# Invertz Factory: The rack



## milalic

*Invertz Factory: The rack(updated 10/12/07)*

I have been working on these racks for quite sometime with help of Nikolay, Nathan and others. I have decided its time to share it with others. I will go through materials as much as I can and why I did it this way and not some other way. Hope to see questions, comments, etc.

Cheers,
Pedro(uploading pictures)


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## turbomkt

Can't wait to see it, Pedro.


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## fish newb

milalic said:


> I have been working on these racks for quite sometime with help of Nikolay, Nathan and others. I have decided its time to share it with others. I will go through materials as much as I can and why I did it this way and not some other way. Hope to see questions, comments, etc.
> 
> Cheers,
> Pedro(uploading pictures)


I've been waiting for these pictures for months now! Can't wait to see how you do this and maybe barrow some ideas!

Lets see those pictures!!

-Andrew


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## yoink

Ditto, I wait with bated breath.


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## fish newb

I hope there are tons of pictures because it's been 2 hours 33 mins as I type right now!

Can't wait to see,
-Andrew


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## duchessren

waiting in anticipation...
(as patiently as i can) ;-)


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## Burks

Can't wait to see it. I want to set up a rack of tanks at my parents and let them care for the shrimp/plants. 

Please share with us your knowledge.


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## MatPat

Come on already Pedro, how long does it take to snap a few pics and post them


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## milalic

Having problems uploading to the pc. Think is a bad memory stick reader.
But, I should have it solved by tonight.

-Pedro


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## Wood

Explain your problem, along with the type of card reader you are using. My card reader had trouble as well, but I managed to fix it.


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## gnatster

I can always pop over one eve and take some pics as well. Got that new lens I've been wanting to play with as well.


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## fish newb

No pictures still? Your the worst.... or you just like suspense?


Well I can't wait to see those photographs,
-Andrew


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## Cassie

the anticipation is killing us here... good luck with your card reader!


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## Roy Deki

That explains all the moss Pedro has been buying...I thought he was eating the stuff.

Hurry with the Pics!!!


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## turbomkt

Nate, did you have anything to do with the design?


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## milalic

Nikolay and Nathan had inputs on what to do mix with my ideas and the wife was also involved. Final decision was made by me as I had to take into account the wife ideas and tastes. Gotta make her happy so I can keep all these tanks1

-Pedro


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## turbomkt

Thanks, Pedro.


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## fish newb

Roy Deki said:


> That explains all the moss Pedro has been buying...I thought he was eating the stuff.
> 
> Hurry with the Pics!!!


LMAO! You didn't know it was for this..... Now I wonder how moss tastes  

HURRY we need pictures!!!!!

-Andrew


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## Roy Deki

fish newb said:


> LMAO! You didn't know it was for this..... Now I wonder how moss tastes
> 
> HURRY we need pictures!!!!!
> 
> -Andrew


No I didn't...and he has purchased a lot of moss from me and always inquires about more. I was thinking all kinds of thing...from eating, re-selling, gifting, drying and smoking the stuff.


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## milalic

*Story*

So I got interested in shrimp at the beginning, then the snails came and then the crayfish. So I decided to turn my house study into an invert room.

To have a taste of it, I bought a 75G tank and two 10g tanks to try it out.
The three of these tanks are part of the setup. The 75G tank might be taken down soon, but not sure. First shrimp were cherries, then tigers, and CRS. From the crays I have had the orange dwarf ones and the orange-brown.

The idea of the rack came on a couple of converstaions with Nikolay and Nathan. Until I decided to go ahead with the idea.

-Pedro


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## milalic

*The rack*

For the rack, I did a couple of searches on the net on them. Most of the stuff I saw was build out of wood and I did not liked the looks. Also, I have no craftmanship knowledge with wood and I did not want the rack to look sturdy and ugly since my wife would not have liked it. Paying someone to do a nice wooden rack was out of the question because it was going to be expensive.

Nikolay mentioned that he had a rack with some tanks in his house that was chromed wired. I started to look at these type of racks having in mind the size and the weight of the tanks. I decided to go this way as they look very nice and seeing some of the industrial ones at work. They can handle between 800lbs and 1000lbs per shelf.

I bought the first rack online because I could not find a decent priced one locally. It was rated for the weight above.










The second rack I bought it at cosco and is rated for a little less weight. later on I will explain why I bought it there.

The idea was to have tanks in all levels, but that idea felt through as it was uncomfortable working with the tanks and the top. So I decided to use only the bottom three levels for tanks.

Each shelve measures around 48"W by 18"D.

