Learning towards a new hobby - Small Slow Steady and Low

[felix_fx2]

you go check your tapatalk options.

On my android newer version, can show stickies.
If all else fails, use chrome and force show desktop version. But pc keyboard still better.

I browse new threads on the go but prefer to use pc. even when i am using large screen phone.

You might want to only keep 2 breeds of shrimp. too many different color eat together.... become one messy bunch (when one flood of red firereds/cherry shrimp look awesome. personal opinion thou).

[Naraki]

Understand. Thanks for the reminder. In fact there's quite a number of reminders from the bros here. I like varieties and colors, maybe will mix these neocridinas only.
Feel like getting a couple of blues and chocolates which im short of, but chocolates are $$$.

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Yeah. Indeed it is. I've seen 1 for $15 and 2 for 18. Expensive yes, but I would still get them because chocolate is very neat and beautiful.

[bogeh711]

@felix_fx2 - was my last picture post showing ok? If yes then never mind bah, i'd stick to using the webpage to post pictures instead of using tapatalk.
Hehehe, this is just my first tank, i'm sure what i did was what many others had done as well...
I'd reserved the single types tank to the crystals. Like your opinion though, saw a youtube video of someone having different tanks for the fire reds, yellows and sunkist... Damn cool!

@Naraki - yeah, was wondering if there's any breeders out there with maybe some culling of chocolate or blue for lesser notes... I wouldn't mind a lighter tone. Most LFS I've visited sells each for ten bucks.
In fact, when i was at GC, i saw a couple of different grade snowball in the same tank as well! Just didn't get to net it (don't want to be noticed netting frantically in the tank by Ronnie) The normal was a little translucent with greenish innards where you can see the saddle clearly, the "better" grade are... Creamy white!!!


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[Naraki]

@Naraki - yeah, was wondering if there's any breeders out there with maybe some culling of chocolate or blue for lesser notes... I wouldn't mind a lighter tone. Most LFS I've visited sells each for ten bucks.
In fact, when i was at GC, i saw a couple of different grade snowball in the same tank as well! Just didn't get to net it (don't want to be noticed netting frantically in the tank by Ronnie) The normal was a little translucent with greenish innards where you can see the saddle clearly, the "better" grade are... Creamy white!!!
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I went c328 today. Saw 4 packs of 3 chocolate shrimp. Gotten one pack. 3+3. 3 shrimplets. Only 1 shrimplet still translucent colour. The other 5 is chocolate dark brown. Price is below $20 per pack. Situated at the chiller tank. You might wanna go take a look.

[bogeh711]

A little updates and some queries again.

Collected the 3x Gex 2045 filter from bro Gryphon, nice patient chap, prepared some free floating plants for helping solve my nitrate issue. Thanks bro, yet to commission those filters... Hehe
Went to C328 recently, no chocolates. Flip through all the packs and see only rili red, sakuras, cherries and... Sakuras and cherries... any bro knows where to get chocolates at a better bargain? Also looking for local breeders with both CRS/CBS.
Made a trip down GC, bought 5 lil' borara brigattae... And 4 blue shrimp. 1 bottle of Sera mini bit (for tiny fish - think its gonna last me a whole year) and 1 Sera Shrimp Natural. Grab the Sera GH test kit also.
More bodies found... 1 yellow, 2 white, 1 blue and 1 red. Sighz

Final headcount;
7 Red (fire red and cherries)
3 Yellow
2 Green
1 White (snowball)
3 Blue
1 fattening neon tetra and 5 Borara

Awaiting my 1ft color changing LED gift from my bro.
I see alot of females saddle growing thicker, but none berried, was wondering if the males i bought were...gay?
Followed bro Gryphon advice... Removed the rock, i also removed the charcoal... Now tank look so bare with lesser hiding space, wonder if its safe. Looking to add a few stalks of Golden nanas and/or Ferns...

1. Anyone tried Sera Shrimp Natural? None are touched by my shrimps... And it flakes and dirty my tank's sand bed too! > Really am in a dilemma for shrimp feeds.
2. The GH test kit i bought... Ermm don't know how to read without color chart... So i keep dripping until it does not change color anymore. It took me about 7 drops before the water turns green and can't change further. What is the Hardness of my water? Is this info sufficient or do i need to get TDS test again?
3. 1 female cherry saddle is darkening over the week without... Ahem... Is it ok? I search the net can't find much info about darkening saddle.
4. With the numbers above, would it be too much if i add in another 2 dwarf otos? Anyone can suggest where i can find the smallest species?
5. My plants are pathetic... The moss at sand bed tied to CR is browning slowly. Even the floating plants are browning... Think wrong lights used? Its a 9w 8000k tube. About 10cm above water level and on for 6-8hrs per day. Any tips?

