christinenha Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 Hi everyone, I just joined this forum and have previously documented my adventures on my YouTube channel. However, I would love to start a tank journal here because it would be so great to get some feedback about my tanks from people who've been in my position. My most recent YouTube video shows my current tank set-up, a small clip of my shrimp eating shrimp/snail jello (sadly, nerites prefer algae over all else, but the shrimp love it), and my reaction (somewhat silly now that I watch it again) of my first berried female! I've only had these guys for a week and already have a berried female! Anyway, you can find that video here: Here is my tank set-up as of right now: Fauna: 11 Neon Yellow Shrimp 4 Horned Nerite Snails A whole bunch of tiny unknown snails that I remove on an almost daily basis Flora: 1 Amazon Sword 1 Water Sprite Anacharis Dwarf Sagitarria Crypt Parva Java Moss 3 Marimo Balls Other Decoration: 1 Piece of Cured Driftwood 3 Rocks Lighting: 2 Fluval Mini Power Compact Lamps (Full-spectrum, 13-watt, compact fluorescent bulb with a high CRI value that mimics natural light) Hours/Day: 7 Heater: Aquatop Nano Aquarium Digital Heater with LED D1HT 50W (Set to 70, but it's still very warm here, so the temperature usually fluctuates between 73-76 during the day.) There is a fan that is turned on during the day, but it really doesn't help much because I have to keep a lid on my tank lest my cat make a meal out of my shrimp. Feeding: 1x every 2-3 days, and I remove uneaten food after 2-3 hours. I alternate between Borneo Wild Grow and my own recipe of shrimp/snail jello (which is really just a combination of veggies high in calcium, spirulina algae, and shrimp food to help with shell growth and molting). You can find my recipe for that here: I also purchased Shirakura Ebi Dama for them, but this bag of shrimp food quickly became dog food. =( I will probably purchase it again later when I place a large enough order to justify the shipping cost. Current Tank Parameters: Temperature: 73 F pH: 6.6 kH: 2 gH: 8 TDS: 163 Ammonia: 0 ppm Nitrite: 0 ppm < current level < 0.25 ppm (the color is inbetween 0 and 0.25) Nitrate: 10 ppm This is the second time the nitrites have risen close to 0.25 ppm. The first time was about a week or two after setting up my tank. I just did a 25% water change to get both the nitrites and nitrates down a little lower. The nitrate levels also rose up to 40 ppm the other day, and I have since done two 50% water changes to get it back down to 10 (and then the 25% water change afterward). Maybe that's too much, but the shrimp seem to be doing fine. I read someone's analogy somewhere that made a lot of sense about water changes when levels get toxic. (I'll post a link if I can find the original source.) He pretty much said if you were trapped inside a garage with your car running and carbon monoxide levels building, would you open the garage door immediately to let all the toxic air out or would you slowly open it so that the change in atmosphere doesn't "shock" you. Neon Yellow Shrimp, being the same species as Red Cherry Shrimp, are a little more hardy and seem to be able to adapt to new conditions quickly, which is why I've been doing large water changes with little fear. However, large water changes on an almost daily basis are not ideal as that means that the water conditions cannot or will not remain stable (which is also concerning). Any recommendations on how to stabilize this other than frequent large water changes would be welcome! Thanks!! =) Sincerely, Christine ANBU and eozen81 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted October 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 So here are some before and after pics and a quick run-through of the past couple of months. =) BEFORE: I started off with 3 anubias, some moss balls, crypt parva, and dwarf saggitaria. I added some java moss later on but lost all of the anubias because I didn't know the rhizome was not to be planted into the substrate. =( I have since slowly replaced them with an amazon sword, another anubias nana (now thriving on the driftwood), and a water sprite. I have also added some Anacharis to help with the nitrate. AFTER: I know it looks a little crazy now, but I kind of like the "wild" feel of it. It looks like the shrimp do too since I added them on 10/16 and now have a berried female a little over a week later. (I seriously cannot stop gushing about that. I am SO happy!) More updates to come!! ^^ ANBU 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamashack Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 Hi Christine - tank's looking good! Lovely golden back yellow shrimp you have there! Hopefully your berried female will carry to full term. Seachem Prime is said to "alleviate ammonia/nitrite toxicity" so maybe that would help in the short term. If you can get your hands on some friendly bacteria it certainly wouldn't do any harm. You may have accidentally knocked out some of the nitrite-munchers - something like Tetra Safe Start or Dr Tim's One and Only as they have been shown to have consistently good results and I can personally vouch for the Tetra one. Shame about the anubias - they do need to be tied to wood or rocks to prevent root damage, however the tank is looking good with the new plants. Keep the updates coming! christinenha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 Tank looks great. Do you just use the filter that comes with that tank or do you add a sponge filter? I need to set up something small and was thinking of one of the fluval tanks but wasnt sure if the filters on them are safe or if you trade them out. christinenha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted October 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 Hi Christine - tank's looking good! Lovely golden back yellow shrimp you have there! Hopefully your berried female will carry to full term. Seachem Prime is said to "alleviate ammonia/nitrite toxicity" so maybe that would help in the short term. If you can get your hands on some friendly bacteria it certainly wouldn't do any harm. You may have accidentally knocked out some of the nitrite-munchers - something like Tetra Safe Start or Dr Tim's One and Only as they have been shown to have consistently good results and I can personally vouch for the Tatra one. Shame about the anubias - they do need to be tied to wood or rocks to prevent root damage, however the tank is looking good with the new plants. Keep the