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Aquatoon
- Thread starter X3NiTH
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X3NiTH
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- 13 Apr 2014
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Old shrimp tank has had some more AR transplanted into it.
I also put some sliced pepper in there which the snails went nuts over, the CRS also appeared to have eaten it (after lights out) and I noticed that they have taken on more colour and crucially they have thickened out the white by a massive amount (the CRS had been lacking white significantly and I have been trying various things to try and encourage it to strengthen). Here's a nice pic of one of the strengthened coloured CRS in this tank.
Meanwhile in the other tank (with more AR in it).
Its coming along nicely, although the bare mesh where the moss died off is really starting to annoy me, I've had a few thoughts about what to do with it, I thought of using Cladophora stuffed into the gaps to fill out the wall so conducted a test in the old shrimp tank with some mesh around the sponge filter. I used some of the Cladophora from the dismantled carpet and teased out little tufts and stuffed the gaps in the mesh, took ages to do a couple of square centimetres and feels more like embroidery than planting, so I doubled up and tried to use a larger section of Cladophora held in place behind the mesh with a cable tie. Problem is to do any of this means dismantling the filter wall, that itself should be easy, it's doing it with all the life in the tank that will be the hard bit, so I'm going to wait off until the most desirable Shrimplets are grown enough to be easier to catch (ha ha, as if) and moved to a new tank. Or I could use some Pellia instead of clado, not sure.
Anyway here are some more pics of the shrimplets in this tank.
Wine Reds, amongst the the shyest of all the Shrimplets in this tank and these are the first good pics I have of these, I have them in both generations so far, the first lot only came out from behind the Anubia wall after the second generation were born. There is one Wine Red? that I have yet to get any good picture of as every time I spot it its heading back into the undergrowth, very difficult to spot and have only seen it on two occasions, I think it's a Masked Double Lined Var2 Classic Shadow (that's what it looks like compared to charts). Heres a pic for scale for the one above (that's Geronimos Tail and a Gen1 Shrimplet in the background).
There's quite few of these that wear mums markings.
The Blue Bolts are looking quite spectacular.
I especially like this one!
I also put some sliced pepper in there which the snails went nuts over, the CRS also appeared to have eaten it (after lights out) and I noticed that they have taken on more colour and crucially they have thickened out the white by a massive amount (the CRS had been lacking white significantly and I have been trying various things to try and encourage it to strengthen). Here's a nice pic of one of the strengthened coloured CRS in this tank.
Meanwhile in the other tank (with more AR in it).
Its coming along nicely, although the bare mesh where the moss died off is really starting to annoy me, I've had a few thoughts about what to do with it, I thought of using Cladophora stuffed into the gaps to fill out the wall so conducted a test in the old shrimp tank with some mesh around the sponge filter. I used some of the Cladophora from the dismantled carpet and teased out little tufts and stuffed the gaps in the mesh, took ages to do a couple of square centimetres and feels more like embroidery than planting, so I doubled up and tried to use a larger section of Cladophora held in place behind the mesh with a cable tie. Problem is to do any of this means dismantling the filter wall, that itself should be easy, it's doing it with all the life in the tank that will be the hard bit, so I'm going to wait off until the most desirable Shrimplets are grown enough to be easier to catch (ha ha, as if) and moved to a new tank. Or I could use some Pellia instead of clado, not sure.
Anyway here are some more pics of the shrimplets in this tank.
Wine Reds, amongst the the shyest of all the Shrimplets in this tank and these are the first good pics I have of these, I have them in both generations so far, the first lot only came out from behind the Anubia wall after the second generation were born. There is one Wine Red? that I have yet to get any good picture of as every time I spot it its heading back into the undergrowth, very difficult to spot and have only seen it on two occasions, I think it's a Masked Double Lined Var2 Classic Shadow (that's what it looks like compared to charts). Heres a pic for scale for the one above (that's Geronimos Tail and a Gen1 Shrimplet in the background).
There's quite few of these that wear mums markings.
The Blue Bolts are looking quite spectacular.
I especially like this one!
