Louie

My tanks are planted . I find that river pea size gravel safe .

If I wasn't going to keep plants I would only use a thin layer of sand, etc just enough to thinly cover the bottom .

I find that to much sand can build toxic gases due to anaerobic zones .

I got mine from Soothing Shrimp. Mine like it in the mid to high 70s. They breed like rabbits.

I also ordered mine from Soothing .

Yep Serrasalmus Rhombeus (Black piranha)

Come in many variants depending on local/genes.

You can catch one at one point, then go 10miles up river and catch another and they may look amazingly different. They generally all have the same shape but come in several sizes, colors and personality.

12" is decent size but they grow much larger than that..few people have 18"+ costing $1200+

Its a shame people cant be responsible and states have to ban them (i fully agree with the states decision) but they are fascinating fish.

''few people have 18"+ costing $1200''

When they were sold here as far as I can remember they were only sold as babies .  I would think an adult that size would be an older adult an not a fish with much time left .

I remember that it killed a slightly bigger tiger fish when it was about 6 inches  .  It was than kept by itself in the bigger tank .

Keep in mind there was no internet at the time and fish compatibility was word of mouth .

Most the shrimp in this tank are Extreme Black King Kong with no stripes on the body, the ones with stripes range from King Kong to Panda shrimp.

Thanks . I'm not familiar with King Kongs.  I have seen them listed but n familiar with them .

Are they in the Caridina family , how do you keep them as far as temp, etc ?

_{Thanks everyone . I will keep them at 78 .}

_{I ordered a heater for their 5 gallon which arrives by Sat .}

I love the shrimps with two types of blue .  Those are what they call King Kong?

Hello ,

         What temp is everyone keeping/breeding Malawas at ?        

 From what I understand they like it bit warmer than Caridinas .

Hi Louie,

Never thought of that, and its actually a good idea yes!

I might just even do it tonight lol

Lol you are a plant person.  I suspect in time you will have at least tiny pots be it clay or shot glasses with some plants in there .

I go to a pet store that sells cherry shrimp and they have a few 1 ounce shot glasses with gravel and water sprite growing in bushes out of it  .  It looks very nice .

_{What about some moss attached to the tubes ?}

With all the abuse he went through for 5 years I'm shocked that he has no self mutilation behaviors. He destroyed some window trim and a couch, but is really learning quite nicely what he should and should not chew. Overall he is a really good boy and both birds have the run of the house when we are home.

They do love to chew and as you know they will chew electric cords .

I'm glad to hear that he is moving in the correct direction.

Both birds get along ?

Hi all,

 

Thought I would share some of my planted tanks over the last couple of years.

Planted tanks and aquascaping has grown quite big in South Africa in the last 2 or so years.

 

We are still way behind with shrimps, as it is a grey area. We are aloud to trade and sell shrimp in the country, but illegal to import, we only have the basics like crs, cbs, normal tigers and cherries.

 

 

 

 

 

Gorgeous tanks .

You said in another post that you got more into shrimps but couldn't you continue to combine both as far as artistic tanks like this and shrimp ?

How fascinating! Montana has beautiful birds but of course no wild or feral parrots. My bird experience was mostly from wildlife rehabilitation so of course birds of prey which are wonderful to work with. But my other half was a parrot person so now we have a little green cheek conure with a big attitude and an african grey rescue who, after a year, is finally starting to act like one. He had never flown or even been able to spread his wings and didn't even chew wood. Now he takes short flights in the house, chews wood regularly, and hangs out with me in the evenings. It is a new experience.

You have lots Owls and other birds of prey which I love .

The problem with Greys and few other larger parrots  is that they are very intelligent and thus can become very destructive, self destructive in captivity .

The solution here is an outdoor aviary if the parrot becomes self destructive but at that point , they will never be that tame once they get used to outside .

I love the conures and rather long lived for little parrots .  A friend has sun and half moons .  They are inside birds .

Certainly looks like something from the prehistoric days.

