journal The begining

[BristledOne]

So like most people I'm sure, I started with red cherry shrimp. I was given a small number but unfortunately they found there way into a filter and it put me off the hobby for a little bit.

After a change around of my tanks I came to have a 2ft free and so began to look into shrimp again. I was given some shrimp from someone else, more but not as nice quality and since then I've found myself more and more looking at the different range around and the tanks that people were housing them in.

Eventually I purchased some blue gene red rili interstate but decided to house them in a relatives tank with their CRS while I convert my 2ft to benibachi. The cherry red's were moved into an all in one tank I was previously looking to sell.

Blue Gene Rili::

After too many hours of research and more comparing then I'd care to admit I ended up settling on the standard Benibachi Fulvic Black (normal grain size) and a few extra accessories, placed the order with Boss Aqua (cheers for the goodies)

So from there I cleaned out my tank, scraped out ever last grain of my old river gravel and spent some time thinking about what I wanted it to end up like. After a while I decided I needed something to finish the tank off as I just didnt have enough to fill it out the way I had hoped. Ended up stumbling across a piece of rock at a local LFS for cheap that they claim wont effect the water (inert black granite?) but I suppose time will tell.

So I dug up my sleeves and got to work!

So considering I filled the tank and started the filter on Thursday night I'm going to consider next Friday to be the one week point, as I dont have anything more than the ability to test PH right now I'll take a sample of the water down to the LFS and get them to test it out for me and see if it's finished cycling.

I'm pretty stoked with how it's turned out looking, the plants are a bit battered but that's largely from them sitting in a bucket in the dark for a week. Oh and I've put 9 of the Benibachi balls into the canister filter that's running on the tank. The 10th ball is with the red cherries so they've got some minerals to pick at if needed (they don't have benibachi soil)

There are still plants behind the bits of broken slate, they run most of the way along the back so I'll have a natural green backing and the black slate will hopefully highlight the 3 colored plants in-front of it. The right side of the tank will get overgrown with ambulia and javamoss behind and to the right of the wood.

Anyway, just thought I'd share my scape with you all. Curious to hear what you think of it?

[chopper]

Looks Awesome dude:encouragement: Keep us posted with some more pics as it comes along:congratulatory:

maybe a little while before you get anything in your planaria trap though

[Squiggle]

+1, awesome looking tank, very nice scape, can't wait to see it when it grows in. Definitely agree with chopper on the trap, shouldn't have any planaria in there for a while, you would also need to put some food in there to attract them in there. :encouragement:

[BristledOne]

Thanks for the kind words :) Quite happy with it for a first attempt at scaping, little worried about the rock causing ph and hardness drift but the LFS claimed it to be inert granite. Sound some plants yesterday, unsure what the name of them are as they were just labelled as "plant, small pot" but I've trimmed the roots and made some cuttings (ended up with more than I was expecting) also put a plain black backing in hoping to bring more focus on the contents of the tank

Attached is the modified scape :) think I went a bit overboard because of the extra cuttings tbh

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5964[/ATTACH]

[Squiggle]

Looking good dude, coming along nicely, thanks for sharing! :encouragement:

[poeticwinter]

i think you need buy internal parasite clear mate, its know good for help remove planaria, worms,etc without harm your shrimp. dose abit every 3 days, and do water changes 20%

[BristledOne]

i think you need buy internal parasite clear mate' date=' its know good for help remove planaria, worms,etc without harm your shrimp. dose abit every 3 days, and do water changes 20%[/quote']

Can I ask what makes you say this? I dont have any planaria etc as this tank was just set up, I've since taken out the trap I just had it in because I've got a habit of loosing or breaking things that are not in use.

Tanks nearly cycled, still waiting on levels (ammonia and Nitrate specifically) to drop a bit more. Did two 30% water changes today (spaced apart by a good 6 hours).

I also moved around the "Purple Knight" (Alternanthera Dentata) cuttings, changed the outlet a bit and connected up a Mouse-101 airpump to the jerry-rigged outlet (its an attachment from a powerhead) just to make sure I'm at saturation point when it comes to oxygen (WA is expecting a bit of an incoming heatwave)

Got an updated photo for you all, can probably see the ludicrous amount of fine bubbles floating around. What do you think of the layout change for the purple knight? figured it would be better further back so I've got more foreground visible when the tank matures.

[Squiggle]

Looks very cool dude, can't wait to see lots of little shrimpies in there. :encouragement:

[jayc]

Can I ask what makes you say this? I dont have any planaria etc as this tank was just set up' date=' I've since taken out the trap I just had it in because I've got a habit of loosing or breaking things that are not in use.

[/quote']

I think poeticwinter saw those long thin white lines on the glass in one of your photos + the planaria trap and put one plus one together.

Your photo above also shows what looks like an outbreak of planaria (thin white worms). But as you saw it's ludicrous amounts of bubbles.

Case of mistaken identity. Case closed.