-Pedro


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## milalic

*The tanks*

The next step was to find some tanks that will fit in the dimensions of the shelves. This was really hard. I wanted to have multiple tanks per shelf and I wanted them to be as deep as the shelve and not too high. This way I would have more area in the tank which is what I wanted.

I found someone to do the tanks for me. Since the tanks were custom made I went with rimless tanks. They measure roughly 22"W X 18"D X 14"H. I ordered a total of 14 tanks.

Here is a picture of the tanks in the garage:










Close up of one of the tanks:










-Pedro


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## milalic

*Equipment & rack assembly*

For equipment I went with sponge filters, 100W heaters, one dolphin pump for one of the racks, a couple of old pumps for the other, shop lights, natural gravel and some garnet gravel Nikolay gave me which is kind purplish in color.

The rack assembly was pretty easy. To put the tanks in the shelves we decided to go with a piece of insulation styrofoam cut to the size of the shelves like in the picture below:










I started putting the tanks in the shelves:










After putting tanks in one rack. I filled two of them to see if there was any bowing at all. I saw the shelve bowing and the tanks almost touching each other on the sides.

Nathan gave us the idea of using some plywood below the insulation material so it would not bow. We tried this and it still bow but a little less.

So Nikolay and I brainstorm through some ideas and he came with the idea of using a metal rod(pipe) to push the shelve up. So we drill a whole in the middle of all the plywoods and insulation boards. Then the pipe was cut to the desire size and trimed so it will fit.










This is how it looks from underneath:




























This helped a lot and solved 99% of the bowing issues.

-Pedro


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## fish newb

That's once Nice set up so far... I never thought of using Foam on those types of racks to distribute weight....... And they hold a ton of Weight! 

But man, That must of been a hefty investment on all those custom tanks. 

Keep the updates coming!

-Andrew


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## milalic

*Setting the tanks...more stuff*

Here are some pictures of when I was setting up the tanks. You can see the type of sponge filters, heater and gravel that I used in most of the tanks.

This rack currently has 6 rimless tanks:










This one has 4 rimless tanks and the two 10G tanks:










There is some reflectiosn in the pictures, but they are the only ones that show them while setting them up.

-Pedro


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## milalic

*Some shot of the tanks and the final racks*

Here are some close up pictures of the tanks:



















Here I am testing a computer fan for when the weather gets hot. It will lower the water temp in one tank 5F. It does evaporate water faster, but not that bad if you do weekly water changes.










The final Racks look like thiswill update them with better pictures later)



















All in all, I have 12 tanks in the racks and the 75G tank beside them


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## milalic

*More information*

All tanks have moss in them, different types of moss. All have gravel, most of them heaters and all of them have sponge filters. I do weekly water changes. 
I keep snails in all tanks.

SOme problems I have encountered or might encounter:

1. humidity: With so much water evaporating I was having humidity problems in the room. I bought a dehumidifier and problem solved.

2. Water changes: You can imagine that doing water changes takes some time with so many tanks. I only change 20% of the water in each tank. I reconstitute my water from RO water to the desire level and ph by using seachem equilibrium and tap water. It is not very easy, but I have some inverts that need aicid water while others need hard water. To change the water I use a bucket, water pump for a fountain, a python hose. I usually divide the water changes in two days. One for the ones with acidi water and the other for the ones with hard water.

2. Noise: There is some noise out of the pumps and the dehumidifer. It is barely noticeable. I close the study at night. Make sure to buy an air pump that does not make lots of noise. I recommend the Dolphin and it can be found at Kens Fish Home of Quality Fish Food, And Supplies At Excellent Prices.

Where to buy the things:

1. shop lights,plywood,foam,pipe,etc: Home depot, Lowe's
2. filters, pumps, heaters: Kens Fish Home of Quality Fish Food, And Supplies At Excellent Prices.
3. racks: Costco or do a search online for chrome wire racks

During this I found out that a Dremmel is a very good tool to have.

I hope to see people comments and questions. I will also later update the thread or create a separate one with some of the inverts I have in there.

-Pedro


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## hooha

Nice setup! I had thought about buying those mesh racks before but thought they would bow as well.....good improvising with the pipe.

Why did you buy the 2nd rack at costco again?


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## Cassie

very nice...I'm jealous!


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## mahamotorworks

Looks good what all do you have in the tanks? When I get my own house I will have to include a set up like this in my fish room.

MAHA


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## AnneRiceBowl

How are you going to prevent one kind of shrimp ending up in the wrong tank? Seems like "cross contamination" of species and/or types will be an issue with the tanks being so close together and opened-top. Will you simply check the tanks every day?

I really like the setup so far. I would have or would cover the tanks some how.


