Newbie seeking advice

[erica]

Hello all! I'm Erica. I got an ecosphere for my birthday about ten years ago...out of four shrimp, one (Jaques) is still alive. (Two of the shrimp died within a month of my receiving them; the third died about 6 months ago.)

I've recently been researching aquariums and fishkeeping so I could set up a tank of cory cats, and realized that the ecosphere is probably not a very good environment for the little shrimp. Found this site through some more research, and have decided to set up a 5g for my current shrimp and some that I plan to order from this site's store, after I've got it cycled and ready for them according to the articles Mustafa has written.

In the meantime, I was wondering about the best care for Jaques. I carefully turned the ecosphere over, making sure Jaques was not trapped under the gravel, and opened up the bottom. I'll test the water levels later - I just got the testing kit from the store. If they're not good (0 ammonia/0 nitrite/<40ppm nitrate is what fishkeepers strive for - I assume similar is good for shrimp), I was thinking of trying to do partial water changes in the ecosphere. Would this be helpful, or should I just leave it until the new tank is ready? Should I move Jaques to a larger container, like a 1g Kritter Keeper? I haven't found any calcium carbonate rocks at the pet store I visited earlier. I'll probably have to order some online.

I love these little shrimp and I'm excited to keep more, in an appropriate environment!

[Jayjayel]

Hi Erica,

I also saved my 3 out of 4 shrimps from my ecosphere back in 2011. The 3 of them are still doing well to this day. I'm in the process of moving them to a larger and nicer home, but for these 4 years here's how they've been living and what I did:

1. Bought ocean water from petstore (I wasn't confident doing my own mixing)

The ocean water I used.

Photo Feb 28, 12 00 51 AM.jpg (133.7 KiB) Viewed 2819 times

2. Used a supply of reverse-osmosis from my tap
3. Got a vase

The vase with 3 shrimps and 2 pipipi snails

Photo Feb 28, 12 01 27 AM.jpg (120.93 KiB) Viewed 2819 times

I did the following:
1. rescued 3 of my 4 shrimp from the shattered glass that was the ecosphere due to Miss Kitty's curiosity
2. Rinsed out my vase in reverse-osmosis water
3. filled it halfway with ocean water, then other half with reverse-osmosis (50/50)
4. Put in the substrate, the shrimp, the sea fan
5. fed them spirulina flakes sparingly

Years passed, they did well, algae grew everywhere.

About 2 months ago, I added two pipipi snails to the vase and they cleaned up a lot of algae. They snails and the shrimps are doing great, but I guess a little too great as the pipipi snails are laying eggs everywhere. I had to remove the sea fan branch as it was getting covered with eggs.

The shrimps and you can see the pipipi snail eggs on the vase.

Photo Feb 28, 12 02 06 AM.jpg (62.47 KiB) Viewed 2819 times

So I didn't have a lot of the original water left since my sphere was shattered by my cat. The shrimp seemed to do well with the new water, after waiting for me to rush back from the pet shop.

And your questions:
partial water changes in the ecosphere. Would this be helpful, or should I just leave it until the new tank is ready?
I wouldn't touch the ecosphere water besides adding reverse-osmosis or distilled water to top it off, if the water evaporates. By just opening it and giving Jacques some air is good enough until you can move him to his new home. (maybe feeding him very very sparingly)

Should I move Jaques to a larger container, like a 1g Kritter Keeper?
If it's just a month for you to prepare the new tank, I probably wouldn't move Jacques.

I haven't found any calcium carbonate rocks at the pet store I visited earlier. I'll probably have to order some online.
You can use shells. I was able to pick up some shells from my local aquarium. You can also use coral rock, which I also found at the aquarium store. Make sure to rinse all of that out with distilled or reverse-osmosis water to clean them before putting them in your new tank.

Hope this helps.

P.S. I read from fukubonsai that they love to swim laps and hence don't like edges, which is why a rectangular aquarium is not recommended. From what I've seen they do enjoy the circular vase. I am now in the process of moving them to a bigger home. This is an old photo from a month ago. I haven't had time to take a new photo yet and plus they haven't been moved over yet (still cycling the water). I followed the same process above so I anticipate they should be fine. Again, I chose a circular option, no edges.

Their new home from a month ago. It's currently already filled with brackish water, macroalgae, shells, coral rocks, sea fans and lava rock. I'm just cycling the water and don't have a current photo.

Photo Feb 28, 12 02 19 AM.jpg (83.79 KiB) Viewed 2819 times

[KenCotigirl]

interesting tank. I like the glass mountains in the middle. Add more pictures when it is done. I would put the fan coral back in. The snails eggs come and go but are not a problem. I do not know if anyone has breed those snails so a population explosion is very unlikely. The egg explosion was most likely due to the snails feeding on the algae. Less food less eggs.

Where is erica?

Ken

[erica]

I'm still here every now and then! (Unless you meant physical location, in which case I'm in the southeast USA)

Thanks for the information on your experiences, Jayjayel. The bit about liking round edges is interesting. I'll have to think on that!

I did end up ordering some limestone and crushed coral online, though I have now received information on a couple LFS in my area, one of which is saltwater-focused so might have things useful for the shrimp. If all goes well, I will start to set things up later this month - plans changed a bit from when I made the first post.

I've been keeping Jaques' sphere topped off with distilled water, and he's doing alright. At first he went a bit grey but is now bright red again. I tested the water and got .25 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites and nitrates, and 8.0-8.2ish pH, which is remarkably similar to my tap water! But I'll be keeping to distilled/RO water for the shrimp. I've dropped in the tiniest speck of spirulina flake I could manage once every few weeks, and I also put a shred of marimo in there when a bit fell off while I was rinsing them. There was a dime-diameter chunk of algae in there already.

I guess carefully smashing the ecosphere will be the easiest way to get Jaques out, huh?

That is a really cool bowl!

[Jayjayel]

Glad that Jacques is doing well. My shrimps are grey now too, from the move, but should get better once they acclimate.

Following are photos and videos as requested. I'm new to posting here, so LMK if it's supposed to be in a new thread. I don't mean to hijack Erica's.

They are still acclimating, it's only been a few days. Their setup is on the dining table for now. But I'll be moving them to another location and I have a decorative wood round to put them on, instead of the purple coaster, once I clear out the space.

Link to the videos:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/daq9pqzo8yict ... m.mov?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/15p7lgzu54gyx ... m.mov?dl=0

Also, as you can see my dining table has a built in lazy Susan, it would be terrible for the shrimp if someone came over and decided to spin the fishbowl, so I will have to move them off here soon, once I clean up their new location.

[KenCotigirl]

Wow. Nice tank. Erica just wanted to know if you were out there. Do not smash tank. The ecotanks usually have a plug on the bottom that can be removed. Good luck

[erica]

I've pulled the plug out already, but having a larger opening would make it easier to remove the shrimp from the globe. I'll try without breaking it though, when the time comes!

[Mustafa]

Glad to see some new members sharing! Awesome "mountain vase" there jayjayel!

P.S. I read from fukubonsai that they love to swim laps and hence don't like edges, which is why a rectangular aquarium is not recommended.

You can safely ignore that advice. The shrimp really don't care about the shape of their container, which is a good thing because you can pick any shape tank you want. When they swim it's not for fun anyway, it's either to get somewhere or they are disturbed. They swim in "circles" around the tank even in rectangular tanks.