X3NiTH
Member
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- 13 Apr 2014
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- 1,647
Found a way to entice the rarer shrimp out from behind the Anubias, I turned off the spraybar pump and laced the top of the Catappa bark with a mix of Spirulina, Chlorella, Biozyme and Aminovita-P. The tank looks empty most of the time but after doing this the tank becomes very busy indeed. Here's a look at some of the shyest Shrimplets.
First up is this Mystery, no idea what it's supposed to be but there's pink, yellow and orange spots in there.
Here's the Classic Shadow I mentioned in the previous post, the larger CBS next to it is from the previous Generation.
Again but with some Ostracods in the shot swarming a piece of Ebi Dama Special for a sense of scale.
This would be getting boring taking pictures of the same shrimp were it not for the fact that the blue one sitting next to it is the first time it has shown its presence in the tank.
I now know that the blue won't stay this way, it's going to turn a deep black, so deep in fact it becomes a challenge to photograph. Here's one of the blue and whites from a previous posting feeding next to Geronimo (whos making quite a mess as he eats).
Here's a different one next to a CRS. If I'm not mistaken this is a Panda Shrimp?
See what I mean about the black being very deep and hard to photograph.
Even when you purposefully over expose the image!
Seems I have quite few of these.
I'm thinking this is a Shadow Panda?
Here's a closer view!
Here a few close clones of Mum, both red and black causing quite a stoor on the Cattapa bark.
Here's Mum with shrimplets from her first and second brood that bear her markings (or very close to it).
She's due to let her latest clutch go in about four or five days and I'm wondering if I can get away with leaving her in there hoping Geronimo gets to mate with her again or am I running the risk that one of her young may get in there first, the first Gen males are only two months old so I think I can get away with it for another round. The rarities from this couple have been a complete surprise and I'd like to keep it going for as long as I can to see what else may emerge, it's certainly making the photography far more interesting.
The Berried Cherry that I couldn't catch hatched her brood the other week so the tank is also full of tiny cherry Shrimplets, the Ostracod colony that's in there has also grown to a very large size due to having no predators and the pond Snails face constant eviction as they replicate worse than rabbits do in Oz, also because they eat food faster than the shrimp can and make more mess.
So here's a Pest Shot for fun!
First up is this Mystery, no idea what it's supposed to be but there's pink, yellow and orange spots in there.
Here's the Classic Shadow I mentioned in the previous post, the larger CBS next to it is from the previous Generation.
Again but with some Ostracods in the shot swarming a piece of Ebi Dama Special for a sense of scale.
This would be getting boring taking pictures of the same shrimp were it not for the fact that the blue one sitting next to it is the first time it has shown its presence in the tank.
I now know that the blue won't stay this way, it's going to turn a deep black, so deep in fact it becomes a challenge to photograph. Here's one of the blue and whites from a previous posting feeding next to Geronimo (whos making quite a mess as he eats).
Here's a different one next to a CRS. If I'm not mistaken this is a Panda Shrimp?
See what I mean about the black being very deep and hard to photograph.
Even when you purposefully over expose the image!
Seems I have quite few of these.
I'm thinking this is a Shadow Panda?
Here's a closer view!
Here a few close clones of Mum, both red and black causing quite a stoor on the Cattapa bark.
Here's Mum with shrimplets from her first and second brood that bear her markings (or very close to it).
She's due to let her latest clutch go in about four or five days and I'm wondering if I can get away with leaving her in there hoping Geronimo gets to mate with her again or am I running the risk that one of her young may get in there first, the first Gen males are only two months old so I think I can get away with it for another round. The rarities from this couple have been a complete surprise and I'd like to keep it going for as long as I can to see what else may emerge, it's certainly making the photography far more interesting.
The Berried Cherry that I couldn't catch hatched her brood the other week so the tank is also full of tiny cherry Shrimplets, the Ostracod colony that's in there has also grown to a very large size due to having no predators and the pond Snails face constant eviction as they replicate worse than rabbits do in Oz, also because they eat food faster than the shrimp can and make more mess.
So here's a Pest Shot for fun!
Edvet
Member
Nice quality pics!
Lindy
Member
The 'classic' shadow I would call a king kong or extreme shadow. The others are definately shadow pandas and blue shadow pandas. You have some extremely nice shrimp! There is a great facebook page run by a couple who breed some really special shrimp. One of them is known as 'Basil' on here. They would be able to identify all of your shrimp. It is ''freshwater shrimp'' so pretty easy to remember!
