Re-starting 15 gallon, 1st time with sand

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

No better way to start your day than to look at your tank with your first cup of coffee and spot a shrimplet. Is it real or do I need more caffeine?

It's how suddenly they appear too! I did a water change on that tank four days ago, didn't see any. I wasn't hunting for them, but my plants grow fast so I've been doing a fair bit of maintenance, and I'm sure I would have seen them unless they were hiding in holes in the dragonstone, or deep in the plants. Doing some stuff in the tank today, suddenly seems to be baby shrimp everywhere! They've started to colour up so I don't think they've just been born... they seem to hide for a while, then all decide at once that it's safe to come out, and ta da! Babies everywhere all of a sudden

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

That's brilliant! Yay what a rough patch you've had. Glad things are on the up and up

Thank you hon, I know you understand the feeling! Coming out of a rough patch where it's a lot of work and sadness, but then things start to improve, such a relief!

 

[seangee]

they seem to hide for a while, then all decide at once that it's safe to come out, and ta da! Babies everywhere all of a sudden

Mine usually do it on water change day - about 2 weeks after I stop seeing berries I suddenly have loads of new shrimplets after changing the water.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Mine usually do it on water change day - about 2 weeks after I stop seeing berries I suddenly have loads of new shrimplets after changing the water.

Oooohh, what temp do you keep your tanks at? I've wondered how long they carry eggs for, and how old the babies might be by the time I spot them, since usually they've started to colour up by the time I see them, but I've spotted them when I re-scaped as tiny and almost completely transparent, so I know they must hide for a while before coming out in the open, just have no idea how long for!

When I tried to find out, discovered that how fast shrimp mature and go through their lifecycle depends on the temperature, and when my tanks were at 79 F, they went from tiny and starting to colour up, to sexually mature in about two months But in cooler temps, can be up to six months to mature. My tanks are now at 75-76, so I have no idea now.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Updated photo from today, tank is almost two months old now. I don't think it looks much different than last update really, but it's hard for me to see the differences when I see it every day. l.sessiliflora and frogbit roots have been trimmed a few times, have started to use some sessiliflora trimmings in other tanks, but I'm gonna let this lot hit the surface and see how that looks, would be different anyway!

Today I pushed the hydrocotyle tripartita down so it can carpet a bit, it's grown fairly slowly compared to some, but I can finally tell that it definitely has grown! Also trimmed the tops from the siamensis 53B and re-planted the tops.

The sword at the back centre is putting in work and putting out leaves, liking how it's coming into its own, think it might look quite dramatic when it gets big back there. When I think how that came from a blister back and has grown that much in eight weeks, that's not bad!

Rotala has grown, slowly... it does have a tendency to get uprooted, so it's kinda annoying having to replant stems of that often, but at least it hasn't failed as a result. I wonder whether it's time to trim some of the tops and replant them, whether that pruning might help it grow more? I've never had rotala before, not sure about propagating it. @Ch4rlie ? @mbsqw1d ? What would you guys do with this these plants now?

@EllRog remember when I showed you my plant list, and you were worried that the plants would be too demanding and need CO2? Hate to say I told you so, but...

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

@Wills ! You have a beautiful planted tank, have you used rotala 'bonsai' before? Do you think I should try trimming some of the taller stems soon to propagate and encourage growth? Not using CO2 so I did expect compact and relatively slow growth, being a bonsai and in a low tech tank, just not sure if I should do something with it, or leave it be for now really.

I'm torn on the frogbit too, it gets a bit much sometimes! I love it, and I need to tame it a little. Make a corral for it, so I can put my wood piece back in at least.

 

[AilyNC]

How do you propagate the sessiliflora?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

How do you propagate the sessiliflora?

Just trim the tallest stems, remove the lower set of leaves to leave some clear stem, and stick those top pieces in the sand, they'll root just like an outdoor cutting would. Easy peasy!

 

[AilyNC]

Just trim the tallest stems, remove the lower set of leaves to leave some clear stem, and stick those top pieces in the sand, they'll root just like an outdoor cutting would. Easy peasy!