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## milalic

hooha said:


> Nice setup! I had thought about buying those mesh racks before but thought they would bow as well.....good improvising with the pipe.
> 
> Why did you buy the 2nd rack at costco again?


Because it was cheaper and either way I had to put the pipe in the middle. The tanks are approx. 22 gallons, so the ones from costco worked fine.

-Pedro


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## milalic

Cassie said:


> very nice...I'm jealous!


Thanks!


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## milalic

mahamotorworks said:


> Looks good what all do you have in the tanks?
> MAHA


I will list them later.

-Pedro


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## milalic

AnneRiceBowl said:


> How are you going to prevent one kind of shrimp ending up in the wrong tank? Seems like "cross contamination" of species and/or types will be an issue with the tanks being so close together and opened-top. Will you simply check the tanks every day?
> 
> I really like the setup so far. I would have or would cover the tanks some how.


Shrimp will not jump unless the water conditions are bad. The only shrimp that I have had problems in the past with 'jumping'(I would called it climbing) is the amano shrimp. I have had the tanks for a couple of months and not a single jump or contamination. I believe if the shrimp like their water, they will not jump.

I like the open tanks, look better and makes it easier to catch the shrimp, work in the tanks and do water changes.

-Pedro


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## AnneRiceBowl

milalic said:


> I like the open tanks, look better and makes it easier to catch the shrimp, work in the tanks and do water changes.
> 
> -Pedro


Same here, but I have a 4 year-old. I tried an open tank, but she thought it was fun to play "catch the fish".


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## frugalfish

Very nicely done. I really like the look of the rimless tanks and will consider doing the same when the time comes for me to build my racks.


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## Troy McClure

milalic said:


> Shrimp will not jump unless the water conditions are bad. The only shrimp that I have had problems in the past with 'jumping'(I would called it climbing) is the amano shrimp. I have had the tanks for a couple of months and not a single jump or contamination. I believe if the shrimp like their water, they will not jump.


They won't jump. Ever taken a shrimp out of the water? They go completely limp. They can flip a couple times but that's about it. They can't hold themselves up.

Very cool setup Pedro. I would love to setup a small rack in my utility room for growing out mosses, HC, anubias, etc....someday. Any plans for making water changes easier?


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## Neon Shrimp

Looks great, can't wait to see it when you have everything up and running!


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## fish newb

Those tanks make the rack look sooooo good! 

-Andrew


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## turbomkt

Something else to consider...

1. If two tanks on the same rack have different shrimp, make sure they can't cross. Snowball shrimp will cross with cherries, but not CRS. So snowballs go on a shelf with CRS, and cherries go on a shelf with Diamond/Bee shrimp. Take it from there to figure out which option is ideal. He's already talked about some of the organization...

2. With the foam/plywood base for the tanks, you won't have any shrimp falling to lower tanks. Worst case, Pedro would find dried shrimp on the base of each level.


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## fish newb

turbomkt said:


> Something else to consider...
> 
> 1. If two tanks on the same rack have different shrimp, make sure they can't cross. Snowball shrimp will cross with cherries, but not CRS. So snowballs go on a shelf with CRS, and cherries go on a shelf with Diamond/Bee shrimp. Take it from there to figure out which option is ideal. He's already talked about some of the organization...
> 
> 2. With the foam/plywood base for the tanks, you won't have any shrimp falling to lower tanks. Worst case, Pedro would find dried shrimp on the base of each level.


To add to this, Pedro definatly knows what he is doing with shrimp and inverts. I wouldn't worry about it toooo much.

Thanks for finally posting all the setup pictures. I PMed you some Q's at TPT -.-

-Andrew


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## AaronT

Recalling Nathan's old setup I can see which ideas of his came into play. 

That's a sweet looking setup for sure Pedro. 

One tip I can give you is to save the water that collects in the dehumidifier. It's pure water and should be able to be used just as you do the RO water.


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## fish newb

AaronT said:


> Recalling Nathan's old setup I can see which ideas of his came into play.
> 
> That's a sweet looking setup for sure Pedro.
> 
> One tip I can give you is to save the water that collects in the dehumidifier. It's pure water and should be able to be used just as you do the RO water.


Only certain ones right? I Have an old One sitting in my basement and i don"t think i would want to put that water in my fish tank

(sorry about typing wierd< keybored isn"t behaving>>> see???)

_Andrew


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## milalic

Troy McClure said:


> Very cool setup Pedro. I would love to setup a small rack in my utility room for growing out mosses, HC, anubias, etc....someday. Any plans for making water changes easier?


I thought about doing a centralized system per rack, it would have saved on some equipment and maybe on the water changes time. I desisted of doing it because if one tanks get contaminated, the other have a high probability of doing it.

