5 gallon Fluval Spec V

[Tacocat]

Tank looks good! Keep it up!

I would imagine the duckweed is helping in reducing the ammonia. Fast-growing plants are great for nutrient control but keep an eye on how much you are feeding the fish. For a fish-in cycle I suggest minimal feedings to keep the ammonia low.

I've been doing 1 feeding a day, and letting them fast on Sundays because they're religious(joke). Yesterday my brother forgot they were not supposed to be fed and he fed them, so I guess it's Mondays now.

Also, how do I feed the shrimp blanched carrots? I tried yesterday night, but only the guppies touched them, and that was only when they were falling. Should I keep a large chunk or do I rip it apart?

 

[Tacocat]

FYI: my brother often becomes overzealous and feeds them way too much, so that might be a contributor.

 

[BluewaterBoof]

I've been doing 1 feeding a day, and letting them fast on Sundays because they're religious(joke). Yesterday my brother forgot they were not supposed to be fed and he fed them, so I guess it's Mondays now.

Also, how do I feed the shrimp blanched carrots? I tried yesterday night, but only the guppies touched them, and that was only when they were falling. Should I keep a large chunk or do I rip it apart?

Some folks have an easy time getting their animals to eat prepared veggies but it’s hit-or-miss for me. From my own experience I’ve had to kind of train the animals and just keep offering the food until they learn it is something to eat but even then I never see a ton of animals going for the veggies.

@Slaphppy7 might be able to give you some pointers here. He’s a pro at feeding his shrimperdoodles all sorts of veggies.

 

[Tacocat]

Some folks have an easy time getting their animals to eat prepared veggies but it’s hit-or-miss for me. From my own experience I’ve had to kind of train the animals and just keep offering the food until they learn it is something to eat but even then I never see a ton of animals going for the veggies.

@Slaphppy7 might be able to give you some pointers here. He’s a pro at feeding his shrimperdoodles all sorts of veggies.

thanks!

 

[Slaphppy7]

I've been doing 1 feeding a day, and letting them fast on Sundays because they're religious(joke). Yesterday my brother forgot they were not supposed to be fed and he fed them, so I guess it's Mondays now.

Also, how do I feed the shrimp blanched carrots? I tried yesterday night, but only the guppies touched them, and that was only when they were falling. Should I keep a large chunk or do I rip it apart?

IME, carrots aren't a favorite of my fish or shrimp, they barely touched them.

Try broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, yellow squash, all either blanched or steamed...use a fork with a string on it, so you can withdraw the uneaten bits.

 

[Tacocat]

Alright! So I did a ph test, and it came back with 7.8
Don't think that's good, so I might have to lower it a bit with some leaves. Anyone know something good for that?

On another note, my ramshorn has been laying eggs left and right, and I'm afraid one of these days it's going to lay eggs on the underside of a driftwood or on a rock where we can't see it, and then boom snail infestation. Does anyone know a way to remedy that?

 

[BluewaterBoof]

Assassin snails are a good way to keep pest snail populations under control and look really cool. I can usually find some at local shops in town. You can also starve the snails out by feeding just enough for your fish and shrimp to consume, but with your sibling’s affinity for overfeeding this may be difficult

Your pH isn’t bad. If you want to add some botanicals to the tank to give it a more natural feel then Indian almond leaves and alder cones work well. They tend to stain the water with tannins, which is good for the critters in the tank, but not everyone likes the dark and mysterious look of a blackwater tank.

Unless you are aiming to have very sensitive animals in the tank that absolutely require soft and acidic water then I wouldn’t worry about it.

 

[Tacocat]

Assassin snails are a good way to keep pest snail populations under control and look really cool. I can usually find some at local shops in town. You can also starve the snails out by feeding just enough for your fish and shrimp to consume, but with your sibling’s affinity for overfeeding this may be difficult

Your pH isn’t bad. If you want to add some botanicals to the tank to give it a more natural feel then Indian almond leaves and alder cones work well. They tend to stain the water with tannins, which is good for the critters in the tank, but not everyone likes the dark and mysterious look of a blackwater tank.