Great thanks! I'm getting good height but want mine to be more dense.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Ah great was just about to ask you for an update on this. Which Alternanthera did you get Adora?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Ah great was just about to ask you for an update on this. Which Alternanthera did you get Adora?

The reineckii 'mini'

 

[Ch4rlie]

Beautifully planted tank, you've done a real nice job here.

I knew that when all the plants have grown and become established this would change the face of this tank, lovely.

As for rotala plants, they are slow growing plants, I did not have great success with mine when had these in my tanks, so did not attempt to propagate them as decided I did no longer want them at the time so I am not too sure how one would propagate Rotalas, probably much like any other plant I would assume.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Beautifully planted tank, you've done a real nice job here.

I knew that when all the plants have grown and become established this would change the face of this tank, lovely.

As for rotala plants, they are slow growing plants, I did not have great success with mine when had these in my tanks, so did not attempt to propagate them as decided I did no longer want them at the time so I am not too sure how one would propagate Rotalas, probably much like any other plant I would assume.

Thank you kindly! It's definitely grown and filled in a lot more than I would have expected in two months, I thought it would take 3-4 months to get this way really.

I'm amazed that none of the plants I put in failed! I thought at least one or two wouldn't make it, but so far *touch wood* everything seems healthy and growing, even the slow growing and more demanding stuff like the rotala and hydrocotyle. Not thanks to any skill on my part! Just got lucky with my water, and seem to have the right amount of light. Really pleased that this cheap little light from Amazon does such a good job!

Well, the vallis still isn't really thriving I suppose. It doesn't seem to be actively dying, the stems near the base look healthy, it's not rotting or melting back, but once the leaves reach the surface, they turn red and break off. Perhaps the frogbit is blocking the light too much, or it's still not settled itself and feeling established yet, not sure. But not going to give up on it yet since it's not doing any harm back there. I'll add some of the TNC root plugs soon, maybe that will help it.

I'll trim a couple of the taller stems of the rotala and replant the tops then, see how they do! I might have to do a bit of re-designing though, that corner is where I feed them, food falls down there, fish rummage and uproot bits sometimes. But I can't really feed on the other side since the filter output and frogbit are on that side, and I don't want them uprooting the hydrocotyle either, which is even more delicate! Maybe I should remove some of the centre hardscape and go full Dutch style. Except the shrimp love hiding in the holes in the dragonstone! It's so tricky to syphon mess out of the holes since shrimp end up popping out

Anyway, sorry, rambling! I didn't really 'aquascape' this tank with a plan in mind, so now I have a lot of plants and not much spare space, filter has to be on that right side, so I need to rework it a little, without ripping it all up of course! Or just leave the rotala where it is and try to adjust the flow for feeding so food doesn't blow into that patch... gah! Sorry, end of ramble!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Been a while since I've updated this, my bad!
Current state of the tank:

A few of the plants I added did fail in the long term, the alternanthera reineckii withered away leaf by leaf, there are three tiny plants of it left in the front, not expecting them to last long! The rotala is a struggle plant. Doesn't help that the cories keep uprooting it! Pleased with the hydrocotyle 'Japan'. It's a slow grower (in here anyway, I'm sure it would grow faster with CO2) but it's really pretty and delicate, which is a nice texture to have.

The amazon sword is gonna need to be replanted elsewhere soon, it's outgrown this tank in just seven months! The vallis settled in, I just need to remove side shoots now and again. The siamensis 53b is a worry... it grew so well for ages, enough to trim the tops and plant bits in other tanks, but it's all holey now. I suspect the MTS that had a population boom have been eating it, since it only started getting holes after their population boomed.

Added six Amano shrimp recently, like them a lot. Soon I plan to remove the female guppies that call this home, and switch to a male only tank. It's not great to catch fry out of here, and two of the three female guppies have been popping out fry constantly. Catching fish out of here is always difficult since they dive behind the vallis or the sessilifora where a net cannot go, or the rotala gets uprooted, so better if it's male only and I don't need to be netting fish out of it constantly.