I am thinking of setting another rack, since I have 4 more rimless tanks that are empty. I am considering the centralized system on this one. It has to be completely leak proof.

-Pedro


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## milalic

turbomkt said:


> Something else to consider...
> 
> 1. If two tanks on the same rack have different shrimp, make sure they can't cross. Snowball shrimp will cross with cherries, but not CRS. So snowballs go on a shelf with CRS, and cherries go on a shelf with Diamond/Bee shrimp. Take it from there to figure out which option is ideal. He's already talked about some of the organization...
> 
> 2. With the foam/plywood base for the tanks, you won't have any shrimp falling to lower tanks. Worst case, Pedro would find dried shrimp on the base of each level.


I'm not too much worried about the shrimp jumping. I tried to do the rack by species, but at the end it did not work that way. So they all over the place. In fact the snowballs are beside the cherry reds.

-Pedro


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## milalic

AaronT said:


> Recalling Nathan's old setup I can see which ideas of his came into play.
> 
> That's a sweet looking setup for sure Pedro.
> 
> One tip I can give you is to save the water that collects in the dehumidifier. It's pure water and should be able to be used just as you do the RO water.


Thanks. I just saw some pictures from Nathan's setup. Did you saw it in person? Thanks for the tip on the water.

-Pedro


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## milalic

fish newb said:


> To add to this, Pedro definatly knows what he is doing with shrimp and inverts. I wouldn't worry about it toooo much.
> 
> Thanks for finally posting all the setup pictures. I PMed you some Q's at TPT -.-
> 
> -Andrew


Put the questions here as they may be the same other have. 

-Pedro


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## AaronT

milalic said:


> Thanks. I just saw some pictures from Nathan's setup. Did you saw it in person? Thanks for the tip on the water.
> 
> -Pedro


Yeah, I helped him set it up when he moved once. I set mine up after his too. That Dolphin pump is a steal. Mine's still running relatively quiet after a 1.5 years.


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## fish newb

milalic said:


> Put the questions here as they may be the same other have.
> 
> -Pedro


Alright, Was trying not to clutter your topic  .....

Ohh Well at that price those are VERY cost effective! (The racks)

1. What substrate did you use? From your new pictures it looked like whatever was lying around? Did you put like ADA aquasoil for CRS tanks or just normal stuff? I think for mine I'm going to do SMS since it's sooo cheap!

3.Which air pump did you buy? I know you said dolphin but did you do one per rack? or one per row of tanks? Which model did you buy? Also how well do the air filters work for you, I think that's what I'm going to use but personally don't exactly understand them but thats a new thread lol.

The racks look great! I think having the rimless tops any other tank racks I've seen around . What would be a rough figure for say 10 tanks custom? $200? $500? 700? 1000? They look amazing!

Ohh also you have a mental list of what is going to be going in those tanks? Would probably be interesting to see what your plans are for stocking all these tanks.

Thanks,
-Andrew


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## milalic

fish newb said:


> 1. What substrate did you use? From your new pictures it looked like whatever was lying around? Did you put like ADA aquasoil for CRS tanks or just normal stuff? I think for mine I'm going to do SMS since it's sooo cheap!


I used naural gravel in most of the tanks. On others I used a purple substrate called garnment(?). It is very small and inert. I have aquasoil in a 10G tanks but it does not has CRS. It has some neocaridina in there that look a little wicked i fyou ask me.

I have SMS in the 75G tank.



fish newb said:


> 2.Which air pump did you buy? I know you said dolphin but did you do one per rack? or one per row of tanks? Which model did you buy? Also how well do the air filters work for you, I think that's what I'm going to use but personally don't exactly understand them but thats a new thread lol.


The air pump is this model:http://kensfish.com/airpumps/5_star_air_pump.jpg
I used one for 6 tanks.

Air filtering is fine and they are good for microorganisms build up.



fish newb said:


> Ohh also you have a mental list of what is going to be going in those tanks? Would probably be interesting to see what your plans are for stocking all these tanks.


All tanks have inverts in them. From cherry reds to other very rare shrimp.


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## Jane in Upton

Looks great! Are the tanks Glass or Acrylic?

That's a really slick setup, and very clever with the center brace.
Well done!
-Jane


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## turbomkt

Those are glass tanks.


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## gnatster

The substrate is Garnet in some of the tanks. It's a natural inert mineral.


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## newguy

yeah i dont think shrimps will jump, at least not the "pet" shrimp species we keep. 

But how are you going to keep the crayfish and snails from climbing out? i know from personal experience snails climb out of the tank all the time if it's open top, same goes for crayfish. 

now if a crayfish climbs into the crs tank... :boxing: ouch!

nice setup!


