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Flat Earth society...

Wolf6 said:
Starting to look very nice :) How do you keep the glass clean with this sort of thing?
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Inside has only really seen diatom growth on the first couple of inches of visible glass (plastic), Part drain, then give it a wipe with a sponge. (Part drain else when my arm goes in, displacement...)

Edit... Plus I now seem to have a small army of limpets trying their best. There's no intentional creatures in there yet, so I guess there's not much muck in there either
 
The USB air pump, whilst very very quiet, had started to lag a bit, so that got redeployed elsewhere... And in its place went the original biorb pump.

But oh my god the noise!!!!! Although im not used to using air pumps, so maybe it was 'normal' I don't know.

So an amazon box arrived today, with a Tetratec APS50 pump. Ok, not silent by any means, but marginally quieter than the biorb pump. And a big visible difference in the flow coming out of the pipe, this pump is pushing a lot more.
 
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The crypt crispulata finally gave up the battle to survive, so that has been whipped out.
Have added 3 small sprigs of Rotala Indica. See how they do.
Anyway looks like I'm due another trim in there which is good, as I'm trying to build up a plant mass in another tank in the house.
IMG_20210225_171243.jpg
 
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So I now have a sole inhabitant (aside the little limpet things).
I accidentally broke the glass thermometer in my 72, and as I was syphoning the glass out, a very teeny baby shrimp decided he wanted to experience the waterslide.
e25948cd-7edb-405b-ba58-3331ee8fcca0.jpg
So I've popped him into the biorb to see how he does.

I haven't seen him since, but that's hardly surprising as he's about 3mm long.
 
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I have seen the shrimp several times, growing rapidly, and has shed at least once during his short time in the orb.

He is no longer alone...

One of the tiger barbs in the 120 was not very well at all, and then I spotted it laying on its side on the sand, and the others were having a peck. I didn't have time to do much other than quickly net him, then run down 2 flights of stairs with him in the net and plopped into the biorb. I know this is definitely NOT the ideal way, however he was about to get eaten anyway. That was approx 5pm yesterday.

Today, he is swimming around quite happily, eating and foraging. Still looks in bad overall shape, so I'll let him recover and fatten up a bit before returning him to the tiger tank. Whilst I have concerns about the shrimps' chances, im pretty certain that the shrimp can hide better than the barb can hunt at this time.
IMG_20210330_182820.jpg
 
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its starting to look a little sad now, I let the diy co2 run out a while ago and not redone it. The solo shrimp in there is now huge! and the tiger barb, well I put him back into the 125 tank but he didn't do so well in there, so he's back in the biorb and seems happier in there
 
Karmicnull said:
So basically was he the tiger barb that got picked on by all the others?
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yes, seems to be the weakling... maybe if I add a few more to the group and that one also, it'll disperse the aggression.. over time, the group has dwindled to just 3 in the 125 (plus the one in the biorb) and although they should be in groups of more than that, they seem calm
 
So miracles CAN happen...
Further inspection suggests... the shrimp that is berried, is NOT the child-bearing-hipped female that was originally in the biorb.

It appears that what I thought was a male that I added, is in fact the berried shrimp.

So my mind is blown. Either they're doing a seahorse impression, there's been an immaculate conception, or the male that I added was in fact a female that had already done the dirty before I moved him/her.

Or maybe it is a non-binary shrimp?? Gender-fluid or whatever the kids "that never got enough attention" like to call it? Thats quite fashionable these days dontcha know?
 
Rescape time....
as I hadn't put any co2 in since it ran out, and it was all looking a bit sorry in there, it was time to go low-tech.
So low tech that I even removed the heater.
I have a load of Java moss, and I also happened to have a box of barbecue lava rocks. So I set about attaching Java moss to lots of lava rocks, and making a bit of a mosaic.
And some plants wedged into the substrate here and there in the mosaic gaps
Java ferns attached to lava rocks sit behind the filter pipework and should hopefully bush out and fill the back.
When it comes to trimming moss, it should be a simple affair of pulling out a rock, trim, put it back

IMG_20210618_195556.jpg
Didn't stumble into any baby shrimps though, so perhaps they just didn't get to hatching this time.
 
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Whilst cleaning up some moss that I'd just trimmed from the other tank, this teeny tiny stowaway was spotted (for reference that's a child's teaspoon)
IMG_20210622_185437.jpg

So into the biorb he/she has gone
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I don't expect to see it for some time.
I also put in there maybe/possibly/hopefully a virile young male. Wether it is or not remains to be seen though :O
 
Growing well. I found a few more Java fern plantlests and wedged them in some gaps between rocks, and a couple of additional bits of sessiflora that had been eaten in the barb tank to see if they pick up at all. IMG_20210708_194622.jpg
The shrimp count has gone down, the 2 female adults both died within a couple of days of each other, however the tiny one on the spoon is ok, along with a young maybe male. So not sure what happened there?

Have been dosing a bit of excel here and there, but have subsequently reduced this to every few days.
 
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