I left the shrimp world in November last year due to moving and only being allowed 1 tank So I kept my high tech for a while, but the shrimp bug kept pulling on me and I decided to give in lol
I just converted back to low tech and threw together a simple home for the shrimp. Nothing super fancy, but it should grow in and look interesting with lots of Neos crawling around.
Flora
-Pellia or Subwassertang (honestly dont know)
-Anubias nana
-Rotala rutondifolia
-Hygrophila angustofolia
-Hygrophila diformis
-Marsilea minuta
-Ludwigia repens X arcuata
-Brazilian pennywort
-Bacopa caroliana
-Crypt wendtii (green gecko)
-Echinodorus tenellus
Fauna
-Clown Pleco (currently in the process of finding a new home for this guy)
-3x Otocinclus (staying)
-1x Amano (staying, but I want a few more)
-Soon to be Blue Velvet Neocaridina when I can order them
Water Parameters
-75 degrees
-pure SoCal tap water (super hard and pH around 7.9)
Pics (3/29/13) (PS - I turned my drop checker into a gush pod lol)
Also, This was my last thriving PFR/RCS tank from last year. It was Taiwan moss heaven in there lol
How were the blue velvets? The ones I've seen were quite disappointing... they were pretty much clear, with like the slightest slightest tinge of blue. nothing like what the photos show.... There are some blue neos now on the market that seems to be more worthy of the blue velvet name.
Absolutely beautiful tank! I'm jealous about your blues - I hope they're as pretty as their pictures! Please keep us updated on how this lovely environment grows
Update
-I had a rough start with the tank due to converting to low tech from high tech. Algae took a hold while the plants adjusted and I had to fine tune the amount of light I needed for them. BUT everything has balanced out now
-Growth is slow but steady (Zero fertz or CO2, just Osmocote root capsules)
-Just setup a Marina Breeder Box to do some selective breeding of my Neos. Going to get a light, substrate, and plants in there shortly.
Livestock
-10x Blue Diamond Neos (2 berried females as of last week, waiting for those beauties to drop )
-70+ Caridina Babaulti (I bought 2 berried ones and they dropped a HUGE amount of shrimplets that have grown at an insane rate. Already about the about size of my neos after only 2 weeks)
-1x Amano (I want to get this guy some more friends soon, he's lonely)
-3x Otocinclus (They only like to come out at night for some reason, oh well)
-20+ Assassin snails and growing (Now that they have settled to the low tech water parameters, there are snail orgies all over the tank all day long, I keep finding more and more eggs and babies)
Thank you! I will be posting more pics of the tank and shrimp as they progress. I am filling in the rest of the tank space with more plants, so it will get more and more lush.
PS - It's a she and she is berried which means she is holding a clutch of eggs
*giggle* I swear that was a typo! It happens often enough, even with my mad post editing skills! Heh.
Lush is always good (when we're talking about tanks, anyway!), everything looks amazing. . .
I'll hopefully be keeping shrimp for the first time in the not-too-distant future, so please do keep posting! I love learning through the experiences and tanks of others. . . and never tire of watching tanks grow from set up into forever - this one is swoon-worthy! ^_^
Setup the light on my hang on breeder. Nice! It is bright, I hope it doesn't cause a ton of algae growth since Im not dosing fertz or CO2 (just root tabs).
I just threw together what I had available right now.
-Black Sand
-Osmocote root fert capsules
-E. tellenus
-M. Minuta
-R. rutondifolia
-L. Arcuata x Repens
-tiny bits of xmas, taiwan, pellia, and java moss
I will be keeping my eye out for some new shrimp/plant substrate, maybe tiny driftwood or tiny seiryu stones, and super micro size plants. I'd like it to basically be a Nano tank
Update on the berried females, they both have dropped!(sortaaa)
Female #1 dropped her shrimplets just fine in the main tank and I occasionally see one (hard to find them in a 40g lol), but I will start seeing them when they get a little bigger. Female #2 had an issue, I decided to move her to the hang on breeder I have as I could tell she was due to drop any day (i kinda wanted to be able to see the babies grow better in a smaller tank). She started dropping them this morning and I have about 5, but I guess she was over the whole motherhood thing and decided to molt with about 10-15 eggs still unhatched I removed the sticky stuff that holds them together from her molt and have placed them gently on some moss that is in direct flow of the incoming water. I was wondering if the other shrimp would go for them, but I haven't seen anything do more than walk over the eggs and touch them for a second and move on. We shall see what happens! You can even see their eyes, and knowing that some already hatched means that they should hatch any moment as well.
Wow... that's just insane! Thanks for posting up such a great shot - really amazing to see in that much detail. I hope they make it, please keep us posted. . . and hooray for Female #1!
1) Started pumping 1 bubble/ 2 seconds for a little extra growth
2) Made my own light hanger out of an old metal frame bookshelf, hack saw, spray paint, 8$ of hardware from Lowes, and some elbow grease. Looks pretty clean to me
3) Turned on both t5 24w bulbs in the single fixture and turned off the other 15w t8 fixture since the tank has co2 being injected.
Soaking a different big single piece of driftwood that will look MUCH better than the current setups. I wont post until its all redone, but here is a teaser pic of a blue diamond and babaulti on the soaking wood.
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