didn't acknowledge your contribution yesterday,-- it appeared on here while I was finkin' .
There must be lots of ways to stop the shrimp entering your filter, if you Google it , I reckon.


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## Zeus. (24 Oct 2019)

david boden said:


> There must be lots of ways to stop the shrimp entering your filter, if you Google it , I reckon.



I did fit a DIY foam filter to the intake of the FX6 but the wasn't happy with the reduced flow as it soon clogged up. So made a custom stainless steel mesh for the intake, it stops the larger of the RCS getting sucked in traps the leaves and flow and O2 better for filter. Think the RCS are fine in the filter lots of detritus for them and any loses during filter maintiance which are unfortunate are also acceptable. In my 50l tank have a foam prefilter in tank which works very well but don't really want a big foam prefilter in 500l. The RCS colony is thriving so well must have 1000 RCS in there but that's just a guess OFC


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## david boden (24 Oct 2019)

A fousand !-----blimey,  you're doing something right then


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## Zeus. (24 Oct 2019)

Well how do you count them in a 500l tank with a think carpet and lots of plants,hardscspe lots of hiding places, when I turkey blast the carpet I get the small RCS blown out that I don't normally see at all. When I had added 60 to 80 I was lucky to even see one, knowadays I see hundreds activity feeding all the time so I would say there's lots more hiding but that's just a guess OFC.
I do find they get on very well with my amanos even see RCS piggy backing the amanos at times . Do occasionally see an amano eating a RCS but I think it's just cleaning up one that's died from old age.
Think it helps having a 3cm rule on the fish i.e. no fish over 3cm when fully grown, the biggest livestock are the amanos. For me the fish are last,  Scape/plants first and lots of RCS look great and clean lots.


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## LondonDragon (24 Oct 2019)

Zeus. said:


> Well how do you count them in a 500l tank


I had a 12 litre tank planted with lots of moss and thought I had about 100 RCS in there, then one day wanted to transfer them to a larger tank (60l) and gave up counting at 400!!! lol


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## david boden (24 Oct 2019)

Zeus---interesting that you observe that a stock of 60 shrimp means that most are rarely seen in a planted and landscaped tank.
I agree, and this is why I'm sure that many new keepers who start with say  10 shrimp, are in a panic after a couple of weeks ,when their new shrimp have all "gone".
They may start playing around with water parameters, moving stuff around in the tank,  and maybe even  meds,     when actually all the shrimp are quite happily living under a piece of wood , or a Catappa leaf etc.-----
Of course a new batch of shrimp can possibly perish in some circumstances,   and that's why I would always advise folks to buy another 10 shrimp of the same colour about a month after the first batch to be doubly sure  of things.
I'm pleased that yours are thriving !


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## david boden (24 Oct 2019)

Dragon---you actually counted as far as 400 ?-------lol


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## mort (24 Oct 2019)

I've had a colony of rcs for ten years now and got them from a friend who had them for about ten years before that. They aren't that red but it doesn't worry me. I have swapped some out for new ones a few times to get some different genetics in there and occasionally see some with strong red colours or the odd yellow one pop up but I have them for interest and don't specifically breed them. 
I notice that this time of year the population really booms but seems to decline in the summer. As my tank is a real jungle that gets natural light, I'm not sure if this is a temperature problem reducing the population or if the extra light creates more algae and food deeper in the plants meaning they don't need to expose themselves. If I pop an algae pellet in its demolished by a few dozen shrimp but I'd estimate there are a several hundred in there going on the density I see and the fact they used to be in a 25l and when I upgraded to this 120l I pulled out over 300. I added some tigers to the 25 but ended up with only one, so it's not always successful. 

For me the biggest tip is to try and buy local. If you do then they are normally several generations old in your tap water and it's makes things so much easier.


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## david boden (24 Oct 2019)

Mort...I agree with your last point wherever it's possible for folks, but it's not always easy.
I order mine online from 300 miles away !-----but as long as they're acclimated very slowly over a few hours, they seem to be pretty resilient to the trauma they must experience in transit.

There are so many different big tips we could all give to new keepers,--- but some folks seem to do very well without knowing any of them !


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