My Awful Invert Aquarium

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TylerFerretLord

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This is my tank. Currently very(very) plain as my heater decided to malfunction a few weeks ago and nuke my tank. Luckily it was devoid of anything other than plants at the time and those are all I lost(except for the duckweed. Of course it would live). I have since bought a new heater.

About a week ago I picked up some snails. A couple trumpet snails, a duo of pond snails and a single female apple snail. They have done an amazing job to rid my tank of the algae plague that came in after the plants were cooked. Just two days ago I picked up about a dozen ghost shrimp. One died overnight but the rest have settled in and are doing well, doing shrimpy things.

Tank stats:
29g
Lighting is a single fluorescent tube and two power-saver bulbs(it's a weird hood).
Kept at 72F.

Inverts:
Melanoides tuberculata Malaysian trumpet snail
Physa sp. Pond snail
Pomacea bridgesii Apple snail
Palaemonetes paludosus Ghost shrimp

On to the pics!
The tank. (I did warn that it was awful)
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Snails!
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Shrimp are hard to zoom in on and stay focused. Last one was cleaning itself.
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I'll be ordering some more shrimp soon. Planning to get cherries, amanos, and a fan shrimp. I might get some of the rarer species if I can afford them, such as C. gracilirostris and C. serratirostris. I'm planning on getting a lot more wood and rocks to fill up that empty space and picking up various mosses and low light plants. Also picking up the materials for a moss wall.
 
Those are some nice ghosts, i wish more places sold these over here, all we tend to get are the colourful shrimp but i would love to keep some of these :good:

I'll keep an eye on this one, it will be interesting to see how it develops and which shrimp you end up getting.
 
Some happy inhabitants there :D Love the ghosties. Like Shrimper, I would love to get my hands on some ghost shrimps too.

Would be interesting to see how your invert tank develops when you have the wood and rock and plants in :)
 
Thanks for the compliments, as unexpected as they were. :lol:

I'm really surprised that the ghosts are hard to get over there. I suppose it make sense, however, because they're native to the Americas(at least the species I have).

The apple snail decided she was hungry again so she started to come out of her shell, giving me a chance to take a few pics. It's really amazing how long she'll just sit there after she's eaten her fill. Then she poops all over the place and starts the cycle all over again. :rolleyes:
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Since I had the camera out I took a few more shots.

From the sides.
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Movement sequence. Everybody loves those.
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General shrimp pictures.
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And I just liked this one.
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That's a very decent size for an invert tank, should shape up good especially with a moss wall!
Ghost shrimp are cool, never even seen them in shops here :rolleyes: .
 
I've noticed that one of the ghosts has something wrong with its tail. Two of the uropods turned the color that they go when they die and fell off. :crazy: There's this red blob where the joint they were attached to was. Another one has the blob in the same area but no damage.

I managed to get a (short) video of the poor thing.


And because I'm trying to get better at photography I took several more shots. :lol:

Trumpet snails are perfect for practicing on. They're slow yet still make interesting subjects.
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I'm going to make this sequence a .GIF image once I figure out how.
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They don't really like to stay out in the open like this. This one had just been chased out of a cave by one the berried females.
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One of them has taken to eating the dead moss.
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Excuse the reflection of the lens, please.
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And a few more videos, none of them particularly interesting. My mom had the TV on in the other room during one of them, so just ignore that. :rolleyes:


 
Is that heater sticking out from the top of the water. If so you need to make sure it totally submerged.
 
That's a very decent size for an invert tank, should shape up good especially with a moss wall!
Ghost shrimp are cool, never even seen them in shops here :rolleyes: .
I'm planning to get some fan shrimp (and hopefully an Atya gambonensis) so the extra size will really help. I still can't believe that the ghosts are uncommon over there. :lol:

Looks cool.
Lovely shrimp and snails.
Thanks! :)

Is that heater sticking out from the top of the water. If so you need to make sure it totally submerged.
If I did that I would get electrocuted; It's not a submersible heater. :lol: It was the only thing the shop had when I went to get it that wasn't ridiculously expensive(no way I'm paying $60 for a 100watt heater. :crazy: ).


In some good news I've won two nice pieces of wood on ebay. I also went on a little excursion to a private beach that my uncle has access to and picked up a load of shells and rocks, but I forgot the bag at his house so I just need to pick the bag up and wait for the wood to arive and I can order some moss.

I'm thinking I should go with christmas moss as the moss wall and on some wood, Fissidens fontanus on wood as well and pellia on some of the rocks. Still not sure if I should get the star moss(Tortula ruralis)as I've heard conflicting accounts on whether or not it will survive submersed.

Anyway, will update once I get the wood and rocks(and shells) in.
 
Lol, I'd like to see Pauls tank :rolleyes:

I love the look of star moss, would order some for my shrimp tank if funds allowed, looked at the auction lots but not head much about it.

The idea of a non-submersible heater sounds crazy to me! Submersible 100W heaters are about $25 here, and things are usually cheaper in the US, $60 sounds extortionate :crazy: .
 
More great photos :good:

From what i've read star moss is really a desert species so doesn't do well when it is submerged although it does look great!

I've been thinking about the lack of American shrimp in the UK and its probably related to the fact we aren't allowed to import American crayfish and the invert suppliers don't realise or don't care that they are allowed to send the shrimp here
 
Is that a tank or an garbage mountain.
I gave you fair warning in the topic title, bub. :sly:
The idea of a non-submersible heater sounds crazy to me! Submersible 100W heaters are about $25 here, and things are usually cheaper in the US, $60 sounds extortionate :crazy: .
It clips on to the back of the tank. I actually have two others like it that I got from a garage sale(came with the tank) but they don't have a way to set the temperature and I wanted it cooler. They probably don't even work. :lol:

I'll probably pick up a submersible sooner or later as I have to keep the water level nearly at the brim for this one. Here's hoping I don't have to sell a kidney for it. If I can't find one there's always the internet; I think I can get one for ~$15 on the Drs Foster&Smith store.
More great photos :good:

From what i've read star moss is really a desert species so doesn't do well when it is submerged although it does look great!

I've been thinking about the lack of American shrimp in the UK and its probably related to the fact we aren't allowed to import American crayfish and the invert suppliers don't realise or don't care that they are allowed to send the shrimp here
No star moss it is then. :( Might try it out in a terrarium if I ever get around to getting tree frogs.

And now I know what to send should I ever do an international shrimp trade. :lol:



Here's the wood I won, by the way. I'm probably going to get more, love the look of a wood filled tank.

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