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Tmc micro habitat

Just one more quick question
What would you recommend as a substrate?
I'm thinking of Acadama but some say Ada aquasoil
What would be best
Many thanks
Matt
 
Hi all,
Please don't do 30% water change everyday. I'm sorry, but your shrimp will die if you do that. lol.
Click to expand...
First of all an apology but its certainly not true in my experience. I'd be interested in the reason for this, if your shrimps are dying with a larger water change? it is almost certainly because you have a water quality issue, but not to do with the water changes as such.

I've got shrimp breeding in tanks where the water change is several 100% a day (trickle through systems), and I routinely change 50% - 75% of the water in all of the smaller tanks if I've been away for more than a few days, and I change approx. 10% a day in all tanks smaller than 100 litres. You say you are not keeping Stingrays or Arrowana, but if you look a the "bio-load to volume of water" ratio in very small tanks you are actually dealing with very similar numbers.

It is very difficult to meaningfully measure the level of pollution and bioload of any aquaria (this has been part of my "day job") so assuming you do have a suitable source of water, dilution remains a very useful weapon in retaining water quality.

cheers Darrel
 
I got an acrylic nano, about 6L and I do a 1L water change change daily. No shrimp deaths yet, however I only got 5 shrimp in there, a mix of yellows and cherries. Maybe the CRS are more susceptible to WC.

Shrimp are from rivers, and there is a lot of water movement on rivers, so I would assume that they like fresh water. :)
 
That's an interesting point, luis, I'd never considered that, this would surely suggest shrimps are high co2, rivine, type animals and as such would need elevated levles of o2? If that's the case i'd bet my bottom dollar a lot of deaths could well be o2 starvation.
 
And rivers are not like lakes or ponds the water parameters can change fairly quickly after heavy rainfall for example however most of the shrimp that we buy are generally tank bred and therefore are use to fairly stable conditions
As for liking o2 I think this is right as when co2 is added my shrimp head for the surface where there is more gas exchange and where the water will be more o2 enriched
My thoughts anyway
Matt
 
Garuf said:
That's an interesting point, luis, I'd never considered that, this would surely suggest shrimps are high co2, rivine, type animals and as such would need elevated levles of o2? If that's the case i'd bet my bottom dollar a lot of deaths could well be o2 starvation.
Click to expand...

It could be one of the many reasons liquid carbon kills them.

After seeing where they got CRS first, the small rivers looked very fast flowing, and there were not a lot of vegetation in the middle, just large boulders. I think that I read about it on a PFK magazine about 6 months ago.
 
Yes, I remember the article, I think I read it more than any in the recent pfks, I just never put two and two together, it would also explain why alot of people are reporting that their shrimps are much more reproductive when kept cooler and have access to leaf litter, that in turn would encourage biodiversity in the form of microcolinatores that would in turn feed the shrimps, it would also explain why a lot of people report that their shrimp don't really eat algae instead eating biological waste from filter sponges etc.

(please excuse my spelling, I'm on a laptop with no spell cheque and I'm pretty much lost without it).
 
Hi all,
As for liking o2 I think this is right as when co2 is added my shrimp head for the surface where there is more gas exchange and where the water will be more o2 enriched
Click to expand...
I think this is correct, the enhanced CO2 levels will be sensed by the shrimps which will head for the more oxygenated water at the tanks surface, if you look at this from a "shrimps eye view" the water surface is a very risky place to be, so it needs to be quite a strong selective pressure to get them to do this.

Symptoms of "respiratory distress" are unlikely directly from low oxygen levels, but are more likely to be caused by high levels of CO2 in the water. Without a sharp gradient between CO2 levels in the "blood" (haemolymph) and CO2 levels in the water, it becomes increasingly difficult for the CO2 in the shrimps "blood" to diffuse out across their gill surfaces into the water. This analogous to the "Bohr" effect. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohr_effect> in vertebrates (the O2/CO2 carrying respiratory pigment in crustacean is haemocyanin with a central copper molecule, rather than haemoglobin with a central iron molecule).

cheers Darrel
 
Garuf said:
Yes, I remember the article, I think I read it more than any in the recent pfks,
Click to expand...

It was a fantastic article.. I think that it was the last pfk I purchased. :)

But yes, sometimes we need to look at nature for tips on how to keep our critters.. we do not always know best. :)

After reading that article I wanted to setup a 100cm tank with just emersed plants, rivers rocks and two koralias to mimick a river with the flow.
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all,
Please don't do 30% water change everyday. I'm sorry, but your shrimp will die if you do that. lol.
Click to expand...
First of all an apology but its certainly not true in my experience. I'd be interested in the reason for this, if your shrimps are dying with a larger water change? it is almost certainly because you have a water quality issue, but not to do with the water changes as such.

