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sdlTBfanUK

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I decided to restock red cherry shrimp in the old fish tank so ordered a dozen Bloody Mary shrimp this morning for delivery tomorrow! They had 3 red wines in stock so I decided to take those as well and I will try them in the taiwan bee tank now the rock has been removed. I saw 4 taiwan bee in that tank yesterday so there are probably half a dozen left. We will see how these go before I do any further taiwan bee shrimp orders? Trying to resist getting some dwarf spotted rasbora for this tank........................... also ordered one of those stick on PH monitors to try that out?

I am assuming that beanbag hit the nail on the head and adding the rock which increased the PH caused a cycle and if this is what happened I should have taken my normal advice of 'don't try and fix it if it isn't broken'?

Anyway, should know by the end of february whether this tank will be 'shrimp' or 'fish' from now on, hopefully shrimp option though?

Simon

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That's great Simon, always fun to get new aquatic critters. I hope to be getting some new shrimp soon, just need to decide which!

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I had no idea the old tank had gotten as bad as it has???? I have fished out about 50 boring/brown shrimps to make room for the new bloody mary and reduce the likeliness of poor quality offspring. I can't have got anywhere near ALL of them, it's very difficult to even spot them as they are so well camouflaged! I guess I should try and keep more on top of it from now on.........................

Hoping new shrimps arrive alive and well in the next hour?

Simon

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51 minutes ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

I had no idea the old tank had gotten as bad as it has???? I have fished out about 50 boring/brown shrimps to make room for the new bloody mary and reduce the likeliness of poor quality offspring. I can't have got anywhere near ALL of them, it's very difficult to even spot them as they are so well camouflaged! I guess I should try and keep more on top of it from now on.........................

Hoping new shrimps arrive alive and well in the next hour?

Simon

I’m dying to get some tigers into my tank as well. I really want to get some ,”Fancy Tiger” offspring.I need my issue to clear up so I can order them, along with some additional crystal reds. ?
 

Do NOT get Rasboras in my honest opinion. Mine massacred my babies. They are excellent hunters and they are small enough to get into tiny areas. My baby population increased exponentially after removing the 5 I had.  

Edited by Steensj2004
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Thanks for the tip about the rasboras! Thats what has put me off getting them but if the shrimp don't start breeding I will get some rasboras instead, it's just sooooo difficult to hold back just buying them? I had them many years ago and they are very active so I am not surprised they are good hunters of baby shrimp!

I am just dripping the new red wines to see how they do now? I have seen 4 of the old/previous shrimp in that tank as well today. Then I have the bloody Mary to get done for the fish tank.........

Simon

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36 minutes ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

Thanks for the tip about the rasboras! Thats what has put me off getting them but if the shrimp don't start breeding I will get some rasboras instead, it's just sooooo difficult to hold back just buying them? I had them many years ago and they are very active so I am not surprised they are good hunters of baby shrimp!

I am just dripping the new red wines to see how they do now? I have seen 4 of the old/previous shrimp in that tank as well today. Then I have the bloody Mary to get done for the fish tank.........

Simon

Mine were anything but active, those fish hid anytime you got anywhere near the tank. But from a distance, I watched  them weaving in and out of the foreground plants hunting babies, like tiny Navy SEALS. That was all she wrote, they went to a friends tank. Lol. I went from searching for babies every new batch, to seeing them everywhere when a new batch, hatched.

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SNAP! If I went to the tank the fish hid but from a distance they were darting about, and being so small they can get into every crevice?

I hope my TB do start breeding, though it is still winter yet so it would likely be at best a month yet! Red wines are in the tank now and bloody mary are dripping! Every time I buy new shrimp I wonder why I bother, I have managed to spill water on the floor and the tablecloth is soaked???????? They better survive?????????

Simon

Edited by sdlTBfanUK
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3 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

SNAP! If I went to the tank the fish hid but from a distance they were darting about, and being so small they can get into every crevice?

I hope my TB do start breeding, though it is still winter yet so it would likely be at best a month yet! Red wines are in the tank now and bloody mary are dripping! Every time I buy new shrimp I wonder why I bother, I have managed to spill water on the floor and the tablecloth is soaked???????? They better survive?????????

Simon

At least you’re dripping. I’m part of a Facebook group where people regularly temp acclimate new shrimp, only.

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  • 4 weeks later...

BIG DAY here today, expecting the (Final) Taiwan bee shrimps today! I shall set up the dripper etc ready for their arrival! I plan to do only the shrimp today so it shall hopefully go well - I am determined to give it my best shot as this is the last attempt before turning it into a fish tank.. 

My previous tank setup started breeding mid March (spring here now, just) so hopefully that may happen this time but that will depend on whether the shrimp are old enough and live long enough!

Simon 

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7 hours ago, jayc said:

Don't forget the pics !

Here is a picture of what they have sent me! They sent me this photo and they looks to be a lovely mixture! I already have 2 red wine and a couple of blue steel shrimp and a red bolt - that I know about!

20200302_122229.thumb.jpg.72fb9d66ff306ea0b7b3bce2ab433b18.jpg 

I will take a photo or two of them at some point in the tank IF all goes well this time!

Simon

They're in the tank and all went well with that!

Edited by sdlTBfanUK
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  • 3 weeks later...

I could resist no longer and have ordered a dozen dwarf rasboras which SHOULD arrive next week!

Simon

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Which variety of dwarfs have you chosen? And yes, let’s hope they do arrive on time.

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I decided to mix so it should be 6 mosquito rasbora and 6 dwarf spotted rasbora. I am also getting a few heon and ember tetras for the old fish tank, to top the numbers up. I am half tempted to order a batch of bloody mary shrimp for the old tank as well and may do that later today. I would then be fully stocked ready for any lock down.............

Simon

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Haha yes, gotta stock up while you can. I’m getting 15 tts tonight for my 5 gallon, to try to breed them again, as I only have males left (thanks sexist apistogrammas ?). Then I’ll be fully set to breed and sell happily while we’re in self isolation. 
Those are some really beautiful species of rasbora, can’t wait to see yours.

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I also have 25 bloody Mary shrimp coming today for the old fish tank! As you say got to get in whilst I can before lock-down or something, I figured it was this week or who knows after that? Hopefully the fish will get here next week but they are waiting for them in stock so it may not happen I guess?

I hope you get your tts ok!

Simon 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Giving up on shrimps in this tank setup, if there are any that survive they can stay but tomorrow I am expecting fish delivery, 6 mosquito rasbora, 6 dwarf spotted rasbora and 2 bluefin notho killifish and they will go into the tank instead! I will try and get a photo soon!

Quite looking forward to the change!

Simon 

Edited by sdlTBfanUK
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Yeah great fish! The killies are stunners! You’re getting a pair yes?

Too bad it didn’t work out with the shrimp.

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I am up way too early and way too excited for someone of my advanced age!

Crabby has spotted the fly in the ointment, I ordered 2 killi and they said they didn't know whether they would be both males, but I MADE THE ERROR of asking for 2 males and it occured to me last night in bed ARGHH!!! Oh well see what I get first, and take it from there, it is never a good idea to just quickly add a couple of fish to the order last minute without research????? Never had killifish before but always wanted them but they aren't readily available in UK other than ebay which are usually eggs! If they are 2 males I may try them in the densly planted shrimp tank together, and if they look to be agressive/squabbling I may tansfer one in with the betta!

Simon

edit - any suggestions on the feeding of the dwarf rasbras and killi would be appreciated, I have tetramin baby, NT Labs Pro-f-micro crumb, bug bites and novo dried daphnia, bloodworms in gel. I can occassionally get live daphnia from the lake here but that would have to be a treat rather than a regular so what would people use of the 5 mentioned, alternate all, or which one(s) would be best and which not appropriate etc?

Edited by sdlTBfanUK
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  • 4 months later...

Been a while since I visited this thread! about this tank The plants are still not looking as good as the other tanks and the whole thing looks drab still, apart from the fish. The fish are doing well with 11 of the 12 mosquito rasbora still surviving, the one that died was withhin a day of getting them. I loved the killifish until a few weeks ago................ he would come out to be fed every morning but I scared him when doing some maintenance a while ago and now he spends 100% of his time hiding, I have seen he is alive but nothing coaxes him out now? They must be very nervous fish???

Anyway, back to shrimps, I had a couple of red steel survive until we had a hot week a month ago that wiped those out, but there were only a couple at that stage anyway. I have ordered a batch of Yellow King Kong to try in the tank as these are very cheap so I can test whether the tank has settled now, and whether postal service is working properly yet. I'm not a fan of YKK (and judging by price I guess not many others are keen either) but they are really cheap so if it doesn't work because of post or tank, not much lost. If all goes well then I may buy some more taiwan bees but that is a way off as I would want to be totally happy all is now well. The shrimp should arrive tomorrow, I told the seller not to bother sending any high grade as they are testers???

Simon

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Oh, so fish having PTSD is actually a more common thing than I thought then! My Jap Blue endlers are like that. They're the oldest fish in my endler tank, and I've removed probably 10 batches of fry from the tank to sell throughout the time they've been in the tank. For the last couple months they've been terrified of me. Only the last couple of weeks they have been much less stressed out by my presence - it's been a few months since I've sold any fish. Hopefully your killie will come out of it. Any chance we could see some pics of the tank?

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I'll try and get a photo at the weekend and the shrimps will hopefully be in there then, all going well. I doubt killie will be visible though which is a shame as he is a stunner!

Simon

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Just read all of this thread. Sorry you've had dramas with this tank Simon. Hopefully the YKK do better. 

I have Boraras Brigittae too and love them (I assume thats what your mosquito Rasboras are). They're a stunning fish and not skittish at all in my experience.

 

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Thanks for the kind words!

The mosquito rasbora (Boraras Brigittae) are brave and fun to watch, it is the killifish that got frightened, he came out of hiding very briefly today so maybe he will recover with a bit more time?

I feel very uninspired though with that tank, it never did well from when I restarted it and the plants aren't doing as well as the other tanks that I used JBL substrate in. I am charging up the camera to take a photo! It just looks drab and not healthy!

The new shrimp all went well into the tank and were looking very happy the first day, and the fish weren't interested in them, next day no sign of even one of the new shrimp, but no dead bodies or anything either, I thought maybe they were  hiding (that is still possibe?) but I haven't seen any since. I did see a large red bolt (?) at the weekend which I didn't know was in the tank as I thought they had died out in our week of 30+ heat in August?

The fish are doing well so I will just leave it as a fish tank I think? I can't believe the killifish may have ate all of the new shrimps as there were 15 one day and 0 the next and I wouldn't think he could eat that many mid size shrimp? I don't think the rasboras could have eaten the shrimp as the shrimp were nearly as big as them?

I wanted dwarf spotted rasboras as well for this tank and may do that still. I ordered 6 each of mosquito and dwarf spotted but they sent 12 mosquito, but it was just as we had lockdown (literally 1 day before it went mad) so I was lucky to get what I did!

Simon

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