im so excited!

[jonesinfershrimp]

ive seen it a few more times since the first sighting. its a nice bright red color. i did turn the little pump back on, but i turned it down to about half of what it was at. the shrimp actually seems happier with a small bit of movement in the tank. it casually strolls along and picks at food. ive seen some copepods and weird worm things free floating around. also a bit of hair algae growing im going to remove most of. the snails are happy as clams and growing and the macroalgae is getting huge. im thinking i might start pulling strands out and laying them around the bottom like a carpet. i have to clean the front glass before i can get decent pictures. are the snail ever going to breed? will pipipi snails breed in brackish water (i dont have any, i have the other kind, but im curious)?

[NancyM]

I have noticed the glass gets algae a lot faster than the decorations. I bought one ordinary nerite snail and he cleaned my whole 1+ gallon shrimp home in a day. I had to take him back out or he would have eaten my poor little shrimps out of a home. He is now cleaning a little 5 gallon tank I am fixing up to house more shrimp, of course.

[jonesinfershrimp]

well the unconventional practices continue! and so does the feeling bad. my shrimp arrived today, and i poured them in. i feel bad i didnt buy from Mustafa here on petshrimp, but i just couldnt afford the 40 i wanted being a broke@$$ part-time dishwasher. so i ordered elsewhere.

i cut the bag open, doubled the water in it with tank water using the drip system, then poured the whole thing in. i couldnt believe how red some of the smaller ones were. all the shrimp are non-stop around the tank though! even the ones that are completely clear. only 2 didnt survive the trip. but out of 40 thats not bad. cant wait to see how long it'll take to get berries and babies.

i ran the small protein skimmer i have for a couple minuets just to clear the top of the water like i do 2 times a day. the shrimp were loving ridding the current. when i turned it off it was back to scavenging around the tank. this post is all over the place. lol. but im so excited im surprised this actually says words and not sldkjgbilsuertnlksjbdiugb. lol

[Super Jess]

That's so exciting! Congrats on your new additions! I confess to a serious case of opae envy. Will you post some pics?

[jonesinfershrimp]

thank you! i did too for a long time!! all good things come with patients.

i will definately post some pictures! it'll have to be tomorrow morning when the light comes on. i work 5-close washin them there dishes. it's too bad i got called into work early today or i would have had some pictures tonight. i had a video that i took earlier to send to "the wife" but i cant upload that. hopefully i'll be able to get some decent pictures. i only have my phone to take pictures with, and in such a big tank they look like ants lol!

akdfjbnjk im so excited!

[jonesinfershrimp]

sweet saltwater phenomenon - algae bubble

left side of the tank

right side of the tank

long view down the tank

the coolio rock from the back with nice algae growth

i tried to get pictures of the shrimps themselves, but the lava rock creates the perfect hiding caves for them. when i can snap some pictures of them i definately will! its tough trying to find 40 very little shimps in 40 gallons of water


i also removed the small protein skimmer this morning and left the small pump you can see in the top left corner. its turned down almost all the way to 25gal/hr. just enough to see some of the hair algae sway slightly in the "breeze". i found the original hitchhiker Norman would enjoy this more than the power of the skimmer and would come out of the rockwork to chase around small particles of food.

[jonesinfershrimp]

found a moult already! i have only seen 4 shrimps so far though. they have ALL the hiding places in the piles of lava rock it seems. i did manage to get some terrible pictures of one of them though. the other three i saw i had no camera at the ready for. but tonight when i got home from work i saw two on the glass grazing on the algae. sorry about the quality of the pictures. they were took with my ipad.

this has filter on it to help show the moult better. its in the center on the rock.

the shrimp, a nice red color.

a size comparison. the giraffe watches over them. lol

[Super Jess]

A moult already! It's been a week since they've been in their new home? So cool!

Edited to note: I love your giraffe for scale. Everything should be measured in giraffes. As in, "The 8-giraffe bookcase was really too large for the bedroom; a 6-giraffe version would have been a better fit."

[jonesinfershrimp]

yes only a week. and i have started seeing them out more and more. it was to show the full height of the tank, but i am now going to use the giraffe measurements.

[Mustafa]

Glad things are working out!

[jonesinfershrimp]

Thanks! I have been observing the tank more and more lately, as i've been able to see about 6-14 at any one time now. I seem to have gotten one or two of the "albino" shrimps. but without the red eyes i can't call it albino. i'd call it more of a Snowball variant like the Neocaridina cf. zhangjiajiensis. it happens to be the most active shrimp in the tank. going all around to everything and stopping, grabbing a couple bites, and moving along. I've been trying to take pictures, but the quality is so bad until i get a lens. but i have a couple that i got today that are decent.

the smallest shrimp in the tank im pretty sure.

[Varanus]

In my experience when dealing with a large mass of macroalgae the parts further from the light will turn a darker green while the parts closer to the light turn a lighter green. It doesn't seem to reflect on its health directly.

It may even be a trick of the light to some degree.

[jonesinfershrimp]

Thanks Varanus! I'm thinking to get some kind of light diffuser possibly to help cut it back a little.

[jonesinfershrimp]

so much activity lately with the warm temperatures! i saw the most activity ever the other day when the tank hit 80.3F almost every shrimp was scurrying about and their little claws were moving lightning speed picking at every available surface. The Mustafa Method is the only method at this point that i would suggest for anyone (having tried a couple different ones with not-so-happy shrimp like they are now) wanting to start a tank at this point. but im also the kind of person who has to try things for myself different ways and see the results for myself. maybe thats why science was my favorite class in school? anyway, the snowball opaes are still the most active shrimps in the tank, and the rest have colored up nicely. i must admit im still so excited, and now anxious! i cant wait to get a berried female, though i know it may happen till next year. but i can wait. lol i waited how long from the algae and snails arrival to add the shrimp?

i also found a sort of light diffuser, a top to a small plastic box that i put on the lid of the tank under the light. it seems to be doing its job at cutting back the light. i might end up switching the light there with the actinic light on one of my 20L and see what difference that makes after a month. if its a good switch ill leave it.

for anyone who takes the time to read this, thank you and happy shrimpin'

[minishrimps]

a friend of mine just put a piece of white paper over the top of his tank and it worked great to diffuse the light. He has a bright, low heat emitting, LED light so, not a fire hazard, but I wouldn't recommend this with incandescent type bulbs... I switched to full spectrum, fluorescent tubes in a small 12 inch hood and my macro algae growth has slowed down to a nice pace...