Unless you are aiming to have very sensitive animals in the tank that absolutely require soft and acidic water then I wouldn’t worry about it.

So I'm assuming that cherry shrimp can tolerate these conditions, and if I were to lose fish, I can choose from this range.

 

[BluewaterBoof]

Oh yes, cherry shrimp are fairly hardy creatures and can handle a wide range of parameters (temp, pH, hardness, etc.). I had a fairly large breeding colony in the past when I had water with an ugly pH of 8.2 so I think your critters should be fine in terms of water conditions.

The biggest threat to your shrimperdoodles are the fish, which will snack on the babies if given the opportunity. Your cholla wood and moss will help provide a safe haven for the babies but there are bound to be some stragglers that get picked off every now and then. It's not ideal, but that's part of the risk of keeping fish and shrimp together, especially in a small tank. Adding more plants will increase protection against the fish. The Spec V light is fairly robust and is capable of growing a decent variety of plants. Crypts are really good options for folks who are newer to the planted tank game as they are quite difficult to kill and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You could do something like crypt wendtii for the background and crypt parva for the front/middle of the tank. The parva would be especially helpful for the shrimp because it can form a dense low covering across the substrate that would help keep the fish at distance.

 

[Tacocat]

Oh yes, cherry shrimp are fairly hardy creatures and can handle a wide range of parameters (temp, pH, hardness, etc.). I had a fairly large breeding colony in the past when I had water with an ugly pH of 8.2 so I think your critters should be fine in terms of water conditions.

The biggest threat to your shrimperdoodles are the fish, which will snack on the babies if given the opportunity. Your cholla wood and moss will help provide a safe haven for the babies but there are bound to be some stragglers that get picked off every now and then. It's not ideal, but that's part of the risk of keeping fish and shrimp together, especially in a small tank. Adding more plants will increase protection against the fish. The Spec V light is fairly robust and is capable of growing a decent variety of plants. Crypts are really good options for folks who are newer to the planted tank game as they are quite difficult to kill and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You could do something like crypt wendtii for the background and crypt parva for the front/middle of the tank. The parva would be especially helpful for the shrimp because it can form a dense low covering across the substrate that would help keep the fish at distance.

Alright, I think I'll do that if I lose a fish, because my tank is almost overstocked, and I'm afraid of tipping it over. So until a fish dies, or I have to get rid of one, I'm going to keep my population of shrimp until I can buy a male.

 

[Tacocat]

Just did the test again, and it came back pretty much same as yesterday
Ammonia: just above 0, maybe .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrates: Just above 0, but not 5.0

 

[Tacocat]

I was checking out the aquarium and looking at the fish when I was this. What's the whitish film clinging to the wood? Is that mold? I've noticed it on the java moss as well where the cholla wood touches the glass.

 

[Tacocat]

I'm pretty sure I've seen this white stuff growing on a dead fish that was floating in an aquarium at a summer camp once.

 

[Tacocat]

Well, my worst nightmare has happened, and now a snail egg sac that my brother and I missed managed to hatch, and now there's babies.

It's the little bump on the underside of the top leaf

 

[BluewaterBoof]

I was checking out the aquarium and looking at the fish when I was this. What's the whitish film clinging to the wood? Is that mold? I've noticed it on the java moss as well where the cholla wood touches the glass.

That is what some of us have dubbed “driftwood snot” and is 100% normal for newish pieces of wood added to a tank to develop. It should only grow on the driftwood although it will get on plants/moss that are near or touching the parts of the wood affected. It won’t spread to other parts of the tank, although a chunk may come off and drift somewhere else. I just scrape it off when I see it and it stops forming after a while. It doesn’t look great in terms of aesthetics but it is harmless and sometimes otos and shrimp will even eat the stuff.