29G Shrimp Tank

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myswtsins

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Ok, Kannan Fodder Kannan Fodder , it's a little late but here's an update! It's had it's ups and downs.

Filter problems wiped out almost all my shrimp, only 3 regular RCS males left now. But one of those is one of the babies that were born in the holding tank! Almost every scrap of moss died and what is left (mostly fissiden) is full of hair algae. Yes, I kill even moss, lol. Floaters do too well and I've had to clear them out many times. They do so great that my plants are currently bouncing back from an overgrowth of floaters blocking out all the light.

I have not added any ferts since way back when before the shrimp were added. I did add a second LED light fixture when my plants seemed to be wanting more light (sometime shortly after updating this). I have changed the filter spraybar to a longer bar with more holes to distribute the flow better. And I do no water changes on this tank! :eek:

And here is an honest picture of what the tank looks like RIGHT NOW from the very seat I am sitting in.
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Hoping to get to some maintenance done on this tank tomorrow..when it is 100 degrees outside and I am forced to stay indoors. Thinking I might try removing the floaters completely and go back to one strip of lighting again. I need to get some new shrimp too, so sad I lost all my higher grade shrimp. :( Stupid Eheim ceramic shafts!
 

myswtsins

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Did a 15% WC tonight and got aggressive with clean up! Tested the water too.

pH - 8.2
KH - 10
GH - 9
TDS - 150
Temp - 76
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate - 0

Plant by plant update. All photos taken after WC and the water is full of micro bubbles and "stuff", please pardon it.
Moss - 4hrs of tying wasted when the thread all broke. Oddly the moss only lifted from the wood but did not float away. Didn't matter cause 95% of the moss died and as it died hair algae started. A few sprigs are still attached and alive (with HA in them) except the fissiden did really well even covered in HA!
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And the bits of other moss still hanging out
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Crpyts - Have changed so much from their original form. This happens to me all the time, it looks one way in my friends tank and totally different in my tank. Oh well, I still like it but it doesn't look as cool and is getting taller and taller, blocking the wood. Got them and placed them there cause they were nice and short. :(
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There are 2 baby crypts already which is in record time for me!
In the back
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To the right
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Needle leaf Java Fern - Dropped a lot of it's leaves and replaced them with adjusted leaves, not babies but new leaves. Also always happens to me. More leaves still dying but I figured I'd just leave it alone and let it work itself out. Looks good though!
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Anubias - All doing OK. Nothing major to report, could be doing better.
Nana
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Group of petite that I hope will ring that wood eventually
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Last but not least, the Buce! It is alive which is more than I thought would happen but better than that it is doing really well! It's at least doubled in number of leaves.
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Inhabitant update
Shrimp - Like I said filter broke without me knowing it and I lost most of the shrimp. 2 or 3 regular RCS left.
They were hiding cause I was disturbing them so pictures are pretty bad lol.
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Snails- I have zebra, olive and horned nerites which are all still doing well. I also have bladder, rams, mini rams and MTS so yeah pretty much every "pest snail" and they are also doing well! ;) No population explosion though and I like snails so it's all good!
Only my black horned nerite came out for pics.
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Group shot of others. Although this pics don't show it their shells are really healthy which makes me very happy. Especially the MTS cause they always have white pitted shells but these guys are pristine, he is in the back there and you can tell he is not white at least. I did add the MTS on purpose from my other tank BTW.
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FTSs - Really poor cause of the WC, sorry guys. All different settings and setups (one light, 2 lights, with floaters and without)
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It's so empty! I don't know if I will try re-mossing the wood. Maybe it's just too soon to think about going through that trouble again... But man it looked SO good with the moss! I will get more shrimp once I am sure I have fixed the filter issue (so far so good though). Should I get standard RCS or get a higher grade?
 

myswtsins

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Got a clearer FTS. Some of the roots from the water lettuce is over a foot long! Just looked back and this tank has been planted for 6 months!? Time flies!

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myswtsins

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"Is anybody out there?"

Just a few pics from tonight.

Pretty sure these are a guy and a gal cause they are in this position often and I have lots of nerite eggs. Apparently I must have left water marks on the outside of the back of the tank...apparently! lol
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One of my zebra nerites, you can see a shrimp in the background too.
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Just a couple rams
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Floaters from underneath (This is the side where they move around, the other side is packed!)IMG_2749.JPG

Shrimpy
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And I lied! I actually have 3 crypt plantlets! :D You can see all 3 is this picture too, just noticed that!
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That is all. :)
 

fishorama

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I think it looks great Jen! I probably would go with "regular but nice" RCS but that's me.

Can you just trim some of the floater roots? I like the look but I know they can get out of control & tangle up...everything, lol.
 

myswtsins

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I think it looks great Jen! I probably would go with "regular but nice" RCS but that's me.

Can you just trim some of the floater roots? I like the look but I know they can get out of control & tangle up...everything, lol.
Someone is still paying attention!! Yay! :D lol Thank you!

I could trim the roots and I probably should for the exact reasons you said but they are so pretty. lol But some of those roots are over a foot long now so yeah...time for a trim. Thanks for checking in. :)

Mini update while I'm here!
I gave away a lot of my floaters and am trying just the one strip of light again. I am looking for new shrimp and mosses right now so that will be coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Interesting behavioral note. I only have 3 male shrimp now but I find them doing laps around the tank all at the same time, as if there was a female "in heat". I check the water and everything seems fine so I wonder what causes this behavior if not female hormones or bad water?
 

fishorama

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Gee, Jen, I was gone for 2 or 3 weeks! Nice to know you missed my feeble comments & your tank continues without them, lol.

My male shrimp also seemed to enjoyed WCs & new foods for free swimming fun whether females were there or not (different priorities? dunno).
 

myswtsins

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It's always more fun with comments, even your feeble ones. ;) And the tank appreciates them all!

Maybe they are just having fun? Of course not, that's never the case, always a reason!

Every local place wants $4+ a shrimp and at that price I can get Sakuras (with shipping) so I am going to order shrimp. OMG Msjinkzd has dwarf chain loaches for sale for only $10.50! This is bad, very very bad! Must look away....

Sooo... I didn't need to trim the roots on my floaters cause the decrease in the amount of floaters allowed them to move around more and my wood took care of the trimming for me. :) And I found another baby crypt! I am so amazed by the speed at which these guys are spreading. As a side note, I just LOVE the location of the tank! I stare at it all the time. So glad I rearranged my entire living room. Aww, the light JUST went off, bedtime! :)
 

myswtsins

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Got way too many plants for my 58g so I planted some of the overflow in my shrimp tank!

FTS - Just did a WC and planted so yeah it's messy...like always!
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Hard to see them but I planted some small Balanse in the back right. Yes, the pre-filter needs cleaning. :)
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Crypt Nurii in the front off center left. Sorry it is blurry, shame too cause it is pretty!
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Crypt affinis metallic red- left side
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Crypt usteriana - Whoops, didn't notice the clock reflection lol I removed some needle leaf java fern too. It wasn't attached anymore and it gives some room to this guy AND I have some to put into the 58g now. :)
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Crypt unknown from above, I like the reflection. You can clearly see where I threw a little BDBS lol.
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Unknown Buce - new leaves coming up everywhere
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Big happy ram, one of several sizable ones
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One of the zebras
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A MTS and olive Nerite. Notice how perfect my MTS shell is, no white! :D
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Another MTS next to one of the baby crypts
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Still haven't figured out motion shots with this camera but this male RCS has really colored up nicely.
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Hair algae is being persistent but not overwhelming. I might hit it with some excel next WC. Really need to find some cheap RCS!
 
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