Shrimp Condo Build

Some of you may have seen what I plan on using as a shrimp tank in a prior thread. If not, pictures are here for ya

This is a 1.5 gallon tank. I'm planning on planting it, but since it's not suitable, aesthetically, to a NPT build, I had to figure something out.

I have a single blue pearl neo in a tank with some sand, flourite, and other stuff for substrate. There are plants in there including java fern, anubias spp, subwasertang, java moss, a crypt (I think if it's still alive) and potentially some other random plants.

Unfortunately, I can not put these plants into any of my fish tanks, as I am being super strict about biocontamination and there was a sick fish in this tank. (I know it's unlikely to be an issue, but I've had three major disease outbreaks and am just not willing to deal with it.) However since the lone shrimp survived the betta, and my tap water, I am going to put him and some new buddies in this "retro townhouse" tank. I want to move all of the plants with him, and a little of the substrate.





So, I made a "vase" and a "salad bowl" out of pieces of bottle and glued them onto the decor. It's a bit hard to see. I realize now I should have used a green bottle, but oh well, not much I can do about it now.

The big "vase" in the front will mimic a wabI kusa bowl, with gravel in the bottom and subwassertang as the "plant". I may stuff a single stem in there too, if I find any.

The "salad bowl" on the table will hold a clump of java moss that I'm sure I'll have to trim and throw away all the time.

I want to build a "table" that will fit in with the theme and sit in front of the couch to house an anubias petite nana that is growing beautifully on some driftwood in the existing tank. Wood won't work, so if anyone has suggestions on what to use, I'd be grateful. (it just occurred to me I may have some spare bits of aquarium-safe green plastic lying around, I could play with them and see if anything pops).

I also want to put some plants along the back wall mostly java fern and anubias), but I can't just glue them to the "carpet" without it looking absurd. So I considered either using some needlepoint mesh or a piece of green plastic bottle to make a "planter" or possibly two, in the two back corners of the tank. I could fill the "planter" with gravel as well. Thoughts on this? Which do you think would look better?

Also there are little holes near the "vase" where I took out some cheesy-looking plastic plants, that looked like seaweed. I'd like to perhaps plant stems there and glue them to the holes. Has anyone ever successfully glued stem plants before? I suspect it would be all right, but it never hurts to ask.

Any other ideas would be appreciated. I may add a red root floater or two from my betta tanks, as they grow pretty slowly IME, and might look a bit like a chandelier with the roots hanging down 3/4 inch or so into the water.


Edit: I'm an idiot. I just realized a bottle cap would make the perfect end table for the couch.

Edit again: Filtration, duh. I'm going to run an airstone through the holes (which are made for that) in the lamp. Then I'm planning to hide a pot scrubber or filter floss or something similar, glued or suction cupped inside the lampshade, where it will get water flow from the airstone. Hopefully I can find a crazy colored airstone to make this look right, or hide it underneath the "floor" which is removable... I don't know if one will fit under it though.

 

I love the idea of the green bottle planters. The plans sound terrific. What about some Bacopa along the back, smaller leaves on a stem plant that will also root for you. Of course, I have it in 4 tanks now from starting with a few small pieces, but that's beside the point.

I don't have any good ideas for the filter, or glueing the stem plant, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I can't wait to see it as it progresses!

 

I'm pretty sure the filter will work the way I want it to... I've made sponge filters before, this isn't really very different.

I might try some bacopa, I may have some lying around. If not they sell tissue culture at petco for pretty cheap haha.

 

Here it is! I'm calling it "Urban Jungle" hahaha

It's a mess right now, since I tried to keep as much of the old water as I could when moving the little shrimpy over, I ended up accidentally dumping some other debris in. I dunno though, I think it looks kind of cool that way. Like the jungle came and took over the condo.

Mr Shrimp is exploring. He was on the sofa earlier, but he vanished before I could get a picture, so I took one of him lounging on the living room floor.

Please excuse the cloudy water.

 

That looks really neat! Very creative

 

Thanks! I originally wasn't going to use the marimo balls, but when a bunch of substrate fell into the new tank, I sort of had to go a different direction with the build haha.

Mr. Shrimp seems to be enjoying himself, exploring and whatnot. I'm sure he's finding all kinds of water flow holes to crawl through. The whole bottom of the tank comes out, so there are passages beneath it to circulate water (pretty ingenious build for such a tiny tank). I'm guessing one day I'll pull out the bottom and find dozens of shrimp after I get a breeding colony going haha.

 

A sunken house!

I love it!

 

This is hilariously awesome.

 

I lurve it haha. The water has actually already cleared up a lot. I'm going to have to get better pictures! Hopefully at least one of Mr. Shrimpy when he's not directly in front of the couch that's exactly the same color as he is.

So far the plants are: Java moss, subwassertang, java fern with a bunch of babies stuffed in random places, and a few anubias. I did not find any crypts in the old tank, so they must have melted. And two marimo balls, one very large, one about gold ball sized. I'll have to see what's around in my other tanks, though mainly I'm looking for water wisteria, as this tank has no substrate and therefore is not going to be great for rooted plants. Wisteria will probably grow though, as this tank has mostly my tap water which is very high in nutrients and ferts.

 

I probably should go back through and read before I ask this question but what gave you the idea to do this theme? Did it just sort of happen or have you been thinking about it.

 

I saw the tank on Amazon SaphireWind. That's pretty much where it began haha. And I had a gift card.... the rest is history.

I can't find Mr. Shrimp today. Really hoping he didn't decide to climb out of the tank somehow :/

 

Love the Urban Jungle! That's awesome! IT looks amazing! I am sure Mr Shrimpy has just checked out those holes you mentioned and he'll be around later. I'm guessing he decided to make the basement into a bedroom.

 

Very possibly. I need to go hunt around for him though, if he died under the "floor" it would be very unfortunate to find out when the ammonia from his little body murdered new shrimp. :/

Though I did a water change with the same water as always, so hopefully he's just hiding.

 

OMG lol. I just spotted two shrimp eyeballs glaring at me from the basement. He really, REALLY does not like having a flashlight shined in his face.

 

Depending on time period specifics you were aiming for, perhaps a Java miss or dwarf hair grass or similar plant could be attached to some net and trained onto a "shag carpet." It's even the right shade of green!

 

So much trub is on the "tile" right now, I'm sure the moss will start attaching to it soon LOL.