# Warts and more warts, but progressing:



## Rob Dahl (6 Jan 2015)

This is the tank that got me started (10/26/14) once again after years of other pursuits. I made many beginners mistakes, like adding water before I planted, even then not being bright enough to lower the water level when I had such a tough time with my shaky hands trying to place crypts, Micranthemum and hair grass in a full tank. Oh well, here it is today, healthy and full of life:
*Fluval Flora 7.9 Gallon *
(wet start 10/24/14)
* Aquarium Inhabitants
Plants*
_Fissidens fontanus: Phoenix _Moss
_Ludwigia arcuata _Narrow LeafLudwigia
_Lysimachia nummularia Aurea _Golden Llyodelia
_Micranthemum umbrosum “_Monte Carlo_”
Cryptocoryne wendtii “green” Green Cryptocoryne
Eleocharis parvula “Dwarf Hairgrass
Microsorum pteropus‘Windelov’ _Lace Java Fern
_Limnobium spongiaFrog Bit 
Macaya fluviatilis_Stream Bogmoss
*Fish & Invertebrates*
2- _Neritana natalensis,n_erite snails “Zebra & Tracked”
plenty of Columbian Ramshorn snails
_2–Otocinclus spp., oto catfish
5–Paracheirodon innesi, _neon tetra
_3–Hemigrammus erythrozonus, _glowlight tetra
2–_Palaemonetes spp. glass shrimp
4–Cardina multidentata amano shrimp
2–Neocaridina heterododa var. Rili,_red rili shrimp
_2–Neocaridina heteropoda var. Rili,_orange rili shrimp

...and the tank itself as of 1/6/15:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15568152783/


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## Rob Dahl (16 Jan 2015)

My_ Ludwigia _is growing like crazy, lots of plants perling, but the main news is that one of my orange rills is berried, so babies maybe in about 20 days. Here are some images:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/15676020333/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16294110601/


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## Greenfinger2 (18 Jan 2015)

Hi Rob, Great looking scape  The Lud needs a trim  
Hope to see some baby shrimp soon


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## Rob Dahl (18 Jan 2015)

Trimming Lud today, but have no place but out in patio pond to put them right now. Don't know how long I can keep them floating free


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## Greenfinger2 (18 Jan 2015)

Hi Rob, Floating the plants is a great idea  They will last for weeks just sending out roots 
The only down side of the pond You cannot control what will attach to the plants like algae or bugs "from the pond"


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## Rob Dahl (19 Jan 2015)

Thank you Greenfinger2,
I agree and I decided to keep them in a shoebox (no, a plastic one, filled with water) with an air bubbler. I am using the light from the SpecV to illuminate it.
Thanks for the input. I do have some plants outside, but if I use them later, I will give them an H2O2 dunking to kill off foreigners.
BTW- do you know why plants pearl so much after a water change? Also had 0 KH in the specV after a 30% water change today, so added a minute quantity of baking soda which raised GH from 75 to 150 and KH from 0 to 120. Glad I used a minute amount!


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## Greenfinger2 (19 Jan 2015)

Hi Rob, 
Great idea with the plastic box 
As to your Q on pearling  here a link http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/pearling-after-a-water-change-why.4206/
Not sure about baking soda ??? But i would be careful adding stuff to your water without researching it first


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## Rob Dahl (19 Jan 2015)

Thanks Roy,
Still don't think there's a satisfactory answer there. Even though a number of experienced people gave some of their theories, I think we could use the advice of a water chemist. 
I did research the KH question online a got this same answer from some aquarium threads, so thought I'd try it. Glad I was careful, but it worked. 
Only two otos and a couple of Nerites inhabit the SpecV right now, but I think after I check water chem once more, I will introduce either an Amano of go to the LFS and get some cherries or rillis. I am fortunate that there is a good LFS here in Tucson 
http://www.arizonanatureaquatics.com The owner is meticulous and does beautiful landscaping. Sure seems to know his business.


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## Greenfinger2 (19 Jan 2015)

Hi Rob, Amano's Won't breed in fresh water They need brackish water I would go for the cherries 

Great looking shop  Some fab scapes there too


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## Rob Dahl (19 Jan 2015)

Was just thinking of an Amano to clean algae, but maybe I will just get some cherries (red ones).
Would you say this was a female rilli? Abdomen seems pretty concave, but has saddle.


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## Greenfinger2 (20 Jan 2015)

Hi Rob,?? Others will know more mate


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## Rob Dahl (21 Jan 2015)

Here's the orange rilli egg bearer. Eye spots now. What does that indicate?


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## Andy Thurston (21 Jan 2015)

Its female


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## Greenfinger2 (21 Jan 2015)

Baby shrimp on the way


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## X3NiTH (21 Jan 2015)

Nice stuffed swimmerets, in 20 days or so your tanks gonna be inundated with tiny Orange Rilli! If the Cherries are in the same tank with these they'll breed together and mix up the colours a bit, orange and red together would look pretty nice.


