The Petco Bookshelf Aquarium: Prepping For Cherry Shrimp Colony

[lolobunnz]

That flaring picture looks like a really nice fish of the month picture

 

[Gvilleguy]

Thanks, lolo - that was definitely the best picture so far that I managed to get.

I think I'm done tinkering with the tank for now. Going to let the Betta settle in and hope he does well. He is not flaring nearly as much today after one night in the tank. Seems to be swimming around checking things out. He's in front of the gray rock in this shot:

 

[luke21]

Hi was just reading through and saw this. I also uesd bottled bacteria when starting my 25 gallon tank but a different one to you. It took about 3 days for my water to be ok for a few hardy fish to be added and then with theese my water condition were perfect in no time and my tank is looking lovely and all fish seemed happy

 

[Gvilleguy]

How to make your Betta angry: put a clear divider down the middle of his 6.6 gallon tank! He has had the run of the place for two weeks all by himself, and I made an acrylic divider today for future use. I put it in the tank tonight to test it and make sure it fit correctly. Wow - did he get mad fast! He head butted it for about 30 seconds, then swam straight to the front of the tank, looked me dead in the eyes, and gave me his best pissy flare!

I plan to use the divider when I introduce Cherry Shrimp in a few weeks. Want him to get used to them before I test to see if he will tolerate them or digest them.

In the meantime, I removed the divider to give Spike back his full tank so that he does not hurt me.

 

[jarcher1390]

How to make your Betta angry: put a clear divider down the middle of his 6.6 gallon tank! He has had the run of the place for two weeks all by himself, and I made an acrylic divider today for future use. I put it in the tank tonight to test it and make sure it fit correctly. Wow - did he get mad fast! He head butted it for about 30 seconds, then swam straight to the front of the tank, looked me dead in the eyes, and gave me his best pissy flare!

I plan to use the divider when I introduce Cherry Shrimp in a few weeks. Want him to get used to them before I test to see if he will tolerate them or digest them.

In the meantime, I removed the divider to give Spike back his full tank so that he does not hurt me.

Hi Gvilleguy.

Thanks you sooooo much for the information on dr tims bacteria. I read about it in marine habitat magazine on the iPad. But as rightly said companies wildly speculate their result (perfect lab conditions may not reflect the real world senario).

Now correct me if im wrong the problem is once cycled your still adding fish slowly. Surely the ammonia added to the tank should be directly proportional the the amount of fish being able to be kept. For instant (this is hypothetical) 1mg/l of ammonia fully cycled could support 1 guppy but using 10mg/l should allow 10 guppies to into the tank. Right? now lets say you put in a 1000mg of ammonia and its fully cycled in 5 day then theoretically u could fully stock the a tank with out any problems regarding ammonia and nitrite and nitrate (okay i know compatability and u should never put all fish in one. Can any one confirm or deny my theory?

Thanks

Jonny

 

[Gvilleguy]

Based on my experience the more ammonia you "cycle" the tank with - ( in other words, the higher volume that the filter media is able to process in a given time frame), then the more fish you have prepared for. I don't know any specifics about how much ammonia one fish typically puts out, assuming the standard 2 inch narrow body. So I cannot link X ammonia processed to being ready for Y inches of fish.

But in my case I was processing 3-4 ppm of ammonia in 12 hours, which I assumed was WAY more than I needed to stock one Betta. That was the volume I processed for my 26 gallon tank when I initially stocked with 12 fish a few years ago.

But a new tank can also be prone to fluctuations...mini-cycles...that make stocking a lot of fish more risky. It's a trade off between dealing with "new tank syndrome" and stocking up to the level of ammonia you are cycling. It's up to the individual in my opinion.

 

[jarcher1390]

Based on my experience the more ammonia you "cycle" the tank with - ( in other words, the higher volume that the filter media is able to process in a given time frame), then the more fish you have prepared for. I don't know any specifics about how much ammonia one fish typically puts out, assuming the standard 2 inch narrow body. So I cannot link X ammonia processed to being ready for Y inches of fish.

But in my case I was processing 3-4 ppm of ammonia in 12 hours, which I assumed was WAY more than I needed to stock one Betta. That was the volume I processed for my 26 gallon tank when I initially stocked with 12 fish a few years ago.

But a new tank can also be prone to fluctuations...mini-cycles...that make stocking a lot of fish more risky. It's a trade off between dealing with "new tank syndrome" and stocking up to the level of ammonia you are cycling. It's up to the individual in my opinion.

Thats anwsers my question perfectly I think.

Thank you.

 

[snazy]

Lovely tank. The betta is beautiful and it's great to see Dr Tim's bacterial cycle log recorded with success. The only negative thing I would mention is that the betta might eat the cherry shrimp early or later and definately the babies so you can't really breed them in this tank.

 

[Gvilleguy]

I have read differing results regarding betta with cherries, but I may just rehome the betta into my main community tank if it looks like he will not tolerate cherries.

 

[Crossfire]

Lovely tank. The betta is beautiful and it's great to see Dr Tim's bacterial cycle log recorded with success. The only negative thing I would mention is that the betta might eat the cherry shrimp early or later and definately the babies so you can't really breed them in this tank.

I have read differing results regarding betta with cherries, but I may just rehome the betta into my main community tank if it looks like he will not tolerate cherries.

I'm having the same dilemma....just lost my first betta, he was shrimp safe. Now I can't decide wether or not to get another one. Please tell me how it works out

 

[Gvilleguy]

I will definitely update this with my stock changes. I really hope I can keep the betta in there as well as have some RCS.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Okay - perhaps an update is due here.  I have been running this tank for four+ months now, and Spike the Betta is still the only resident.  But he appears healthy and active.  He almost always makes fresh bubbles nests after tank cleanings.   I decided last fall to let my filter mature before trying to add any shrimp.  The equipment of the tank itself has not had any trouble.
 
I have found a possible source of a cherry shrimp colony that is a two hour drive each way. I hope to go pick them up in a few weeks time.  I plan to add an acrylic divider initially to let Spike adjust to the idea of having shrimp.  
 
If anyone has any suggestions for a couple of smaller fish tank mates to add a little more tank activity - please let me know.  I quarantined a couple of danios in there for a month and Spike didn't really have trouble with them.
 
Here is a tank picture from today:

 
And a picture of Spike with his latest bubble nest:

 

[snazy]

He is looking great.
Danios are not suitable because they like different conditions than bettas. But there's a lot of fish out there you can put with him. You need to try, as long as they don't have long coloured fins he could be alright. My betta was particularly fond of a cory I put in there temporarily and corys are compatible with shrimp.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Agree on the danios - I like to keep them in bigger groups, and didn't want them in this small a tank.  Cories like groups as well, so that is why I didn't want to go that route.  I was trying to think of non-shoaling fish that don't mind just being in a group of 2-3.  

 

[sadguppy]

Given the surface area is quite large for a small tank, you could have a group of pygmy cories - none of mine have grown over a cm in a year, they really are tiny little critters, and my betta is fine with them.