updates coming! I've just purchased the Dr. Tim's One and Only off of Amazon, and should be receiving it on Tuesday. I will continue to test my water every day for the next week to make sure things are stable. I should have added the bacteria ages ago since this is what I did with my Opae'Ula tank. I just figured the plants would be enough, but I was wrong. Hopefully this will fix the issue with the nitrite spike. Thanks so much! =) Tank looks great. Do you just use the filter that comes with that tank or do you add a sponge filter? I need to set up something small and was thinking of one of the fluval tanks but wasnt sure if the filters on them are safe or if you trade them out. I have two Fluval Tanks - a Fluval Ebi and a Fluval Chi. Although both are advertised as shrimp aquariums, and the filters function very well as filters, BOTH filters are NOT SAFE for shrimp. The openings on both filters are large enough to suck up small shrimp and babies. I kept the filters but had to alter them so that they would work for my purposes. It was really simple, though. I just went out and bought some Fluval Bio-Foam (about $2-3), which is a very fine sponge filter material, cut out the shapes I needed to fill the spaces on the openings as well as other unsafe spaces where shrimp can get stuck, and voila - shrimp-proof filters. Again, the filters themselves aren't bad at all and do their job just fine. However, some areas need to be closed off to prevent shrimp from meeting a horrible death. I think I started a video on how to cut the Bio-Foam to fit the Fluval Ebi, but I just haven't gotten around to editing/uploading it. I did upload a video on how to fix noise/bubbling on the Fluval Chi, which can be a problem if you let the water level drop too low, if you let air bubbles into the filter, or if the filter accumulates too much waste. You can see the contents of the filter when I take it apart as well as the little strip of BioFoam I cut to fit the opening of the filter: You can also find my review of the Fluval Chi Tank here: Hope that helps! ^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamashack Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 Tank looks great. Do you just use the filter that comes with that tank or do you add a sponge filter? I need to set up something small and was thinking of one of the fluval tanks but wasnt sure if the filters on them are safe or if you trade them out. If you've not yet cycled the filter then by all means swap it for a sponge one. They are more shrimplet friendly, but if like me you cycled the ones that came with the tank you can get a brand new, never washed stocking and fit it over the inlet grill and that should make it safe for shrimplets or if it's a HOB you can get sponge pre-filters. Adult shrimp are fine without the protection, but babies would probably get sucked into the filter and more than likely die as a result. christinenha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted October 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 If you've not yet cycled the filter then by all means swap it for a sponge one. They are more shrimplet friendly, but if like me you cycled the ones that came with the tank you can get a brand new, never washed stocking and fit it over the inlet grill and that should make it safe for shrimplets or if it's a HOB you can get sponge pre-filters. Adult shrimp are fine without the protection, but babies would probably get sucked into the filter and more than likely die as a result. I completely agree with Mamashack. Sponge filters are by far the best filters for shrimp. My next tank's filter will definitely be one of these as they are amazing filters and safe for shrimp. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted October 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 I've been doing a lot of 50% water changes (almost daily), which I know is bad, but I want to make sure nitrite/nitrate levels are safe. Nitrites have remained pretty stable for the past two months, but rose to 0.25 ppm the other day. Nitrates have been between 10-40 ppm for the past two months, but recently, it's been closer to 10. It did jump to 40 when nitrites jumped to 0.25 ppm, but went back down to 10 after water change. Ammonia has always been at 0 ppm. Anyway, I've been afraid that the frequent water changes and instability may cause my berried female to drop her eggs, but I checked on her today, and she is still taking good care of them. I have high hopes that she will be a good mama. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamashack Posted October 26, 2014 Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 Hope she hangs on to them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted November 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Ok, so I just finished moving, and it looks like my berried female has lost a couple of eggs. Let's hope she doesn't drop any more anytime soon. Some of my plants got uprooted/somewhat buried during the move, but I want to let the shrimp settle down before I touch anything. My anacharis that is attached to my spray bar has started growing several roots that are reaching toward the bottom of the tank. Is this normal? And my Amazon Sword is growing new leaves that have reddish-brown veins. They don't look to be dying, and they continue to grow, so I don't know what it is. The full update is below: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted November 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Okay, so my berried female became berried on 10/23/14, so it's been about 3 weeks now. I checked on her yesterday, and fed her some jello, and it looked like she still had most of her eggs. The ones further back have been kind of transparent for the past week, and I could see what I thought were little black dots in there. The other eggs up front are still a solid yellow - no dots. Today, when I checked on her, the back eggs that were transparent are now missing. I don't know if she dropped them, or if they hatched, but I had done some trimming today of some plants because I didn't think she'd be due for another week. Could it be possible that the eggs have hatched? Could I have harmed the baby shrimplets by trimming away some plants and having my hand in the tank? I'm a little worried right now. =\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Probably hatched. The black dots were eyes. No harm done on plants unless you threw away some babies. They are super small when newborn. christinenha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted November 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 That must be it because I found my first baby yesterday! But before this discovery, I found Mama Bear's molt with just 3 eggs on them and thought none of the eggs had survived. I put the 3 remaining eggs in a net and have hung them in front of the spraybar on low flow. Hopefully these eggs aren't duds, and I'll be able to see some eyes in the next few days. I haven't seen the little baby since yesterday, so maybe he's hiding... or dead... or just hiding... This is one of the times where I wish I didn't have such a heavily planted tank. >.