Fishmosy's Chameleon tank

[fishmosy]

So my new project: Breeding some chameleon shrimp in order to get some first hand experience before I write another "Ultimate Guide to...."

Also another great excuse to get another tank in the house, and to buy a new tank! Bonus.

So this tank is not a biotope as such as I really want to set up a hard scape tank and utilise some interesting pieces that I've had lying around. In particular I plan on including some Melanoides sp. snails. But more on that later.

So first up, the tank. After using an Aquamanta Xanti 40 for a setup in the past http://shrimpkeepersforum.com/forum/index.php/topic/5827-aquarium-xanti-40-by-aquamanta/

and it would have been my first choice, but there wasn't enough space. So I went with the Xanti 40's smaller size, the Xanti 26. Luckily I had some store credit and got an extra discount for reasons you'll see below, but the Xanti 26 usually costs around $120.

So why was the tank discounted.... Somebody screwed up.

Thats right, the base is completely misaligned. Luckily it was an easy fix as the base it held on by what is essentially double sided tape.

Then like the 40, remove the garish stickers.

Test the LED, and its ready to go.

[fishmosy]

Another thing to note is that the Xanti 26 has the same pump as the Xanti 40, rated at 200LPH. So I wont be using another filter in the tank, nor extra circulation. The only mods I will/ have made are to remove the inlet restrictor on the pump and to add a mesh to the filter inlet to stop shrimplets climbing in.

The space - The wife usually stores the pillows from the bed here, but I have a better use for it.

See - a million times better already. Unfortunately I still got into trouble when she came home and saw it.

One problem though, from the bed you have the light from the LED straight into the eyes. I mentioned this with the Xanti 40 as well. Luckily there is a quick fix - a few coats of black nail polish does the trick.

Edited October 4, 2014 by fishmosy

[sez0607]

Looks great, and you've got to love a bargain :)

Ps, is there still enough nail polish left for a quick coat on your toenails? ;)

[fishmosy]

I've been wanting to set up a hardscape only tank for awhile. Hardscape tanks only use rocks, wood and gravel/sand to create a scene. I went out and collected some rocks, gravel and roots today.

Playing with the tank layout without water.

Filling with water.

And finally added some macropore just in case there were any nasties brought in with the root and gravel. Thanks to @The Tech Den, got this when it was a special recently. Knew it would come in handy for something.

So now just waiting impatiently for the silt to clear from the water, then I'll add some media from an established filter, the snails and hopefully soon, the shrimp. Stay tuned.

Edited October 5, 2014 by fishmosy

[Squiggle]

Fantastic stuff dude, looks absolutely amazing! Can't wait to read the article & see the tank finished.

[ineke]

great stuff Ben. Really good to get some real info on the Chameleons. I hope to eventually set up a tank for some so wait excitedly to hear more!

[OzShrimp]

Thats an awesome scape, how do you know what wood is safe?

[fishmosy]

Thanks everyone. I'll be updating again shortly as the water is starting to clear.

Thats an awesome scape, how do you know what wood is safe?

I collect wood that is already submerged, hence it should have few tannins and almost certainly no sap (which tends to be the killer in aquaria). I've taken a little bit of a risk with this piece as there was a little bit of living material in the thicker part (its actually a root, hence why it looks so good - branches just don't give you this effect) hence why I added the macropore.

In this case, I had a specific layout in mind and went searching for a piece of wood to match. However usually I'll just grab any nice pieces of wood when I'm out, as you never know when they might be useful.

Theres a couple of advantages to collecting wood that is already submerged. The first as I outlined above is that little or no tannins. Second is that it will sink in your aquarium - no issues with it floating or trying to hold it down. Thirdly you know what colour it will be. Some wood changes colour when it gets wet. For example I have collected old hollow timber pieces that were silver, but turned black underwater.

The major disadvantage of submerged timber is that its likely to have hitch-hikers, for example, snails, eggs and even worse dragonfly larvae. There is a simple fix for this, leave the piece to COMPLETELY dry in the sun. The wood will sink again fairly easily after it has been dried but may need to be held down initially.

