shalu's 10 gallon low tech shrimp tank(07-24-2005**56k warning)

[Keder]

What kind of moss is this?

[shalu]

"weeping" moss. Funny thing is, it has changed its growth habit. It now points upwards, not weeping anymore

[supaoopa]

congradulations on the pregnant crystal.


Hey whats the name of this plant in the foreground of this pic?

[shalu]

This is "HC", Hemianthus callitrichoides.

[baj]

Originally Posted by shalu

This is "HC", Hemianthus callitrichoides.

..... and its growing in that?? well learn new things everyday i guess...

[Keder]

Originally Posted by shalu

"weeping" moss. Funny thing is, it has changed its growth habit. It now points upwards, not weeping anymore

Is that the same as mini moss that this guy has?

http://www.nature-aquarium.com/xmas.htm

[shalu]

I think they are a little different. I also bought a little mini moss, need to grow it out to see how it looks. The same mosses tend to look different depending on tank conditions.

[shalu]

This bumble bee is pregnant for a while, babies are due in less than 2 weeks.


Cherries in a circus act, showtime!


Here is a cherry couple "doing it", I think. The male is all charged up, but the female keeps eating her meal, like nothing is happening.


Cherries are like cockroaches at feeding time, disgusting in a good way. The neons try to steal a morsel. You can see the glosso lawn is filling in slowly, but surely, even though it is getting very little light, blocked by taller plants.


Finally the long wait is over. First batch of crystal red babies are hatched. Here is one on glass, less than 24 hours old:


blow up

[shalu]

I wrapped some weeping moss around filter intake tube and the heater. Now the moss has grown in and the hardware are completely hidden:

[yznj99]

Gorgeous, I am speechless

[Lorenceo]

That is a fantastic tank!

I wish I could get shrimp here.. I cant even get ghost shrimp..

[shalu]

Better pics of the crytal red babies, they are so cute:

[scolley]

Originally Posted by shalu

I wrapped some weeping moss around filter intake tube and the heater. Now the moss has grown in and the hardware are completely hidden:

Hey Shalu, you know I'm a nut about hiding equipment. I think that is a great innovation, as an alternative to the general "totally" obscured by plants technique. Do you have a larger pic of this? Great idea!

But how does the moss stay on? I would have thought the heater would kill the moss. But clearly it is thriving for you.

[shalu]

Originally Posted by scolley

But how does the moss stay on? I would have thought the heater would kill the moss. But clearly it is thriving for you.

I used cotton threads, guess it will eventually rot away. Fishing line might be a permanent solution.

I only wrap the moss on the TOP portion of the heater, the bottom part(where the actual heating coil is) is naturally hidden by other plants

Here is a picture of the right side of the tank. At the back, there is the filter intake and heater, you can actually see the top of the heater sticking up.

[shalu]

I had two crystal red females giving birth about 10 days ago. I could see quite a few shrimplets right after they were hatched. However, I can only find very few of them afterwards. I was not sure what was going on, maybe most of them were hiding really well in the thick vegetation, maybe my neon tetras got to them. I was hoping it was the former.

Bought a net breeder and put the third pregnant female crystal red and the bumble bee in it last night. Their babies were due anytime.


This morning, I found that the crystal red hatched half of the shrimplets already. More were on the way. It is deliverying a baby, with its rear end raised. Within seconds, a shrimplets dropped out and jumped couple of times before settling down.


Here is the baby shrimplet, dropped out of mother's belly just 10 seconds ago,


Mother and baby, can you find the baby in the picture?


I found out what happened to my shrimplets soon enough. It turned out that the slots on the side of the breeder box were wide enough for the shrimplets to craw out! And one did, before my eyes, after a little stuggle. A neon tetra got to it immediately when it went swimming! AAARGH! Those neons were out of the shrimp tank! This is officially becoming a shrimp only tank.

So far, I have found crystal reds are pretty easy to breed, although its cycle is longer than cherries.