Jump to content

To carpet or not to carpet.


Robert

Recommended Posts

Ive managed to attain a large amount of Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis from my Ex (Weird right?) and im really considering planting it in my main 3ft shrimp tank.

Pros:

- Looks

- Water quality

- Biofilm

Cons:

- Permanent

- Visibility

If i decide to rip it out later all the substrate will go crazy and the layers will mix. Could result in a spike in ammonia.

Tank is currently running full ADA New and Co2. Only plant life in the tank is 4 amazon swords.

Help me decide.:dejection:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

That is a really good looking ground cover why would you want to rip it out?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't help you on that one dude cause I'm thinking the same things, I would put it in cause it's a great ground cover & looks amazing but when the soil needs replacing it would be a real pain, I just couldn't bring myself to rip it out, sorry I'm not help dude. I hate decisions like this :dejection:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the moment im so into japanese / taiwanese styled shrimp setups with their simplistic designs. Its such a tough choice for something so simple. Anyone have experience with ground cover in a shrimp set up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ground cover works well with the shrimp, but if you are planning to selectively breed shrimp and catch a lot of them in the process, I would avoid it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im currently running full ADA substrate with co2 and a thick UG carpet and can say defiantly worth growing the carpet. I've countered the problem of mixing the layers by placing some fibreglass flyscreen over my powersand base ,let's you rip up plants without ripping up the power sand. Maby this can help you

2012-12-23171140_zps648c5cae.jpg20130329_181908_zpsc38949c9.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your UG carpet is to die for. I think ill plant till 3/4 back to front and just leave a strip along the front so i can see everything when feeding time comes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

Hsoje that looks awesome and the fibreglass is a great idea because you can just lay it back down on your new substrate:applause:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good point HeavyD :encouragement: Talk to Nogi, his tank is almost completely covered, he has a hell of a time catching shrimp but it looks awesome :victorious:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The decision is whether your tank is for viewing or breeding. If it's for viewing or BOTH, then go for it. But if its for breeding, espacially selective breeding, then simplicity is the BEST. I use to have a shrimp tank with a think ground cover.....shrimplets LOVED it, as they hid between the substarte and the fronds, but catching and observing them was really tricky.

The other issue is you're not able to then to gravel cleans, if required.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats what i figured, 3ft long is more a display without dividers. Gave me a reason to get a new tank made :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats what i figured' date=' 3ft long is more a display without dividers. Gave me a reason to get a new tank made :)[/quote']

Any action that justifies a new tank is good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your UG carpet is to die for. I think ill plant till 3/4 back to front and just leave a strip along the front so i can see everything when feeding time comes.

sounds good mate best of both worlds' date=' My suggestion may be if you want the Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis to stay in the straight line put a divider in the substrate otherwise those runners will shoot everywhere, caused me a few troubles in the past.

GL with it mate, show us some photos after.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

regret this decision already, some of you may have seen on forums someone was offloading a huge amount of UG which is a much nicer plant. The carpet plant i just planted has already shot out runners everywhere and now i have to rip it out and replace it all with UG :) something to keep me busy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Word of advise UG will do the same as with most carpeting plants... UG I have found also to have a ten dance to lift up to over time so make sure to be carefull with your trimming

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • ngoomie
      Alright, I've done a bit more research on gentian violet's cancer-causing potential but I haven't yet done research on malachite green's to compare. But from reading the California propositon 65 document about GV (North Americans incl. some Canadians will recognize this as the law that causes some products they buy to be labelled with "known to the state of California to cause cancer", including the exact product I bought) it seems that the risk of cancer is related to internal use, either injection or ingestion. Speaking of ingestion, I think GV bans mainly relate to its use in treating fish/shrimp/etc. which are intended for human consumption, because of the above. And in countries where GV isn't banned for this purpose, it does seem to get used on various species of shrimp without causing any issue for the shrimp themselves (at least enough so for shrimp farming purposes). See the following: In February, the FDA Began Rejecting Imported Shrimp for Gentian Violet and Chloramphenicol (2022 article by Southern Shrimp Alliance) FDA Starts New Calendar Year by Refusing Antibiotic-Contaminated Shrimp from Three BAP-Certified Indian Processors and Adding a BAP-Certified Vietnamese Processor to Import Alert (2024 article by Southern Shrimp Alliance) Southern Shrimp Alliance and some other organizations have tons of other articles in this vein, but I'd be here for a while and would end up writing an absolutely massive post if I were to link every instance I found of articles mentioning shrimp shipments with gentian violet and/or leucogentian violet registering as contaminants. That being said, I know shrimp farmed for consumption and dwarf shrimp are often somewhat distantly related (in fact, the one time a shrimp's species name is listed that I can see, it's the prawn sp. Macrobrachium rosenbergii, who at best occupies the same infraorder as Neocaridina davidi but nothing nearer), but this at least gives a slightly better way of guessing whether it will be safe for aquarium dwarf shrimp or not than my bladder snail anecdote from the OP.
    • sdlTBfanUK
      I would hazard a guess that perhaps those eggs were unfertilized and thereby unviable? Did the eggs change colour, usually yellow to grey as the yolks used up, or any eyes in the eggs. Is your water ok, using RO remineralised and the parameters in range, as I have heard others say that if the water isn't good it can 'force' a molt? How is it going overall, do you have a good size colony in the tank, you may have reached 'maximum occupancy' as a tank can only support so many occupants.
    • beanbag
      Hello folks,  The current problem I am having is that my Taiwan bee shrimp are molting before all their eggs have hatched.  Often the shrimp keep the eggs for 40+ days.  During that time, they lose about half or so, either due to dropping or duds or whatever.  Shortly before molting they look to have about a dozen left, and then they molt with about half a dozen eggs still on the shell.  Then the other shirmp will come and eat the shell.  These last few times, I have been getting around 0-3 surviving babies per batch.  I figure I can make the eggs hatch faster by raising the water temperature more (currently around 68F, which is already a few degrees higher than I used to keep it) or make the shrimp grow slower by feeding them less (protein).  Currently I feed Shrimp King complete every other day, and also a small dab of Shrimp Fit alternating days.  Maybe I can start alternating with more vegetable food like mulberry?  or just decrease the amount of food?
    • ngoomie
      Yeah, cancer risk was a thing I'd seen mentioned a lot when looking into gentian violet briefly. I kinda just figured it might only be as bad as the cancer risk of malachite green as well, but maybe I should look into it more. I've been doing a pretty good job of not getting it on my skin and also avoiding dunking my unprotected hands into the tank water while treating my fish at least, though. Maybe I'll just not use it once I'm done this course of medication anyways, because I know a store I can sometimes get to that's pretty distant carries both malachite green and methylene blue, and in pretty large quantities.
    • jayc
      Can't help you with Gentian Violet, sorry. It is banned in Australia violet for potential toxicity, and even possible cancer risks. I thought it was banned in Canada as well. At least, you now know why there isn't much info on gentian violet medication and it's use. But keep an eye on the snails after a week. If it affects the snails, it might not kill them immediately. So keep checking for up to a week. Much safer options out there. No point risking your own life over unsafe products.
×
×
  • Create New...