My white headed Bumblebees?

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 1:16 pm

Though hard to see and therefore count, it seems around five young are still alive. I have yet to count higher than that since day one of the hatch. They are growing and very active. Only five of the adults are still kicking and screaming. I consider this to be a success so far as this tank has been giving me tons of grief and losses have been high. Looks like things are under control again...fingers crossed.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:20 pm

Sorry to hear about the losses, but some of them are still doing well

Did you ID what the problem was with the tank?

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:34 am

Counted six young today...maybe there are more? fingers still crossed.

As for the problems I've been having...nothing more than unstable nitrate levels, or at least that is all I can figure. All other parameters are measuring fine. It just seems this is one of those tanks that is problematic. If you keep tanks long enough you will find yourself with one eventually that makes you want to pull your hair out. This is one of those. So it's patience and extra attention to details to fix it. Ugh.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:41 pm

If you keep tanks long enough you will find yourself with one eventually that makes you want to pull your hair out.

I believe you! I had one of these, it is now in a landfill somewhere

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:45 pm

I believe you! I had one of these, it is now in a landfill somewhere

Exactly.

I must say one of my best stress releases I ever had was picking up my Fluval 403 that was full of water and media and chucking it as far as I could across my bricked patio.

Watching it crash and burn instantly relieved me of all the frustration I had fighting that stupid filter. This occurred around 15 years ago and is a fond memory.

I decided to try and count the number of baby bumbles again, and I'm very happy to report that I have counted ten. Looks like a decent amount have survived and all the ones I could count looked very well.

Again fingers remained crossed.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 4:54 pm

Good to hear about the babies! Hope they all grow to ave their own babies

Post by **Mustafa** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:43 pm

frugalfish wrote: I decided to try and count the number of baby bumbles again, and I'm very happy to report that I have counted ten. Looks like a decent amount have survived and all the ones I could count looked very well. Again fingers remained crossed.

Awesome!

Now don't change anything about your setup...as long as the adults are picking away and look healthy the young should be doing fine, too.

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 7:47 am

Things have been going well for the most part since last updating. Lost a couple more of the adults, but the uveniles are doing well with no losses. They are growing larger and becoming more visible all the time. Still looks to be a solid ten count in numbers.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:38 am

Thanks for the update, I was woondering about these guys. Are there any special requirements that you find they need? Also, do you have them in their own seperate tank?

frugalfish · Post by **frugalfish** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:50 pm

Neonshrimp wrote:Thanks for the update, I was woondering about these guys. Are there any special requirements that you find they need? Also, do you have them in their own seperate tank?

Although the adults have had ups and downs with actually more downs the juveniles seem to be thriving. Again this tank took such a hit that any shrimp that survive long are true troopers. As for special conditions I can only tell you that the parameters for the past month have been very soft water 25-50ppm, temperature steady at 73-74 F, pH is neutral, and I actually stopped doing water changes and only add R/O to top off from evaporation. There are a number of plants, but mostly just java moss, java fern, and other slow growers. Maybe a few floating variety, but very little. I let some snails stay in hopes of them creating a little more diversity in the microorganism realm. I do have snowball shrimp in with them, but the snowballs are not too happy with the soft water and will need to be removed if I want them to thrive. I feed once daily with whatee I happen to grab off the shelf. I'll try and add a picture of a juvenile this week.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:21 pm

Thanks very much for sharing your observations. I am looking forward to the picture of the juvenile shrimp

.

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:31 am

Good job!

Your juveniles are probably surviving and doing better than your (already deceased) adults because your tank has had time to establish the right environment for the shrimp to do well. I've observed that quite a few times over the years. A tank that could not keep shrimp alive produces a thriving shrimp population after some time of waiting and not fiddling with the tank.

Contrary to prior advice, do *not* fiddle with the ph this time around. Even if the ph is neutral or even alkaline, don't mess with it. Your shrimp and babies should be fine.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:21 am

I was able to see the juveniles and they were very active and looked great

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:57 pm

Neonshrimp wrote:I was able to see the juveniles and they were very active and looked great

What do you mean? You actually went to frugalfish's place and saw them?

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 4:04 pm

Yes, I was fortunate to get a tour of his tanks and they were great. I even saw his tank full of Hawaiian reds and a bunch of their hanging larvae. The visit inspired me to improve on my setups and have something similar one day