< I know the quality is awful, but I will be getting a better camera soon...ish... I also want to thank @davesays for sending me a care package full of samples! I've never tried ANY of these in my tank, so I will update as I use them. THANK YOU, DAVE! =) I've also linked back to here from my YouTube video in the hopes of drawing more shrimp hobbyists to this amazing forum. ^^ davesays, Soothing Shrimp and eozen81 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamashack Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 Congrats, Christine! It's a special moment the first time you realise that some shrimplets have been hatched! christinenha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted November 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2014 Okay, so I'm down to just 1 egg. The other two were eaten by snails or rotted away. This last one is starting to show some black dots (but too many for eyes alone). I don't know if it's decaying or if it's just the shrimp developing inside, but I'm a little less than hopeful at this point. One of my anacharis has leaves that are falling off. Maybe it needs more nutrients? Everything else seems to be okay with the tank other than this weird worm-looking thing. I think it's a nematode, but I'm not quite certain. How do I get rid of it? Do I even need to get rid of it? Little baby shrimp seems to be doing okay right now. I hope I'm feeding enough, but I'm sure there is plenty of food in a fully planted tank for him. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted November 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2014 Oh, and thank you, Mamashack! It looks like I had one baby survive the hatching, but that's better than none! ^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamashack Posted November 20, 2014 Report Share Posted November 20, 2014 I only got 2 shrimplets from my first berried white pearl female. I think it's her that's berried again and she seems to be hanging on to these much more competently. christinenha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 20, 2014 Report Share Posted November 20, 2014 Looks like a detritus worm and nematode. Both are fine and won't harm your shrimp. In fact, it just means your tank is in good shape and developing an ecosystem. What you have to watch out for are worms with triangle heads. Those are planaria, and (at least in my instance) can attack and kill shrimp. christinenha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted November 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 Ok. Thanks, Soothing! I haven't seen anything with a triangle head so far. They all look to have round/pointy heads, but I will keep an eye out. I also noticed that my shrimp are eating the leaves off of the anacharis. My anacharis plants have all been healthy and growing like crazy, and just today, I finally took a close look at one and realized many of its leaves are missing! They are shredded, and when I look at other anacharis, shrimp are all over them tearing bits and pieces off the leaves until they completely fall apart. The rest of the anacharis plants still look as healthy as ever. Is this normal? Will this kill my anacharis plants? Am I not feeding them enough so they now have to use the anacharis as a food source in the tank? I am currently feeding every 3-4 days because I have such a heavily planted tank and didn't want to overfeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted November 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 GOOD NEWS: I have TWO babies instead of just one! YAY! ^^ High5's and ANBU 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 You may even have more babies that are hiding. They are really good at that. Usually shrimp eat decaying things, so is it possible the leaves are melting? I feed my shrimp colonies of less than 100 on M, W, F. For my Malawas, I have to feed every day because I have 500-1000 in one tank and they turn cannibalistic otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted November 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 The leaves weren't melting when they first started munching on them. I reviewed some of my video from a week ago and all leaves were vibrant and growing. Then the shrimp started to eat them, and NOW they look like they're melting, but only because they've lost almost all their leaves. They've even eaten the ends with the new sprouts coming out! I'm starting to feed every 2 days now so that they will have another food source other than anacharis leaves. Should I pull out the ones that have been stripped? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...maybe the plant people can weigh in on this. christinenha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h4n Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Shrimps will only eat decaying or unhealthy plants.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinenha Posted November 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2014 I don't understand how that can be. The anacharis that were planted grew several new healthy stems and had deep roots in the soil. The one attached to the spraybar grew roots that reached all the way into the soil. All were a solid, vibrant green and were growing like crazy. I have taken the anacharis out of the tank and placed them in a temporary tank to help them recuperate before reintroducing them back into the tank. You guys don't think it's possible for shrimp to eat healthy leaves? Don't they eat fresh spinach and other vegetables? It would make sense that they could theoretically eat healthy leaves too, right? I'll give the anacharis a couple of weeks to grow back and see if I can reintroduce them into the tank. I'm starting to feed every 2 days now so that my shrimp aren't starving. >.< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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