Hello Everyone,
My name is Murray and I am a shrimp addict...
I am new here - so thought it was about time I made the effort and chipped in as they say.
I have had a Dennerle 60L nano cube set up for over 7 months - Its been a problematic spell in my life and I wanted to have something to help lift the mood when things were going against me.
There has been times when the tank has been a help and a hinderance and to be honest more of a hindrance with continuing deaths.
So I thought I would keep this journal going for anyone interested in my ramblings - To try and contribute back into a community.
Back in January I purchased the tank and setup from ZooRoyal.de me being Scottish it was a good price for the equipment and the tank was well made. Shipping was only £13 to the UK via FedEx so that was very nice. They have since stopped shipping to the UK probably because of people like me ordering fish tanks....
I went to great lengths to get the tank the way I wanted it for Crystal Red Shrimps - EBI Gold Shrimp Soil to buffer the PH - Mosura Minerals - I even lugged half a mountain of granite from the hills to use as a "feature stone"
Ordred the CRS from Sharnbrook Shrimp ( great shop by the way!) and after a while all was well with the occasional deaths but they were berried. They just kept dying nobody gave birth and that was that...
I had algae problems - big algae problems! hair Algae it was a nightmare. Glass was covered in the stuff - tried water changes scraped the glass the only thing that would eventually get it under control was Flourish Excel but that appeared to wipe out some of my remaining CRS.
I couldn't go on the tank was looking very bad and was getting me down. All that money and effort and it looked like this...
After dosing the Excel it managed to contain the algae but I was down to 2 CRS from 14 - Money was / is tight and every time a death occurred it was another sad event - life ended and £3.50 down the toilet.
Things were at a tipping point - I thought about writing the whole thing off and putting the tank in the loft waiting for a better time in my life but decided to go to Plan K - I was winning the alge war but at a cost of my shrimp.
I always wanted Seiryu stone I love the look of the stuff and Chery red Shrimps have a reputation of being " bomb proof"
The LFS (Discovery Aquatics Dundee) had a new range of hardscape in including the Seiryu which £30 later got me this lot...
So I ditched all of the old hard space - cleaned the tank and ordered some red cherry shrimp from Sharnbrook Shrimp - Ended up with alot of Sakura Shrimp as they were out of stock.
I have one Ottocinclus in the tank - he is a lone survivor from Pets At Home - I wont buy any more fish from them as they all seem to die.
Here are the latest higher quality photographs taken of the tank today...
The tank looks alot better and I am alot happier - I am still experienceing deaths two weeks in from delivery. Will measure water parameters again tonight - Will sort out the algae and get a nice bit of glass piping to make the air pump pipe look better ( Wooden diffuser gives nice fine bubbles)
If only I can get the shrimp to breed and get the algae under control I will be a happy Scotsman.
I know the hobby isnt meant to be easy - I want this to go well so will keep plodding on with it. I realise I have made mistakes in the past but thats life
In the mean time I wish you all the best with your tanks and look forward to being part of the community.
Best wishes,
Murray
My name is Murray and I am a shrimp addict...
I am new here - so thought it was about time I made the effort and chipped in as they say.
I have had a Dennerle 60L nano cube set up for over 7 months - Its been a problematic spell in my life and I wanted to have something to help lift the mood when things were going against me.
There has been times when the tank has been a help and a hinderance and to be honest more of a hindrance with continuing deaths.
So I thought I would keep this journal going for anyone interested in my ramblings - To try and contribute back into a community.
Back in January I purchased the tank and setup from ZooRoyal.de me being Scottish it was a good price for the equipment and the tank was well made. Shipping was only £13 to the UK via FedEx so that was very nice. They have since stopped shipping to the UK probably because of people like me ordering fish tanks....
I went to great lengths to get the tank the way I wanted it for Crystal Red Shrimps - EBI Gold Shrimp Soil to buffer the PH - Mosura Minerals - I even lugged half a mountain of granite from the hills to use as a "feature stone"
Ordred the CRS from Sharnbrook Shrimp ( great shop by the way!) and after a while all was well with the occasional deaths but they were berried. They just kept dying nobody gave birth and that was that...
I had algae problems - big algae problems! hair Algae it was a nightmare. Glass was covered in the stuff - tried water changes scraped the glass the only thing that would eventually get it under control was Flourish Excel but that appeared to wipe out some of my remaining CRS.
I couldn't go on the tank was looking very bad and was getting me down. All that money and effort and it looked like this...
After dosing the Excel it managed to contain the algae but I was down to 2 CRS from 14 - Money was / is tight and every time a death occurred it was another sad event - life ended and £3.50 down the toilet.
Things were at a tipping point - I thought about writing the whole thing off and putting the tank in the loft waiting for a better time in my life but decided to go to Plan K - I was winning the alge war but at a cost of my shrimp.
I always wanted Seiryu stone I love the look of the stuff and Chery red Shrimps have a reputation of being " bomb proof"
The LFS (Discovery Aquatics Dundee) had a new range of hardscape in including the Seiryu which £30 later got me this lot...
So I ditched all of the old hard space - cleaned the tank and ordered some red cherry shrimp from Sharnbrook Shrimp - Ended up with alot of Sakura Shrimp as they were out of stock.
I have one Ottocinclus in the tank - he is a lone survivor from Pets At Home - I wont buy any more fish from them as they all seem to die.
Here are the latest higher quality photographs taken of the tank today...
The tank looks alot better and I am alot happier - I am still experienceing deaths two weeks in from delivery. Will measure water parameters again tonight - Will sort out the algae and get a nice bit of glass piping to make the air pump pipe look better ( Wooden diffuser gives nice fine bubbles)
If only I can get the shrimp to breed and get the algae under control I will be a happy Scotsman.
I know the hobby isnt meant to be easy - I want this to go well so will keep plodding on with it. I realise I have made mistakes in the past but thats life
In the mean time I wish you all the best with your tanks and look forward to being part of the community.
Best wishes,
Murray