[ao]

One of my many jars
My juvie betta girl graduated from this jar and is now in a 2 gallon. So I was wondering what else I could put in it. It seemed like cheap shrimp would be a good idea~
So off I went and got 4 ghost shrimps for this jar. Honestly I've kept caridinas and neos before but never had much luck with these guys...they always died after a month or two.

i guess I'll see how it goes ^_^

Any suggestions/questions are welcome :3

 

[fish monger]

You have incredible talent for creating the most natural looking tiny environments. Great job. Good luck with the shrimp. I don't have any experience with them.

 

[JDM]

Very nice looking jar-scape.

I'm just dabbling in the small realm with a jug and some plants now... this gives me some ideas though.

I've seen those bio-ball things with shrimp and they claim that they last of a year or two with shrimp and they are a sealed ball. I would think that a jar with an open top would be easier to deal with and better for anything inside. Ist 0.3 gallons large enough for a handful of shrimp? Perhaps if you change the water frequently... that may make a difference in their longevity.

The only thing I might do different is go with shrimp that are more colourful. Just easier to see them.

Jeff.

 

[ao]

bioballs? ecospheres? those are cruel little pretty things that takes advantage of the opae ula shrimp's hardiness please don't support them T_T basically the shrimps starbe and feed off their own body mass, getting smaller an smaller until they die.

If you ever set up brackish/SW mini tanks, opae ula shrimps are a wonderful species to keep. they are very hardy and can live many many years.

I've done many jars and all of them hold a steady system. it's kind of interesting, nature always tries to balance itself out.

I once had another 0.3 gallon jar with a bajillion scuds and one cherry shrimp!
another one i had was a 3x3in cube container which held a blackworm culture and quite a few snails

the blackworms and residents are still alive and reproducing and the water has never been changed. ditto the scud jar.

I believe the trick is to always use fast growing low light stems, preferrably from a sungle species, the right temperature lighting, some snails to start the process off and it will survive by itself for a very long time.

Truthfully I'm not a big fan of floaters alone for water quality, as most are not true aquatic plants (ie. they will die if submered)

I have another gallon tank for the more colorful shrimps XD For my tanks I rarely do timed water changes. I like to repurpose my tank water. eg: Sometimes I use tank water to water my plants, after which I simply top up again.

Here's the ghosties munching on algae wafer bits. My favorite brand is omega one. they dont fall apart the way other algae wafers do in water and seem to decompose at a slower rate;

here are some other shrimps I keep in the 1 gallon:
caridina balbauti (excuse the spelling)

Rili

Yellow neo

 

[JDM]

Ah, you've obviously got the visible shrimp going on elsewhere.

I liked the look of those ball things but a sealed system just seemed odd. Setting up my own in jars would be much more fun anyway.

Jeff.

 

[jentralala]

I have jars of plants on my windowsill with snails. Some of my plants actually grow better like that, and my snails seem to do fine. I usually just suck up some water in a turkey baster every once in awhile to water my other plants, and then put in a mix of tap/tank water.

I put a cutting of anacharis in a plastic soda bottle and left it for a month or so and when I pulled it out it was around 3ft long.

 

[ao]

"visible shrimps" lol!

I did the same thing with elodea oO mine got to two ft cos it snapped. haha
I don't have any more of the plant though. doesnt seem to do too well on the windowsill in summer~
My favorite weed plants are naja grass and m. mattogrossense XD where water wisteria and all the other stuff are kind of stiff and get way too big, these are a good size for small containers, are flexible, have small leaves and tend to grow around the shape of the jar with style...

The rotalas and ludwigias I prefer to leave in my highlight tanks where I can actually enjoy the pretty colors

 

[Chesh]

Very pretty little environment! I have similar jars all over my windowsills, planted, but not quite as pretty as that! I always keep pond snails in them because I can't kill them and don't want them in my tanks - never considered putting shrimp in them, though! I might have to try a copycat version one day

 

[thekoimaiden]

I'm actually trying something very similar this summer! One of the bathrooms in our house has a terrarium window (seems like a terrible place to have lots of windows lol). I'm putting some of my old betta bowls in the terrarium window with some crushed gravel, ramshorn snails, and anarcharis (in one) and hornwort in another. I'm growing catgrass there, too, and plan to water that with just water from the snail bowls and top off the bowls with tank water or tap water. If it goes well I might make one bowl a ghost shrimp bowl next summer!

