chibikaie

WOW!! Jaw dropping gorgeous!! I will also have a betta or two. Mine are not fancy but they are pets and like little water puppies that don't need to be taken out for walks, lol. I love their personality so they are only there for enjoyment and I think they just like me for the blood worm treats,

It's called Murphy's Law. If it's physically impossible to go wrong/fall through every single failsafe you've set up, IT WILL.

It's a very important half inch.

Well I just wanted to post an update to my pinto project. I know it's been a while. This girl became berried on March 1. I haven't a clue to who the father is. There are two other male tibees in the tank as well. I'm hoping it was a TB that got to her. Either way it's pretty exciting stuff!
   
 

Beautiful piece of wood!

It's more of a "how to prepare for MTS in the long run" thread.
I am trying very hard to only get livestock that will be happy in the two tanks I have set up right now. I promised my 5.5 and my 75 gallon to a friend and I don't have the money for more anyway. But I keep thinking, gee, these shrimp or that plant would be awesome and I could totally do a stack of 10 gallons on the opposite wall.

I need to start a post titled "how NOT to get prepared for new shrimp" gads....

The 20 long is a nice size to work with if you don't mind hunting for tops and lights to accomodate the 30" length. I call it not too big, not too small and the shorter depth is good for those of us trying to grow plants. It isn't so long that it's difficult to get good circulation going, as well.

.... 4'11.5" ....

So sorry for your loss my friend. There's not much to say at times like this - so I won't try. Just know you have many many friends here who are keeping you and your family in their thoughts. I will just leave it at that and wish you the best in moving forward.
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LOL  He'll have gills pretty soon.

Having finally finished my education, I have the time to resurrect my old 58 gallon tank. Sadly, in the great move up North, I had to leave behind its stand. For the past 3.5 years, this poor tank has languished in the basement as all of its inhabitants, including fish I had had for many years, did not survive a 3 day drive despite preventative measures.
 
This is the tank in its algae infested glory 4 years ago:

 
It grew MTS very well:

 
Currently, I am completing the stand for it following hydrophte's raw industrial style.
 
The building material on top of the messy wood pile in the basement (I'm still cleaning up from a hot water pipe leak)
 

 
Makeshift work table:

 
Staining the wood:

 
In action concentration shot:

 
First coat of poly:

 
Luckily, the swissian is short and so does not hit her head on the beams in this 200 year old basement.
 
Updates will be soon!

5'3"! That's why lower stands are better!

I tried to explain that I was really tired today because I spent Saturday night waking up to check on the shrimp that were drip acclimating, and then again all day and night Sunday with two rabbits that decided to go into gastrointestinal stasis one after the other. No one paid attention ...

I tried to explain that I was really tired today because I spent Saturday night waking up to check on the shrimp that were drip acclimating, and then again all day and night Sunday with two rabbits that decided to go into gastrointestinal stasis one after the other. No one paid attention ...

Been there done that....meeting in a car wash parking lot, handing bags of some sort over to people for cash! 
 
Officer I'm selling caridina, no not marijuana!  Yes I know it looks like weed, but its sea-weed in flake form.
No you don't smoke it, you feed it to your shrimps. No not my Kids, my Shrimps

Some people should NOT have pets....seems like you met a few!  

We all have our cringe worthy LFS stories and plenty of us have slipped customers some valuable information or even pointed the finger at the LFS (pick a finger) but...
 
Saturday I zipped my lip, on purpose.
 
Went to LFS to get a quick 10 gallon. So, I browsed.. odd that none of the LFSs around me carry flourish excel. I tried to explain to the girl there that I didn't want it for plants, even though it was, I wanted it for my shrimp 'medicine chest'. I gave up and she left me alone to browse.
 
They have a very cool, small, open salt water tank with... anemones and what not in there (not going to pretend I know what they are cuz I don't, lol).
 
A lady was scouting the tank with two boys. I would say one was about 9 or 10, the other younger. He was LOUD, obnoxious and she let him be. I steered clear. They were looking in the tank and did they "Hey... hey lady...what is that thing?"
 
When she said a shrimp, my ears perked.
 
The mom asked if it could only live in saltwater and the girl said yes. I really wanted to see it but I wasn't going near them.
 
The boy poked his finger in the tank, all three of them were flicking the glass and the older boy wanted something to 'poke it and make it move'. The mom was the same.
 
I finally stepped over and started to look in the tank and purposely stepped in front of them so they had to move. Luckily the look I shot at the boy shut him up and they moved on.
 
NO WAY IN (@#(*$#(@&  was I going to tell them there were shrimp that you could keep in fresh water.

We definitely had cops circling a NYC aquatic plant meet. Hey, we were passing baggies of green stuff, bottles of liquid, powders ... and we were just hanging out on the street.
My car is such a disaster that I might not have cleaned all of the needles out of it. I've basically been hoping that I never get stopped. So there's just my bottle of epinephrine -wait, I don't have a script for that. Crud.

This is my little blue dimi....how cool is that.

Fast, too!

And it's ready to be painted.

If heat is not an issue, getting a tight glass top will really cut down on evaporation.  But if your light produces some heat and it is close to the top, it might cause your temperatures to increase when the lights are on.

Can people track berried and plot against moon phases to test that hypothesis?

FINALLY...   One of my mischlings is going to be a mommy!!!!!!     For those of you who have followed my Tank of Death threads, I never thought this day would come .   But finally  FINALLY after all this time and heart ache,  One of  my mischlings  has Berried.  
 
 
I believe my tank is completely healthy now and while I love my carbon Rilis and took their procreating as "Being on the road to recovery"  I was afraid I would never see the day where my mischlings would finally start to be normal.  
 
 
I am beyond excited.   I can barely contain myself.
 
Of course, I found the Berried momma  to my horror after doing a large water change.   I  have not done a change in weeks wanting to keep the recovering tank as stable as possible.. finally this weekend I couldnt take it anymore..  overgrown plants and clogged intake filter.. ect.    I did a water change, filter cleaning and plant trimming.  And of course, this is when the shrimp decides to get pregnant.  She was not pregnant last night  as she is very easy to pick out.  
 
Anyway.. I knew you all would understand my excitement.  It is all the sweet for the hard fought battle.      I started jumping around when I saw her and my dad looked at me like I had 2 heads lol. 
 
 
 For anyone out there dealing with  the slow deaths,  hang in there and don't give up!    Ill try to get a picture when the tank clears up.  
 
PS.   Thank you ShrimpScales.  This is one of yours .   The biggest girl you sent.