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Yep, I was thinking the same thing LF. When I got mine they were larger than the one in the photograph, and were completely clear. I've been feeding them as much algae as I can find, but the main diet is probably flakes, and I know they put a lot of color pigments in the flakes. I've been meaning to get some veggies, but fish and stuff are on the back burner for a little while. I think it might also have something to do with population density and ratio of males to females.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Come to think of it. the Cherries in my little 2G hex have just started to color up. They nomally only get what algae is in the tank and also some chuncks of wafers every once in a while. My large females who have eggs have never really turned that red. A couple of times this week I feed them some of my Omega One flakes that the rest of my tanks get. Could they color up that fast with a pigment in a food?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I guess I never saw your question wings. My shrimp started coloring up really fast when I got them on flakes too. I think it can happen in a matter of a few days or so, sure.

So here's another update before vacation. Shrimps are doing well. I think maybe 4-5 made it from the first batch, and a similar from the second so far. I just now saw another VERY pregnant? female. I also added the last bit of leftover nana petite from the 50, as it was pretty algaefied. They were on it like white on rice....flies on honey....stink on a hog....dog on a bone....

Anyhow here's a full tank shot for ya, still gots the 2X4's, I haven't had a chance to go looking for better rocks.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Nice to see some scaping going on here. Looks good, excellent wood placement. Yep those "rock" have to go.

My Scapes

I like that crypt at the right, that is Wendtii green, right?

Otherwise, I find the tank shot a little too dark to judge the details. Hey - who said I am a judge anyway,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I love that tank....& the pic....darkish & elegant looking.

I also like that plant on the right.

Matty,

The tank is looking nice. Even though some of the plants have a larger leaf size, the smaller leaves make it look right. Good luck with the young!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Thanks all, yes the plant on the right is a green wendtii. Which happens to be melting a little at this point.

I have a few pics here of the "life cycle" of a shrimp. Please refer to the java moss "leaf" size as a size reference to the shrimp.

First, very small just a few leaves large:


Middle sized next:


Adult female:


And a pic to show off my new pelia:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I never thought I'd say this, but those shrimp are actually kinda cute . Pretty tank as well

Nice life cycle pictures, Matty . In particular a great shot of the baby, given its really small size.

So pelia, hm - what are you planning on doing with it?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks guys Nice to see ya Dr. Bonke!

I have no real plans for the pelia....though it may try to replace the java moss, maybe. It grow slower, looks nicer IMO and affords the shrimp all the same protections/benefits.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Just a short update here, a full tank shot:



Shrimp are doing well and the plants are growing nicely. No complaints.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

No complaints

Me neither, looks nice and green and seems to be a great adventure playground for shrimp.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I got some new friends:



My intel states they will not crossbreed with cherries. I saw the evidence and am convinced I can put them together.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty - If your interested in a cannister filter for your 5.5 AGA give a look at the Zoo Med 501.

[lihttp://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=11302&Ntt=zoo%20med%20501&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1nk]

Am using one on my 4 gallon Finnex tank and am very happy with it. It is marketed for a Turtle set up. Claims to have a 80 gph flow (I highly doubt it. My guess is closer to 40gph w/ media) and be suitable for up to 30 gallons. In my experience I doubt its much use on anything over 10 Gallons. Using the spray bar that came with it, the flow was a tad too much, but without it, just perfect. Flow control can also be regulated with adding or subtracting filter floss.

Neat Baz.

I'll keep it in mind for future projects, but I'm pretty happy with my aquaclear right now. That cannister would just be a little too expensive for a project like this one.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Yes, cost was my only complaint. The cheapest I found it was on ebay from a seller in NY.

BTW, your tank looks fantastic. It is also my understanding that Crystals and Cherrys will not crossbreed. At least its very unlikely.

Thanks Baz, very kind

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty

I love your shrimp tank, it looks really nice and has given me ideas for my 10 gallon planted tank also. Thanks and again the tank looks great.