[poeticwinter]

haha case closed then if that the bubbles not tiny worms :) its beautiful setup, keep update and thanks for sharing :)

Can I ask what makes you say this? I dont have any planaria etc as this tank was just set up, I've since taken out the trap I just had it in because I've got a habit of loosing or breaking things that are not in use.Tanks nearly cycled, still waiting on levels (ammonia and Nitrate specifically) to drop a bit more. Did two 30% water changes today (spaced apart by a good 6 hours).I also moved around the "Purple Knight" (Alternanthera Dentata) cuttings, changed the outlet a bit and connected up a Mouse-101 airpump to the jerry-rigged outlet (its an attachment from a powerhead) just to make sure I'm at saturation point when it comes to oxygen (WA is expecting a bit of an incoming heatwave)Got an updated photo for you all, can probably see the ludicrous amount of fine bubbles floating around. What do you think of the layout change for the purple knight? figured it would be better further back so I've got more foreground visible when the tank matures.

[BristledOne]

Quick update

All my rili have been drip acclimatized (@2Lp/h rate) and let in, spread apart over a space of a few days. So far so good, no deaths and little signs of stress.

Thought I'd put some advertising in the latest pic lol, figured Dean might enjoy it :p

[Squiggle]

Hahaha, tank looks awesome & I love the shameless advertisement. :applause:

[BlueBolts]

LOL, just when I thought the tank couldn't look better, it could…nice sticker…..

[BristledOne]

Thanks guys Your kind words mean a great deal.

I have to say, so far this tank is going pretty well *knocks on wood*

The rili seem to all still be showing no signs of distress, water parameters are sitting great thanks to the overfiltering and I'm doing my best to keep on top of things

I had to go away for a couple of nights and so I decided to give them 2 nights without any feedings (they've got tons of plant matter and of course IAL) just as they've not exactly been desperate for food whenever I feed them.

However when I got back, they seemed almost delighted to see me and I got a nice show

There are some real "Full bodied" women in there lol, carrying a few extra grams of berried weight :p

I'm still keeping an eye out for culls, though I plan on letting each female release a clutch of eggs at least once before I move them just so I can get my population numbers up a little bit more.

Got a nice shot of some friendly shrimp sharing a bite to eat too :)

The plants themselves are starting to look more at home, the scrawny plant in my focal point that I was a bit worried about has decided to come back with gusto and is now starting to branch off with new shoots that are coming through looking healthy. This is the first time I've used an active substrate, I dont think I want to go back to inert any time soon now

Anyway, just wanted to share a bit of an update. Thanks for looking :)

[Squiggle]

Very cool pics dude, thanks for sharing. :encouragement:

[BlueBolts]

The Rillis are looking great, nice colony. Thanks for the update, glad it's all progressing well.

just between you and I, I too believe the shrimps know we're away, and often welcomes me back...:-)

[ineke]

Nice shrimp. I too think the shrimp are happy to see us. I have a few that always come to the front of the tank when I make my morning inspection. :encouragement:

[Squiggle]

Hahaha, definitely agree, I have a RR that comes to say hi every time I stick my face in front of the tank, I mean she literally walks halfway across the tank to the glass where I am & when I move, so does she, it's so cute. :encouragement:

[Garnelchen]

I have a RR that comes to say hi every time I stick my face in front of the tank' date=' I mean she literally walks halfway across the tank to the glass where I am & when I move, so does she, it's so cute. :encouragement:[/quote']

Awwwe! That's so adorable!

[Wraithie]

He also has one that goes and hides behind the filter when he looks into the tank ;)

[BristledOne]

Quick update

The tank has been maturing well, plants are all showing good signs of growth, the color seems to have stayed in the focal plants which I'm a little suprised about because i've got no CO2 running and a single 2ft fluro over the tank.

The rili seem to be sitting pretty, no deaths and some have been molting so hoping to see some berried action soon (there was one berried but she only had 3 eggs)

Today I received my latest addition to the tank and my first step into the Caridina family of shrimp, they were acclimatised at my normal 2Lp/h rate and after a couple of hours were let loose!

I present to you, my Golden Snow Bees!

Thankyou so much for these Squiggle! They're already looking pretty happy in there, a large number are out and picking away at substrate or plant biofilm

[Squiggle]

Looks great dude, glad they are settling in well, they should get more solid colour once they relax over the next few hours/days. :encouragement:

[K9932]

Looking great !

[BristledOne]

Thanks Squiggle and K9932 :)

Thought I'd do another quick update with pics of course.

So firstly it seems the plant "ambulia" doesn't enjoy high-flow, the bits that are outside of direct flow are looking great but the bits in the flow have had their stems melt and breakoff. So I've scooped out the pits and have them floating in a different tank, will hopefully plant them next week when I re-scape a different tank to test out a different substrate (it's currently using inert, Going to try the black earth substrate by cal aqua labs) I'll see how things progress for now as other plants may take over the space on their own otherwise I might get a hanging pot and plant some weeping moss in that space. Below is a pic of the nearly stemless ambulia

As for the shrimp, well it seems that the newly added GS-Bees I got from Squiggle are settling in well and are not exactly shy (they seem to come out as soon as I turn the lights on) but right now I'm mostly watching the rili with interest as it seems I've got at least two that are berried!

Plan at this stage is to let the population grow and then when I've got the 3ft tanks divided I'll start selectively breeding them and probably use this tank for culls

I've got to go scoop some more ambulia I see floating :/ so that's all for now

[Squiggle]

Nice pics dude, always love seeing berried mamma's! :clap: