Photo of new tank

[Harry]

This is my new tank. It is somewhat in the shape of a brandy snifter, about 6 inches in diameter and 10 inches high. It holds about a half-gallon of water. There are 16 shrimp in there, most of them in the background moss and other hiding places.

IMG_1138.JPG (244.61 KiB) Viewed 2134 times

[danzel]

Looks great!

[KenCotigirl]

This is the Opae tank? What are the green plants? I like the black gravel and the brown rock.

[BostonJill]

Love it!! It's nice to see tank set ups for the Supershrimp. I would also like to know what kind of green plant is there and will it survive in brackish water.

[Harry]

Here's a rundown of my tank and its contents. The jar is called a "Hurricane" and is typically used to house smaller candles to keep them from blowing out. These jars go from $25 to $40 at places like Crate & Barrel. This jar, however, was only $2.50 at Target. The gravel was in a package intended for Bettas and the rocks are very small, about 1/16 inch or so (but not sand). The large rock is brown lava rock. It is somewhat porous and intended to provide good surface area for bacteria. The small white pieces sprinkled on the rock and gravel are aragonite. Along with the two seashells, the aragonite provides calcium carbonate and buffers the water. There are two packages of Mustafa's micro-algae tucked behind the rock with the green plant. The micro-algae is hard to see, but there is a lot of it and the shrimp spend time in there. The micro-algae provides the shrimp with a good hiding place. Finally, the green plants. I found that the shrimp in my freshwater tank spend most of their time on the plants. The freshwater tank is half live plants (java ferns) and half plastic plants. Without a CO2 source, and even with a CO2 source, it is difficult to grow anything but java ferns. At least it was difficult for me back when I had a larger freshwater tank and a reliable CO2 source. That is why my freshwater tank has plastic plants. Since my Opae tank is brackish, I added plastic plants. This was a plastic plant originally intended for the freshwater tank. I cut it down and hot melted it to the back of the rock, so it would not fall down. Hot melt glue is relatively inert and often used for aquarium decorations. Then I took some smaller branches and slid them under the front of the rock, to make a "front lawn". While plastic is not "authentic", it serves two purposes. It provides a huge amount of surface area for the growth of biofilm. And my Opae spend lots of time eating on the plants, as do my freshwater shrimp. But the plants are also part of my "seascape". A big part of the aquarium hobby is that it is an art form. There are some real masters of this art and I have seen books with absolutely awesome tanks. And I have seen some very nice tanks at local fish shops. I feel the tank should be decorative. Unfortunately, many of the Opae tanks I see on youtube are bare and perhaps have just a few coral rocks on the bottom. These tanks are not very decorative. I'm sure the Opae have some varied features in their natural habitat; if not plants then some large and shapely rock formations. I believe the Opae would be very bored with just a flat tank floor. While I do not condone the Ecospheres as they exploit the shrimp population, I believe a huge part of Ecosphere's success is due to the visual appeal of their globes. And finally, there are snails (Taribia Granifera) purchased from Mustafa. They are usually out and about, but they are not visible in the photo. I'm hoping others will share photos of their decorative tanks so I can get tips for my next "tank" (after my Opae breed).

[KenCotigirl]

I have a 1.25 gallon tank. The problem I have is taking pictures of a small enough size to attach to this site. I use my iPad for pictures. Any solution must be simple or I probably won't do it. The plastic plants do add to the aesthetics of the tank. I have a piece of fan coral.

[BostonJill]

If you are using an ipad for pictures place your tank under a strong light so the light is lighting up the tank from the top. Ipads take good pics if you have good light. I then use imageshack at http://imageshack.us/ to upload the picture to forums such as this one. It will allow you to size your photo. Also I would think by copying the link for forums I think it is automatically sized.

[Harry]

I have been looking for fan coral but cannot find any.

[BostonJill]

Check out this site for Coral Sea Fan http://www.shopmos.com/sea-fan-coral?i= ... 5336721692

[Harry]

Thanks, I did not think to try ebay. I bid on a nice dried Gargonia. I'm assuming these are completely dead and will not rot and spoil the water. Any tips on treating it before placing into a tank?

[BostonJill]

You might also want to try Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/seashells11035 ... id=7756773

[Mustafa]

I usually don't allow posting links to commercial websites (as lots of people tend to spam for their own websites on forums), but it's clear that the links are helpful here..so I'll make an exception. Having said that, none of those corals seem to be small enough to fit in the types of small tanks like on Harry's picture.