stormhawk's shrimp adventures

[Yany]

Interesting read so far. I get the brown fungus looking stuff although not the same, growing once in a while on the rocks but I just suck it up whilst changing water.

I have the following plants in the tank and from observation, these do well although the growth is not as fast as acidic tank.
1) subwassertang
2) flame moss
3) taiwan moss
4) frog bits
5) grass
6) Hornworth (grow like nobody's business. Very lush and extremely fast)
7) green tiger lily.... extremely slow and stunted growth but the leaves turn pinkish red.

Oh.. I have a bag of coral chips sitting around if you want. Let me know.

[mincedmeat]

The more I look at your tank, the more I feel that I should get a driftwood with fissiden. SIGH.


Anyway, I went back yesterday and found a tiny yellow tylo! seems like one of it gave birth whilst I was out for work (and to get some more snails from Yany - thanks again!). Situation thus begets the question, what the heck do I feed this little one? Apologise in advance for hijacking this thread.

[Jovel]

They eat everything from algae to dead matter. Wafers, shrimp food, organic spinach etc. Just remember not to over feed or over stock on these massive tylos. Eat non stop, shit non stop. So watch your nitrate levels.

[stormhawk]

mincedmeat, you should. In fact that is what I intend to do, except with another kind of moss instead of fissidens, in the new scape. The cycling in the current tank is taking longer than expected, because there are no plants in there. If I had added some in the beginning, they would have aided in the cycling process.

The main reason why I wanted to do this all over again was because I intended to add Tylomelania snails to the tank. If I did so, the current tank would have been insufficient for them to roam about, and if they did do any digging underneath the stones, it would be a big problem again. Better to give a larger ground area for them to root about.

[mincedmeat]

They eat everything from algae to dead matter. Wafers, shrimp food, organic spinach etc. Just remember not to over feed or over stock on these massive tylos. Eat non stop, shit non stop. So watch your nitrate levels.

I used my strip test kit last night and found that my NO2 and NO3 went up to 5 and 10 respectively. BAD BAD BAD. Then again, I think I might have measured at the wrong time (did the measurement after feeding them). Tried to react to the situation by getting some frogbits into the tank (thew in the plants only this morning because I had taken them from my acidic planted tank last night and decided to wash them to prevent any unwanted transfer of matter, and then soak them in my sulawesi tank water just to get the plants accustomed). Probably will have to wait and see if there will be any further spikes of the NO2 and NO3 levels. I am also due to do a WC on the tank, so that would help to contain the levels on the tank.

And yes, I never really knew snails shit, ALOT! I got 2 red ramshorn in the office in a small container and the amount of waste they produce.......

mincedmeat, you should. In fact that is what I intend to do, except with another kind of moss instead of fissidens, in the new scape. The cycling in the current tank is taking longer than expected, because there are no plants in there. If I had added some in the beginning, they would have aided in the cycling process.

The main reason why I wanted to do this all over again was because I intended to add Tylomelania snails to the tank. If I did so, the current tank would have been insufficient for them to roam about, and if they did do any digging underneath the stones, it would be a big problem again. Better to give a larger ground area for them to root about.

I actually already have 1 nana on driftwood, and I managed to get Vallisneria americana var natans from Mizuworld the other day.

Not too sure how long the grass would survive because it arrived earlier than I had expected and I couldn't get to it until almost 6 hours later (instructed my maid to take them out of the packaging and soak the whole thing in tank water till I got back). When I had removed the sponge from the plants I had realised most of it had already turned brown at the roots (not sure if it is common with this plant species which I doubt so, but more so due to my inability to get to them earlier. I am thinking also that if the plants are really dying, then it might actually contribute to the NO2/NO3 levels in the tank but I have yet to see browning of the leaves so will just monitor the situation). The other bad thing is that my snails have dug pretty deep and have uprooted some of the grass (I have got at least 3-4 inches in the front and 5-6 inches of sand at the back of the tank, and I did my best to plant the grass as deep as I could at the back of the tank - at least 2-3 inches deep, and yet I saw some of them floating when I got back last night). Snails . The only question here then is how long it would take for the grass to root, or if it would even root. But I like how this plant complements the tank - at least aesthetically, and it's long leaves would probably give some comfort to the shrimps I am going to get.

About the crawling space that my tylo snails are getting, I am not so much concern about that. The front to mid tank is pretty empty since most of the rocks are placed at the back (no intention whatsoever to place rocks at the front), and even then the rocks provide large enough surface area for the snails. I had once placed a piece of rock at a steep angle and I could see my yellow tylo do an almost impossible climb; he succeeded actually with much effort, but I thought how dangerous it might be and decided to change the angle of which the rock is positioned.