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## milalic

gnatster said:


> The substrate is Garnet in some of the tanks. It's a natural inert mineral.


That is what it is. Thanks!


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## milalic

newguy said:


> yeah i dont think shrimps will jump, at least not the "pet" shrimp species we keep.
> 
> But how are you going to keep the crayfish and snails from climbing out? i know from personal experience snails climb out of the tank all the time if it's open top, same goes for crayfish.
> 
> now if a crayfish climbs into the crs tank... :boxing: ouch!
> 
> nice setup!


I have not had problems with snails climbing out of tanks. I do keep snails in all of them. The crays do not climb at all. they currently do not have much to climb in the tank apart from moss.

-Pedro


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## milalic

*Some of the inverts*

Cambarellus patzcuarensis(orange dwarf):










Cambarellus puer:










Cambarellus montezumae:










I also have a lot of Cambarellus Shufeldtii.

-Pedro


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## fish newb

Thanks for the replies! Cleared up quite a few of my questions.

Thanks for posting the pictures this is an amazing setup!

-Andrew


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## milalic

fish newb said:


> Thanks for the replies! Cleared up quite a few of my questions.
> 
> Thanks for posting the pictures this is an amazing setup!
> 
> -Andrew


Thanks. I will be updating it later today with more pics.
Hope to see more people involved in the thread with questions/comments.

-Pedro


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## fish newb

I also would like to see more people get involved but whatever  

Does anyone have good links for garnet substrate and a good price on the racks similar to milalic? They seem to be a great price! 

Also, I would probably stay away from the centralized filtration so there aren't any shrimp mix-ups!

-Andrew


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## Kelley

A person in our local club told me that dwarf crayfish are voracious eaters of thread algae. do you find this to be true? 

What a cool set up! Have fun with it!


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## bijoon

Drawf crayfish? We have them in ponds near us. Im gonna get a bunch if they eat algae lol. Neat setup.


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## milalic

Kelley said:


> A person in our local club told me that dwarf crayfish are voracious eaters of thread algae. do you find this to be true?
> 
> What a cool set up! Have fun with it!


I am not sure since I do not have thread algae in their tanks. I know they eat small snails...

-Pedro


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## milalic

*Teaser...*

It is not a camera trick. It does have orangy eyes and blue coloration...guess what it is.










-Pedro


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## slickwillislim

Stressed tiger shrimp? Thats what a couple of mine looked like when they got home. Then they disapeared... Found them all over the place on my floor dried up. Damn DIY co2...


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## milalic

slickwillislim said:


> Stressed tiger shrimp? Thats what a couple of mine looked like when they got home. Then they disapeared... Found them all over the place on my floor dried up. Damn DIY co2...


Nope, it is not stressed.

-Pedro


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## slickwillislim

So its not a tiger? I just figured it was stressed didn't really keep them long enough to see if the blue stayed or not.


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## fish newb

It's a blue tiger shrimp. They where around in Singapore and Japan and HongKong for a while I was thinking about getting some sooner or later. They're really really nice looking when you have them all comfortable.

Where did you get them from? How was the price, did they get here in good shape?

-Andrew


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## slickwillislim

Blue tigers? Time to do some googling.

I had no Idea they existed. It seems they don't breed very true according to one site I read. Good luck with them. Looks like a pretty cool shrimp.


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## milalic

slickwillislim said:


> Blue tigers? Time to do some googling.
> 
> I had no Idea they existed. It seems they don't breed very true according to one site I read. Good luck with them. Looks like a pretty cool shrimp.


Offsprings if not blue will have orangy eyes. If it does not have orangy eyes, it is not considered a blue tiger shrimp as far as I know.

There are some common ones that show bluish as well and do not have orangy eyes. But in my experience the blue does not stay.

-Pedro


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## slickwillislim

Thanks for the clarification. I have always liked shrimp but haven't really been that successful with them so my interest dwindled. I did not know anything about these blue tigers before. This has been very educational.


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## MariaMakiling

Great progress on your rack system. Very nice tanks. I would love to have one of those racks full of many shrimp homes one day


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## fish newb

slickwillislim said:


> Blue tigers? Time to do some googling.
> 
> I had no Idea they existed. It seems they don't breed very true according to one site I read. Good luck with them. Looks like a pretty cool shrimp.


Like milalic said it's a different strain, generally as long as you get the orange eyed ones they should stay true, and once and a while you will get a REALLY blue one. But those seem to be a bit further down the road....

-Andrew


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## milalic

*What am I?*










-Pedro


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## fish newb

milalic said:


> -Pedro


A VERY PRICEY SHRIMP!