I've got shrimp breeding in tanks where the water change is several 100% a day (trickle through systems), and I routinely change 50% - 75% of the water in all of the smaller tanks if I've been away for more than a few days, and I change approx. 10% a day in all tanks smaller than 100 litres. You say you are not keeping Stingrays or Arrowana, but if you look a the "bio-load to volume of water" ratio in very small tanks you are actually dealing with very similar numbers.

It is very difficult to meaningfully measure the level of pollution and bioload of any aquaria (this has been part of my "day job") so assuming you do have a suitable source of water, dilution remains a very useful weapon in retaining water quality.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...


fair enough, everyone has personal experiences :) maybe your cherries are just that bada$$, lol! but if it works for you, it works for you. Just out of interest tho, whats ur highest grade shrimp for which you do 30% water changes a day? coz i won't dare do that for sss crs. ever. lol.

OH yes, and if i might just add my own experiences. I'm using an approximately 50-80 litre tank. dont know exactly. But anyway, i keep deep blue orange eyed tiger shrimp (same fragility as a sss, roughly) and i dont have a single casualty.

And, I haven't changed the water for... 6 weeks :)

Not once in 6 weeks.
 
By the way..

They are selling the small tanks on ebay.. Looks very similar to the betta and tmc ones, but for only £49 including postage.
Look for Acrylic Nano Cube Aquarium Tropical Fish Tank.
 
but i must admit, 6 weeks is a bit excessive. but dont worry, i know what im doing. for the starter of this thread. i highly recommended a wc every 4-6 days, approximately. try 10% each time.
 
I have kept mixed Biotopes of both nano fish and CRS without concern. This is not to say that any small fish species like raspbora's and the ilk will not attempt to snaffle young juvenile shrimp. I think the comment here is to say ' If the fishes mouth is big enough then it will attempt to snack on them.

I think if you provide dense planting schemes and hiding places where the shrimp can go about their natural way and then fish are fed adequatly then I perceive no problem with a mixed biotope.

In my opinion the TMC Micro habitat would only suffice around 5 shrimps....and no fish....Once the female shrimp have berried then you will either upgrading to another Nano sized tank or selling the lower graded shrimp.

Then again there will be forum members who will state strongly that only Oto's can be introduced for a sure / safe mixed biotope.

Hope you have success in your shrimp keeping....enjoy
 
Anubia said:
I have kept mixed Biotopes of both nano fish and CRS without concern. This is not to say that any small fish species like raspbora's and the ilk will not attempt to snaffle young juvenile shrimp. I think the comment here is to say ' If the fishes mouth is big enough then it will attempt to snack on them.

I think if you provide dense planting schemes and hiding places where the shrimp can go about their natural way and then fish are fed adequatly then I perceiver no problem with a mixed biotope.

In my opinion the TMC Micro habitat would only suffice around 5 shrimps....and no fish....Once the female shrimp have berried then you will either upgrading to another Nano sized tank or selling the lower graded shrimp.

Then again there will be forum members who will state strongly that only Oto's can be introduced for a sure / safe mixed biotope.

Hope you have success in your shrimp keeping....enjoy
Click to expand...

sorry to burst your bubble, but even fishes with smaller mouths than the shrimplets can eat them. As gory as it sounds, they bite at the shrimps and rip off their limbs bit by bit in a way akin to tigers or dogs biting off at gazelles carcasses or smth.
 
ghostsword said:
Garuf said:
Yes, I remember the article, I think I read it more than any in the recent pfks,
Click to expand...

It was a fantastic article.. I think that it was the last pfk I purchased. :)

But yes, sometimes we need to look at nature for tips on how to keep our critters.. we do not always know best. :)

After reading that article I wanted to setup a 100cm tank with just emersed plants, rivers rocks and two koralias to mimick a river with the flow.
Click to expand...
Every time I see "chinese plecs" I can't remember the scientific name, I want to set up a tank just like that, they're such a pretty fish.

Yeah, that's pretty much true, sometimes the best lessons are from nature, no matter in what aspect.
 
I'd still like to know what you all recommend for substrate
Aqua soil/Acadama /gravel/sand
Your recommendations please
Matt
 
Aquasoil/florabase or similar, acadama with tropica base if it's to be very cheap.
It depends on what you want from the tank.
 
Hi all,
"chinese plecs"
Click to expand...
Hill-stream loaches <http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstream-loaches-the-specialists-at-life-in-the-fast-lane>, Sewellia lineolata is the one I like
image_preview

and apparently not difficult to breed if you have cool, highly oxygenated water. A few people on the plec forums have bred them.
http://www.loaches.com/articles/breeding-sewellia.

cheers Darrel
 
Thanks Darrel. A fish I'd love to try, I see them going as job lots in pets at home often and wish I could find room in a tank for them. I always think they'd be a good oto option for those who like to keep their tanks cooler like me (23 on average) but then I remember they're rivine and that mixing them with the often sharp landscape rock is probably a bad idea.
 
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