Fanatic's Aquascape (new Start)

Hi, and welcome to my newest thread about aquascaping. I have created this thread to mainly share my recent tank designs, and arrangements. I also will post questions, and other things on this important thread about the journey of my tank.

• Invertebrates
• Planting
• Terrain

Along the time that this tank has been running, it has gone through a few changes, and better designs each time. I have progressed through the period of having it established, and maintained. I have decided to start up an invertebrate side to this aquarium.

My betta was introduced to six Orange Sakura shrimp on Friday, and he ended up terrorizing them to the point of separation, and he even ate one. I had to go out and get a divider for the 10 gallon tank, and split them up. Finding out the next day, that I only had one remaining shrimp, and the others had died. I think it's because of the moving stress that was caused by me trying to divide the living quarters.

I have decided that I needed to come to a better plan, so I am going to order a half dozen Fire RCS tonight from Trins Fish for my tank. I hope they will survive, and not arrive dead or injured. They must be able to live in my tank peacefully, as long as it's divided, and the water is stable. I noticed that it'll only be a minimum of $20 for half a dozen shrimp, including the shipping fee.

Questionare
Here are my following questions before I purchase the shrimp.
__________
Can RCS be kept with Ghost Shrimp? (my ghost shrimp ate my smallest OS shrimp)
-----
The betta has the filter. I put an airstone, moss ball, driftwood, and large plant on one side. Is this good enough for a peaceful home? The water is loaded with tannins from IAL's.
-----
Can I do a final Aquascape on my tank before the RCS arrive? I don't want to kill any shrimp.

Although, I might not be doing another aquascape on the tank, because they are really stressful now that I have a divider. I'm always worried about making a leak in the tank while changing things around. I probably won't be doing one, I just have a mind for changing my tank a lot.

-Mak- | TexasDomer

 

The orange shrimp are the same species as RCS, so if your ghost shrimp ate some of your orange shrimp, they can do the same to the RCS.

Do you have a filter on the betta tank? An airstone isn't enough (or really even necessary, as bettas can breathe from the surface).

Why couldn't you do a scape before the shrimp arrive? I've also scaped the tank with shrimp in it, and they didn't die. I'm guessing yours died from other reasons. Rescaping your tank shouldn't cause it to leak; something really went wrong if that happens.

 

Hi, and welcome to my newest thread about aquascaping. I have created this thread to mainly share my recent tank designs, and arrangements. I also will post questions, and other things on this important thread about the journey of my tank.

• Invertebrates
• Planting
• Terrain

Along the time that this tank has been running, it has gone through a few changes, and better designs each time. I have progressed through the period of having it established, and maintained. I have decided to start up an invertebrate side to this aquarium.

My betta was introduced to six Orange Sakura shrimp on Friday, and he ended up terrorizing them to the point of separation, and he even ate one. I had to go out and get a divider for the 10 gallon tank, and split them up. Finding out the next day, that I only had one remaining shrimp, and the others had died. I think it's because of the moving stress that was caused by me trying to divide the living quarters.

I have decided that I needed to come to a better plan, so I am going to order a half dozen Fire RCS tonight from Trins Fish for my tank. I hope they will survive, and not arrive dead or injured. They must be able to live in my tank peacefully, as long as it's divided, and the water is stable. I noticed that it'll only be a minimum of $20 for half a dozen shrimp, including the shipping fee.

Questionare
Here are my following questions before I purchase the shrimp.
__________
Can RCS be kept with Ghost Shrimp? (my ghost shrimp ate my smallest OS shrimp)
-----
The betta has the filter. I put an airstone, moss ball, driftwood, and large plant on one side. Is this good enough for a peaceful home? The water is loaded with tannins from IAL's.
-----
Can I do a final Aquascape on my tank before the RCS arrive? I don't want to kill any shrimp.

Although, I might not be doing another aquascape on the tank, because they are really stressful now that I have a divider. I'm always worried about making a leak in the tank while changing things around. I probably won't be doing one, I just have a mind for changing my tank a lot.

-Mak- | TexasDomer

Any pictures?

Ghost shrimp are scavengers, and will eat anything with a stench of death. The chances are, you saw it eating a already dead shrimp. But yes, you could keep them with the cherries. Or with the betta. How big is the tank?

Which side are you keeping all the wood and decor? With the betta or the shrimp? A good shrimp tank should have driftwood, moss (actual moss like Java moss or flame moss. Not a marimo as these aren't actual moss), almond leaves, and sponge filter or sponge over the filter intake. Live plants, place to hide, and quality food are also beneficial.

