Rant of the New Aquarium

C

csmith

Guest
A few weeks ago I potted my four swords. I had also left them sitting outside for entirely too long, and the leaves became translucent. By the end of the week my aquarium smelled like a sewage plant and all of the leaves were covered in a white fuzz and lying on the substrate. Instead of attempting to recover those swords I decided to discard them and start fresh. So, I did. I also decided to sell back my 4 sparkling gouramis as well, as they were stressing my shrimp like crazy.

I later acquired 4 more shrimp, one hygro kompakt, a bunched group of wisteria and two crypts. Since setting them up I've come up with multiple issues that shouldn't be issues, yet for some reason they annoy me.

1.) Are shrimp like women? No not temperamental ( :rolleyes: ), but can they get on the same "cycle"? All of my shrimp shed within the same 3-4 day period all of a sudden, and having to fish for old skin is one of those things I know should tell me the water is good but the process still sucks at the same time.

2.) Is there absolutely no way to encourage hygro kompakt to stop sending out 10 roots from each and every shoot? It would appear the water is good here as well, as leaves are coming out all over and yet this plant won't stop with the roots. On the same topic, quite some time ago I recall wishing leaves on my plants would just fall off before rotting away on the plant. The kompakt has answered that wish, and I regret it. Fishing leaves out of my mini-jet powerheads and off of my filter's intake every day is getting old.

3.) Wysteria. Wow, this plant. I showed pictures of it on another thread when I bought it covered in algae. I planted it, but each stem still ended up on the tanks surface within a few days. Personally, I think the frogs moving on the bottom uproots it (they're big dummies). After it all came up I let it float in the tank for a week, giving it a bit of a head start on regenerating growth. Well, it did that at the very ends of the stems. It was a pretty quick process actually. I replanted it at angles (I think I learned that one from Gerryd), and it stayed put. As it turns out, each stem of the wysteria has decided to die at one end. They've all turned brown and mushy directly below the new growth which will obviously eventually fall off and take my new growth with it. Gah, what a process.

Anywho, that's all I have. I am having very good success right now (no algae in a few weeks), but success has shown me its price. :rolleyes: I'll pay it, but it still sucks. On the bright side, my frogs layed eggs. I thought the shrimp had eaten them all, but I saw 4 or 5 tadpoles swimming around yesterday. I doubt they'll live, but it's still pretty cool.
 
D

Daniel

Guest
Baby turtle? Wouldn't you have to have a spot above the waterline for the turtle to rest?
 

shoggoth43

Lifetime Charter Member
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Jan 15, 2009
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Why remove the shrimp "skins"? I've found they do a good job going back and either eating them or they eventually dissolve. But I have pretty soft water and lots of shrimp so who knows. I just know they aren't there for very long...

I haven't noticed any particular tendency for them to be on the same cycle. Maybe yours just grow at the same rate or you have a different species from what I have. I've got crystal reds, tiger bees ( new so I haven't had them long enough to see them shed ), Yamato/Amano, and I used to have some glass shrimp but I think they eventually all got eaten.

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S

csmith;50057 said:
A few weeks ago I potted my four swords. I had also left them sitting outside for entirely too long, and the leaves became translucent. By the end of the week my aquarium smelled like a sewage plant and all of the leaves were covered in a white fuzz and lying on the substrate. Instead of attempting to recover those swords I decided to discard them and start fresh. So, I did. I also decided to sell back my 4 sparkling gouramis as well, as they were stressing my shrimp like crazy.

I later acquired 4 more shrimp, one hygro kompakt, a bunched group of wisteria and two crypts. Since setting them up I've come up with multiple issues that shouldn't be issues, yet for some reason they annoy me.

1.) Are shrimp like women? No not temperamental ( :rolleyes: ), but can they get on the same "cycle"? All of my shrimp shed within the same 3-4 day period all of a sudden, and having to fish for old skin is one of those things I know should tell me the water is good but the process still sucks at the same time.

2.) Is there absolutely no way to encourage hygro kompakt to stop sending out 10 roots from each and every shoot? It would appear the water is good here as well, as leaves are coming out all over and yet this plant won't stop with the roots. On the same topic, quite some time ago I recall wishing leaves on my plants would just fall off before rotting away on the plant. The kompakt has answered that wish, and I regret it. Fishing leaves out of my mini-jet powerheads and off of my filter's intake every day is getting old.

3.) Wysteria. Wow, this plant. I showed pictures of it on another thread when I bought it covered in algae. I planted it, but each stem still ended up on the tanks surface within a few days. Personally, I think the frogs moving on the bottom uproots it (they're big dummies). After it all came up I let it float in the tank for a week, giving it a bit of a head start on regenerating growth. Well, it did that at the very ends of the stems. It was a pretty quick process actually. I replanted it at angles (I think I learned that one from Gerryd), and it stayed put. As it turns out, each stem of the wysteria has decided to die at one end. They've all turned brown and mushy directly below the new growth which will obviously eventually fall off and take my new growth with it. Gah, what a process.

Anywho, that's all I have. I am having very good success right now (no algae in a few weeks), but success has shown me its price. :rolleyes: I'll pay it, but it still sucks. On the bright side, my frogs layed eggs. I thought the shrimp had eaten them all, but I saw 4 or 5 tadpoles swimming around yesterday. I doubt they'll live, but it's still pretty cool.
 
C

csmith

Guest
Left C;50063 said:
You need a baby turtle in there! It would add a little more excitement!!! LOL

Only if it's a snapping turtle. Then it'd be fun. :p

shoggoth43;50079 said:
Why remove the shrimp "skins"? I've found they do a good job going back and either eating them or they eventually dissolve. But I have pretty soft water and lots of shrimp so who knows. I just know they aren't there for very long...

I haven't noticed any particular tendency for them to be on the same cycle. Maybe yours just grow at the same rate or you have a different species from what I have. I've got crystal reds, tiger bees ( new so I haven't had them long enough to see them shed ), Yamato/Amano, and I used to have some glass shrimp but I think they eventually all got eaten.

-
S

I've got 4 amanos and a cherry. They probably do just happen to grow at the same rate, it's just one of those weird things.
 

Left C

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Burlington, NC
csmith;50087 said:
Only if it's a snapping turtle. Then it'd be fun. :p
I had a hatchling when I was young. It was neat. The little fellow had a nasty bite too. I had him a long time in a 29g and I finally turned him loose.

There were two lakes near my house with several good sized creeks feeding them. Sometimes when the turtles hatched, they would go across the front yard. Most of the time, it was painted turtles. The baby snapping turtle was a 'treat.'