How do you handle your planted tank when away for holiday?

[mercur1al]

As the question goes, how do you handle a high tech tank when you are away on holiday?

My tank is running on relatively high light, 36W LED for a 2 feet, CO2, daily dosing of Tropica fert (1pump per day). Will change water tonight... Should i dial down the light with the dimmer? How about dosing? Just dose 4 days worth at one go?

[Urban Aquaria]

Just dose 4 days worth of the Tropica ferts before you leave for overseas (its meant to be dosed weekly anyways, just that users prefer to dose smaller amounts daily).

No need to dim the lights since your lights and Co2 injection are on timer schedule, so its already automated.

Feed the fishes slightly more the day before too, they will be okay without regular food for a few days (can consider it like simulating wild conditions where food is naturally scarce). Fishes are also able to last quite a while without feedings if your tank has a good population of tiny critters... especially tasty shrimplets.

[mercur1al]

Just dose 4 days worth of the Tropica ferts before you leave for overseas (its meant to be dosed weekly anyways, just that users prefer to dose smaller amounts daily).

No need to dim the lights since your lights and Co2 injection are on timer schedule, so its already automated.

Feed the fishes slightly more the day before too, they will be okay without regular food for a few days (can consider it like simulating wild conditions where food is naturally scarce). Fishes are also able to last quite a while without feedings if your tank has a good population of tiny critters... especially tasty shrimplets.

Thanks UA!

Just changed the water and trimmed the plants.. Will dose 4-5 pumps tomorrow and feed them once before i leave tomorrow morning. Talking about shrimplets, i really need to find some fairly big shrimps. Yamatos are out, don't want them uprooting my MC.

I tried the 30 RCS pack at C328... they eventually all got eaten up by the rams. Yesterday night tried the tiny RCS at Y618... those 50 in a pack kind. They were tiny and i thought they could hide in the nooks and crannies in my tank better. Deliberately added them into the tank only 5-6 hours after lights out as well, when all the other fishes were semi asleep. Can't see any this morning when i woke up... guess they got eaten again. The rose nose shrimps are not doing anything except swim around and look pretty daily.

I actually don't have any algae in my tank, except those on my driftwood and rocks which i intend to keep. However, was hoping for some shrimps to help me eat dead plant matter, excess food that sinks into the vegetation etc. Now hoping for Colour shrimps or Malayans to become available. Strangely while i can find information on Malayan shrimps, Colour shrimps seems to be something that seems elusive and no information on it. Some of the forumers stated that the colour shrimps seems to be bigger Malayan shrimps, but there seems to be distinctive physical differences as well as differences in their egg size. Do you have any idea what breed colour shrimps are?

[Urban Aquaria]

No idea about the exact species of "color shrimps", through the ones i've kept are noticeably different in both color and size compared to those labelled as malayan shrimps. I guess they could just be related species that are not fully identified by invert taxonomists yet.

Either way, if you have rams in the tank, and they have developed a taste for shrimps, then i guess you can't really introduce shrimps as clean-up or algae crew in the tank, unless you are willing to keep buying and replenishing them every time the population decreases from predation.

The much larger yamato shrimps could work, until the rams grow larger or learn how to attack and pull them apart into smaller pieces for easier munching.

[fireblade]

the day I throw in my pair of ram, I found my yamato near my bedroom door.. few feet away... luckily still alive.. think the yamato runaway from the ram..
I did sccop a few cherries from my shrimp tank and put inside, months later I still can see the shrimps inside

[mercur1al]

Thanks for all your advise!

Got home and tank was in one piece, no visible algae spotted but somehow lost one Oto though.

Speaking of colour shrimps, anyone knows if these will prey on fish fry?


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[Shadow]

should not be, shrimps is scavenger by nature.

[Urban Aquaria]

Yeah, "color" shrimps don't have those menacing pincers (at least those that i kept didn't have)... so they don't have the capability to hunt fishes.

[mercur1al]

should not be, shrimps is scavenger by nature.

Saw my Amanos attempting to hunt an Oto before lol... Was wondering if the colour shrimps will do that. Good to hear they probably won't!


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[mercur1al]

Yeah, "color" shrimps don't have those menacing pincers (at least those that i kept didn't have)... so they don't have the capability to hunt fishes.

Haha that's a relief.. Thought they wouldn't go after fishes but had no idea about fries!


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[Urban Aquaria]

Saw my Amanos attempting to hunt an Oto before lol... Was wondering if the colour shrimps will do that. Good to hear they probably won't!

Those shrimps are just grazing over surfaces which include fishes which stay still and happen to be in their path (otos like to do that while resting on hardscape).

The shrimps are simply checking if the fish is dead or not, so that they can start their "recycling" work (healthy fishes will just shake them off or swim away)... its not an active hunting or predator activity.

[Dscheng]

Thanks for all your advise!

Got home and tank was in one piece, no visible algae spotted but somehow lost one Oto though.

Speaking of colour shrimps, anyone knows if these will prey on fish fry?


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Colour shrimp will not prey on fish fry, i have a lot of guppies fry swimming and eating together with the colour shrimp. NO issue on that.