planted shrimp tank [updated 5-22-07]

[plecoperson]

Somtimes? I just look at this thread 'cause your tank is so beautiful.

Now with the top-offs only...don't the various minerals and so forth concentrate if you aren't removing them? How's that work? How come nobody got me that natural aquarium book I wanted for Christmas?

 

[dskidmore]

Are you topping off with distilled or RO water?

 

[danch]

And GlitcH, none that I can see other than the common pond snails and the MTS. I have seen my barbs inspect the MTS and large pond snails before with a quick nibble, but have never seen them eat eggs before. On the same token I have also not ever seen egg casings. As far as I know, most pond snails lay their eggs above water level correct?

My pond snails lay on the glass and on plants, under water. On the glass they usually look like a gelatinous comma, about 5mm long and 2 thick, with 20 or thirty white dots. The only other (macro)animal in the tank is some zebra danios and a few glass shrimp. Neither shows any interest in the eggs, despite my encouragement

I've gone from 3 visible snails to probably 50 at various sizes in about 2 months. MTS, on the other hand, I'm really just starting to see any that are more than a mm or two in length. Actually, they're not even big enough that I'm positive they're MTS.

Neither the pond snails nor the MTS seem to be eating any of my copious hair algae (green or black), but I've got no problems with anything else.

 

[GlitcH]

looking amazing! that moss is cool, is it flame moss?

Nope it's xmas moss. The wall is about 2 months old.....its slow going.

Now with the top-offs only...don't the various minerals and so forth concentrate if you aren't removing them? How's that work? How come nobody got me that natural aquarium book I wanted for Christmas?

Thx lisa I'm glad you like it.
I'm not sure how much if any build up in minerals there will be.
I guess I'll just have to watch it.
I can tell you that since I've started the top offs I have not had any mysterious RCS deaths.

Are you topping off with distilled or RO water?

Just aged water.......2 liters a day.

The HC is staying alive but no new growth so far

 

[dskidmore]

Might get some mineral removal from plant clippings, depending on exactly what is in your water.

 

[plecoperson]

Glitch-any new pictures of my favorite tank?

 

[GlitcH]

Hi Lisa.......this one is your favorite? I thought it was the one in the dining room that you were gaga over
Well........if it is this one I'm sorry to say that I took it down.....and replaced it with a newer 20G with eco and a bit lower light. I needed to take it down cuz I was swapping out my RCS for Neocaridina heteropoda var. yellow (Yellow Shrimp) and they will interbreed. So I had to make absolutely sure that there were no RCS left in the tank. With the amount of RCS that was in that tank, the easiest way to do that was to replace the tank and start over.
The tank was showing its age anyhow. The tank itself was over ten years old.
I'll put up some pics when it looks good enough but that may be a while as I am not concerned as much with how the tank looks as I am with how happy the yellows are.

 

[dskidmore]

Awww... It was one of my favortites too!

 

[plecoperson]

Hi Lisa.......this one is your favorite? I thought it was the one in the dining room that you were gaga over

HA! No, that's the one I was directed to. Then I said "thank you!" before I looked at it. A lovely tank as well, but yours is the one I had the crush on. Then I tried to reply that it was yours, but "you can't post this soon" came up and I fergot. So last night I tried searching again, and finally came up with the right terms and found the thread.

I think one of the reasons I liked it so much was because it was kinda old-school looking, with the green paint!

Sorry to see it go. Now, are those the really $$ dark yellow shrimpies you have? And where are the pictures of THOSE!

Here is my current 20 long. Serves as a dumping ground for extra plants, as well as the "Java moss on tiles" growing station. I came back to this thread for some inspiration, since mine looks like a junkyard....

 

[GlitcH]

Sorry to see it go. Now, are those the really $$ dark yellow shrimpies you have? And where are the pictures of THOSE!

Here is my current 20 long. Serves as a dumping ground for extra plants, as well as the "Java moss on tiles" growing station. I came back to this thread for some inspiration, since mine looks like a junkyard....

Don't look like a junkyard to me........in fact it looks way better than my yellow tank.
Like I said though........I am keeping it bare.......I want to be able to see every newly hatched shrimplet.

Yep they were expensive and I'll probably regret it down the road.
Here are a few pics for ya Lisa

And here is a shot of another new addition...Procambarus clarkii (orange)
He's only about a 1/4 inch long.......the biggest of 5.