Thanks in advance for reading and sharing.

[wongce]

2) your GH should be 7, how many drops to change from original colour to green = GH level
3) hard to say, do you have male shrimp in the first place? they will mate after they molt, sometimes you may be lucky enough to see the shrimp mating dance...
4) you like oto? sure you can, but do they have sufficient algae/food?
5) its hard to gauge lights for tank smaller than 2 feet, but 9 watts is a bit low to me.. i am using 15 watts CFL light bulb for my 20cm... so far so good de

[bogeh711]

@wongce - thanks for response. Yeah i do have males, but lesser numbers than female... I think about 5m:12fm... Sadly never see them dance, that's why i think they may have different affinity towards... Same gender.
Funnily, i'm trying to grow algae... My home no one in during the day, so no sunlight... But plenty of food. Stupid borara eat slow. I drop them food... Floating they don't bite, sink to floor also not interested... They only catch those "while sinking" bits

[Naraki]

A little updates and some queries again.

Collected the 3x Gex 2045 filter from bro Gryphon, nice patient chap, prepared some free floating plants for helping solve my nitrate issue. Thanks bro, yet to commission those filters... Hehe
Went to C328 recently, no chocolates. Flip through all the packs and see only rili red, sakuras, cherries and... Sakuras and cherries... any bro knows where to get chocolates at a better bargain? Also looking for local breeders with both CRS/CBS.
Made a trip down GC, bought 5 lil' borara brigattae... And 4 blue shrimp. 1 bottle of Sera mini bit (for tiny fish - think its gonna last me a whole year) and 1 Sera Shrimp Natural. Grab the Sera GH test kit also.
More bodies found... 1 yellow, 2 white, 1 blue and 1 red. Sighz

Final headcount;
7 Red (fire red and cherries)
3 Yellow
2 Green
1 White (snowball)
3 Blue
1 fattening neon tetra and 5 Borara

Awaiting my 1ft color changing LED gift from my bro.
I see alot of females saddle growing thicker, but none berried, was wondering if the males i bought were...gay?
Followed bro Gryphon advice... Removed the rock, i also removed the charcoal... Now tank look so bare with lesser hiding space, wonder if its safe. Looking to add a few stalks of Golden nanas and/or Ferns...

1. Anyone tried Sera Shrimp Natural? None are touched by my shrimps... And it flakes and dirty my tank's sand bed too! > Really am in a dilemma for shrimp feeds.
2. The GH test kit i bought... Ermm don't know how to read without color chart... So i keep dripping until it does not change color anymore. It took me about 7 drops before the water turns green and can't change further. What is the Hardness of my water? Is this info sufficient or do i need to get TDS test again?
3. 1 female cherry saddle is darkening over the week without... Ahem... Is it ok? I search the net can't find much info about darkening saddle.
4. With the numbers above, would it be too much if i add in another 2 dwarf otos? Anyone can suggest where i can find the smallest species?
5. My plants are pathetic... The moss at sand bed tied to CR is browning slowly. Even the floating plants are browning... Think wrong lights used? Its a 9w 8000k tube. About 10cm above water level and on for 6-8hrs per day. Any tips?

Thanks in advance for reading and sharing.

Chocolates are in the chilled tank with the SS CRS,King Kongs,Wine Reds. Just beside the counter.

I would also suggest to upgrade your light setup. I am currently using Aquazonic 15.3w LED in my 30cm. 7cm from water surface.


Breeding- You can try this. Get a fan, WC 20%. On fan after WC. Try to hit 25-27c. If fan could not reach that degree. Drop some ice packs in. Do this on a cool night.

I actually bought ANS 3000 fan without knowing it is that BIG on my 30cm I managed to bring down temperature to 26c even in the afternoon.

[bogeh711]

@Naraki - Argh hahaha. So i've been all along looking into the wrong tank...
I got 2x 500ml bottle freeze every night, last me around 6hrs.
Hitting 25d on a cool nite with icepack and fan is easy, and many nights gone. In fact, i've change about 10-20% every 2 nights. Only 50% wc on saturdays.
15.3w... Hmmm let me go calculate my new LED and see.

