Tonight we DINE!
Thursday 12 July 2012
Thursday 12 April 2012
Building my own Aquarium Ceramic Shrimp Breeding cave
And so you may have seen something a Shrimp breeding cave at your local fish shop and always wanted to buy one. But wait, what is the price again? $9? for something like that? I wouldn't want to pay that amount of money for something that can be made easily!
First of all, you will need some pvc pipes or clear plastic tubes, I got some clear plastic tubes as they were available from the under gravel filter that I didn't use.
Next, you will need a piece of net, the same one which I have been using for all my java moss wall.
First, I tried to tie the pipes together with a tie wrap. It didn't really work out well as the nudge of the tie wrap makes tying the Java moss on pretty difficult. What I did was used fishing line to secure the pipes together.
You will then need some Java moss, I had plenty in my tank so this was also "Free"
Next apply some Java moss onto the "tied pipes"
Then I wrapped the Net onto the java moss and apply another round of fishing line to securely fasten everything together. Remember to trim the excess net/java away to make it look neater
And the End product below. I have also tried this with Pelia and it works pretty well!
New Play ground for my shrimps, YAY!
Thursday 5 April 2012
Android with Instagram!
And so Instagram decided to venture into the Android market as they realized the potential this OS is capable of. As soon as it is launched, I couldn't miss the opportunity to take a few shorts.
rili on Java moss
Frogbits.
Can't wait to exploit the advance technology to capture more pretty pictures.
Stay tune!
Monday 26 March 2012
Sunday 25 March 2012
Photo Shoot for the Mama !
And so there I was saying the brownie is always hiding, a very candid shy shrimp and BAM~ there she is, at the front of the tank waiting for me to picture her in this album.
Ran to my room to get my macro lens and took a few shots of her, only 2 of the lot turn out well before she went back into the hiding.
You can really see that she is really small in size and not very colorful like the others.
Talk about luck, lady Yellow fire shrimp came along as well for a photo shoot. Only a brief moment but more then enough for me to capture a shot of her. A little blurry but that is all I have, only 1 shot. If you look closely you can see the little eyes on the eggs under her belly! CUTE!
And guess who decides to play as well!
Bat man mode Berried Rili.
Drip Method for Acclimatization
As I have spoken a few times about the drip method for Acclimatization, I don't think I have ever posted any pictures on how I do it. Heres how;
1) First of all, you will need 1 of this air tube valves, a very simple mechanism that allows you to control the flow of the air bubbles from your air pump.
2)However, instead of controlling the flow of air, we will be controlling the flow of water here.
3)Next you will have to connect to a long enough air tube that can reach 1 end of your tank to your Acclimatization "cup". Below is a picture of how I connect them.
4) Next step will be to siphon water into the tube so that you can create a flow from a higher end to a lower end. In this case, my tank to the "cup".
5) Finally, you turn the little knob on control valve till you get approximately 1 drop of water for 2-3 secs and viola, you have just achieved the Acclimatization technique.
cheers!
2)However, instead of controlling the flow of air, we will be controlling the flow of water here.
3)Next you will have to connect to a long enough air tube that can reach 1 end of your tank to your Acclimatization "cup". Below is a picture of how I connect them.
4) Next step will be to siphon water into the tube so that you can create a flow from a higher end to a lower end. In this case, my tank to the "cup".
5) Finally, you turn the little knob on control valve till you get approximately 1 drop of water for 2-3 secs and viola, you have just achieved the Acclimatization technique.
cheers!
New Batch of Shrimps
As I have casualties from my CRS batch, I have decided to venture out on a different project this round. So lets see what we have today.
I'm wondering what will be the name of the plant that are accompanying the shrimps? Anyone care to enlighten me on that?
Can you make a guess of what is in there?
If you look really closely, there is a berried shrimp in there :)
Okay, enough guess, there are 3 species in my acclimatization squad. They are YFS, Rili and Orange Shrimps (I'm hoping to call them Sunkist) The berried shrimp is a Rili and her eggs color are really cool, seems almost like luminous green.
They are doing their drip bath now and should be ready to venture into the tank in 30mins.
cheers!
Disaster Strikes on CRS
Something really bad happen and most of my CRS are wiped out over the period of 1 week. I suspect it is the maturation of the canister being insufficient. Looks like I will have to start from scratch again.
On a lighter note, one of my brownies (I have decided to name the mix shrimps brownies for easier reference) is berried.. YES BERRIED! it is only about 1 cm in size! I will try to get a picture of her but she is too shy for a photo shoot.
Stay tuned!
On a lighter note, one of my brownies (I have decided to name the mix shrimps brownies for easier reference) is berried.. YES BERRIED! it is only about 1 cm in size! I will try to get a picture of her but she is too shy for a photo shoot.
