I may just give up

So, in May last year I started a neocaridina shrimp tank. I have had 2 total generations since then. 2!!! I only have 3 shrimp left. And I don’t see the point of keeping it going. I have 1 female and 2 males in there, I recently lost my longest lived female who had had babies and it was really upsetting. They’re not reproducing no matter what I do. I’ve added alder cones, tourmaline, breeder food, and nothing’s happening. Their tank is moderately planted with java fern, java moss, guppy grass, hornwort, and a few other oddball plants. But it’s totally infested with bladder snails.

Should I just give up? I want to cut down to 3 tanks anyways and being able to cut down to 2 would be great. I could put the remaining shrimp with my betta, he’s fine with the ghost shrimp so I don’t see why he’d bother the neos.

I am a busy teenager and although I love my fish so much 5 tanks is WAY too much for me to care for. With 3 or possibly 2 tanks I could give them the full care and attention they deserve.

 

So, in May last year I started a neocaridina shrimp tank. I have had 2 total generations since then. 2!!! I only have 3 shrimp left. And I don’t see the point of keeping it going. I have 1 female and 2 males in there, I recently lost my longest lived female who had had babies and it was really upsetting. They’re not reproducing no matter what I do. I’ve added alder cones, tourmaline, breeder food, and nothing’s happening. Their tank is moderately planted with java fern, java moss, guppy grass, hornwort, and a few other oddball plants. But it’s totally infested with bladder snails.

Should I just give up? I want to cut down to 3 tanks anyways and being able to cut down to 2 would be great. I could put the remaining shrimp with my betta, he’s fine with the ghost shrimp so I don’t see why he’d bother the neos.

I am a busy teenager and although I love my fish so much 5 tanks is WAY too much for me to care for. With 3 or possibly 2 tanks I could give them the full care and attention they deserve.

Don’t give up. . . Scale back and focus on 2 or 3 tanks.

 

Don’t give up. . . Scale back and focus on 2 or 3 tanks.

Yeah, I meant on the shrimp tank.

 

I'm going to speak as a long time fish keeper, I stared when I was about 12 and let's just say, that gives me over 50 years at it.

I also went through the time you are going through, a time when you are, growing up, getting busy being a teenager, trying to figure out your life, having your time taken up with school, a job, dating, social stuff, yada, yada. Believe me, I don't miss that time in my life, way to confusing, lol.

And yes, you have to decide how much to cut back to fit into your ever changing life. I never gave up on the hobby, but there were times I had to cut back, not only for my own sanity, but also for the well being of the critters. It sounds like you are at that stage of life.

You seem to love fish keeping enough to not get totally out of it, but as I said, you have to decide what you can keep at this stage of your life, not an easy choice, but one you have to make, for yourself and for the critters.

Side note, I'm kind of chuckling right now because I went through a kind of reverse fish keep problem. At one time I was wall to wall tanks and totally loved it. But as I got older and more frail, I just wasn't able to keep up with them all. I cut back to just 2 tanks, the 55 gallon that has been going continuously for almost 40 years and the 20 gallon that started as a grow out tank and is now a shrimp tank.

P.S. I have developed to total hate of bladder snails! I am fighting them tooth and nail and they are winning. They might be the problem with your shrimp, they add too much to the bio load, far more than the shrimp. I'm all for snails, actually love my nerites, mystery and ramshorns, but those ^$@! bladder snails have got to go!

 

This hobby is for your own pleasure, do what makes you happy.

 

I'm going to speak as a long time fish keeper, I stared when I was about 12 and let's just say, that gives me over 50 years at it.

I also went through the time you are going through, a time when you are, growing up, getting busy being a teenager, trying to figure out your life, having your time taken up with school, a job, dating, social stuff, yada, yada. Believe me, I don't miss that time in my life, way to confusing, lol.

And yes, you have to decide how much to cut back to fit into your ever changing life. I never gave up on the hobby, but there were times I had to cut back, not only for my own sanity, but also for the well being of the critters. It sounds like you are at that stage of life.

You seem to love fish keeping enough to not get totally out of it, but as I said, you have to decide what you can keep at this stage of your life, not an easy choice, but one you have to make, for yourself and for the critters.

Side note, I'm kind of chuckling right now because I went through a kind of reverse fish keep problem. At one time I was wall to wall tanks and totally loved it. But as I got older and more frail, I just wasn't able to keep up with them all. I cut back to just 2 tanks, the 55 gallon that has been going continuously for almost 40 years and the 20 gallon that started as a grow out tank and is now a shrimp tank.

P.S. I have developed to total hate of bladder snails! I am fighting them tooth and nail and they are winning. They might be the problem with your shrimp, they add too much to the bio load, far more than the shrimp. I'm all for snails, actually love my nerites, mystery and ramshorns, but those ^$@! bladder snails have got to go!

Ugh, same. I hate bladder snails. I’ve added an assassin snail twice and both died within a month. (It is only 5 gallons so that could be the reason.)

 

Look in the snail forum, the one you can get to from clicking the invertebrate forum list. I put in a pic of my home made snail trap. In two nights, only works at night, it has captured over 100 bladder snails using two traps in my big tank.

I still doubt I'll ever get rid of them, but I have hopes of at least keeping them in control to the point they don't crash my tank.

I also crush any I see on the glass, my sharks, aka, guppys and mollies, wait for me to do this to gobble up the remains, they love it so much they follow my hands around the tank waiting for their treats, I'm sure your betta would also love crushed bladder snails.

 

I have found that sometimes adding nothing and just letting things happen is the best way. I left the country for three weeks with 6 cherry shrimp in a 10 g tank. I came home to a bunch of shrimp fry. All I did for the three weeks was feed them with an auto feeder.
Go figure.?