X3NiTH
Member
- Joined
- 13 Apr 2014
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- 1,647
Made some changes in the Main Tank, had to shift a few things around as I bought a few extra plants (C.Beckettii, C.Wendtii and Alternanthera Rosaeafolia) and had to find somewhere to put them, the Alternanthera Reneckii Pink Mini was getting too big so it was time to chop it down. Here's where the tank was at before the changes.
This is what the emergent growth of the AR looked like before trimming.
It's lovely, but it's blocking a lot of light so it now lives in the floater grow out box I have on the bathroom windowsill as I couldn't bring myself to bin it, hopefully it survives in there. So here's a before and after set of pics.
Moved some Didiplis around and planted up the new plants, I'll give it a few days to settle before doing a FTS, but in the meantime here's a quick pic of up the back.
While there was more space to play at the back I was able to better access the far end of the bogwood where there has been a mystery liverwort growing, this thing has been on the bogwood for about 5 years and has been in and out the tank left to dry out countless times, it has even been scrubbed to oblivion with a toothbrush back when it looked like algae. Same tank, same bogwood but now living with EI ferts, Co2 and an army of shrimp to contend with it has exploded in growth and has crept right round the back of the bogwood, it's now emerging out from the front of the wood. Now that I can semi see what I'm doing I managed to get the tweezers down there to pull out a few pieces, didn't realise how prolific the growth has been, managed to get a golf ball sized portion of it out without much effort, I stuck it in the shrimp tank for the moment as I have some plans for it.
Heres a portion next to a golf ball sized specimen of Cladophora (the smaller of the two).
In for a closer look.
Here's a frond showing long blade like leaves that don't appear to branch, looks a bit like Java fern but the roots extend all along the underside of the leaf for anchoring.
Eventually it's going into the new tank which is nowhere near done yet.
Lots of assembly and test fitting to do before planting and filling.
This is what the emergent growth of the AR looked like before trimming.
It's lovely, but it's blocking a lot of light so it now lives in the floater grow out box I have on the bathroom windowsill as I couldn't bring myself to bin it, hopefully it survives in there. So here's a before and after set of pics.
Moved some Didiplis around and planted up the new plants, I'll give it a few days to settle before doing a FTS, but in the meantime here's a quick pic of up the back.
While there was more space to play at the back I was able to better access the far end of the bogwood where there has been a mystery liverwort growing, this thing has been on the bogwood for about 5 years and has been in and out the tank left to dry out countless times, it has even been scrubbed to oblivion with a toothbrush back when it looked like algae. Same tank, same bogwood but now living with EI ferts, Co2 and an army of shrimp to contend with it has exploded in growth and has crept right round the back of the bogwood, it's now emerging out from the front of the wood. Now that I can semi see what I'm doing I managed to get the tweezers down there to pull out a few pieces, didn't realise how prolific the growth has been, managed to get a golf ball sized portion of it out without much effort, I stuck it in the shrimp tank for the moment as I have some plans for it.
Heres a portion next to a golf ball sized specimen of Cladophora (the smaller of the two).
In for a closer look.
Here's a frond showing long blade like leaves that don't appear to branch, looks a bit like Java fern but the roots extend all along the underside of the leaf for anchoring.
Eventually it's going into the new tank which is nowhere near done yet.
Lots of assembly and test fitting to do before planting and filling.
Rob Dahl
Member
Just wanted to let you know how much I've enjoyed following the shrimptown adventures. I will be starting my own new shrimp adventure when my dry start Fluvial SpecV is ready. What would you recommend RCS or CRS to start off? Do you enjoy either one more than the other?
X3NiTH
Member
- Joined
- 13 Apr 2014
- Messages
- 1,647
Glad you are enjoying the adventure, I know I am!
I have found RCS to be quite prolific breeders in a wide range of water parameters (low TDS 150s to high TDS 400s) whereas the CRS present more of a challenge and need very narrow water parameters to breed (TDS 150-180). Breeding cherries you still get a range of colours out of the young but the CRS and CBS are far more striking (especially if they have the Taiwan Bee gene which I didn't know I had until the rarities popped up).
