It's been about six weeks since I set up a 1g jar for my shrimpies, and about two weeks since I put them in. They seem to be doing great and I'm really happy with the setup! I have it on the kitchen counter next to a terrarium with a day/night cycle LED hood, so they get a good amount of light to help build up algae. (It's also right where I can stand and watch them while cooking or doing other things in the kitchen.) There wasn't a ton of algae growth when I put the shrimp in (some brown film on the sides and rocks), but as I'm in FL, I wanted to get the shrimp before it got to the middle of miserably hot summer. They seem to be happy, swimming around, going up and down the glass and all around the bottom of the jar. (I know I should probably get more rocks for the bottom and build up a little mountain for them. I'll get there!)
Google photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/LxDqKr4MjYPLvf4TA
(Sorry about the water spots on the sides, it's hard to keep the outside clean!)
I have some questions though:
1) I think I had a halocline settle in the tank soon after I put the shrimp in. About a week after (about a week ago) I noticed a sort of film like a biofilm layer forming about 3" ABOVE the bottom of the jar. The shrimp up to this point had mainly been sticking on the glass on the sides and near the top, above this layer. I wasn't sure what it was, but I grabbed a clean spoon and stirred the water up. The film broke up into fragments and the shrimp had a fun ride around the jar. Since then, they've been ALL OVER the jar. Bottom, sides, top, everywhere. Swimming happily and seemingly chowing down on the remnants of the weird film that settled on the substrate. Do you suspect I'm correct in my assumption that I had a halocline going on that built up a biofilm over it?
2) Speaking of stirring the jar, is there any benefit? I have noticed, as I see a couple other folk in the forums, that a very slight film will start to develop on the water surface. I've had to add a cup or so of RO to replentish the jar since I set it up, and have just poured it in from a height so it mixes well with the jar water and breaks up the surface film. I know no filter is necessary, but would occasionally giving it a gentle swirl help at all?
3) My macroalgae seems to be falling apart. The shrimps love to graze on it, but I can't tell if they are eating it or if it's falling apart. It seems like it might be spreading through the substrate nearby where the little ball was originally? I don't know if too much light, not enough, bad water, good water, or if it's just a thing that happens. I tried to get a good photo of what's left of the original ball in the album.
4) I know it's typical for them to not color up immediately, but I have a couple that are still a pale white. Wait, or are they just weird?
All-in-all, I love my new skrimpies and happy to now be a part of the Opae Ula family! They are fun to watch, constantly being active and swimming around and being plain entertaining.
My new 1g jar and some questions!
Moderator: Mustafa
Re: My new 1g jar and some questions!
Congrats on your new tank! It's great the shrimp are doing well. I'm sure they will appreciate it when you make a little rock mountain for them because they love to be able to hide and get away from light, and that will reduce their stress and maybe make them more apt to breed. I don't know about the possible halocline or the chaeto falling apart (a lot of mine turned white and disappeared after a year or so, but some bits lived on and stayed green), but I wouldn't worry about the biofilm or mixing the water. The shrimp will probably clean up the film before too long and the water does get a bit of a mix anyway when you top it off, as you pointed out. As for the coloration, my shrimp range from bright red/orange to pinkish to white to almost transparent. Some are red on the ends but have a white stripe in the middle, kind of like the Canadian flag but without the maple leaf 
. All the color varieties are normal. Enjoy!
. All the color varieties are normal. Enjoy!
Re: My new 1g jar and some questions!
Thanks for sharing the pictures and video! What you described sounds like a bacterial bloom in mid water. That's not unusual in new tanks and will disappear even without stirring. As for the biofilm on the surface of the water, it's just additional food for the shrimp. They will swim upside down to graze on it even. So, no stirring necessary.
If you're reading this, how's your tank doing so far? Did the macroalgae make a come back?
If you're reading this, how's your tank doing so far? Did the macroalgae make a come back?
Re: My new 1g jar and some questions!
I only really asked about the weird halocline/bloom because it was an almost flat "surface" about 1/3 of the way up the tank and not something I'd ever seen or expected! I guess with the jar water being almost perfectly still, it's much easier for the bacteria to form a sheet like that.
The jar is absolutely booming now!
I've added a couple of "current" pics to the album I linked at the top. Once the cycle really established itself with the shrimp in, the macroalgae took off and is probably 4x the size it was when I received it, and I swear I can almost see it grow daily. I added a bunch more lava rock to the tank to make more nooks and crevices for them to hide in if they feel like it - but they still spend so much of the day zooming around the jar anyway! Even if they don't want to hide, there is much more surface area with the extra rocks for biofilm and algae to form, so it's good regardless. You can see all of that in the newer photos, and looking back at my originals, the tank feels so much more lively with the added rock and the macroalgae going to town.
For anyone else reading this, I bought some red lava rock at the local garden supply place, rinsed it super well in the sink - no soap, just running water for several minutes - then rinsed it all off several times with distilled water, then let it sit in another jar of distilled water for a couple of weeks just to make sure anything that was going to leech out did before I put it into the tank. Because there were shrimp in there, and the jar opening is pretty small, I actually used a pair of aquarium tweezers to place each rock by hand as opposed to dropping a handful in and risk squishing a shrimp. Tedious, but worth it!
I stand at the kitchen counter and just watch them zoom around while I wait for water to boil or food to cook. It's a little jar full of happiness!
The jar is absolutely booming now!
I've added a couple of "current" pics to the album I linked at the top. Once the cycle really established itself with the shrimp in, the macroalgae took off and is probably 4x the size it was when I received it, and I swear I can almost see it grow daily. I added a bunch more lava rock to the tank to make more nooks and crevices for them to hide in if they feel like it - but they still spend so much of the day zooming around the jar anyway! Even if they don't want to hide, there is much more surface area with the extra rocks for biofilm and algae to form, so it's good regardless. You can see all of that in the newer photos, and looking back at my originals, the tank feels so much more lively with the added rock and the macroalgae going to town.
For anyone else reading this, I bought some red lava rock at the local garden supply place, rinsed it super well in the sink - no soap, just running water for several minutes - then rinsed it all off several times with distilled water, then let it sit in another jar of distilled water for a couple of weeks just to make sure anything that was going to leech out did before I put it into the tank. Because there were shrimp in there, and the jar opening is pretty small, I actually used a pair of aquarium tweezers to place each rock by hand as opposed to dropping a handful in and risk squishing a shrimp. Tedious, but worth it!
I stand at the kitchen counter and just watch them zoom around while I wait for water to boil or food to cook. It's a little jar full of happiness!
Re: My new 1g jar and some questions!
Awesome! Thanks for the additional pictures/videos! It'll be even more exciting once you see some larvae floating around.