Purple Zebra or something or that name by chance? How are they doing?

-Andrew

EDIT: Haha I was right. You named it in your Picture's filename... Didn't notice it till after though!


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## gnatster

They are not that expensive, just hard to find. I've seen them at a LFS for $2.99 ea, but they all died before they were out of quarantine.


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## fish newb

gnatster said:


> They are not that expensive, just hard to find. I've seen them at a LFS for $2.99 ea, but they all died before they were out of quarantine.


Ohh, Well I thought that on shrimpnow they where very pricey? Maybe not which is always good to know! They look great!

-Andrew


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## milalic

fish newb said:


> Ohh, Well I thought that on shrimpnow they where very pricey? Maybe not which is always good to know! They look great!
> 
> -Andrew


I am not sure about the price on them. I know they are dificult to get and breed. They do like alkaline water...we'll see if I have success with them.

-Pedro


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## aelysa

She's carrying eggs though, you must be doing something right. And green eggs at that! Colorful.


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## milalic

Since the shrimp itself is very small(smallest FW shrimp I have seen/had) it is hard to tell if there are babies surviving.

-Pedro


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## fish newb

milalic said:


> Since the shrimp itself is very small(smallest FW shrimp I have seen/had) it is hard to tell if there are babies surviving.
> 
> -Pedro


Hopefully they will be!

HOW small are these shrimp?

-Andrew


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## Steven_Chong

This is a beautiful set up Pedro. I'm jealous just of all the nice rimless tanks. 

Actually, there's a rather affordable custom glass dealer in my locale-- if only I had the space! Again, this is very cool!


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## milalic

fish newb said:


> Hopefully they will be!
> 
> HOW small are these shrimp?
> 
> -Andrew


The picture is of an adult shrimp. I think it is not even an inch.

-Pedro


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## milalic

Steven_Chong said:


> This is a beautiful set up Pedro. I'm jealous just of all the nice rimless tanks.
> 
> Actually, there's a rather affordable custom glass dealer in my locale-- if only I had the space! Again, this is very cool!


ThankS!


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## bijoon

Wow, this has inspired me. I think I'm going to try the rack thing but with only two tanks and use the other shelves for other stuff.


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## AaronT

I had those Purple Zebra shrimp once. I couldn't get them to breed for me. I also had issues with them hiding all day long. I'll be interested to see if you fair better than I did....well okay, you already did since your's has eggs.


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## fish newb

milalic said:


> The picture is of an adult shrimp. I think it is not even an inch.
> 
> -Pedro


Wow, Thats REALLY small! I wouldn't be surprised if it takes some months before any baby shrimp are even noticed by you, but I hope they do well. If anyone is able to get them to breed it will be you!

Thanks for sharing this awesome rack!

-Andrew


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## milalic

fish newb said:


> Wow, Thats REALLY small! I wouldn't be surprised if it takes some months before any baby shrimp are even noticed by you, but I hope they do well. If anyone is able to get them to breed it will be you!
> 
> Thanks for sharing this awesome rack!
> 
> -Andrew


I hope they breed.


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## milalic

*I am the next one*

I look like a red cherry shrimp but I am yellow...gues what I am?(If you saw in PT...let others guess) 










Yellow color varies like in red cherry shrimp.

-Pedro


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## fish newb

Pedro, I've noticed some of my cherries with blue eyes just like theirs and one of my males is a really nice yellow golden color with red stripes... You think if they where crossbred we could get some more colorfull male cherries? 

I don't think the male I have was crossed since these are pretty unseen in the USA but it is stunning... I probably wont be able to get a decent picture of him 

-Andrew


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## milalic

fish newb said:


> Pedro, I've noticed some of my cherries with blue eyes just like theirs and one of my males is a really nice yellow golden color with red stripes... You think if they where crossbred we could get some more colorfull male cherries?
> 
> I don't think the male I have was crossed since these are pretty unseen in the USA but it is stunning... I probably wont be able to get a decent picture of him
> 
> -Andrew


Maybe you can isloate this shrimp with a more clear female and see what comes out.

-Pedro


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## fish newb

milalic said:


> Maybe you can isloate this shrimp with a more clear female and see what comes out.
> 
> -Pedro


That's a good Idea... Too bad for the CRS tank in the making... It will have a select few cherries too

Thanks for all the ideas and pointers

-Andrew


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## Squawkbert

So, whaat's yellow w/ blue eyes (and how much $)??

They look like a neocardina sp.


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## milalic

Squawkbert said:


> So, whaat's yellow w/ blue eyes (and how much $)??
> 
> They look like a neocardina sp.


It is a neocaridina sp. It is the yellow version of the red cherry shrimp.

-Pedro


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## Squawkbert

I hope you end up w/ lots!


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## milalic

Squawkbert said:


> I hope you end up w/ lots!


Lets hope so and thanks.

-Pedro


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## milalic

*Bumble bee female*



















-Pedro


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## fish newb

Nice pictures, the garnet substrate looks nice!

-Andre


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## Cassie

so do you have each species in their own tank, or do you combine species that don't interbreed?


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## milalic

Cassie said:


> so do you have each species in their own tank, or do you combine species that don't interbreed?


On some tanks I have some species together that will not interbreed. I still have some tanks that I have not setup to separate each specie in their own tank.

-Pedro


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## JAXON777

Are you planning on selling these shrimp or do you just enjoy the little buggers?


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## milalic

JAXON777 said:


> Are you planning on selling these shrimp or do you just enjoy the little buggers?


Eventually.


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## JAXON777

cool thats a sweet setup


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## fish newb

milalic said:


> Maybe you can isloate this shrimp with a more clear female and see what comes out.
> 
> -Pedro


Well the yellow is being passed along! I ended up "culling" 20 or so males that weren't so great looking and left only the best ones I could find. My favorite male is very red, and yellow tone in the body, it looks really good. If only I could get a picture...

So I think by trying to remove most of the males I could get faster results than separating them to their own tank...

-Andrew

Oh, and by "culling" I brought them to the LFS for credits.


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## milalic

*Unknown shrimp*

Trying to see if this shrimp breeds in FW. I have seeing some females developing saddles. Females seem to be a clear color while males look like the ones below:


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## Cassie

where do you get all these shrimp? it's so facinating!


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## fish newb

Thats a really interesting shrimp Kinda reminds me of a SSS CRS. But I'm sure you would know if it was one, or at least would tell us it was...

So what is it? Where did you get it?

-Andrew


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## milalic

Cassie said:


> where do you get all these shrimp? it's so facinating!


different places...


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## milalic

fish newb said:


> Thats a really interesting shrimp Kinda reminds me of a SSS CRS. But I'm sure you would know if it was one, or at least would tell us it was...
> 
> So what is it? Where did you get it?
> 
> -Andrew


Not sure what it is. Is a local shrimp from Japan.

-Pedro


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## Steven_Chong

Weird-- the _males_ are the opaque ones!?


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## milalic

Steven_Chong said:


> Weird-- the _males_ are the opaque ones!?


Yes.


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## fish newb

Well this is the thread... Pictures are MIA... new shrimp - ShrimpNow !!!

Maybe it will help?

-Andrew


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## milalic

Not sure if they are the same or not.


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## splatt3

can't sleep so i decided to read this thread again for the 2nd time. lol. very beautiful setup. i would love to see how everything goes on your invert factory.


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## milalic

*Crs*


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## milalic

*Indian zebra shrimp*










baby:


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## milalic

*Pregnant yellow shrimp*


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## milalic

*Yellow shrimp and white bee shrimp*


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## splatt3

wow, that is crazy! very beautiful shrimps. more pics!


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## milalic

splatt3 said:


> wow, that is crazy! very beautiful shrimps. more pics!


Thanks. I'll try to update it more often.


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## fish newb

milalic said:


> Thanks. I'll try to update it more often.


Please do!

You seem to be using a photo bucket account? Would you mind posting a link to like your gallery? I have no idea what other things are on it though, so it's your choice! But it might be easier doing that than always just posting pictures?

I really like the Indian Zebras!

-Andrew


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## milalic

fish newb said:


> Please do!
> 
> You seem to be using a photo bucket account? Would you mind posting a link to like your gallery? I have no idea what other things are on it though, so it's your choice! But it might be easier doing that than always just posting pictures?
> 
> I really like the Indian Zebras!
> 
> -Andrew


I got more stuff there that I do not want to show. So until I remove them, I will keep posting them here.

-Pedro


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## RESGuy

milalic said:


> I got more stuff there that I do not want to show. So until I remove them, I will keep posting them here.
> 
> -Pedro


Really?[smilie=u: lol I love the pictures of your shrimp! I always enjoy them  Nice Yellow Shrimp!rayer:


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## aman74

milalic said:


> different places...


Would you mind sharing?

Thanks


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## fish newb

milalic said:


> I got more stuff there that I do not want to show. So until I remove them, I will keep posting them here.
> 
> -Pedro


Thats what I figured

So keep posting them here!!

-Andrew


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## milalic

*My newest babies*



















Enjoy,


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## RESGuy

Like I said on TPT, great invert


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## fish newb

Awesome pictures! 

