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The other day we went on a little day field trip to Blackdown Tablelands roughly a 2hr one way drive from my house. There has been no real rain to speak of out that way and the creeks and waterfalls where either dry or greatly reduced. Sadly we saw very little actual wildlife and even birds where almost non-existant. Many times we stopped on various walking tracks or along the 4WD track and just listened and where surrounded by deadly silence, not even a cicada called. This lack of creatures may have been down to the fairly recent controlled burns the rangers had been doing the past month or so but even in regrowth areas wildlife was missing apart from the occasional butterfly. The various waterways too seemed devoid of life, no matter how hard I looked I saw no fish or snails. In fact the only waterlife I did spy where water skaters, water boatsmen, tadpoles and some odd caddis type creature that had made a narrow tube like home out of something that seemed shell like. We where not eaten alive by mosquitos so I am guessing that something is keeping them in check but for the life of me I could not see anything that I would normally expect to see in a permanent water source. Many of the creeks etc I saw where also quite devoid of any plant life which could also explain the lack of other watery wildlife. First View on the approach to Blackdown Tablelands First port of call was Horseshoe Lookout and Goodela and Yaddamen Dhina Along the way I saw some sweet little Sundews Some moss, some type of Fissiden? Further along we went to Mook Mook (at least some of the way didn't fancy another 1.2 km walk) Look carefully and you will see the tadpoles, some of them where HUGE Sort of lost track of which walk these where along......after 5km the mind goes a little blank, especially after the hell climb back up from the base of Rainbow falls. The base of Rainbowfalls The COLD water was a welcome relief to sore hot feet and our feet stayed semi-frozen at least halfway back along the 2km walk. Lookout at Mitha Boongulla There where wildflowers out, but not in abundance and quite a few of these quite little dragons. The upshot, if visiting Blackdown Tablelands it is worth it, but take lunch snacks and plenty of cold drinks. Also have spare water on hand to wash hands with ease at any of the parking areas aside from Horseshoe Lookout. A 4WD is a must to get to and from Mitha Boongulla, most of the track is tame but there are a couple of hair raising, butt clenching spots. And I would not attempt it in summer, the heat alone will kill and the chance of wild storms very real. Also before going up the range ensure your car is up to it, we met a couple at the information booth at the top that had boiled their radiator during the drive up the range. I shall leave you with this is it a spider or an ant.....

I've only recently got into endlers, and already I've got a few very peculiar males popping up and I'm thinking of line-breeding them some time in the future. These came from completely legitimate parents and there has been no contamination of varieties, so these are purely mutations that come from the actual varieties themselves. In addition to these two males I have a few other strange males, just haven't got around to photographing them yet. The above male came from my colony of Opal Endlers. It looks like a blonde but doesn't even have the red markings. I'll just need to work on getting the tail sorted out in his offspring as it's a bit deformed (as you can see it is angled downwards). This male came out of a colony of Tiger Endlers, and looks nothing like what a Tiger Endler should, as it has the beginnings of a double sword as opposed to a pin-tail (about as opposite of a tail shape to a double sword as you can get).

Hmm I just checked and it's not possible to like your own posts :-( ... pity; you can't go wrong with the bosses crack!!

Standby! gotta take daughter to swimming lesson then i will edit this post. So maintain all that excitement you had when you read the topic! I assure you it wont be worth it! lol Okie Dokie heres the update. So i got my cheap $29 Kmart tank and raided my storage containers and this was what i had to work with. The amazingly best tank ever, from Kmart :P Regardless of the cost of the tank It is always enjoyable setting up a new tank. Stage 1 was adding my left over UP Aqua Shrimp Soil The came the adding of the sponge filter. Now given the height of the tank i am not overly satisfied with this filter given that the outlet is right below the lid it gives minor splash back which you may see later. I also replaced the filter media in the bottom to seachem matrix for greater surface area for the bacteria. I have hidden my Fluval Stratum 50w heater behind the sponge filter but unfortunately i dont think the damn thing works lol. Havent seen it turn on once so far. Just one of the problems i encountered lol. Also lost the suction caps to it so I am using one of my spare eheim heater holders which is slightly too big so It doesnt hold it firm just kinda sits in it. Out of sight out of mind though, The fun began filling up with no bucket! had to use a cordial holder drink thing which only meant about 20 trips back and forth lol. Tap water was used as i will use RO water once it is cycled. Heater is set to 26 (if it turns on) Something magical happened after i added water. About 20+ CRS shrimp magically appeared in my tank! Talk about instant colony! Here comes my fully setup tank! Its the best scaped tank in the world in my opinion, I started with lush invisbilitis plants along the back followed by its miniature invisi grass along the front. You might also note that my thermometer is not fully in the water. Thats because the damn suction cap dont work no more lol. Its no longer in the tank. I am thinking i might just add a bit of bolbitis sorry cant recall spelling right now. I have a light on the way from the tech den which i am looking forward to arriving. This tank is only to give me something to do since I am in the process of clearing my last big tank to save some money to put towards a rack. Its been decided we wont be able to buy a house now for another year atleast so stuck in rentals which will continually impact on having a decent setup if we have to move regularly. Atleast with this I can pull it down and put it back together quickly. With the exception of the tank and the light on order everything else i had laying around. It just doesnt all work haha. You were warned this would be the best tank journal ever!. So my plans are to add the piece of bolbitis, did have 1 piece of Cholla wood left but i cant find it in the left over removal boxes lol so that will be found one day. And when the tank cycles hopefully acquire a pair of shrimp. The filter will be replaced with a lower laying one and will have to replace the heater and thermometer for sufficiently acting ones lol