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

It's been quite a while, and I did a bit of an overhaul. Just the round pelia, petite nana, and fissidens now. Rocks, no more wood. The pelia will serve as my baby shrimp refuge, the rest is for looks. It was stuffed left to right, top to bottom with crypts, moss, pelia, and everything else. I couldn't see the fact that I have over 50 shrimp in there. something had to be done .

Weeeell, here goes. Starting with the baby fish:


Crystal red:


MTS and fissidens:


Just one large MTS:


And a fts:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well I guess some of ya have been missing out on my fw updates in my sw tank log (that one gets some attention) so I'll drop a few pics here. I hope I don't overload it.

FTS:


MTS:


Male furcata all growed up:


Shrimp pics:














And the new residents:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Hey There!

I really like the tank Matty. The shrimp are coming along nicely, and the tank is a great sucess! I like the substrate. Is that black sand?

The plants are coming along nicely! Could i suggest a tallish plant to be in front of the intake? It would add a nice sense of depth, and would not let the tank look so flat. I guess flat is a style, but its just my preferences to have an "skyline" so to speak. Also, maybe a quick cleanup of the MTSs in there, as there are a lot of them all around....

I want to start a Nano tank, but i am absolutely clueless really. Never had any experience with planted small tanks! YOur tank is my inspiration, and i will use the black sharp theme, if you dont mind? I like the idea of a nice slick look.....Not so much tranquil.

What fish is that? It looks to be a Cichlid of some sort?

Thanks for the update!

><> ~=!Vote Today!=~ <><
-----> View My Dragons <-----

Matty , Stunning tank , love the new look as well . Apisto's if I'm any judge ...a pair I presume . With all the shrimp , Snails etc... thats a lot of lifeforms for a small tank. Must be quite busy in there .

Garry

Hey goby fan thanks for the reply. I had some crypts in there over by the filter intake, but they got too big and really spread quickly. I like the setup I have now partly because everything grows so slowly that it's mostly on autopilot. As for the MTS it was feeding time, so they were all out getting what they could. Unfortunately to feed the shrimp, I have to litter the ground with whatever I'm feeding them and the snails always get their share. I don't mind them though. Adds to the action, and they help stir the sand. I surely don't mind you getting ideas from me. I'm sure you'll add your own flair to it. And nano tanks are pretty easy as long as you keep up with the water changes and stock lightly and slowly. Same with the feeding. Plants, shrimp, and snails obviously help out a lot in keeping the tank clean.

Hey Garry. You are right. Those are apisto. trifasciata. Pretty immature right now. I'm hoping they will grow up quick for me, and maybe breed. That's what the live food is for that you see in one of the pics.....blackworms. They love that stuff. Live bbs too. Fattened them right up.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

OMG, that is a fantastic tank. Any healthier plants and they'd be up walking around. Lovely shrimp, snails and fish and gorgeous photos as well. Thanks for sharing. /:'

Hi again!

Thanks for letting me use some of your ideas. I love the black theme!!! I know what you mean about "autopilot" plant growing. Its like the "Set it and forget it" rotisseries. My very low light (<1wpg) 20g is too auto pilot, and i rarely have to mess around with it, although i do move things around. Im sure that when everything grows a bit more, the tank will look as good as gold, if not better.

Ah ok, so it was feeding time...Thats good. I have MTS snails too, and mine are always hogging up one of the algae pellets in the tank, meant for BNs and Kuhlis. Great job!

PS: Are apistos crustacean eaters? I thought they were. I had a bad experience with a krib a while back. I tried to put some ghost shrimps as cleaner uppers, but they were devoured in one day! The gluttonous krib had eaten 8 shrimps!!! Now i know my lesson....

><> ~=!Vote Today!=~ <><
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thanks brengun

Gobyfan, the apistos are known to snack on shrimp, though I have quite a few and lots of hiding spots for them. They had a head start and I'm feeding the apistos well, not like I normally would in a high light planted tank. I think they might do well, but I'm prepared for the fact that they might get eaten.