 

Ghost shrimp have been known to eat RCS shrimplets

Moss isn't necessary for shrimp tanks either, though a Marimo moss ball would suffice as live plants for them.

 

Any pictures?

Ghost shrimp are scavengers, and will eat anything with a stench of death. The chances are, you saw it eating a already dead shrimp. But yes, you could keep them with the cherries. Or with the betta. How big is the tank?

Which side are you keeping all the wood and decor? With the betta or the shrimp? A good shrimp tank should have driftwood, moss (actual moss like Java moss or flame moss. Not a marimo as these aren't actual moss), almond leaves, and sponge filter or sponge over the filter intake. Live plants, place to hide, and quality food are also beneficial.

It's a 10 gallon, and they get around 3.5 gallons of room.
The tank has two exact plants, and they each have one, but the shrimp get the driftwood. The betta's side has 1 large plant, and three small ones. He also gets mangrove root decorations.



Here's the tank, but without any tannins. It's now a yellow-water tank.

 

I think it looks really good! I don't see why you couldn't move stuff around before the shrimp arrive if you wanted to. I would avoid ghost shrimp in any circumstance for a variety of reasons, but that's just me.

 

I think it looks really good! I don't see why you couldn't move stuff around before the shrimp arrive if you wanted to. I would avoid ghost shrimp in any circumstance for a variety of reasons, but that's just me.

Alright, today is the day. I finally get the shrimp!
My LFS just got a huge stock of them, and I want to jump at the chance to buy some quicker! I felt that I might risk damages from online ordering, and they are cheaper locally.

I'm not going to do any moving, except maybe pushing the wood back a bit. I don't have live plants, except the banana plant, and moss ball.
I'll try to get the shrimp a bunch of moss at some period. Maybe my LFS has some in their stock tanks!

I think I'll move the ghost shrimp to the betta's side, because he can't even see them.

 

Woohoo! I just got back with my shrimp, and I got 8 of them!
I also couldn't resist on getting them the Hygrophila carpet plant that they were grazing from. How do I plant this thing?

It has an insane amount of roots, so I just stuck it right on the bottom, hardly pushed into the sand.
Pictures will be up soon! Acclimation for now.





Cherry Shrimp on the Hygrophila (it's having issues with staying plants, darn!)

 

View attachment 354504
View attachment 354505
Cherry Shrimp on the Hygrophila (it's having issues with staying plants, darn!)

TrI'm the roots back to an inch or so, it'll make it easier. If you see yourself doing a decent amount of planting or aquascaping in the future, invest in a cheap set of aquascaping tools, they make your life 100 times easier

 

TrI'm the roots back to an inch or so, it'll make it easier. If you see yourself doing a decent amount of planting or aquascaping in the future, invest in a cheap set of aquascaping tools, they make your life 100 times easier

Or get a pair of chopsticks! They work almost as good.

But yeah, you want to cut the roots an inch to half an inch from the crown when planting your plants. It won't harm the plant and will encourage it to grow new ones faster.

 

TrI'm the roots back to an inch or so, it'll make it easier. If you see yourself doing a decent amount of planting or aquascaping in the future, invest in a cheap set of aquascaping tools, they make your life 100 times easier

Yeah, the shrimp were just grazing inside those plants, so I wanted to get them one so they'd feel safer. I'll trim the roots today, I just didn't have the time to let the shrimp be waiting.

Or get a pair of chopsticks! They work almost as good.

But yeah, you want to cut the roots an inch to half an inch from the crown when planting your plants. It won't harm the plant and will encourage it to grow new ones faster.

Haha, I've actually thought about using chopsticks, and I might just try! I looked this plant up online, and it doesn't need CO2, and it's one of the most hardy plants on the hobby!

 

They're really pretty! Congrats on the new additions.

 

They're really pretty! Congrats on the new additions.

Thank you!
I see 5 right now, but the big ones seem to be hiding in the plants.

 

When they get comfortable and breed so they have more shrimp in the colony they will be a lot more active!

 

When they get comfortable and breed so they have more shrimp in the colony they will be a lot more active!

Yeah, that'll be great when it happens!

 

Speaking of which I'm still waiting for that to happen I got 6 rcs about 3 weeks ago in my 5 and still rarely see them. I non of them are mature as far as I can tell as I've seen no saddles.

