Tmc micro habitat

[Shrimptastic]

Re:

I'd still like to know what you all recommend for substrate
Aqua soil/Acadama /gravel/sand
Your recommendations please
Matt

Right now, I'm using the worse substrate ever.

But i did use some good stuff before, so I'd recommend GeX soil.
It is so, so good. Personal experience.
Breeder i'm buyin some high grade shrimp from uses it too. Agrees with me.

 

[Shrimptastic]

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.

otos are better. pretty sure these guys still snack on tiny shrimp. but hey, if you like the colours, go for it

 

[Garuf]

I could never recommend otos for anything less than say 4-5gallons, even then that's a push. Those loaches are bigger still so I'd imagine they're even more unsuitable!

I don't mind shrimp being eaten really, natural selection I'd never pay huge ammounts for shrimp, I scoffed at crs at £8 each, being terrified to change the water or dose ferts for killing them etc is not a hobby for me.

 

[Shrimptastic]

I could never recommend otos for anything less than say 4-5gallons, even then that's a push. Those loaches are bigger still so I'd imagine they're even more unsuitable!

I don't mind shrimp being eaten really, natural selection I'd never pay huge ammounts for shrimp, I scoffed at crs at £8 each, being terrified to change the water or dose ferts for killing them etc is not a hobby for me.

thats funny, 8 pounds for CRS. overpriced imo ^^
(look who's talking luls. ok, i admit, i'm greedy)

but yeah, in all seriousness though, shrimp being eaten isnt actually the kind of natural selection that you want, especially in such a small tank. Unless you can guarantee the proportion of healthy shrimp being eaten is less? For all you know, loaches might only be going for the shrimp that are the healthiest. maybe they taste the best Because to be honest, even the healthiest shrimp can't run away from a loach, so its kinda pointless really.

Also, in shrimp tanks they usually have their own natural selection anyway. weak shrimp either die/get ripped to shreds by their friends before they die.

 

[Shrimptastic]

oh, to the guy who was suggesting a 30% water change everyday. please read this thread. it's not really against your point, but it's for mine. lol

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/shrim ... -tank.html

 

[Garuf]

I think that's on the assumption that it's a high light tank, as tom mentions in the thread, that if you don't want to do water changes then the tank is going to be vastly different to if you want it to look good. It's a case of picking your poison, or as usual, highlight or low.

 

[ghostsword]

Those loaches look really nice. On a tank without any heater and very good water current they would look good.

 

[ghostsword]

Hi all,

"chinese plecs"

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

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

Great article.. And I am sure that such a tank would be useful for shrimp, without the fish, of course.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I could never recommend otos for anything less than say 4-5gallons, even then that's a push. Those loaches are bigger still so I'd imagine they're even more unsuitable!

I agree with Garuf, Otos are unsuitable for very small tanks because of their requirement for high quality water, Hill-stream Loaches even more so.

Bigger volumes of water are just much easier to manage, although with the proviso for the high tech tank you may run into problems with CO2 distribution etc. If I'm looking at a tank for a new species of fish, I'd look at it's behaviour and water requirements, so a small aggressive fish like Crenicichla compressiceps or a Congochromis species or a rheophilic one like Sewellia would need a larger tank.

cheers Darrel

 

[Shrimptastic]

I think that's on the assumption that it's a high light tank, as tom mentions in the thread, that if you don't want to do water changes then the tank is going to be vastly different to if you want it to look good. It's a case of picking your poison, or as usual, highlight or low.

No Garuf, thats not an assumption that its a high light tank. Basically, its an assumption that the tank has plants that remove nitrates/nitrites. I can tell you one thing, all my plants are low light. As in, they have low-light requirements- high light is bad for them. And they remove nitrates by the truckload. I tend to call them mosses

I have a light aloft my tank, but I don't usually turn it on. And I haven't changed my water for 6 weeks.

So really, you can have a low light tank and you don't need to change the water

 

[Garuf]

No, no, I meant that the 30% a day water change was under the assumption that the tank is a highlight, I should have been clearer.

