Wabi Kusa Project...

[zoothefreak]

After my Nano Shrimp and All-naturale tanks have matured in my office, I finally decided to set up a small tank at home... renovations are over the cement dust is gone so one of my spare rooms will be the home of this new scape... Could you guys please comment and answer some of my noobie questions... thanks and also recommend me on both fauna & flora...

Proposed denizens:

Vampire Crabs (have already bought 2 low grade specimens currently in temporary housing container)

Shrimps (Amano or Cherries)

Snails (Nerite or Ramshorn)

Killifish (havent decided which species)

Proposed flora: (they have to be super hardy plants = low light, no cO2)

Java Fern (can these guys be grown dry? emersed?)
Nanas
Java Moss
Singapore Moss (to be grown on Bogwood out of the water)
Elodea
Amazonian Frogbits

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Main Piece is this really nice Bogwood I picked out will be the island... Substrate will be small rounded natural gravel...

Tank has small submersible filter as filtration (needs to be really small so I can hide it)
Lighting will be my recycled Daz 9W 9000K B/W PL light

[David Moses Heng]

After my Nano Shrimp and All-naturale tanks have matured in my office, I finally decided to set up a small tank at home... renovations are over the cement dust is gone so one of my spare rooms will be the home of this new scape... Could you guys please comment and answer some of my noobie questions... thanks and also recommend me on both fauna & flora...

Proposed denizens:

Vampire Crabs (have already bought 2 low grade specimens currently in temporary housing container)

Shrimps (Amano or Cherries)

Snails (Nerite or Ramshorn)

Killifish (havent decided which species)

Proposed flora: (they have to be super hardy plants = low light, no cO2)

Java Fern (can these guys be grown dry? emersed?)
Nanas
Java Moss
Singapore Moss (to be grown on Bogwood out of the water)
Elodea
Amazonian Frogbits

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Main Piece is this really nice Bogwood I picked out will be the island... Substrate will be small rounded natural gravel...

Tank has small submersible filter as filtration (needs to be really small so I can hide it)
Lighting will be my recycled Daz 9W 9000K B/W PL light

you may want to consider putting a mesh cover to prevent the crabs from escaping. They are well capable of scaling the silicone and out of the tank.

As for the ferns, i believe that they are able to be grown out of water. However, you may want to get the info from the gurus here. You may also want to incorporate a water call system by a distributor from either seaview or Hong Yang. The distributor is called"Octopus". ( At least that is what the box says.)

Cheers!!

[zoothefreak]

ARRRRGGGHHH! One of my Vampire Crabs died... parasitic infection the limbs start dropping and he almost disintegrated...

the container where the crabs were housed in was really bad it was a gamble when I bought them at Aquastar...

Hopefully the lone survivor does not catch the parasite............... Coz I havent been able to find any more LFS selling vampires...

[David Moses Heng]

ARRRRGGGHHH! One of my Vampire Crabs died... parasitic infection the limbs start dropping and he almost disintegrated...

the container where the crabs were housed in was really bad it was a gamble when I bought them at Aquastar...

Hopefully the lone survivor does not catch the parasite............... Coz I havent been able to find any more LFS selling vampires...

sorry to hear that... Not that i want to dampen your spirit... Chances are that the remaining guy will also suffer the same fate...

[bryan]

Aquatic Dreams had some vampire crabs when I popped by a couple of weeks ago.

[zoothefreak]

sorry to hear that... Not that i want to dampen your spirit... Chances are that the remaining guy will also suffer the same fate...

NOOOOOOoooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOO...............

[zoothefreak]

Aquatic Dreams had some vampire crabs when I popped by a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks for the Heads up I will check it out tomorrow... Colourful used to have them but the uncle says it was not selling well thus he's not taking in anymore....

[zoothefreak]

Here's an update... planted the tank even more and added a flat piece of rock... with elodea and some swords... do you think my swords will survive?

There's also a pic of the dearly departed who loved staying underwater mostly... The lone survivor loves hanging out both in and out of water...

Sorry for the bad quality pics took them late in the evening but didnt want to switch on the room lighting as it reflects on the tank glass...

[zoothefreak]

Which would be the best fish species to be added to my paludarium? Considering that I will be mainly keeping about 5 Vampire Crabs in here and also the water level...

1. Killifish (5)

2. Endlers (6)

3. Butterfly fish (only 1)

4. Hatchetfish (3)

5. Male Betta (only 1)


Also I would like to keep some shrimps and snails as part of the algae clean up crew thus the fish gotta be friendly to em too...

[zoothefreak]

HEEEEEELLLPPP!!! My swords are deteriorating anyone with experience with sword plants can advise me on saving them???

[zoothefreak]

Updated:

Added wild fern & Singapore Moss on branchwood...

And 6 Clown Killies (They won over my choice of fish)

My picture kinda sucks coz I keep taking this when its dark under room kickback lighting...

Swords still not doing good looks as if its rusting....

[Wild Ginger]

Hi zoothefreak,

I suggest you take out the amazon sword plants since they're not faring well in the tank. Perhaps you could make the land part much denser with ferns such as asparagus ferns. More mosses would complete in as accents to the driftwood.



In the illustration above, there's a glass lid above the tank. Go to any glassmakers with the dimension and have them cut to size. Thickness wise, you could ask for around 4-6mm. Have one side cut off as shown in the picture for your filter cable to run through. Drilling is also another alternative.

A tip for lush moss growth, send down long cotton strings down to the water area from the mosses. It'll provide as a wicking system for them. The moss will have constant moisture continuously.

As for the ferns, you could wrap moist spaghnum moss around the rootball and secure to the driftwood via fishing lines.

Regards,
Phillipe.

[zoothefreak]

Wow thanks man but who's Koolman? Those a excellent tips and how'd you get a perfect graphic representation of the tank? I'll take out the swords today... Erm my nanas are kinda yellowing too do u think my 9W is not enough light for them...? or perhaps the bowfront shape of the front is preventing them from getting enough lighting...

[Wild Ginger]

Oops, sorry mate. Guess my mind's on food right now!

For the illustration, i just used Adobe Illustrator. It's fairly straightforward. As for lighting i suggest maybe you could supplement with at least 18watts or 36 watts. The deeper the tank, the stronger the light has to be. Even for a low light vivarium, it's got to be strong enough to at least sustain the plants in it.

You could ask yourself the following questions though before changing to a higher wattage.

-how long has the bulb been in use?
-would you want to have constant good growth for your plants?

The bow shaped front has nothing to do with the amount of light dispersing into the tank.

Regards,
Phillipe.

[SCOPE]

Oops, sorry mate. Guess my mind's on food right now!

For the illustration, i just used Adobe Illustrator. It's fairly straightforward. As for lighting i suggest maybe you could supplement with at least 18watts or 36 watts. The deeper the tank, the stronger the light has to be. Even for a low light vivarium, it's got to be strong enough to at least sustain the plants in it.

You could ask yourself the following questions though before changing to a higher wattage.

-how long has the bulb been in use?
-would you want to have constant good growth for your plants?

The bow shaped front has nothing to do with the amount of light dispersing into the tank.

Regards,
Phillipe.

woah! bro, Great and clear cut illustration. It makes me felt like starting one too.

[felix_fx2]

this thread keeps getting nicer all the time, maybe i should turn my empty 3ft into one too

[alas]

thats a nice small tank!
yes cover is essential to keep the plants moist.