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Dream Blue neos - how to do it backwards


Crazyfishlady

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So - this journal will be backwards since I was not prepared in time.

 

Shrimp just arrived - bought 10 dream blues, got 11 and the color just BLEW me away! Even stressed they are a dark sapphire blue! So, this is them in the bucket to acclimate. The pic of their tank is yet to come..

 

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And - I just got notice that Han shipped out my order! :) I had told him not to bother until next week but what a nice surprise! Got an order to finish up with discobee.

 

I don't think I could have done this anymore backwards - hopefully these little guys survive my poor planning. I can't wait to see them in the tank...which is in the bathtub checking for leaks...lol

 

They are in a medium critter keeper for now. fingers crossed

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Ok - I am exhausted... realized I don't have any suctions cups (could have sworn I did) and don't have the right airstone... so back to the store tomorrow. BUT - drum roll... I have the basics of the tank together.

 

Waiting on my order from Han for some moss for the wood, some ledges for moss that will go on the glass and some cholla... oh and a feeding dish... gads this is an expensive hobby!

 

So - I decided to try something a bit braver than I am used to

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It was good... in theory... until the water went in and the gray sand started to float EVERYWHERE and land on the white sand :( grrrr

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I was going to gut the whole thing but my son convinced me to just keep going, so I did

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Here is how it looks at the end of the night... I'm exhausted

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So I got my order from Han - SO excited. But, I'm also waiting for my son's bed to be delivered so I have to wait to do the moss ledges :(  Cholla is soaking though! :)

 

The dream blues are TINY!! I'm not sure they are even big enough to be considered juvies. I have to sit and inspect the tank to find them, but they are all still alive and zip around.

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Here it is with the cholla, leaf litter, cones and Hans famous moss ledges :) Put the fissiden (also from Han) on the wood. The blues are so tiny, not sure if you can even see any in the pics.

 

ordered a floating moss ball and that will be the last thing to go into the tank

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I've got a moss ball in my cherry shrimp tank. Been in there since I set the tank up last July. It hasn't spread and the shrimp love fluffing up the surface of the moss ball looking for bits of food. The babies also use it as a hiding spot.

As Soothing said, I do have to rotate it to make sure every side gets light. I just do this as part of my water change routine. Occasionally, I have to remove it, squeeze out all the icky stuff, and reshape it into a ball as one side will tend to get flat.

Although I have heard of people having issues with them, I've found my moss ball to be a benifitial part of my tank. :)

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  • 5 weeks later...

updated pic of the tank - this now has the dream blues, 4 reg tigers and... a recently discovered 'mystery/hitchhiker baby' :)

 

I put an acrylic leaf shaped food dish in there.. just because I thought it was cute ;)

 

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And... the blue boys were dancing tonight! woot!! Fingers crossed, this is one of the boys in 'mid dance'

 

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You may want to rethink the moss ball.  It's actually algae that can spread.  Also, you'll have to turn it frequently or one side will die.

 

If you do use it, place it in different water first and squeeze the bejeebers out of it.  Often it is very dirty inside.

 

I don't think marimo ball would spread, at least not in the bad way.

 

they are slow growers. so even it spreads, it would form a new ball. not bad at all.

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I used to think the same thing, James.  Turns out the real marimo balls are protected in Japan and illegal to export.  They are made with the water naturally rolling them around to form balls.

 

The ones we end up getting here in the US are some form of clado algae rolled by hand.  They don't keep their shape unless taken out and rolled, and in worst case scenario- spreads over the tank, so no new balls formed.  They also can be pretty dirty inside which carries who knows what bacterias.

 

It's like anything else, just know what one is getting into before doing it.  Then make an informed decision one way or the other.

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Found a thread where we were discussing it before: http://www.shrimpspot.com/index.php?/topic/1620-moss-balls/?hl=%2Bmoss+%2Bball

 

Now, having said that, I once cut apart 3 moss balls and made a carpet on the bottom of my aquarium.  Looked great, but the pieces kept floating like hovercrafts at the slightest provocation. LOL

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Adding a few more pics of the Dreams. One is VERY dark, the others have lightened up a bit, but I a still very happy :)

 

The lighter ones are around this color

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Here is the darkest one (doing shrimp yoga in one pic, lol)

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Interesting and it matches a 'neo family tree' that someone is doing on FB (not sure I'm allowed to post it or a link or something) soothing is involved in it. And it does say that diamonds come from chocolates too.

 

My snowballs (ok they aren't "mine" but... lol) are on their own branch with the other 2 neo palmatas (blueberry and blue pearl). It appears that all the other neos are, neo davidi and a branching of one or another.

 

According to it, BVs come from Red Rillis... so interesting!

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