New Macro Lens, Some Pics From The Shrimp Tank

[three-fingers]

Was lucky enough to get an Olympus 35mm macro lens for Christmas, have been playing around with it on my shrimp tank and here are the results .
I also got a wireless flash unit, but I've let a friend borrow my actual flash, so should have some better pics as soon as I can get it back .
I've left out a few of the shyer residents (most of the rainbow shrimp and the lone Macrobrachium sp.), the amano shrimp never sit still at all for a photo, and my bamboo shrimp always face the wrong way for pics (towards the filter current), but these are some of what I've managed so far.

Cherry shrimp, just under 1cm:

Red-nose shrimp:

Another cherry shrimp:

Rainbow shrimp - I have 15 of these, but only ever see 5-6 at a time, this is one of the bolder ones:

And yet another cherry shrimp, surrounded by what I think is staghorn algae (horrible looking stuff, combating it appropriately as soon as new plants arrive from java ):

Thanks for looking .

 

[TylerFerretLord]

I hate you.

Great pics.

 

[paul_219]

Thats a lovely shrimps. Looking gr8 .

 

[veil92]

Excellent pictures. Very nice shrimp. Wouldn't mind having a few.

 

[three-fingers]

Cheers peeps .

Going to start thinning out the number of cherries as soon as the new generation of them start having babies (some of the new females are saddled atm), I have hundreds of the little things now.

You would be more than welcome to some veil, but your a bit far away!

 

[veil92]

You would be more than welcome to some veil, but your a bit far away!

I completely overlooked that startling fact!

Get a FTS. That'll make up for me not getting any shrimp.

 

[three-fingers]

How about an old one? I'm waiting for new plants to arrive in the next few days so will hopefully be ready for a tank shot then, only just begun to battle this 'hell' algae without the new plants . The style of tank this is turning out to be probably isn't going to be to everyone taste, but I find it interesting.
This was the tank on the 26th of November:

Still playing around with the lens:

 

[iSnail]

Great shots The tank scheme looks interesting too. It gives a derelict feel. Have you lowered the water level in order to keep the air plants?

 

[three-fingers]

Thanks iSnail .

Hopefully more than just air plants, but yes indeed .

The plan was to add more airplants to the back, but right now I cant re-attach the cork bark since taking it off to add them .

I've raised the water level slightly now, the plants have grown a lot and I've added two long seed trays on the left and right side with sensitive plant seeds and a baby orchid I got in Costa Rica (which is growing slowly but surely). The idea is that all these plants do much better in the warmth and with humidity - the first time I put an airplant there it flowered.

You cant really see it, but I've got a load of Bacopa carolina at the back of the tank which I hope will grow aerial stems and flower too.

I have also now added a pot inside the tank with soil in it and a lilly bulb that I had in storage.

So hopefully this tank will end up bursting with plant growth and flowers, if not completly natural .

 

[veil92]

Your teasing me with these old pics and updates in words! Looking forward to new pics.

 

[iSnail]

I've raised the water level slightly now, the plants have grown a lot and I've added two long seed trays on the left and right side with sensitive plant seeds and a baby orchid I got in Costa Rica (which is growing slowly but surely). The idea is that all these plants do much better in the warmth and with humidity - the first time I put an airplant there it flowered.

Now that sounds real interesting I sure look forward to any development of those top level mid-air planting. Would the "structures" on top not block out the light reaching the bottom of the tank?

 

[Liam]

Very good macro shots, the first cherry shot is particularly good I think. The flash will make them even better. I like the rainbows as I dont have any of them. The tank should look very interesting with all out of the water plants.

 

[three-fingers]

Thanks Liam .

I'll be getting the flash back next Monday as it's being used by a friend for a project, I'm sure he'll be buying an official Cannon flash soon enough though lol (he refuses to buy anything other than cannon gear, but cant justify buying the flash right now) .

 

[three-fingers]

Here's what the tank looks like now, I had intended to add floating plants (Salvinia auriculata) and hornwort, however it appears copper takes ages to clean off plants. After soaking them in a bucket the water for 2 days and changing the water twice, the shrimp still showed very ill affects after adding the plants. Luckily I had a box of carbon handy, and did a couple of large water changes. Shrimp are all perfectly fine now.

I've since been told that shrimp like to eat Salvinia anyway, so I'm looking out for another more interesting floating plant.

I've added some Rotala wallichii to the back instead of hornwort now, hopefully it will do OK without CO2 and fertilisation. If not I may get some pressurised CO2 for the tank and start fertilising again, just so I can keep more interesting plants.

Note how painstakingly slow the B.carolina grows in high light with no CO2 injection.

 

[Gemmylou]

lovely pictures