Amazing! And I thought it was bad trying to find a home for my birds when I die. Imagine trying to find a home for your giant salamader for the next 3 or 4 generations!

Suspect you have parrots .

A couple about 2 blocks from me have an aviary with a pair of scarlet macaws and I hear them when I'm outside  .  The whole area loves them . We are bird people and even like the peacoks .

I had toucans in an aviary in the early 80s the pair lived give or take 20 years but bigger parrots live way longer .

In Key west which is further south from me there are a couple of wild cockatoos which are residents and breed in along Hemingway avenue .

I myself have never seen them but you hear them up on the tree's .  We have love birds , parakeets and Quakers in the area and interestingly enough the love birds and parakeets might have started with color but over generations they are old wild green here nothing fancy .

Yea I have alot of tanks so hang on the backs were too much for me to plug in. I found alot of the times would be too much flow in the tank for them, plus add the cost of filters on top of that.

Sponge filters I used one air pump, filters run around 2.50$ initial setup. Haven't changed one in a few years and my tanks are crystal clear. Shrimp don't ever produce enough waste to need a high turnover rate and extra mechanical filtration.

I suspect you are big on the water changes ?

It should be here by Sat and I'll start using it than.

Is that your tank in the avatar , if so how do you run it as far as light, additives , etc ?

When I look at Forum Handles/IDs, I recognize people almost immediately.  When someone mentions a real name of a person behind that Handle/ID, I often get lost.

 

Like if I were to go to a Shrimp Spot get together, everyone would have to wear their Handles on their name tags for me to recognize them.  LOL  Is anyone else like this, or is it mostly me? :rolleyes:

Mercy sakes alive looks like we got us a shrimp forum . Pig Pen this here's the Rubber Duck and I'm about to put the hammer down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnJEeHND_lQ

Yip,

 

All new growth that goes yellow in new growth tips is iron deficiency and old growth that goes yellow is nitrate deficiency .

 

You can add seachem comprehensive, that has iron and trace elements in, so basically all micro nutrients without any phosphate and nitrates

Thank you .I looked it up .

The fish in that tank only eat thawed worms or cull shrimp so imagine lack of fish food nutrients may have short changed the plants as my other tanks don't have this plant weak green look.

My only dilemma is that I use Purigen in my filter .   I suspect it will remove most of the dose . 

My plan is to dose once every 2 weeks and for few hours place the Purigen in cup of tank water for couple hours  .  I cant think of any other option .

Either way I just ordered it , Thanks

I have noticed that in my RCS tank when I put in my food tray for them they all come out from there hiding spots and attach themselves to my hand, I have a tank full of these RCS and the majority of them swim to my hands and arm, like the overly attach girlfriend! lol

just wondering if im the only one that this happens to

They are shaking your hand and greeting you . You are a friendly giant to them .

Plants in this tank are growing well without C02 but the green isn't a green as it should be .

Other than weekly water changes I do not add anything because the filter has Purigen in it  . Tank is 6 months old but new plants look ''weak on the green'' color .

Most are vals which are covering the bottom and spreading well but as you can see not as green as should be ,

I suspect this is lack of iron ?

Cute bowfront .

The diminutus max out at 1.5" and aren't aggressive.

They are cute and the blue one's are nice looking , if they stay blue after a few molts .

They are a tiny dwarf which I am contemplating keeping but have read by so many that they purchased blue only to have them lose the color a few molts later .

I like these mini crayfish. I just wouldn't have one in my tank. ill stay with shrimp. I used to own a crayfish that I fished out my lake once. that thing grew to about 6 inches. and it was super aggressive. threw him back where I found him after a while

I wont keep my dwarf crays with shrimp . 

The bigger crays are as a whole more aggressive . I have a M/F pair of white Allenis which get along and have bred but think that's rare .

Sponge filters on a central air line.

Oh I see , thanks .

Would love to see the cross.

This is a cross adult with a female endlers swimming next to it .   They are a reddish hue but nothing like a pure CPO .  Bit bigger than reg dwarf and stockier but just as easy going not mean like CPO's .