The drying method may not work if the timber has deep grooves or hollows that nasties can hide in. In this case, try boiling it or soaking it in a sterilising agent like potassium permanganate.

Edited October 5, 2014 by fishmosy

[jayc]

Great timing!

I'm also starting a chameleon tank.

I've got someone to steal ...um is mean reference ideas from.

Just cleaned a small aqua one ar126 out. And it's drying in the sun.

[fishmosy]

First tank inhabitant is in. Its a strange one... Algae. Specifically cladophora.

There is a story behind this. It was quite a few years back when the marimo craze started. I'd recently got back into fish keeping after a couple years off. Anyway didn't do any research and ordered a marimo online. Think it was about $50 or something similarly rediculous. When it arrived, I wondered why it wasn't perfectly round ......

the bastard scammer had rolled clado into a ball and passed it off as marimo. I've held onto the clado since. Its sat in a container on a windowsill for the last few years. Not sure why I hung onto it, maybe as a reminder.

Now I figure the best screw you to the scammer is to use it.

Tank has pretty much cleared now, did a 70% water change to remove the final bit of silt. Added a screen to the inflow of the filter today. Will post pic soon.

[OzShrimp]

i had some of that in my tank until recently lol. I had marimos but sold them real cheap when there was a crack down and lost out aout $150 

[JPN07]

Love it. Very natural look.

[jayc]

How are you blocking the filter inlet on that style of filter?

[fishmosy]

Water is clear now.

My favorite pic of the tank so far.

Edited October 7, 2014 by fishmosy

[fishmosy]

How are you blocking the filter inlet on that style of filter?

Glad you asked. I used some 500 micron mesh to make a grill. 500 micron = 0.5mm * 0.5mm holes. I normally go 1mm mesh for CRS but since chameleon shrimplets are supposed to be small, I thought it better to go to 500 micron.

I made a frame using pieces of zip ties and glued it onto the mesh using super glue.

This side sits tight against the back of inlet (facing into the tank) so that the mesh is flush with the inlet holes.

This side (the frame) holds the mesh flat against the inlet holes. As you can see, I made the mesh wider than what would fit then cut it down to size using a hot knife. It fits really tightly, so it wont be going anywhere and I wont have to worry about it falling out of place.

Here is how it sits into the filter. I push it down so it sits flush with the top of the filter. Hey presto.

Edited October 20, 2014 by fishmosy

[jayc]

AH HAH!

 

DIY FTW.

[B3nn0]

looking good fishmosy

i might have to steal the inlet idea =] =]

Edited October 14, 2014 by B3nn0

[GotCrabs]

Where are you getting the Chameleons from? I got mine through AquaGreen, had them within less than 24 hours from Darwin to country South Australia, great shrimp, I've had dark purple and at the moment are a dark brown with a bright white stripe down the back.

[fishmosy]

Where are you getting the Chameleons from? I got mine through AquaGreen, had them within less than 24 hours from Darwin to country South Australia, great shrimp, I've had dark purple and at the moment are a dark brown with a bright white stripe down the back.

I've arranged to get some from a contact in Sydney. just waiting to see what their patterning will be like before I decide if I want to add some extra genetic material from other sources.

[GotCrabs]

If they are a blue or turn blue it means they are stressed, just keep that in mind.

[fishmosy]

Just like riffles, thanks for the tip.

[fishmosy]

Added some cycled media to the filter. First inhabitants are in:

Pretty sure the smaller one is a baby from the group of adults I have.

[Squiggle]

Looking good dude, should be a stunning tank. Just a side note, Marimo balls are Cladophora & I've had some slow growing Clado in my LumiQ at work for a while, looks pretty good after a trim.

[poeticwinter]

look like creek on aquarium awesome :)

[fishmosy]

Thanks guys. The snails are doing really well. Been able to watch them feeding. They are spending a little more time in the substrate than I would like, but thats how it goes.

I'm going to organise the shrimp this week.