IMO, if I were to put a piece of wood in the tank, it would likely have to be either twig size branches and around the tank. Otherwise, it would have to be a large enough piece of wood that spans the length and depth of the tank but is thin in size (branch like thin). I think you can only get these wood as Borneo driftwood, and they are few and far between. I once saw someone selling it, but alas, hands and feet ain't fast enough . It would have complemented the scape pretty well.

[stormhawk]

Must always be FHFL or you will lose out on nice deals. Took me awhile to find a nice driftwood piece. I was at GC earlier and still couldn't find a nice branchy piece that would have suited a small tank. Had a setback today. Bought more lava rocks, TDS meter etc, then I went to C328 to get my GEX 600L tank (2ft low-type) and aunty said out of stock.... :

They had a GEX Glassterior 600 Slim (2ft low and narrow) but it was not to my liking. Way too narrow for my purposes. So now I'm on the hunt for a GEX 600L tank. If anyone saw this at an LFS, let me know.

[mincedmeat]

I might pop into 618 tomorrow. Let you know if I see any.

[stormhawk]

Thanks in advance. I saw a similar tank sold by GEX as a turtle tank package, but it's a little smaller.

[mincedmeat]

Went round 618 and didn't find any of those tanks. You might have to search around, otherwise to wait for the new shipment to come in.

Anyway, completed my set up today. Will post in a picture later for comments.

[stormhawk]

It's alright, fairly expected this to be the case. I made some calls to some LFS but none had that particular model of tank. I was at Vivocity's Pet Safari earlier, and found the turtle set I was referring to, but it was a 1ft low tank, which was far smaller than what I wanted. If I can't get the tank I want I might just settle for the GEX Glassterior 600 Slim.

[Navanod]

How's tank hunting coming along?

[stormhawk]

Still no luck. I emailed Rein Biotech, the local distributor for GEX and they said they are sold out. The person who replied told me to try C328 but I already did that last week. If I can't find the tank I want I'll probably just get the Glassterior 600 Slim instead, or a smaller Genoah tank.

[Jovel]

whats the dimension of a 600L? 60x30x36?

[stormhawk]

Dimensions are 60 x 30 x 26 cm. The Glassterior Slim 600 is 60 x 20 x 25 cm, so you can see the big difference in size. The 600L is an acrylic tank with 3mm acrylic, made exactly like the S/M/L tanks from GEX/Five Plan. Weight of the Glassterior Slim 600 is approximately 7.1 kg when empty. Weight of the 600L is 5.5 kg when empty.

http://www.gex-fp.co.jp/fish/catalog...x.html#page=25 <-- right side shows the 600L in the pictures with the different sizes of Five Plan tanks
http://www.gex-fp.co.jp/fish/catalog...x.html#page=13 <-- one of the packages shows the Glassterior Slim 600 (comes with the L size flat HOF from GEX)

The package at C328 does not come with the filter, but the tank with a rubber mat only.

Fully filled the Glassterior weighs less but is quoted as being only 25 l, whereas the 600L is at 40l. For the difference in water volume I'd rather use the 600L.

[mincedmeat]

Shouldn't compromise on what you want. I think you might regret your decision later. IMO 25l is pretty small unless that's part of your plan. Ever considered other brands, or even custom made tanks?

Just slightly of topic: why would you want an acrylic tank?


edit: anyway, someone in the forum is selling a tank that has roughly the same dimensions that you are looking for: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...y-set-for-sale

[stormhawk]

Acrylic since it's lighter overall than a glass tank, because this is going on a small but old rack. Besides, an acrylic tank is less unwieldy, like those S/M/L size tanks.

Thanks for the tip, I saw that ad but the tank is not what I want. I'm going to C328 tomorrow to hunt again, because there's always some weird stuff there hidden away.

[Jovel]

just went to C328, like nothing of 600L you said, only the small ones and 200H. Hmm, maybe you should call them up and order?

[stormhawk]

I did ask Aunty and emailed the supplier too, but they don't have this particular model. Everything else is either glass, or too small or too big or by other manufacturers that I do not trust.

Dropped by at C328 again earlier today, no luck. Even the Glassterior 600 Slim is gone. On the other hand, got some coral chips, rocks, a few more driftwood pieces. Now just missing that sexy tank.

[Navanod]

*whispers* custom......make......

[stormhawk]

I thought about that for awhile. Anyway, emailed Rein Biotech again to ask them for another tank, see link:

http://www.gex-fp.co.jp/fish/catalog/denshi/pdf/95.pdf

It's right at the bottom. I found the smallest of the 3 turtle tanks, which is even smaller than the Size S tank.