My only breeding Crystal Shrimp are the two named individuals Geronimo and Moya, what I have found surprising is that they have actually properly paired up and Moya will allow Geronimo to climb her back and hold her (whilst she was carrying eggs), from observation this is a level of intimacy that no shrimp will tolerate for more than a few seconds, so she is allowing him to do this, I have also caught them via shone torchlight in the dark nose to nose rubbing their antennae together, I'm calling it kissing!
She has released her latest clutch over the last few days but during the pregnancy I didn't change any water and through feeding the growing young the TDS has risen from 180 to 330, I have got it back down at 171 after a few small water changes over a couple of days but she is not berried again and breeding has now stopped, she may be doing this intentionally holding off the moult as the tank is full of her young and the males appeared to be showing interest in her through the day she shed the new batch, Geronimo did his best trying to keep them away and climbed her back a few times to guard her but she hasn't shown signs of moulting, she is currently voraciously eating so she may be fattening herself up for another round, (last egg clutch was half the size of the previous so she may be depleted in certain egg crafting minerals and needs to replenish) putting on extra weight will guarantee she will have to moult at some point or be crushed within her shell, hopefully she won't let that happen.
Crystals are more fun because they are more of a challenge to get breeding.
I have found RCS to be quite prolific breeders in a wide range of water parameters (low TDS 150s to high TDS 400s) whereas the CRS present more of a challenge and need very narrow water parameters to breed (TDS 150-180). Breeding cherries you still get a range of colours out of the young but the CRS and CBS are far more striking (especially if they have the Taiwan Bee gene which I didn't know I had until the rarities popped up).
My only breeding Crystal Shrimp are the two named individuals Geronimo and Moya, what I have found surprising is that they have actually properly paired up and Moya will allow Geronimo to climb her back and hold her (whilst she was carrying eggs), from observation this is a level of intimacy that no shrimp will tolerate for more than a few seconds, so she is allowing him to do this, I have also caught them via shone torchlight in the dark nose to nose rubbing their antennae together, I'm calling it kissing!
She has released her latest clutch over the last few days but during the pregnancy I didn't change any water and through feeding the growing young the TDS has risen from 180 to 330, I have got it back down at 171 after a few small water changes over a couple of days but she is not berried again and breeding has now stopped, she may be doing this intentionally holding off the moult as the tank is full of her young and the males appeared to be showing interest in her through the day she shed the new batch, Geronimo did his best trying to keep them away and climbed her back a few times to guard her but she hasn't shown signs of moulting, she is currently voraciously eating so she may be fattening herself up for another round, (last egg clutch was half the size of the previous so she may be depleted in certain egg crafting minerals and needs to replenish) putting on extra weight will guarantee she will have to moult at some point or be crushed within her shell, hopefully she won't let that happen.
Crystals are more fun because they are more of a challenge to get breeding.
Rob Dahl
Member
Thanks so much for the information. I think I will start my Spec V (another few weeks to get emergent plants established) with cherries, as I am very much the beginner when it comes to shrimp breeding, but will certainly keep crystals in mind down the road. I presently have 4 amanos and 2 orange rillis along with a few ghosts. It's very hard for me to find, much less to identify individuals other than by size and I have seen two rillis. I am in awe of your prowess in identification of individuals.
I enclose a few pictures of my orange and my Fluvial Flora tank. Please pardon the quality, they were taken with my little iPod Touch. Have not mastered my canon SX 50 as of yet.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15450457674/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16104416616/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15944220999/
I enclose a few pictures of my orange and my Fluvial Flora tank. Please pardon the quality, they were taken with my little iPod Touch. Have not mastered my canon SX 50 as of yet.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15450457674/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16104416616/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15944220999/
kirk
Member
Some great shots nice tank and some very nice looking shrimp.
X3NiTH
Member
- Joined
- 13 Apr 2014
- Messages
- 1,647
Ebi Dama Special, the Marmite of shrimp foods!
Here's a pic taken last week of my main planted tank under the Aquaray lights.
And here it is today under a couple of strobes.
I've been having trouble with my regulator in that the bottle pressure gauge stuck at full pressure giving me no indication the bottle was actually out, stupid me had fiddled with the needle valve thinking it may be the atomiser (which it wasn't) so I'm back to balancing things out again and managed to squeeze a little more co2 in than I had intended, dropping 0.1 pH further than usual, which started a mad pearling event mid afternoon.