Kribs are bigger than apistos though, so they can take 'em down easier.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I like this new scape as well! It's different. I like different.

I especially like the pic with all the shrimp & snails. With that black gravel it gives kind of an eerie feeling to the whole scene.

Awesome tank you have there Matty



The Amazon Nut...

Hey matty, i was just wondering....

What type of substrate did you use? Just regular sand? Or Small black gravel?

Thanks

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Very nice & interesting posts & pictures. Very informative & i really liked them.

Well done & keep the good work you're doing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Thanks guys

It's just black sand gobyfan

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

wow i really like that tank matty and it is amazing to see how it has grown...

i love the black anf flat look and had it in my 55 for a while, but i added a more natural look when i changed stocks...

a few questions:

what is the complete stocking in that tank?

what plants do you have in there?

and what matinence do you do with tank like that?

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

thanks brandeeno.

I have lots of cherry shrimp, some crystal shrimp, a couple amano shrimp, 1m/1f furcata rainbows raised from eggs, and 1m/2f apisto trifasciata. Oh and lots of MTS.

Plants are fissidens, pelia, and petite nana. Easy slow growers.

As for maint. I just do 50% once a week. It's as easy as a couple of pitchers full. And obvious filter maint once a month or so. Recently I've been doing more frequent water changes because I've been feeding heavily. I'm going to be away for a couple weeks very soon.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

oh how do you raise ths fish from eggs? are they the kind you buy dried or did you purchase or trade for some after a spawn?

and i was just asking as i was interested in doing a similar thing...

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Ah, I had some furcatas that spawned for me in my 50. They got transfered over to the 5.5 as eggs.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

o ok... sopunds like fun... those are the little ones right???

your MTS are very pretty too! i love their color...

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

yep, the little yellow rainbowfish.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Tank looks very nice Matty, although the number of MTS on the sand make it look a little untidy

I am most certain that the Apistos would go at least after the smaller shrimpsters, so I would assume that raising new generations will take a while or not work at all.

I like the size you created with the tank, larger than life!

Your fissidens looks like the American form, which seems to have longer strands than the Asian version and does not form the nice bushy appearance. A closer look could help.

Enough for now,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

It seems that CRS are the new hot item here. Both you and LF have them. I would like to be put on the waiting list if you guys get too many!

Tank looks nice. Nice Apistos too! I looked at getting myself 5 of them today but they guy wanted to sell all of the stuff he had listed together. Too bad. Very pretty fish. Blackworms are a great food for them too. I hope they do well for you.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Thanks for the replys guys. Everybody managed to survive my 2 week absence, even many shrimp escaped the hungry apistos. I'll work on fattening them up again.

As LF said, I don't know if I will continue to get many babies wings. If I do, I'll keep you in mind .

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Stunning photos, Matty.

BTW, who's winning, the apistos or the shrimpsters. I'd like to try some shrimpsters myself, but everyone tells me my apistos will eat them.

Cheers
TW

Matty

I am loving this tank, I cant believe its only 5.5 Gallons. The shrimp and Apistos look awesome and the way the tank has taken shape is really kewl.

Hope to see more in comming weeks.

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Hey, thanks for reminding me I need to do an update. I recently traded in the apistos, though they never could keep up with the shrimp. I fed the tank really heavily to make sure there was enough for them to continue breeding. That obviously accompanied large water changes. I still have plenty of cherries left, as well as a couple crystal reds and amanos. I traded all 5 of the fish that were in the tank and got a few Nothobranchius rachovii. They are an annual peat spawning killi. They've already showed some breeding behavior for me, so I hope that continues. I do need to get them some peat to spawn in. The look of the tank hasn't really changed at all, so I don't have new pics of that for ya, but here are some shots of the male:










And a cherry, I named this shot "cliffhanger" :

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty ...Great shots of the Killies ..very nice fish ..I love the shot of the Cherry ..fantastic .