Can anyone ID the red plant for me?

 

[plecoperson]

They are beautiful and I think worth every penny-you'll have kabillions in no time. LOVE the cray, too. Gorgeous color!

Thank you for the fix--

 

[7Enigma]

Digging this out for some updates on the shrimp/tank. Got any recent pics?

 

[GlitcH]

Hey 7.........nope sorry..........my GF has my camera for the time being.

I can give ya some history on the tank though.

As of my last post in this thread I had just pond snails and yellow shrimp in this tank.
The yellows would berry up and then drop all the eggs within a few days.
So I moved them to another tank where they have just started to hold their eggs.

Now I have endlers, pink ramshorns, and snowball shrimp in the tank.
So far just two snowballs with saddles.......if these drop their eggs too, then I'll be forced to redo the entire tank.

I'll put up some pics as soon as I can.

 

[7Enigma]

What do you mean by berry up and drop their eggs? I'm interested in possibly setting up a shrimp-only tank and so am trying to research several of the species you have.

 

[GlitcH]

What do you mean by berry up and drop their eggs?

By "berry up" I mean the eggs would drop down from the ovaries under the tail, and by "drop their eggs" I mean they wern't carrying them to term. They seemed to be dropping them over the course of a few days.
Haven't figured out why yet.

Have you decided on a species yet?

 

[Zezmo]

Very nice, yellow shrimp and orange crayfish. I like it.

What is the red plant in the pic after the yellow shrimp?

 

[black hills tj]

Those yellow shrimp are pretty neat looking. Way out of my price range though.

I'm actually the high bid with 7 hours left on 30 red cherry shrimp right now! Hoping to set em up in a 10g tank.

 

[gu2high]

GlitcH, how did you remove dead snails from the tank since there are so many of them? Does it take hours to do it?

I had one apple snail before and it had a very bad smell when it was dead and lay there for two days.

 

[7Enigma]

What do you mean by berry up and drop their eggs?

By "berry up" I mean the eggs would drop down from the ovaries under the tail, and by "drop their eggs" I mean they wern't carrying them to term. They seemed to be dropping them over the course of a few days.
Haven't figured out why yet.

Have you decided on a species yet?

Not really. I definitely want something that will readily breed in FW, but after that I'm still trying to make up my mind. The $$$ thing is also a factor. I just can't seem to get myself to spend $20-30 for a handful of shrimp that may or may not take to my tank. I haven't been to my LFS in quite a while (where I buy all my fish, its a small local store), but don't remember seeing shrimp, but I wasn't looking specifically for them. I think what they have might dictate what I get depending on price.

I do find it quite irritating that some of these species which readily breed in pretty basic conditions are so overpriced just because they are popular/unique (ex. cherry red shrimp). From what I've read unless you try to kill them you can easily get a large group in a couple months in a 10 gallon tank (basically as your original thread showed). There is no reason these should be more expensive than ghost shrimp IMO, but its capitalism at its finest.

Those yellow shrimp you have look incredible btw!

 

[Algenco]

What do you mean by berry up and drop their eggs?

By "berry up" I mean the eggs would drop down from the ovaries under the tail, and by "drop their eggs" I mean they wern't carrying them to term. They seemed to be dropping them over the course of a few days.
Haven't figured out why yet.

Have you decided on a species yet?

Not really. I definitely want something that will readily breed in FW, but after that I'm still trying to make up my mind. The $$$ thing is also a factor. I just can't seem to get myself to spend $20-30 for a handful of shrimp that may or may not take to my tank. I haven't been to my LFS in quite a while (where I buy all my fish, its a small local store), but don't remember seeing shrimp, but I wasn't looking specifically for them. I think what they have might dictate what I get depending on price.

I do find it quite irritating that some of these species which readily breed in pretty basic conditions are so overpriced just because they are popular/unique (ex. cherry red shrimp). From what I've read unless you try to kill them you can easily get a large group in a couple months in a 10 gallon tank (basically as your original thread showed). There is no reason these should be more expensive than ghost shrimp IMO, but its capitalism at its finest.

Those yellow shrimp you have look incredible btw!

Ghost shrimp are wild harvested , any ditch in the south is full of them.
Cherries are tank raised