I'm really glad to hear you guys have had great success with anaracharis in window bowls. Maybe we should have a contest to see who can grow the longest anarcharis this summer! XD

 

[ao]

you should put ghost shrimps and other shrimps in a pond!!!
I'm a little paranoid of temp fluctuations by the window come summer though.

 

[JDM]

you should put ghost shrimps and other shrimps in a pond!!!
I'm a little paranoid of temp fluctuations by the window come summer though.

I measured my jug on the weekend. 70F in the sun when it was well below freezing outside. I would expect that it would easily climb over 90F in the summer... or higher. I will be moving the jug away from the direct light as the spring rolls into summer. I only have plants in it so far... I think that with shrimp in the jug that it would need to be more stable. I don't think that the plants need the direct sunlight as long as they get lots of light... perhaps. For me, I'm not interested in having to provide additional lighting.

Jeff.

 

[ao]

yep I agree ^_^
All my jars survive off ambient lights from my tanks~ I'm using insane amounts of lights for really small tanks, so there's plenty to share around

 

[JDM]

I've got LEDs that are pretty focused, not a lot of ambient tank light. We have other large indoor terrestrial plants that do well so I think the aquatic stuff will be fine.

Jeff.

 

[ao]

yep they will~I grow a lot of emmersed plants too!

I've heard feed back about led (finnex rayii) vs Fluorescent (cfl, t8,t5). And that the fluorescent bulbs brings out better color from the plants. not sire how true that is. I've ordered a led bulb from ebay to test this out ^_^

on the other hand there are pricier Leds that create awesome lighting. But the price tag keeps me at bay.

 

[JDM]

yep they will~I grow a lot of emmersed plants too!

I've heard feed back about led (finnex rayii) vs Fluorescent (cfl, t8,t5). And that the fluorescent bulbs brings out better color from the plants. not sire how true that is. I've ordered a led bulb from ebay to test this out ^_^

on the other hand there are pricier Leds that create awesome lighting. But the price tag keeps me at bay.

If the LED is rated for that 6,500k range then it may only be the lux at depth that may be of issue. Any plants with a bit of red might lose some of that colour as the plants produce green instead in response to the lower light level. I have considered doubling up on the light... briefly.

Mine's a Marineland Doublebright, 6,500k I think. Lots of growth. About 1800lux at the bottom I expect.

Jeff.

 

[ao]

He was comparing this light with compact fluorescents.

I'm not too familiar with the lux, but I'm pretty sure the PAR and light levels are similar.
I think red plants are red due to a couple of factors, including high light, limited nitrites and iron.

 

[fish keeper 2013]

Regarding the OP...

Nice looking Jar! :-D It sure looks a lot bigger than .3 gallons though. Also, is .3 gallons enough for that many ghost shrimp? Won't they breed? Do you need to cycle a ghost shrimp only tank? Thanks in advance!

 

[ao]

is .3 gallons enough for 4 ghost shrimps...? good question XD I guess we'll fine out I AM keeping 6 adult shrimps and many babies+lots of snails in a gallon tank with .75 gallons of water... so~ it should.

This is how I set up my jars.
they can't be "cycled" as they dont have a filter.
The plants generally need an adjustment period.

I will use a thin layer of whatever substrate. and put the plants in.
usually prodominently low light, small leaved, hardy fast growing stems. then I add a couple of floaters.

In these setup my best friends are pond snails. Depending on the jar size I will put in a few snails.
pomd snail cleans up the tank as well as completing the plant/animal cycle.
food -> snail waste -> plants

I give the tank a month or two before stocking with shrimps. the tank tends to balance itself out by then.

 

[thekoimaiden]

Burning the midnight oil! Aokashi, could you give us a plant list of your little jar? :3 I can figure out what they all are except for that stem! lol!

 

[ao]

myriophyllum mattogrossensse and mayaca fluitans...
probably spelt them both wrong. lol!