Do they remind anyone else of either an orange/vanilla ice cream bar or orange sherbert/vanilla ice cream mix?

They look too good to eat though...

-Andrew


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## littleguy

WOW. Just saw this thread for the first time. Amazing rayer:

Do you plan on ever breeding and selling the Cambarellus patzcuarensis?


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## Paid

Are those little orange crays fairly common in Germany?
Never seen them in the UK, But I'm sure they would be
popular.


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## fish newb

Paid said:


> Are those little orange crays fairly common in Germany?
> Never seen them in the UK, But I'm sure they would be
> popular.


You've never seen them in the UK for the reason that they're probably not legal  UK is very strict on crays and I believe only one is legal which it like the red tipped one or something... Its all blue and has red highlighted claws.

-Andrew


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## bijoon

The racks arnt omega shelving are they? And where did you get the pieces to fit the pole in the center to the shelves?


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## milalic

bijoon said:


> The racks arnt omega shelving are they? And where did you get the pieces to fit the pole in the center to the shelves?


I am not sure of the brand. One was bought online and the other in COSTCO.
I got all pieces at Home Depot. I will see if I can get the part number or how it is called.


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## kurt182

I just found this thread and i think its great! I was wondering if you have an update for us. I see its been a few months since your last update on this post.

-Justin


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## rs79

"yeah i dont think shrimps will jump"

They jump. 

They crawl out.

They get out of places you'd think nothing could get through.

Ask me how I know


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## milalic

kurt182 said:


> I just found this thread and i think its great! I was wondering if you have an update for us. I see its been a few months since your last update on this post.
> 
> -Justin


Justin,

I have not had time to update the thread or been much around. Hopefully that will change.
Things with the rack are going okay. I am going to set my third one. I will put some pictures when I am done.

Cheers,


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## oblongshrimp

your 3rd rack??? Thats a ton of shrimp. Are you using those same tanks for all of them?


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## vtchica

Please keep us updated on your 3rd rack. I'm so envious!!


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## milalic

oblongshrimp said:


> your 3rd rack??? Thats a ton of shrimp. Are you using those same tanks for all of them?


Yes same tanks...I got 14 of those rimless tanks. I will be putting some orange crays in some of the new tanks as the population is growing prettu fast and I want to give them more space.

I am currently evaluating what shrimp and crays I am going to be keeping. I might reduce the amount of shrimp and have more tanks for crays. They are hardier than most shrimp, have more personality in my opinion.

I am back,


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## Chuppy

Great Shrimp Rack and great Shrimps!!! they simply look great!!! 

btw.. What do you feed your shrimps with.. and does the Sponge filters work well???i mean i usuallt have a bad impression on sponge filters...always preferred canisters but very costly for a shrimp rack..

And may i know your water parameters? 
(i just want to improve my shrimps a lil' moreXD)

thanks in advance

-drew


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## skewlboy

How are you adjusting and buffering the pH for the different tanks?

What are you feeding?


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## milalic

skewlboy said:


> How are you adjusting and buffering the pH for the different tanks?
> 
> What are you feeding?


Until know I have been using the following equation:

ph meter + RO/tap water mix + muriatric acid + patience = low ph water

The rest is tap water.

I feed them different foods I have bought.


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## milalic

*Rack Update*

The room was a mess after the first two racks. So I decided to set up another one and cleaned the room. I can even walk on the room now.

I currently have three racks picture below.




























The tank that loos brown is like that because of the ADA amazonia.

I also have a 75G tank in here:










So in total I have: one 75G tank, two 10G tanks and 14 custom made tanks.
Most of them powered by air pumps and 4 using HOB filters that were already seeded with bacteria.


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## eklikewhoa

Does the Dolphin power those sponges at a decent pressure?

I want to set up a rack but will have a lot more tanks then you are running and am looking into the best single option to run the tanks......I will be running 6-8 5.5g tanks and 4-6 10g's


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## milalic

eklikewhoa said:


> Does the Dolphin power those sponges at a decent pressure?
> 
> I want to set up a rack but will have a lot more tanks then you are running and am looking into the best single option to run the tanks......I will be running 6-8 5.5g tanks and 4-6 10g's


Dolphin pump pressure is good. I use one outlet per two tanks. So with the 4 outlets I can power 8 tanks in total.


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## SlyDer

milalic said:


> Dolphin pump pressure is good. I use one outlet per two tanks. So with the 4 outlets I can power 8 tanks in total.


one outlets means one air pump?


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## gotcheaprice

Nope, there are 4 outlets on the dolphin 5, so 8 tanks with 1 pump.


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