Thursday, December 16, 2010

Massive Algae



My tank has been infested with algae in the last two months and they managed to consolidate in one rock which happened to be the lava rock with star moss (as can be seen in the last previous post). Today I decided that it has to go......
See how massive they look, I thought of rolling them into a ball like marima moss but decided that my tank should look pretty without their presence.


Now I can enjoy my other mosses clearer without them covered with algae.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

A lazy owner's tank


I started with a litt bits of different flora here and there in my 1.5feet tank, and than let nature take its course in my low tech tank (no chiller, no chemical). Here is the end result...which look as good as a nice forest for shrimps and fishes.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Land on "Fire"





Few months ago, all my different shrimps were wiped out due to some careless mistake I made - specifically using chemical to clear cloudy water. Since than, I decided to have a homogeneous "fire-red" only tank. Thus I started with a humble beginning - 10 Fire Shrimps (as shown in the top photo - two of which were seen loitering in an empty floor).
Many months later, the few humble "sparks" of fire I have started became wild and "blazed" my aquarium into "flame" of red. (2nd photo) and so are the creeping plants that never want to lose out in the race. However, not many of the shrimps resemble their ancestor (large shrimp with intense red color appears in 3rd photo)....hmmm...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Birth Control? No such policy.





At least not in the shrimp kingdom. The above photos speak volume (literally).

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Fishes in shrimp tank


The second photo is my favourite 5 pieces Harlequin Rasbora. I bought them because of their luminous orangy color. Ever since I kept them in my shrimp tank, they managed to eradicate the population of seed shrimps and tiny white worms. I hardly noticed any pesky planaria too. However, they do harm tiny shrimplets that swam (float) carelessly in open area unless those shrimplets hide in bushy mosses or walked next to the adult shrimps until they are big enough to appear alone before their shy prey. Any shrimplet that is bigger than its mouth will be spared as meal. As such, it is not advisable to keep too many of them even though aquarium hobbyist think 10 is an ideal number.
The top photo shows another type of dwarf Rasbora that loves to swim in group too. They are small and, unlike the Harlequin Rasbora, harmless to my shrimplets. If I have more spaces, I will definitely keep more of this fish. They feed on tiny tetra bits (sometime a little powdery form) which I fed to my shrimps. They do feed on tiny white worms if they spotted them floating around, not that such worms are common in my tank now. Unfortunately, the above fishes were not able to rid the button snails in my tank....hmmm so nobody is perfect in his world.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Magic Clear


I bought this container of capsules from a local fish farm. I was touched by the description written on the box and its mentioned effect. I did a water change on the same day and threw one capsule to test it out. Indeed the outcome was stunning, my tank became extremely clear and sharp to the eyes. Once my aqua plants have established itself well, I can take a crystal clear photo of it sooon, with such wonderful result from my "magic clear" recipe.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Star Moss


I have special liking for aquatic plants due to their vast varieties, more so on those "exotic" species. Today I happened to come across a special moss - star moss. I have many successful experiences cultivating java, christmas and spiky moss. This one is rather new to me. They were hardly discussed in many forums and its availability seems rare in the past that one may have to order from overseas. Thus I thought they might be expensive. However I saw its price to be on par with many common mosses in the market and immediately grabbed it when I chanced upon it at LFS today. Some people suggested that Star Moss is an emerged plant that requires a very moisted ground to grow, however it may not survive submerged. Personally, I have not tried this in my tank and will watch its result, hopefully, positively since I believed this purchased piece has already been grown under water. Anyway, it really looks nice like many green stars covering a lava rock seen here.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Garden in a 1.5 feet tank


I am constantly challenging my low tech tank by reading up suitable plants that are easy to keep.
Here is the result with different flora and fauna living in harmony. At least I believe it is many times better looking than the old tank in my old postings.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Snails/Amano



Putting some "friends" here to test the new water parameters.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Fisherman


With bigger tank, I can afford a small little ornament with all the plants completely transferred from smaller to bigger tank. It looks a little soothing with "someone" fishing inside.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Completed plants transfer



Managed to upgroot my plants from old to the new tank. Now my old tank is empty except with shrimps waiting to be transfered at later stage.

Starting a New Tank


First I will need the GEX soil and 1.5 feet tank. Chose one that has round unblocked front & side view. Than I transfer my plants over..slowly though. The two rocks will be the focal point which
gave me the inspirations to my next creativity...

I hope both my favorite old "NANA TREE" and petite nana can survive the new tank.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Last look of my forested Nano


After much deliberations, it is time to upgrade my tank. The shrimps are getting too productive in this small 1-footer and the plants are squeezing each other for spaces as seen in the pic. Therefore, I reckied around and eventually bought a suitable 5-plan 1.5 feet acrylic tank and keeping to budget and space constraint issue. It is really a challenge to do transfer due to high sensitivity of shrimps (by more than a 100 including shrimplets) to the water elements. Getting plants to acclimatise in the new environment is no easy task too . Both flora and fauna are equally important to me in this risky project. Will follow thru the steps in subsequent days...

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Double Happiness


Above: 2nd Generations of snowballs "pregnant" again. That means, the "grand children" of my first purchase.

Above: Surprised by so many sakura babies from their hideout.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Nature food source - Salvinia float


Water surface - shrimps busy feeding on Salvinia leaves (top pic)

Beneath the surface (snowball, sakura & CRS taking turn to feed)

When I thought my shrimps love to nibble on sinking Ketapang leaf, they enjoy scavenging in my floating plants too. See what they did and turned my salvinia into leaf skeleton.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Netting the filter




I noticed I hardly need to clean my filter sponge after changing to a diy netting which provide more efficient suction thru the filter inlet and non-blockage of dirts around it. As a matter of fact, I hardly need to clean my tank with all the necessary gadgets now put in place that allows my tank to run on its own eco-world. The only little thing that is needed - simply top up the water due to evaporations. Keeping shrimps is such a joy for now.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

New Visitor on 2010


I saw this cicada in the morning of 2 January 2010 at our doorstep. It was struggling to survive, so I tried to save it by bringing it indoor to prevent neighbours from tramping on it accidentally. However it couldn't make it in the late afternoon and was buried in the lucky flower pot at home. Anyway, it looks cute with big head, big eyes and a greeny fat furry (not those creepy hairy) tummy.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy new Decade 2010!!!


New life has just begun after molting out old problems - message from a dwarf shrimp.

Reflection of 2009


Have not been updating my blog for a while. Here is the reflection of what has happened to my
mutli-recial shrimps tank in 2009.

Survival 2009:
Sakura - more babies
CRS - getting stronger and bigger but no sign of pregnancy
CBS - ---- diito
Snowball - produced babies
Long nose (1 piece left out of 5 pieces) - died of hunger
Black Tiger - only one piece left
Blue - given away after their surprise mass reproduction.
Yamoto - not a single casualty

Unsuccessful
Green Shrimp (bought 4 pieces )- gone missings, or probably eaten up
Yellow Shrimp (bought 3 pieces) - -- ditto ---

Orange shrimp - died
Cherries - died
Red Tiger - died