https://vimeo.com/164879809 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Since starting off getting shrimp, in the first week, I started w/ 5 yellow cherries, then 2 blue/choccy's & 2 sunkist. I found a couple molts. Then, last Wednesday, I got a few red cherries, and now upon investigating my tank, (a now daily ritual), I found I have a berried red female!... woohoo! :) .... now its just the month or so wait for shrimplets :p (sorry, don't have pics up as yet)

That's bad news for me as my water is suuuuuuupper soft. The joys of having a concrete water tank. And that's good news re the CO2. Also, when you say "didn't do well" what do you mean? Are you talking about stunted growth, no growth or death? Just seems like I'll have issues in the TDS area and am wanting a heads-up on the amount of damage I'll be in for. Thanks, @fishmosy!

Ain't no one better than Ozshrimp to give you advice here. If you have substrate, don't forget to keep that in water too. A large portion of your beneficial bacteria will be in the substrate.

You'd be banned on any other forum for saying stuff like that ? But here on SKF, it seems totally acceptable to talk about your bosses crack and mineral balls.

My plan is to replicate @newbreeds rack system eventually. We gotta move house again in January then next August we will be in a position to purchase our own home so another moving lol

I dont really now 100% the way its done as I dont use the method myself. It was explained to me. So the glass divider is suppose to be 6 inches high and there should only be enough space from the back to fit the under gravel filter so there is no gaps on the sides. Depend on the brand you use you may need to cut and modify the UGF. On top of this you have some media. I was recommended the Marine pure cubes cut done to size. On top of this you can put on your soil. They usually have a sponge filter or two for additional filtration. Hope this helps.

In daylight without the eye shine... what a beauty! I think this is the same shrimp as in the first post above. She's released the larvae and been re-fertilised or was still packing sperm from before (I think shrimp do that) and the saddle has become another batch of eggs. You can also notice she has not eaten (head and gut is clear)...hopefully not a problem. I'm assuming for now that after a shrimp moults it doesnt eat for a while until all the "eating bits" have hardened up... at least that seems logical to me. Compare to the shrimp below.(terrible photo sorry!). This one below has the clear body and white eggs also and I think that brown smudge at the back of the head is the stomach and you can see the "poo chute". If not eating I expect it would be pretty like the one above - its something I'll watch for! Nature is cool.

Looks like there are 3 out the front Head to head. Nogi, Ozshrimp and Ineke Keep posting guys and make sure you like ppls posts.

I keep my white gloves at around 28c and leave my light on for 10 hours a day for algae growth and biofilms.

Wish i could see my likes on phone :(

HAHa, I only just got it.

haha what Jo said.

@jaycI didn't get to chat with him much unfortunately. So I am not sure what he is up to ATM.

Where is Squiggle lately? He has been very quite on SKF lately.

Oh yeah Make sure you guys check out www.Bossaquaria.com.au

Ahh gotchya

Whoever is on top next week is the winner. It only takes into account the last 7 days

Is tally being reset on the side :p

@Shrimpelina, in this hobby it is important to make mistakes and to learn from them. Newcomers that never make mistakes start to feel invincible and then start to make silly mistakes which can end up in devastating losses. Even seasoned veterans can make mistakes, it's called being human and until we are replaced by robot breeders with real AI we will continue to make mistakes. Also, mistakes can also lead to cool new shrimp.

Dont be acared to share theirnname so we can all shower them with praise lol. Its people like that which make the hobby better by helping grow by assisting new people. I am sure most people in ur situation without a mentor may have got discouraged and given up. Kudos to your mentors!