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Evening folks,
My wife and I have decided we would like to branch out into invertebrates and add a small colony of native freshwater shrimp to our community planted tank (450L, 1.6m). Current occupants are tetras, dwarf gouramis, clown loaches and a breeding colony of bristlenoses of indeterminate number.
We are, however, having an enormous amount of difficulty in finding any of the blighters.
After doing some initial research we settled on some Darwin Algae shrimp, and purchased ten from Second Nature Aquariums after being unable to find any Perth shops offering them. They were shipped promptly and arrived in Perth this morning...only to be swiftly seized by Fisheries and destroyed, as they had been shipped from Queensland. Neither the seller nor I were aware of the continuing white-spot related ban (and according to the very understanding Fisheries chap, several other boxes of shrimp bound for Perth customers were also seized and destroyed from the same order). Unfortunately, all of the online aquarium shops that I can find seem to be based in Queensland or north NSW, and hence would also be covered by the same import ban, and I still can't find any local shops with stock.
I have come across a few listings for shrimp of various kinds on Gumtree, but these seem to be only Cherry Shrimp of various colours (mostly red), and I'm really not keen on going down this path for several reasons, not least questionable legality.
Can anyone offer any advice in sourcing the Darwin shrimp? Or, failing that, a native that will go nicely in our very placid tank, not muck with the bristlenose eggs or fry, and earn its keep on the algae front? We're located NOR in Scarborough, if relevant.
Thanks for any advice!