Stay tuned!
Thursday 15 March 2012
Java Trimming time!
As we can see, as the shrimps have grown, so have the Crazy Java/Xmas Moss.
Look at the mess before trimming.
Casualties of Moss
Much brighter now.
still a Mess, but neater it has been!
2 Weeks of Outstation and I'm back!
Been 2 weeks since I seen my shrimps! and boy, have they grown!
This is a mix of YFS and Cherry, look at how big they are now, couldn't get a side view yet and I will try to get one later. Their brown pigment have intensified and look a lot better than before.
Grade B CRS strolling by the garden.
This Male Cherry have been in my tank for a really long time. Chilling on top a Mineral rock.
Grade A CRS by the filter mash, I guess the best foods are all found on the intakes :)
And lastly 1 of my bigger BDS. Just love the awesome brown color on them.
I will do more updates once I get organized and I will take more pictures of the new happenings around my tank. Including another berried YFS. Stay tuned!
[Kevyn]
Wednesday 29 February 2012
New Macro Lens for Camera Phone!
Kevyn
Friday 24 February 2012
Recently Changed to a Canister
I have recently gotten a canister as I feel that the bio-load in my tank was getting too much for my HOB to handle. Hence I bought the canister 2211 Eheim which is widely recommended by many. To be honest, it was a hassle to start the 2211 the first time as they did not have the "kick start" function that the bigger models have.
Here are some parts of the filter when unpacked.
Of cause a filter is never complete without its Biofilter. I decided to choose Eheim substrate pro after choosing for awhile at the LFS.
Nevertheless I managed to get it going in... 2 hours.. YES, it took a whole 2 hours to position the outlet/inlet and get it working. And finally after fixing it together and managing to run the filter properly, I took a picture below.
Yes the whole thing look messy and my intake is at the front, but the whole idea is to let my canister run for two weeks minimum before I can remove my HOB. So that my canister will have properly formed bacteria.
I bought the filter on the 14 of Feb and today, I have decided that my canister is good to go solo. Hence I removed my HOB and decided to add a DIY chiller and at the same time, move my intake to the back and move my canister to the right. As you can see the Styrofoam box is not my completed project for my DIY chiller, but it is just to test a theory I have in mind. So far, I'm having a drop in 2 Deg for nearly 3 hours straight.
Below is a front view of my rearrange JAVA wall and my intake to the back right to replace my HOB
A closer look on the canister beside my Styrofoam box.
A different view of how my tank looks at the bottom left corner. My Tank is becoming the scape that I want.
The overall setup at the corner of my kitchen.
Hence after all the washing and changing of the filter, I'm glad that the inhabitants are doing good and happily enjoying their meal together.
Take care now!
Cheers
Kevyn
Sunday 19 February 2012
Shrimps Fav Food! Baby Spinach!
Shrimps loves baby spinach! be it cherry, CRS or CBS! as I have been fed them baby spinach before, I know how popular it is. I recently introduced this to theo and he had a massive food frenzy in his tank as well!
As I didn't have much time to get it from the supermarket, I managed to get some off Theo as the packet had a really huge quantity that it was quite impossible to finish during the expiry date.
Within 5 seconds of adding the spinach!
They are loving it~
Cheers!
[Kevyn]
Sunday 12 February 2012
New Arrival
Ordered 10 BDS and 10 CRS Grade A recently and guess who arrived!
Grage A BDS ^
Grade A Crystal Red Shrimp~
Upon closer examination, I had 11 Grade A BDS (Black Diamond Shrimp) and 9 Grade A Crystal Red Shrimp, 1 Grade S Crystal Red Mosura No Entry, Talk about luck!
They are feeding and swimming happily in my tank, most of the Grade A CRS are still juvenile, meaning they are only teenage about the size of 1cm. Whereas the BDS are slightly bigger to be about 1.5Cm.
Most of the BDS are tiger tooth pattern and they are my favorite pattern compared to the V-band.
I will post more pictures once they get into their tank :)
[Kevyn]
Wednesday 8 February 2012
Quarantining Shrimp
(contributed by Imke) Link Here
Ever have shrimps dying for no reason after awhile? Did you do a proper acclimation? or was it due to bacteria infection? Did you have a wipe of shrimps recently due to poor handling?
I read this on a forum and have decided to share this as I feel it is really important to learn and understand this. It will give you a better picture and offer a better preparation for shrimp keeping in the future.
