Damien's Blog (http://www.damianaguilar.com)

Tell us a little bit about yourself, please:

Hi, my name is Damian Aguilar. I am from Murcia (Spain) and I studied engineering, and now basically I develop software for companies. You can find more information about me in my blog: http://www.damianaguilar.com.

When did you start keeping and breeding shrimps?

I started with shrimps in 2007. It was a dark time… I started with a few Red Cherries and it was a nightmare for me because a week later I lost all the shrimps! It was a personal challenge and I began to learn about shrimps, mainly from other Spanish friends who had a lot of experience with shrimps, and of course, from shared information in Spanish forums.

How many tanks do you currently have?

I have six tanks now where I keep: Blue Tigers, Black Tigers, Blue Bee, Sakuras, Yellow shrimps, CRS and CBS. But I have another tank waiting for a new project. All my tanks are between 30l and 60l, I prefer small tanks.

How much time do you spend with the hobby?

Maybe one hour a day or perhaps more, it depends… Since I work from home and have my tanks around me while I am working, I sometimes spend more time with the shrimps than I should…

Which breeding projects are you working on?

I am focusing on my Black Tigers, trying to get a full black.

What do you do with shrimp that don’t meet your breeding target?

I share it with friends.

What’s your favorite shrimp and why?

I think that most people will answer the same: the Red Crystal. The point is that this is a shrimp you can evolve with, getting new patters, new colors -  you are continuously learning with this shrimp. The Red Crystal is the best for me.

What are your basic tips for beginners?

• Weekly water changes.
• Use high quality water (here in Spain the tap water have a pH around 9).
• Planted tank.
• Things that works for fish tanks don’t work for shrimps tanks. I think that it is an important point.

What are your plans for 2010?

Crossbreeding a different Tiger species, maybe a Black Tiger with Blue Tigers. I am not sure yet…

Three WebPages you find useful:

• shrimpnow.com
• soloinvertebrados.es
• aquaticquotient.com

Your personal motto is?

Don’t let for tomorrow the water changes you can do today.