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## Rob Dahl (22 Jan 2015)

Hi X3NiTH, They're in this separate tank with red rillis. Want to get a few of these neon cherries bred first, then think about cross breeding (that is if I can trap them out of this jungle). There are a few ghost shrimp and Amanos in addition to the orange and red rillis.
Here is what the tank looks like after a Ludwegia haircut:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16316704466/


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## X3NiTH (22 Jan 2015)

Bait then trap (chase with a net), has been most effective for me, a baited trap didn't work out particularly well, though that may have been down to using bait that wasn't irresistible enough.


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## Rob Dahl (22 Jan 2015)

After the eggs hatch I can try the trap. To try and net them, I'd have to remove the root and the java ferns and fissidens weakly attached to it and all the little critters living there. plantings are so thick I wouldn't be able to maneuver a net without tearing up a lot of plantings. In my next landscape I am going to leave an open area that I can chase those little devils into. One of the things I needed to learn...


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## Rob Dahl (24 Jan 2015)

Both orange rillis are out this morning and both are berried, so must be the male red rilli that is papa. Worried about the survival of the young, but have plenty of varied vegetation, particularly Fissidens and a moss ball, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. CORRECTION: only one rilli berried I must have gotten them mixed up as they came in and out of the vegetation.


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## Rob Dahl (26 Jan 2015)

I wanted to ask: My shrimp do not flock to the food like I see other's shrimps do. I usually only see one or two at a time, and they meander by, sniff at the food (Azoo Max breed) and continue on their way.  A couple of the larger Amanos will go after an algae wafer when I drop one in but not the feeding frenzy I see others doing.


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## Crossocheilus (26 Jan 2015)

Maybe the shrimp feel threatened by the fish?


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## Rob Dahl (26 Jan 2015)

Hello Crossocheilus,
Could be. I have neons and glowline tetras. But I know Aquatoon has fish and still has shrimp flocking to the food.


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## kirk (26 Jan 2015)

I found the easyiet way to catch shrimp in a heavily planted,  is with the thin end of the algae scaper guide them into a small net, had to catch loads and post last year.  Nice rili by the way.


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## Rob Dahl (26 Jan 2015)

Thank you kirk. I'll give that method a try. Right now I'll let things progress and wait until the eggs hatch.


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## X3NiTH (26 Jan 2015)

Ignoring food is completely normal behaviour. If the food is hard and dry they may come back later when it's had time to moisten up a bit to make it easier for them to wrestle chunks of it, I have found pellet foods break down really quickly, the Ebi Dama I'm using is longer lasting and doesn't break apart like the pellets, it frequently gets ignored but does get eaten. Even fresh foods will get ignored, but will eventually get nibbled on.

When you have greater numbers in the tank the easy to find food sources become scarcer and the shrimp can get very hungry, so when you put food in there's a bit of a squabble to get at it, like you've seen in my tanks. If the shrimp run out of easy food sources and you don't feed them they'll eat the wood hard scape!


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## Rob Dahl (26 Jan 2015)

Thank you X3NiTH,
Once again I'm dealing with patience. I expected them to flock when they've only just arrived. As the Simon and Garfunkle song says: "Slow down your going to fast. Got to make the morning last."


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## Rob Dahl (26 Jan 2015)

Saw X3NiTH's post on exploding CO2 tank. What does FE mean?

Thought some of you might like to se my Tillandsias:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16186324370/


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## Rob Dahl (27 Jan 2015)

It's a little out of focus, but wanted to catch Big Momma before she disappeared into the jungle. Beginning to see lots of eyes.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16379869412/


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## Greenfinger2 (28 Jan 2015)

Hi Rob, Congratulation  Looking forward to seeing the little ones


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## Another Phil (28 Jan 2015)

Rob Dahl said:


> What does FE mean?


 
Hi Rob,
Fire extinguisher.
cheers phil


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## Rob Dahl (28 Jan 2015)

Thanks Phil


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## Rob Dahl (1 Feb 2015)

Here is the tank before I trimmed and one afterwards:
Untrimmed



 

trimmed


 
Still have quite a jungle, but don't want to disturb pregnant mama, due in about a week!


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## X3NiTH (1 Feb 2015)

Getting a lot of growth there Rob, I would do a little bit of trim now as when the eggs hatch you likely won't see the fry as they are tiny and almost completely transparent, it's very easy to accidentally lift them out the tank on trimmings, hopefully you'll get the numbers to not have to worry about that too much!