 

Speaking of which I'm still waiting for that to happen I got 6 rcs about 3 weeks ago in my 5 and still rarely see them. I non of them are mature as far as I can tell as I've seen no saddles.

Oh, that's neat.
Mine are just running around, looking for food as usual. My betta sees them through the divider, it's safe though.

 

Mine were super active the first two days swimming around ect but now I never see them. Nice!

 

I can barely see anything because of how darkly stained my water is with tannins. I plan to clean it in a few days, and maybe I'll see the Shrimp more after that.

 

Well, I don't know if I mentioned this, but.
I lost the little Orange Sakura today, probably just because of the new RCS being new to him.

I wanted to make sure it wasn't an RCS, but it looked like it inside the water. But when I took him out, he had the orange blush color that they have.

 

Relation to the last post.
I lost an RCS last night, no idea why.

If I lose all my shrimp, I'm shutting down on them. I told my mom, and she told me that if they died we can't get more.

 

New deaths aren't uncommon. I think you probably had it in your other post, but what are all your parameters?

 

New deaths aren't uncommon. I think you probably had it in your other post, but what are all your parameters?

I just tested a day ago, but I'm doing a water change right now.
I'll go test now, and post them after I'm done.

Water parameters are:

Ammonia: 0.0
Nitrate: 5
Nitrite 0

I trimmed the hygro's roots, and it plants easy! Thanks for that tip!

 

I doubt the RCS deaths have to do with the physical presence of the new shrimp. Did you add any of the water than came with the new shrimp to the tank?

 

I doubt the RCS deaths have to do with the physical presence of the new shrimp. Did you add any of the water than came with the new shrimp to the tank?

No, I avoided doing that.
Well, I just scooped out another dead one. I keep being told that maybe they were molts, but it looks like the actual shrimp.

 

Molts are clearish, so it shouldn't be hard to tell them apart.

 

Molts are clearish, so it shouldn't be hard to tell them apart.

Nope, it wasn't a molt then.
My cherries haven't fully colored up yet, but they have red on them.

 

Hey, just something I feel like sharing.
I saw another one flipped onto his backside, and I went to scoop him out. I put him in a container, with about 5mm of water in it, and watched him sit motionless.

Then I came back over to have one last look, and he had flipped back over and began to run around the container. He's in a breeder box right now, eating a wafer.
Any ideas why he did this? This was my largest cherry.

 

I've heard of that happening before, but I don't know what causes it. Shrimp can appear dead when they're molting, but it shouldn't last more than a day, and you would fine a molt at the end of it.

 

I've heard of that happening before, but I don't know what causes it. Shrimp can appear dead when they're molting, but it shouldn't last more than a day, and you would fine a molt at the end of it.

Well, he ended up dying before the end of the night.
I now have 5 cherry shrimp.

 

I wonder if the new shrimp brought something in? I've never heard of that happening outside of the disease that appears as green egg-like structures, but I guess it could happen (it's not the green disease - you would notice that, and it doesn't seem to kill as quickly).

 

If they all die, I'm clearing the tank out, and just keeping the betta and CPD.
I'll get ghost shrimp if I feel like it later on.

 

Get Seachem Prime and some Bacteria now. I had massive shrimp death and took my water in to be tested. After the test they told me to get the Prime and some bacteria. After 1 and 1/2 weeks the 5 adults that were left are still alive and swimming around.

 

OP's tank is cycled.

 

Get Seachem Prime and some Bacteria now. I had massive shrimp death and took my water in to be tested. After the test they told me to get the Prime and some bacteria. After 1 and 1/2 weeks the 5 adults that were left are still alive and swimming around.

My tank is cycled to 3ppm ammonia, and processed it within 18 hours.

 

Your tank was cycled to 3 ppm ammonia. Now it's cycled to the bioload of the organisms inside; adding a few shrimp should not have been enough to cause a minI cycle, I would think.

 

Your tank was cycled to 3 ppm ammonia. Now it's cycled to the bioload of the organisms inside; adding a few shrimp should not have been enough to cause a minI cycle, I would think.

Do you think the shrimp are dying because of being new?
I haven't seen any more dead.

 

"Being new" doesn't mean anything to them. Something like poor acclimation or stress could be responsible.

 

"Being new" doesn't mean anything to them. Something like poor acclimation or stress could be responsible.

How should you acclimate shrimp?

 

Some people say drip acclimation. I do the same as I do for fish - mixing small amounts of tank water with the bag water until it's mostly tank water, or for about 1-2 hours.