Garry

Matty,

That's a beautiful Killie! Good trade

Now, what do you know about breeding them. Wouldn't they lay their eggs in the moss and you then have to dry them for a while, or something like that? And, being an annual fish (whatever that means, LOL), does that mean it will die within the year?

And - nice fissidens

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Absolutley stunning Killie. Agree with LF, I heard the same about killies annuals - that they die each year after laying eggs. Am curious to hear how you would go about simulating the dry period for the eggs.

Cheers
TW

Thanks guys. They don't die right after laying eggs or anything like that, but they do have a lifespan of about one year. Luckily I got to chat with the breeder. He said he was able to save about 2000 eggs from one pair in a year. What he said to do was to boil some peat so it sinks, put it into a short deli cup, lid on with a hole in the middle. Once they spawn in it you are supposed to remove the peat and dry it out almost completely and stick it in a ziplock bag with a date on it. I guess they incubate for 5-6 months. Then they can be placed back into an aquarium. They eat newly hatched brine and smaller as freshly hatched fry. I also asked him how old they were, and this batch is about 2 months old. Lots of life ahead of them.

Thanks about the fissidens. It doesn't grow much though. I'm sure it has to do with low light levels or something. I'm thinking of upgrading the lights.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Dude

Thats some awesome information you gave there and those fish are killer.....Nice to know that you can get more supplies of fish pretty much anytime you need to lol. The killies do anything with the shrimp????

Ill ask you what i asked LF where did you get your shrimp LOL

Shane

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Thanks about the fissidens. It doesn't grow much though

From my limited experience with Fissidens, it is not quite a fast grower, but it is a moss. I have some in a container in very little daylight since at least 4 weeks and it is still alive. Give it some time.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks LF. I've had the stuff for at least 4 or 5 months without much growth at all. It's surviving just fine, but I do think a little extra light would do well.

Fishmonster-I got my shrimp locally. The guy I got them from got 8-10 of them from someone on the internet. Not sure who, sorry. I'm sure the killies go after the smaller ones they can find, but they don't look twice at the adults, and I feed them well, so I don't think they actively hunt the smaller ones.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Really sweet killies! They are a fish I always kind of wanted to try. But I have been worried about my shrimp farm. I guess if they Giant Danios and Skunk Loaches don't seem to be making an impact it might be alright.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

It probably is the light then, Matty.

Hey, did you know that there are various kinds of fissidens, including an American? I think I have seen the latter for sale and it didn't look all that great, somewhat stringy rather than the Asian bushy form. Can that be the case for yours?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Wings, I'd think the giant danios would be pretty nasty to shrimp. If they aren't I doubt you'd have trouble with one of the smaller brands of killies, just like you said.

Thanks LF. I'm not sure which I have. I believe it was sold to me as fissidens fontanus maybe. I got it on ebay from a guy in Malaysia. I just went back to look and the seller does recommend medium to high light for all the fissidens he sells. That's probably why it isn't doing well.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Wings, I'd think the giant danios would be pretty nasty to shrimp. If they aren't I doubt you'd have trouble with one of the smaller brands of killies, just like you said.

The giant danios really don't mess with the shrimp. Their mouths aren't that big to take out a full grown cherry but I am guessing they take out some babies or the babies are really good at hiding. I never see babies but I see tons of adults.

Do you think the giant danios would mess with the killies?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Might freak them out with all the movement. They might hide more then. I know these guys at least like a calmer tank. I don't think the danios nip at fish much in my limited experience. Yours might be different though. I've heard people tell of the smaller danios doing some nipping. If that were the case I'd avoid the killies.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

beautiful killies. and the fissidens probably just needs a bit more light and i thk i am buying some plants from that guy in malaysia. it is nice that he ships his products for free! getting sme java fern and some marimo balls. i am so excited!

anyways... the tank is looking great. i have a question, how do you like the pelia? i am thinking aabout getting some and getting a few RCS as well...

