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Hey all,

Im thinking through what I want to do for dosing. I will probably go with standard solutions that allow me to dose the same volume of liquid from each. That will take some math but will make life easier for me.

More importantly, I am thinking about adding a 'ground crew.' I can easily keep up with algae on glass and stones but not as easily with the fluffy stuff on algae. Nutrients should slow down the growth, but some of it is still around (I doubt its all dead after the blackout). So I was thinking about getting some ghost shrimps. My lfs has some as feeders (I couldnt find any other species other than bamboo [filter feeders]). The info I oculd find on ghosts said they are good as far as any detritus goes and that they will eat threadlike or fluffy algaes so they may be helpfull. The LFS just relocated and the shrimp tank is a bit cloudy (white cloud not green) and I dont know if that is bad or not so I wont getting any without hearing comment on that point.

Anyway it seems like a good idea to get some maitnence animals and I think the shrimp might be ok. while the aquaruim isnt perfect for shrimp yet, at least I wont feed them to anything so I guess thats ok.

Let me know what you think.

Chaos

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If you could find them, the cherry shrimp seem to be the most tolerant of water conditions and eat the largest variety of algae.



My Scapes

My lemons are having an intersting morning. Yesterday when I turned the lights on to feed them I got a little worried because one of my males had a bulge between the pectoral fins. I was worried that it was sick, some kind of infection or something but I am no longer worried.

My female was carying eggs. Apparently my mature lemons are one male and one female. They have been mating for about the last hour. I see mabey 2 surviving eggs. The juveniles are quick at picking up whatever eggs are being spawned, the adults too to some extent. They are still going through the spawing behavior at this point but I think the female is out of eggs ( I dont see her drop any ). I gather this who series of events was brought on by the bloodworms I fed them. I didnt think that was possible but now that I found [link = This paper]http://www.ctsa.org/upload/publication/CTSA_142631672855600603648.pdf[/link] it seems clear that one good protein meal might be all that is necesary as it says females can spawn every 4 days. It is intersting though that the lemons are not getting along well right now, they are more agressive then I have ever seen them, particulalry the female chases the juvaniles around.

Im going to look through my pictures and see if I have any good ones of the breeding.

As for the 2 eggs, if they are viable I dont have the means to care for them, which is unfortunate, but if this keeps up I would need quite a set up to take care of anywhere near all the fry these two could produce.

As far as the cherry shrimp go, I think they would be a good perminant edition, but I would have to mail order them or pay very high prices, 8$ per at a lfs to special order them.

Also, there was some sort of white worm that went for a quick swim while I was watching the spawning. It was mabey 5mm long an 0.5mm in diamater. it swam in a spiraling motion and settled down into the gravel before one of the fish could eat it. This is the first one of these I have seen and dont know if this is ok or bad.

Ill update ferts and stuff later today when I get a chance to do all the water chemistry tests.

Chaos

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Unfortunatly the lemons move very very quickly with the spaqning so I could not get that good a photograph.



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If there were any eggs that made it this is it.



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Wow Chaos! Congrats!
I noticed my barbs did the same thing after I recently fed them bloodworms, the frozen kind. I didn't get to see any eggs as they 'did it' while we were sleeping. My female barb got all fat, then the boys chased her all over the tank for hours, in the morning she was skinny again and they looked happy and satisfied. She's been holding those eggs for a very long time. All it took was higher temp, the addition of CO2 to lower pH and a good protein feed. I'm not going to try to raise any if they do it again, the rest of the fish can have some good live food for a change.

The tanks looking much better, not as 'horrifying' as it was. Ghost shrimp don't live for very long, just to warn you, they only live a few months then that's it. Mine lasted through 3 moltings. The amano, yamato and cherry's all live longer I think, I'm not sure how much longer, I was discouraged after the ghost gave up the ...ghost! But it would be a great short-term solution for cleaning up the tank. Get as many as it will hold!

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Hey,

Thanks, I actually didnt see her depostit any eggs, but the behavior is unmistakeable. I will get a few of the shrimp tonight, as the water quality looks good as far as NH4 NO2 go.

Chaos

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Hello,

I got me some little friends. I officially have an army of shrimps, a small army, but they eat the fluffy stuff and will help keep things clean. ( I do understand new nutrient schedule will need to be responsible for most of the algae reduciton but these guys can clean out stuff I could never reach.) also, they were almost free which is nice.



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How many ghosts shrimp did you get. Have you observed them eating the algae. I have a few of those along with amanos and cherries. Unfortunately in my tank I almost never see the cherries or the ghosts they are also hiding in the blanket of wisteria I have. The amanos seem to prefer higher ground and move about the dw and plants. The Wisteria is several layers thick, but because of the leaf structure there is enough room for small fish and shrimp to move about freely through the layers and feel protected.



My Scapes

Hey,

I got a few, 12 or so. They are hard to count, and they kept moving in the bag, but that is close.

They do eat the algae which has been so troublesome for me. I have seen them do it. They all started to fill up with green shortly after I released them.

Oh, I can see mine (well they are in the open at least) because there isnt really anywhere to hide in my tank. There is a lot more plant mass than before, but at this point most of them have been hanging out on the HC squares. Because I cant actually watch them I have been enjoying their presence alot allready because they are so active. They dont really butt heads with the lemons, but they will become defensive if one gets to close.

Chaos

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