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## Rob Dahl (2 Feb 2015)

Hello there X3NiTH, 
I am saving all my trimmings to plant in the new tank, in a plastic shoe box, but it won't be ready to plant for over a week. Those tall micranthemums monte carlo on the left side, I hope to lay on their sides and see if I can get some carpet. Also have a nice piece of DW I want to apply fissidens to with thread. Just for looks I'd like to put a thin layer of gravel with a few pebbles over a portion of the Amazonia. What do you think?
Good pearling this afternoon:


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## Rob Dahl (2 Feb 2015)

Well, too late for the trimming saw both rillis, nether one berried, so the fry must be on the loose, somewhere in the jungle. Just have to wait until they're visible. How long is that do you think?
Here are both the orange ones:


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## Rob Dahl (2 Feb 2015)

Good image of male and female red rillis. The yellow saddle on the back of the female is readily apparent.


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## X3NiTH (2 Feb 2015)

Just have to keep a good lookout, they'll be tiny, if you're lucky you might see them on the glass at the substrate level.


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## Rob Dahl (2 Feb 2015)

Thanks for the tip X3NiTH, I'll keep a weather eye out. Went ahead and did a bit of trimming. Here's what the tank looks like now.


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## Rob Dahl (2 Feb 2015)

Well, tried to plant in ADA Amazonia in the new tank and it reminded me of one of those carnival games where you can't win. I lowered the water level to the substrate and tried to plant in the mush. As soon as I gently added  water the plants began to float out nothing seems to hold them in place, no matter how deep you push them. I finally put some lead around bunches of Ludwegia, but it looks like s__t don't know what to do, so am going to leave it for today and see if I have any new ideas tomorrow. A gravel overlay (or gravel and sand) is beginning to look better and better...
Here's the mess:


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## Rob Dahl (8 Feb 2015)

Saw the first baby rilli shrimp this morning, two of them in the Micranthemum.






 
Sorry for the quality of the images. Must learn to shoot macro with my Canon Powershot SX40


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## Rob Dahl (12 Feb 2015)

Here are some more baby pictures, one with adult for comparison


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## X3NiTH (12 Feb 2015)

Is the female berried again, do you know?


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## Rob Dahl (12 Feb 2015)

Don't think so. They both look so much alike that I can't  discern wether I'm looking at the same or a different one. Have to wait until they're both visible.


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## Dantrasy (12 Feb 2015)

Nice looking shrimp. Kinda look like an endler.


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## Rob Dahl (13 Feb 2015)

Thanks Dantrasy


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## Rob Dahl (17 Feb 2015)

Babies and more babies–Now that they're a little bigger I am seeing them all over the tank. Here they are at the food and standing off a big Amano at the breakfast table:


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## Rob Dahl (23 Feb 2015)

X3NiTH said:


> Is the female berried again, do you know?


This image seems to show she's well on her way:


 

and here with the first generation:


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## Rob Dahl (21 Mar 2015)

Just noticed that the red rili female is berried, so second batch of babies is on the way:


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## Rob Dahl (27 Mar 2015)

Momma orange rilli found dead this morning. No clue as to cause. She has a lot of surviving progeny.


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## Greenfinger2 (18 Apr 2015)

Hi Rob Sorry to hear about Momma  As you said there are a lot of Mommas offspring


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## Rob Dahl (18 Apr 2015)

Well, I had a real jungle in this tank and after cleaning out much hydrocotyle in my specV I had a go at this one here's before and after pics:
BEFORE


 
AFTER


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## Greenfinger2 (19 Apr 2015)

Hi Rob Wow how the plants have grown  Looking great after the trim


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## Rob Dahl (20 Apr 2015)

Thank you Roy


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## Rob Dahl (3 May 2015)

Decided to rescape the tank – still too crowded even after trim, so pulled everything out and replanted sparingly. Will add more plants as time goes on. Here's the result:
Before:


 
After:


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## Greenfinger2 (4 May 2015)

Hi Rob,Now that's a big trim  Looking forward to seeing how it go's looking good so far mate


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## Rob Dahl (4 May 2015)

Thanks Roy, I think I'd call it a "buzz cut". Probably got a little carried away. At least will not have to trim for a while. I put the trimmings out in the backyard pond.


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## Rob Dahl (5 May 2015)

Filter not flowing properly, so yesterday found that a small piece of rough filter material that I had stuffed into intake basket was clogging the whole shebang. I had done this to prevent baby shrimp from getting sucked in, so replaced basket with a small Fluval foam filter. Now flow is good and water clearing well. Also added a floss filter material to this Nano10 and think it helped with the clearing. Here's the result:


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## Rob Dahl (8 May 2015)

Thank you LondonDragon and Greenfinger2


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## Rob Dahl (8 May 2015)

Here is my present setup with trimmed tanks:


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## Rob Dahl (8 May 2015)

Thank you karla


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## Greenfinger2 (9 May 2015)

Hi Rob, Looking good


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## Rob Dahl (9 May 2015)

Thank you Roy


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## Rob Dahl (10 May 2015)

Hung some black felt behind tank–still get reflections:


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## Greenfinger2 (11 May 2015)

Hi Rob, Take the photos at night with just the tank lights on  No reflections


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## Rob Dahl (11 May 2015)

Thanks Roy


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