 

[mr. luke]

although of course i understand that this thread is about low grade crs.

sorry to be a pain but the original thread was how many i could keep in this tank and recommendations
my reason for asking about low grade crs is that i have never kept them before and thought the lower grades would be a bit hardier than higher grades i have and do keep cherries in my 500ltr (thanks sam) wich breed well i just thought that crs even lower grades would look visually better in a smaller tank

thanks
matt

while cherries aren't really. They are just wild-type with smaller gene pools. ^^

False
Cherries are a slectively bred strain of the wild type neocaridina heteropoda, the red colour was picked out by a breeder and worked on until they breed true.

 

[a1Matt]

Getting back to the last question raised...

Lower grade CRS or cherries will accept wide parameters, so you do not need to get a particular substrate.
So just go with what you like the look of.
I use akadama in some tanks, and sand in others. (I'm cheap!)

 

[mdhardy01]

I've heard that Ada amazonia is supposed to be good is this right
Or is it a bad idea ?
Matt

 

[Luketendo]

I've heard that Ada amazonia is supposed to be good is this right
Or is it a bad idea ?
Matt

Think it's very much recommended by shrimp keepers and plant people alike, just the ammonia spike and the higher price which makes it different from others I think?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I use akadama in some tanks, and sand in others. (I'm cheap!)

Same here, if you want a low nutrient, low TDS system, or to exclusively use frequent water column fertilization (EI with dry powders etc) silica sand is a good substrate, it is inert and is purely a physical medium to anchor the plants in. If you want a media which will act as a "nutrient reservoir", you can use an inert medium (like sand, Akadama or Tesco's light-weight cat litter) and add slow release nutrients or you can use a nutrient rich media, either one which is a complex mixture of components (like garden soil) or an inert medium with fertilisers added (sand and Osmocote for example) or a designer mixture by ADA etc.

How "good" that medium will be depends upon a number of factors, but probably the most relevant are the CEC and AEC (Cation Exchange Capacity & Anion Exchange Capacity), this is the ability of that substrate to hold and exchange ions (nutrients Mg++, NO3-) from solution (the tank water). Clays and humus for example have large CEC values and silica sand or perlite have no CEC. Clays retain some CEC when they are heated, this makes them physically more stable (think of brick or porcelain). As a general rule clays calcined at high temperatures are very physically stable, but with much reduced CEC, those calcined at lower temperatures retain more CEC, but are less stable.

My personal opinion is that your plants and shrimps can't read, and have no interest in aquascaping or human aesthetics, therefore the choice in these areas is entirely yours. Purely in terms of plant growth I'd use the cheapest substrate that fulfils your requirements. For me that is either an inert medium (sand) or a medium with some CEC, (Sand + clay + humus) or a calcined clay based media that is physically reasonably stable, but retains some CEC, like Akadama, lightweight cat litter etc.

cheers Darrel

 

[mdhardy01]

Thanks for the reply darrel
I've got myself some Acadama which I have rinsed and is now soaking in a bucket with some ei powders added to the water with the idea that the Acadama will soak them up therefore giving me a nutrient rich substrate for about £5 a bit cheaper than the Ada stuff and no ammonia spike
Matt

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

which I have rinsed and is now soaking in a bucket with some EI powders added to the water with the idea that the Akadama will soak them up therefore giving me a nutrient rich substrate.

That is pretty much the idea, have a look at the "Akadama sticky", the process is not quite like a sponge passively soaking things up, it is a more active process than that. Akadama Sticky:
<http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=741&start=0>

This is a simple explanation of the CEC & AEC - clay mineral interaction <http://www.waternet.co.uk/waternet/soilfertilitypart1.htm>.

cheers Darrel

 

[Shrimptastic]

False
Cherries are a slectively bred strain of the wild type neocaridina heteropoda, the red colour was picked out by a breeder and worked on until they breed true.

Lol, you are funny. "selectively bred strain of wild type neocardina heteropoda" is exactly what i said. wild type with smaller gene pools. LOL

CRS are actual mutations, mind you, cherries aren't, they are, as you say, selectively bred.
Selectively bred and mutation are two very very different terms.

It's like I said. That animal is a cat. and you come along and say "thats wrong, the animal that you are referring to is a cat"

lols

 

[Shrimptastic]

I've heard that Ada amazonia is supposed to be good is this right
Or is it a bad idea ?
Matt

Think it's very much recommended by shrimp keepers and plant people alike, just the ammonia spike and the higher price which makes it different from others I think?

i think as long as you are pro and you know what you are doing, you dont need fancy soils