[Naraki]

I think you are doing WC too often. and 50% weekly is too much. Changing water too often will stress your shrimps. Because they need to adapt to new water perimeters

[bogeh711]

Hi bros, need some help again.
1 more snowball pass away... Seems like the snowballs are the most fragile amongst the others.
I've reduced WC to only 20% once a week, removed fan to reduce evaporation, temp hovers around 27d(with ice pack) to 30d daily.
Replaced my corner filter with canister+sponge inlet, rain bar at back of tank to stream water flow down against the wall. Water activity seems slow at foreground.


Added a air-stone at corner for bubbles, wanted to use co2 diffuser for smaller bubbles but i think not enough pressure
Intensified algae growth over 2-3 days after adding air...

Note the picture shows algae on side of tank... Not bubbles...

My shrimps seems lethargic for the past one week... Activities are minimal. Could it be the 5 boraras presence? They are not eating anything much... Even 1/5 of a spinach tab are untouched... Something is very wrong. Even molting are lesser.
The food i used...


Any suggestions?

Side note: anyone knows how to make a ceramic diffuser works with lesser pressure? I'd like to get it work with airpump for finer bubbles...

[Dodofish]

You can consider a lime wood airstone, the bubbles are finer but not comparable to those produce by pressurized co2 cylinder.

For your tank, you probably want to check your ammonia, and nitrate level. I will think you need a mini external filter like eden501.

[bogeh711]

Sad update.

Followed a bro tip to change water with distilled water, went shengsiong buy this brand call aquerius or something at 0.70c each 1.5l bottle.
Changed 6liters, about 50%... In a dumb way, after scrubbing the tank sides of algae, i sucked out the water and... Poured in the 4 bottles...
Water is cleaner, clearer... And induces more shrimp activities, molting and a little eating.
I bought this Mosura Specialty CRS food, which the shrimps still doesn't like... Crap.

Today wake up, no bodies yet. Reach home after work... 3 dead. :O

Started with 5 shrimps, added till 18... 1st week all ok, 2nd week 1st death, 3rd week fine and added boraras, 4th week change filter, removed fan and starting to pick 1 body every 3 days on average. Now i'm down to 8 shrimp left...

At wits end.

[bogeh711]

By the way, has anyone used the Mosura Speciality CRS food before??? Just only half a piece seems to make my tank water turn... Super fishy smell!

[sootz]

I'm using that. The shrimps love it. It is super hard though. Don't tell my wife but I use the nail clipper to cut it into small pieces lol

What I do is I will take 1 piece and cut it into thin long strips, maybe to 5 strips. Then cut each strips into 2 again. So 1 piece becomes 10 or 12 small pieces. The shrimps will finish them maybe over few hours.

[bogeh711]

Oo... But does it smells bad? And haha, how you manage to cut it? Mine was like so hard i can't cut it length wise, only by the width, i chopped it into about 6 pieces only.

[Aventador]

I'm using that. The shrimps love it. It is super hard though. Don't tell my wife but I use the nail clipper to cut it into small pieces lol

What I do is I will take 1 piece and cut it into thin long strips, maybe to 5 strips. Then cut each strips into 2 again. So 1 piece becomes 10 or 12 small pieces. The shrimps will finish them maybe over few hours.

I'm using that to feed my RCS as well... good idea to use nail clipper... I always try using my fingers break, damn painful... my neon tetras will fight with the shrimps for the CRS food... I wonder why... hmm...

[bogeh711]

But you guys have no issues with the smell? Mine is... Overpowering... Smells like someone spill haebee all over the floor...

[Urban Aquaria]

But you guys have no issues with the smell? Mine is... Overpowering... Smells like someone spill haebee all over the floor...

I've used it before in my shrimp tank and i did notice a smell too, but its not too bad, still bearable.

Its still not as pungent as Cyclops-Eeze though... the hae-bee smell from that can fill the whole room even while its still sealed in a tupperware container, have to triple bag it in zip-lock bags to contain the smell.

[sootz]

My 5 neon tetra only rush over when I drop the shrimp food into the water, but they will u-turn after they know what it is.

It is a different matter when it comes to Mosura Excel Flakes though. I wonder how many % is actually eaten by shrimps zzzz


It is so hard that when I use nail clipper, the shrimp food have a 50% chance of flying off the table!