While I had the strobes out I stuck them over the other tanks. First up is the low tech planted shrimp tank which has had a few more trimmings planted here and there.
Here's the Anubia walled tank, I turned the pump off as the tank looked a little empty with all the shrimp hiding behind the leaves, seemed to coax a few of them out.
Here's a pic taken last week of my main planted tank under the Aquaray lights.
And here it is today under a couple of strobes.
I've been having trouble with my regulator in that the bottle pressure gauge stuck at full pressure giving me no indication the bottle was actually out, stupid me had fiddled with the needle valve thinking it may be the atomiser (which it wasn't) so I'm back to balancing things out again and managed to squeeze a little more co2 in than I had intended, dropping 0.1 pH further than usual, which started a mad pearling event mid afternoon.
While I had the strobes out I stuck them over the other tanks. First up is the low tech planted shrimp tank which has had a few more trimmings planted here and there.
Here's the Anubia walled tank, I turned the pump off as the tank looked a little empty with all the shrimp hiding behind the leaves, seemed to coax a few of them out.
Rob Dahl
Member
Well you certainly have good powers of observation. I admire your perspicacity. Keep the excellent threads coming!I am a beginner also, this thread almost constitutes the entire sum of my exploits so far to get breeding going. No prowess at identification just an enthusiastic desire to know exactly what I'm looking at.
Greenfinger2
Member
Wonderful journal 
Great Scape's fab shrimp and fish and healthy plants too
Great Scape's fab shrimp and fish and healthy plants too
Greenfinger2
Member
Hi N3NiTH
""I was able to better access the far end of the bogwood where there has been a mystery liverwort growing,""
It could be Subwassetang ??
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=subwassertang&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&imgil=jFiWkXXWRgEoHM%3A%3BSbY7-KJ0YNyx5M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%2
""I was able to better access the far end of the bogwood where there has been a mystery liverwort growing,""
It could be Subwassetang ??
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=subwassertang&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&imgil=jFiWkXXWRgEoHM%3A%3BSbY7-KJ0YNyx5M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%2
Last edited:
X3NiTH
Member
- Joined
- 13 Apr 2014
- Messages
- 1,647
Thanks for the comments!
Subwassetang, that's a pretty good candidate.
We will see what it does once it goes in the new tank and gets more light (actually lower overall light but placed in a position that it gets more than before), it's going to want the co2 turned back on though, I'm going to try to run a little leaner on the gas as the new tank will still be run as lowish tech with occasional ferts, the gas will be more for the Buces I've got coming. I'm determined this time to keep the mosses alive on the hard scape as it all died off in the walled tank.
Subwassetang, that's a pretty good candidate.
We will see what it does once it goes in the new tank and gets more light (actually lower overall light but placed in a position that it gets more than before), it's going to want the co2 turned back on though, I'm going to try to run a little leaner on the gas as the new tank will still be run as lowish tech with occasional ferts, the gas will be more for the Buces I've got coming. I'm determined this time to keep the mosses alive on the hard scape as it all died off in the walled tank.
Rob Dahl
Member
Thought I would interject these plant pictures with a couple of my own. Kind of like a strangler fig, my frogbit has wound around the growing tip of one of my Ludwegias.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15962530047/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15962530047/
Rob Dahl
Member
Just got back from the LFS with a male and female red rillis. Also picked up two sprigs of Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides) which I will grow out in auxiliary container with some frogbit and fissidens fontanus. Forgot to photograph my new shrimpies while they were in the small container but caught one of them hiding in the weeds.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16124657006/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16124657006/in/photostream/
Rob Dahl
Member
Got a blurry pic of the female red rilli and a nighttime shot of the male, using my headlamp. Hope thy breed and the male has other affairs with the two orange rillis.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15973641718/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15975312007/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15973641718/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15975312007/in/photostream/
Rob Dahl
Member
Looks like things are really progressing Toon. I have a question for you. I enclose an image of my female orange rili and would like you can tell if she is ready to mate w/ the male. Sorry the picture is not very sharp, but that's about all I can get with my iPod Touch.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16012741259/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16012741259/
