Jeff's Sulawesi Shrimps Tank (162L)

[ragn4rok]

Hi all, this is my new tank dedicated for Sulawesi shrimps... This tank is inspired by the beauty of underwater scape of Malili Lake System in Sulawesi..









Tank size: 60x60x45 (cm) glass thickness: 10mm
Volume: 162L
CO2 tank: none
Heater: Resun 8300 set @27-28 C
Filtration: Canister filter Atman 3337
Lighting: 1 x Osram HQL 70W Daylight (Metal Halide)

Substrat: 5kg dark river sand, 55kg silica
Decoration: 2 years old Driftwood, 45kg various sizes of decor rocks

Habitants:
Sulawesi's shrimps: currently 4 species... coming soon...
Sulawesi's snails: still lookin... almost got some of them...

Any suggestions are welcome

[leeruisheng]

Nice setup Jeff. I'm also in the process of setting up a Sulawesi shrimp tank.

[Repz]

That is one beautifully scaped tank!
Its something that will always be in mind when i try to scape! It looks so natural!
Great job, Now lets see some of them shrimps! hahaha

[ragn4rok]

hehehehe.. Thanks.. BTW, I'm currently confused about how to keep the pH at 8.0? Any suggestions?

[stormhawk]

Buffer with marine salt or a bag of coral chips in the water. I guess that is just about the only way. Amazing setup by the way.

[silane]

Originally Posted by ragn4rok

Tank size: 60x60x45 (cm) glass thickness: 10mm
Volume: 162L
CO2 tank: none
Heater: Resun 8300 set @27-28 C
Filtration: Canister filter Atman 3337
Lighting: 1 x Osram HQL 70W Daylight (Metal Halide)

Substrat: 5kg dark river sand, 55kg silica
Decoration: 2 years old Driftwood, 45kg various sizes of decor rocks

Habitants:
Sulawesi's shrimps: currently 4 species... coming soon...
Sulawesi's snails: still lookin... almost got some of them...

Any suggestions are welcome

Nice tank you have. Going to put in some sulawesi plant also?

[ragn4rok]

@Stormhawk: Ok, I'll try that one.. but, will the coral chips make the water harder also?

@Silane: No, I won't use any plants because I'll have to use co2 system that'll disturb the water pH..

[leeruisheng]

Yeah adding corel chips will harden water naturally.

Not necessarily is CO2 supplementation needed to grow plants. I believed they will still grow but at a slow rate. Can give it a try. Sulawesi plants should be of high pH tolerant. With the addition of aquatic plants either native or not, your tank could do well in ADA 08 aquascaping competition imho.
But anyway, your tank without plants looks good already.

What's the pH of the water coming straight out from your tap?

[ragn4rok]

@lee: hahaha.. thanks Lee.. I'm still not confident enough for ADA08.. Maybe next time... my tap water pH is around 7.2..

BTW, here's the update.. The shrimps finally arrived this morning.

Brown Camo, some already carrying eggs...


Harlequin aka Celebes Beauty, some also already carrying eggs...


Dark Maroon


A couple???

[kian]

woot nice shrimp there=D

[Spid]

Beautiful setup there.

Well, my shrimps for sure will be jealous if they have seen this picture...

[medicineman]

I'm too jealous that I will want to make one for myself in the future!

Please post again when everything settles down and crystal clear.

[doppelbanddwarf]

Looks really beautiful, I'm sure your shrimps are enjoying it. And wonderful looking shrimps.

[uklau]

Beautiful hardscape!... & of course the shrimps too.

[iwishweallcouldwin]

wow jeff,

you have no idea how tempting and poisonous this thread is...

[ragn4rok]

@kian & spid & lim & uklau: yes, they are very beautiful shrimps... I love to see them also hehehehe.. I hope the eggs will hatch soon to see more of them

@medicineman: hahahah Ok, yours will be also very beautiful.. BTW, just an idea: how about giant pond of Sulawesi's Beauty.. or anyone here will make this one happen? hehehe.. It'll be ultra nice, 1m deep, thousands liters of water.. Ohh.. I dream about it, but can't make the real one because Bandung water's temperature is always low (23 - 26C), which means not good for Sulawesi shrimps. But, lucky you in JKT or SG, the water temperature there is already perfect for this shrimps to breed.

@iwishweallcouldswim: hehehe.. yes, it is because I need more friends to share their experiences about keeping and breeding of Sulawesi's shrimps.. It'll be great for the shrimps ecosystem in Sulawesi and to reduce pressure on the wild stocks. I think you guys remembered about what happened back then when someone found Microrasbora sp. galaxy in Hopong, Inle Lakes, Myanmar. The environment was almost destroyed because of the high demand for the fish. I hope in the future, this will not the same for Malili's Lake System in Sulawesi.

[SOLAR TANHK]

Nice scape
I think you poisoned Singapore's shrimp hobbyist already.
Might have to setup a home for all the homeless Cherries soon.

What type substrate are you using?
Did you put in any of those special soil(not too sure of the names..) for keeping crystals red. If you did would it like "clash" with your PH of 8.
Your driftwood could also leach out some tannis, so keeping your water stable might be a little tricky. But again, maybe the lake malili is like that.

If you keep the 4 species together, will they interbreed?
I'm sure this next question is for everyone, : If they do breed, will they be like the Cherries or the Amanos??
Cherry shrimp releases babies like minature version of themseives.
Amanos releases floating larvae that need half/full strength salt water to survive ....-- Sound like from somebody somewhere isnt. Dont laugh or we be banned.

Sorry to ask so many question. Bitten by the BUG already, finger itching..
Maybe everyone interested could chip in bits of information(habitat,seasons,water parameters,,,), so that we could offer these fantastics shrimp a nice home(like Singapore) to stay...

Cheers
DT
And more photos please
And the size of shrimp eggs. Not to eat lah.. But it will give a little hint of the type of babies released.
And .............. chop fingers to STOP....

[Ah_ZhaN]

Jeff, You're the man ~! I love the layout of the hardscapes.

[Reforma]

Very very nice scape! Thumbs up
hope to see more of your tank updates

[ragn4rok]

@Solar: hahahaha.. Thanks Bro.. I'm using silica at the base and local river sand on top, because they won't disturb the water parameter (pH, gH, etc.). To keep stabilize the water at pH 8.0 I'm using a bit of coral chips inside my canister filter.. To lower the gH, try to change the water weekly about 20%.. I take my driftwood from my old aquascape that already 3+ years underwater, there's no more tannin leaking

Sulawesi and CRS are very different in their habitat.. CRS needs low pH, Sulawesi needs high pH.. So, IMO it's not good using CRS special substrate, which lower the pH, to keep Sulawesi shrimps..

I still don't know if they'll interbreed or not.. It's still a mystery.. Some people in Europe will do research about them..

I've checked from the European forum, they breed like cherries, not Amano.. The babies all in high form of shrimps..

@Ah Zhan and Reforma: Thanks I'll update with more photos and information soon...