Hidey-holes for cherry shrimp - Any ideas?

I've played around with this too, using old pen caps, plastic cups, etc. I've noticed that shrimp don't tend to go in caves that don't have another way out. Too easy to get cornered, I guess.

I saw online someone selling small bamboo shoots for this purpose. Anyone know if bamboo leeches?
 
I saw that online too. They have some bamboo that has been carbonized (turned to charcoal), that they claim removes toxins from the water and blah blah blah. I tend to be skeptical of stuff that is ONLY found in the foreign market. It seems like if something really works well, it is sold in multiple countries, not just one. It does look really nice tough. Here is a link to one.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Bamboo-Shelter-Live-Cherry-Crystal-Red-Shrimp-Aquarium_W0QQitemZ250305178395QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item250305178395&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
 
Get the little terra cotta flower pots. You can drill/grind holes in them, set them on their side or chip cracks in them. Or, get some smooth rocks and silicone them together.
 
Can you get some established media from someone nearby? It might speed up the process ;)

biomajorstudent said:
I plan on putting some fissidens moss in, planted on a piece of driftwood. I'm also going to get some black gravel, to really pop the colors of everything. I can't wait to get some stuff in there, but right now I'm cycling, and so I only have one snail. This is all pretty new for me, and this "cycling" thing is a pain!!! I had to do a 50% water change yesterday just to get my ammonia down to 2 ppm!!! I don't want to do any more than 50% at a time or risk killing any bacteria that may be starting to colonize, but I hate subjecting my snail to so much ammonia... :(
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Urg. I did get some media from my lfs (not a walmart or petco, a family owned hobbiest store), but it hasn't helped yet. I had been using AmmoLock, but then I stopped because I was afraid I'd starve the bacteria. The bottle says it won't, but I'm not sure how it would be possible for it to lock up ammonia from fish but still allow it to be metablozied by bacteria... The tank has been running now for about 2 weeks. Maybe I'm just impatient. :)
 
the_intricacy said:
For what it's worth, I bought some crab cuisine and a CO2 diffuser from that guy and didn't get any terrorist cooties yet.
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Lol, don't worry, that's not my fear. I was afriad that I might come across as a little racist :lipssealedsmilie:.
What I mean, is that an item like a CO2 diffuser is well known, and can be found in any market. It is well known that is it beneficial, and any side effects are well documented.
The item in question, a carbonized bamboo tube, is only find in one market (Japan), and I can't find any documentation of use and benefits.
I think of my stance as something akin to not wanting to be the first person to try a new drug. It may work wonders, but I'll wait and let other more adventerous people try it first and see what kind of side effects there might be.
The bamboo tube seems like a good idea, but I want to make sure nothing bad will leach out of it, so I'd rather stick with something I know. It wouldn't matter where it was made, I just want good information on benefits and use. :)
 
biomajorstudent said:
The bamboo tube seems like a good idea, but I want to make sure nothing bad will leach out of it, so I'd rather stick with something I know. It wouldn't matter where it was made, I just want good information on benefits and use. :)
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That's why I brought it up. I was hoping someone else plopped some dried bamboo in with their shrimp instead of subjecting mine to it...:evil_lol:

You know, there IS such a thing as too careful. For instance, I use PVC pipes for my tanks, fish or shrimp. I think they're ok with it, certainly better off than copper pipe. As a professional architect, I would NOT recommend PVC piping for people's drinking/bathing water, since PVC is a known carcinogen.

My point is, once you get concerned about the relationship between health, materials and cost, it's always a question of lesser evils.
 
I have a nice piece of driftwood in my shrimp tank and they find all kinds of hidey holes that I didn't even know the wood had! Terra cotta is nice too - I have a big one in one of my aquariums for my cichlid to hide in (set sideways, not upside down). It is amazing too how well they can hide in moss and on other plants.

About your cycling - (1) get more media if you can; (2) ammo lock is fine - it makes NH4 (not toxic to fish) from NH3 (the toxic version) and bacteria don't care what form it is; and (3) I actually used API Stresszyme (bacteria in a bottle) when my cycle stalled and I believe it helped -- others on this forum may not agree.
 
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