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

pelia seems to be perfect shrimp hiding media. They can easily navigate through a dense bunch of pelia where fish can't make it. I like it a lot. It's really easy....like java moss, but less invasive.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty...Not sure about the Giant Danio's ..but the small ones I've had for many years are terrors ...fast and nippy ...so I would avoid them with fish like Killies .


Garry

lol well its all on order an awaiting delivery!
I hope my fututre shrimpters evade the atack of the fish in the pelia!!!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Thought I'd give an update on the shrimp since I just cleaned up the tank well for the first time since I got here. I've just been doing water changes and letting it ride before now. The shrimp made it in the move to Charlottepretty well. The tank probably looks almost the same as the last fts, but in reality there's probably twice as much pelia. It's doing pretty well. The fissidens has steadily declined and is absent from what I can tell. The petite nana seems to be doing well, but is growing VERY slowly.

I have moved all fish out of here and it's now just a shrimp tank again so they can regain their numbers again. There are a ton of trumpet snails in addition to the shrimp, which have seeded my newly resetup 50g planted tank.

This tank is now in front of a window. I'm not sure how this will affect things. Instead of fighting it, I've decided to take the light off the tank and let the tank get natural sunlight (filtered through the blinds a bit) from about 9 or 10 until noonish when the sun passes the window. I'll then run the 2 18w pc fixture until 7 for a total of 10ish hours of light. I've always wondered about the sunlight = algae theory. The shrimp themselves might disrupt the results though, they are algae eating machines.

Well enough talk I guess so here's the pic:




Also, anybody know the effects of excel on the shrimp? Would it be bad to try and dose some in this tank?

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I am glad to see the shrimp made it pretty well on the trip. I lost a few on my way down here but not enough to make a major dent in the large population I have.

I am not sure the effects of Excel on shrimp. Much of it might depend on the ratio. I have lowered my water level in the 55G to spot treat BBA using excel quite a few times without any ill effects on the shrimp. I think you will be ok if you don't over do it in the little tank. You have to keep in mind that things go bad much faster in a little tank.

If you are up for it maybe we could to a shrimp swap sometime to mix up our gene pool.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

If you are up for it maybe we could to a shrimp swap sometime to mix up our gene pool.

That would be a great idea. I've thought about that in the past too. I'd like to give my shrimp a couple weeks to build up the population a bit. Right now I'd only want to round up 10 or so, and I think that would be a waste for you. I've already seen a few babies, so I think it should bounce back up by then.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty ... I have Glass Shrimp in my 60g and I dose excel every day ...no ill effects that I can tell ..I started with 20 and when I cleaned the Canister out last week I rescued about 60 .


Garry

Thanks for the info Garry. I'll start to try it out in really small doses.

On another note, I got a new lens today. Combination graduation/birthday present from everyone. So I thought I'd take pictures of small things since it's a macro lens. That's why I'm posting in this thread, Shrimps!









This guy was really small, those are grains of sand for reference:
mts.jpg" border="0">

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty,

Really nice pictures! Maybe you will just need to come up here and take photos of my tank!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I'll bring my camera if we decide to meet up at your place!

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Very Nice Pics, and cool shrimp! I've always wanted to make a small planted shrimp tank

Thanks!

Today I upgraded. The 5.5 has been retired and The shrimp now reside in a 12g nanocube. I got just the tank without the hood for $15. I figured the shrimp would like the extra room to grow.

Now I have to find a place that cuts glass for at least a partial covering of the tank.

You'll see the tank is still cloudy and I'm running the aquaclear on there for extra filtering until the tank clears up and seeds the bacteria, though I might just drop the old bio rings into one of the chambers for that and remove the aquaclear when the water clears up.

I also used a bit of tupperware to guard the filter intake from exploratory shrimp.

The pic:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Good upgrade and talk about lush ...great plantings .

Did you get a count of your shrimp when you transfered them . Approx of course .?

Garry