Although most shrimp keepers think it is unnecessary, quarantine is a key to minimize losses. Within a few days or weeks after buying new shrimps and introducing them to existing breeding groups, some keepers moan about having fatal casualties every now and then. Shrimp have to not only acclimate to water parameters but to local bacterial colonies and other tank fauna, too. The bacterial count in tanks differs from 1,000-10,000,000/mL water while tap water should come with 10-100/mL (at temperature 22ºC). The unwanted increase of microbial count leads to pathogen bacteria.
So preparing the newly arrived shrimp to the bacterial count and composition is the most important intent of quarantine. It also protects old stock from parasites, diseases and fungal infections.
The following quarantine procedure relies on experiences from Kurt Mack, who has been breeding fish and shrimp for many years as a professional. The assumption is to get the shrimp used to local water parameter and to bacterial fauna step-by-step before introducing them into the target tank. A small tank (12-25 L) is sufficient as quarantine container; it should have no gravel but some hiding places and filtration.
Day 1
Introduce the shrimp into the quarantine tank. If the transport water isn’t contaminated by dead shrimp, you should use as much as possible for the first charge of the quarantine tank. Top off with suitable water which has similar parameter as the origin water. Use the drip method for acclimating if you have no suitable water. The parameters of the quarantine tank should match the transport water – whenever possible.
Days 3-14
Do water changes (30-50%) with aged tap water (dechlorinate, if necessary) every third day; shrimp gets acclimated to local water parameter.
Days 15-30
After the first step of acclimating to water parameter is successfully finished, go on and add water of the target tank to the quarantine tank daily. It should be an amount of 2% of the quarantine tank volume. Do it vice versa and add water from the quarantine tank to the target tank. Like this, every shrimp colony gets used to the unknown bacteria populations from the other.
Ever have shrimps dying for no reason after awhile? Did you do a proper acclimation? or was it due to bacteria infection? Did you have a wipe of shrimps recently due to poor handling?
I read this on a forum and have decided to share this as I feel it is really important to learn and understand this. It will give you a better picture and offer a better preparation for shrimp keeping in the future.
Although most shrimp keepers think it is unnecessary, quarantine is a key to minimize losses. Within a few days or weeks after buying new shrimps and introducing them to existing breeding groups, some keepers moan about having fatal casualties every now and then. Shrimp have to not only acclimate to water parameters but to local bacterial colonies and other tank fauna, too. The bacterial count in tanks differs from 1,000-10,000,000/mL water while tap water should come with 10-100/mL (at temperature 22ºC). The unwanted increase of microbial count leads to pathogen bacteria.
So preparing the newly arrived shrimp to the bacterial count and composition is the most important intent of quarantine. It also protects old stock from parasites, diseases and fungal infections.
The following quarantine procedure relies on experiences from Kurt Mack, who has been breeding fish and shrimp for many years as a professional. The assumption is to get the shrimp used to local water parameter and to bacterial fauna step-by-step before introducing them into the target tank. A small tank (12-25 L) is sufficient as quarantine container; it should have no gravel but some hiding places and filtration.
Day 1
Introduce the shrimp into the quarantine tank. If the transport water isn’t contaminated by dead shrimp, you should use as much as possible for the first charge of the quarantine tank. Top off with suitable water which has similar parameter as the origin water. Use the drip method for acclimating if you have no suitable water. The parameters of the quarantine tank should match the transport water – whenever possible.
Days 3-14
Do water changes (30-50%) with aged tap water (dechlorinate, if necessary) every third day; shrimp gets acclimated to local water parameter.
Days 15-30
After the first step of acclimating to water parameter is successfully finished, go on and add water of the target tank to the quarantine tank daily. It should be an amount of 2% of the quarantine tank volume. Do it vice versa and add water from the quarantine tank to the target tank. Like this, every shrimp colony gets used to the unknown bacteria populations from the other.
Tuesday 7 February 2012
Worm Cluster on Cherry's head
Recently, I noticed something on 1 of my cherry's head. At first I though it was some food that was caught between it's eye, but on closer examination, I realized it was a cluster of worms! EWWW!
A very blurry picture I got off the web that resembled what I encountered. After searching the web for a bit, apparently these are parasites known as "scutariella japonica"
After reading on how to save my cherry, I decided to catch the little guy and give him a salt bath!
I started of with a low concentration of salt, I waited about 10 seconds and the worm did not swim off, hence I added a high dosage, about 1 teaspoon for 1 cup of water. This time, the worms start to wriggle off the shrimp and die.
There were no noticeable ill effect on the cherry shrimp (maybe due to their hardy nature).
It has been 2 weeks now and my shrimp is swimming around healthily with no more worms between its eyes.
What I read was these parasites usually occur on adult shrimps only. Reason was that they don't mold as often due to their max size, resulting in parasites!
At least there was a quick and easy way to get rid of these nasty worms.
Cheers!
[Kevyn]
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