Shrimp population has recovered really well in here, so despite the panic and expense at the beginning of this thread, it was worth it! They've produced some really interesting colours. This one below truly is black. It's not the lighting, there are a couple of black shrimp in here! I only added the original reds, plus a few blue dreams (labelled as blue dream in the store anyway, who knows) and a few labelled as blue diamond. Most of the original blues didn't make it, but I saw one blue female who was berried, and must have produced the blue babies I've seen!

Another black one:

The black neo next to one of the amanos

Was trying to get a photo of the black shrimp next to plants and some of the fish, to show it's not the lighting or camera, that they truly produced black shrimp!

Some of the baby fish! I'm growing out a few blue platy youngsters in here, I grabbed them from the 57 gallon while they were tiny, 'cos I want to keep some blue platy lines going in there, and didn't want them to be mated by the snta or red mickey mouse platies in there.

Looking forward to seeing how these yellow with darker tails grow out, haven't thrown this colour before

Nothing special about these photos, I just like how much life is going on in here!

From a different tank, one of the young males I'm growing out. Not a great pic, but I love his colours! Dad a yellow snakeskin cobra, mother a platinum delta

 

[Slaphppy7]

Been a while since I've updated this, my bad!
Current state of the tank:
View attachment 131285

A few of the plants I added did fail in the long term, the alternanthera reineckii withered away leaf by leaf, there are three tiny plants of it left in the front, not expecting them to last long! The rotala is a struggle plant. Doesn't help that the cories keep uprooting it! Pleased with the hydrocotyle 'Japan'. It's a slow grower (in here anyway, I'm sure it would grow faster with CO2) but it's really pretty and delicate, which is a nice texture to have.

The amazon sword is gonna need to be replanted elsewhere soon, it's outgrown this tank in just seven months! The vallis settled in, I just need to remove side shoots now and again. The siamensis 53b is a worry... it grew so well for ages, enough to trim the tops and plant bits in other tanks, but it's all holey now. I suspect the MTS that had a population boom have been eating it, since it only started getting holes after their population boomed.

Added six Amano shrimp recently, like them a lot. Soon I plan to remove the female guppies that call this home, and switch to a male only tank. It's not great to catch fry out of here, and two of the three female guppies have been popping out fry constantly. Catching fish out of here is always difficult since they dive behind the vallis or the sessilifora where a net cannot go, or the rotala gets uprooted, so better if it's male only and I don't need to be netting fish out of it constantly.

Shrimp population has recovered really well in here, so despite the panic and expense at the beginning of this thread, it was worth it! They've produced some really interesting colours. This one below truly is black. It's not the lighting, there are a couple of black shrimp in here! I only added the original reds, plus a few blue dreams (labelled as blue dream in the store anyway, who knows) and a few labelled as blue diamond. Most of the original blues didn't make it, but I saw one blue female who was berried, and must have produced the blue babies I've seen!
View attachment 131286
View attachment 131287


Another black one:
View attachment 131288

The black neo next to one of the amanos
View attachment 131289

Was trying to get a photo of the black shrimp next to plants and some of the fish, to show it's not the lighting or camera, that they truly produced black shrimp!
View attachment 131290

Some of the baby fish! I'm growing out a few blue platy youngsters in here, I grabbed them from the 57 gallon while they were tiny, 'cos I want to keep some blue platy lines going in there, and didn't want them to be mated by the snta or red mickey mouse platies in there.
View attachment 131291

Looking forward to seeing how these yellow with darker tails grow out, haven't thrown this colour before
View attachment 131292View attachment 131300

View attachment 131293

Nothing special about these photos, I just like how much life is going on in here!
View attachment 131294View attachment 131295View attachment 131296View attachment 131297

From a different tank, one of the young males I'm growing out. Not a great pic, but I love his colours! Dad a yellow snakeskin cobra, mother a platinum delta
View attachment 131298

Wow, beautiful tank!
You take some awesome photos, as well...love those black shrimpies