[Ninjournal]

On 6/8/2023 at 8:48 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Did he eat that ramshorn?

 

 

Maybe 🙄

[Ninjournal]

In case anyone likes watching my crabs as much as me. 

 

[Ninjournal]

Got this cute video of one of my Indian lilac crabs emerging from one of their hiding spots.

 

 

[Plant suggestions]

For background, you could do crypt spiralis. For the sides you could do some type of sword. I think red melon swords are my favorite. 

[Ninjournal]

In my never ending quest to be satisfied with my background stem plants, I've removed my hygrophila pinnatafida in my 29g and replaced it with hygrophila siamensis trimmings. I just want something nice and bushy to cover line of sight to the powerhead. 

[Ninjournal]

I finally got some actual good photos of my red claw crab this morning. 

[Ninjournal]

Finally got an okayish picture of my red claw crab "scarlet." She's elusive!

Got some more good pictures of my gold claw fiddler crabs. They're very not elusive!

Found a surprise baby reticulated hillstream loach in my 75g.

The guppy fry I moved to my 10g are getting more beautiful every day.

I also added a bunch of my guppy fry to my 10g. I was hoping they would act as dither fish for my roseline sharks and siamese algae eater who like to hang out under my madagascar lace and don't really utilize the rest of the tank. Nothing seems to have changed so far.

[Brackish Set Up]

What SG are you aiming for? That will be the main determiner for what fish and plants you can keep. This blog has a lot of useful suggestions for what plants and animals that can be kept ate various salinity ranges https://thebrackishtank.tumblr.com/ This book is also great for brackish fish specifically https://www.amazon.com/Brackish-Water-Fishes-Aquarists-Identification-Husbandry/dp/0793805643

I've had mixed results with anubias at 1.003 SG. Most rotted away, but some is doing fine. Vallisneria and hornwort have been doing really well for me. Rubin sword and hygrophila seem to be okay or at worst dying very slowly.

[Feeding fish nanos]

I feed all of my tanks twice per day.

[Newbie CO2 question: Is there such a thing as running "a little" CO2?]

On 5/29/2023 at 3:38 PM, JennyFish said:

2. I'm planning a 12gal for later this year and I'm considering doing a higher tech tank there. Is there such a thing as running a "low dose" CO2. Like running the lights at 50%, is there such a thing as running CO2 at a lower percentage, so that plants get some benefits without   me having to trim all the time

Yes, any amount of co2 will benefit your plants at least somewhat assuming you are also providing them with adequate light and fertilizer to utilize that co2. I really like the baking recipe analogy. Making a pound cake requires equal parts of butter, flour and sugar. If you have 1 pound of butter, 1 pound of flour and 1/2 pound of sugar, you can only use 1/2 pound of each ingredient. However, adding any amount of additional sugar, will allow you use more of each ingredient and make more pound cake. So if your tank has plenty of light and plenty of fertilizer, but barely any co2, then adding any amount of co2 will help.

In terms of not having to trim all the time, I think that mostly depends on the types of plants you are growing. Most stem plants will require constant trimming, but, crypts, anubias and java fern will not.

[Brackish Water tank]

On 5/28/2023 at 9:12 PM, RennjiDK said:

And I know several people with fancy goldfish, which have been in a <1g bowl for several years. Surviving isn't the same as husbandry. Amanos are not SW shrimp, and while they may take up the extra available calcium during spawning and early development, they're not supposed to be kept in that environment long term.

It would be really helpful if you:

1. Shared your experience keeping amano shrimp in brackish water and what the negative impacts were on them.

2. Provided scientific evidence that shows that keeping amano shrimp in brackish water has negative impacts on their quality of life.

I personally do not find it very helpful to be told "you're not suppose to do x" when I am successfully doing x.

[Brackish Water tank]

On 5/28/2023 at 2:12 PM, Lennie said:

Amano shrimp cannot live in brackish water.

Only  baby amanos can for some time and they need to go to freshwater later on. So you are likely gonna kill amanos if you put them in a brackish tank

Tell that to the amano shrimp in my brackish tank.

[Brackish Water tank]

On 5/28/2023 at 1:15 PM, ktk4beees said:

I am a little confused on what salt to but for the set up and maintenance. Do I need Coral Salt or will API salt do the same thing.?

Generally for brackish tanks you want to use marine salt/ sea salt, for the KH, GH, PH and other minerals it contains. This mimics what brackish water is like in nature, so it is better suited for animals that are used to brackish water. I use instant ocean sea salt https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Ocean-Aquarium-Sea-Salt/dp/B00NQH210G/ref=sr_1_1?crid=26MMR66XMXBDP&keywords=instant+ocean+sea+salt&qid=1685305756&sprefix=instant+ocean+sea+salt%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-1

API aquarium salt will not do the same thing. 

[Brackish Water tank]

On 5/28/2023 at 11:54 AM, ktk4beees said:

What about the original set up of the tank and the filtration. I like that I can go to the low end of the salinity as that is the direction I wanted to head to. I also want some plants in the tank for the snails and shrimp.

I would say the tank setup and filtration is the same as a freshwater tank. I personally use the nano HOB filter aquarium coop sells and two nano sponge filters stacked on top of eachother. For substrate I have a mix of inert sand (I had a bunch lying around), crushed coral and aragonite sand. I decorated the tank with seiryu stone and driftwood. Also note, marine salt will increase your GH, KH and PH. Even though my tap water is really soft, I ended up with absurdly hard water (30+dGH), presumably because of the seiryu stone, aragonite sand and crushed coral, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend adding too many of those.

[Brackish Water tank]

On 5/28/2023 at 10:57 AM, ktk4beees said:

I would like to set up an extra 10 gallon tank I have as a brackish water tank to raise nerite snails and amano shrimp. I have never had one before so and help and direction you can provide would be welcome.

I started my first brackish tank a few months ago, so I am by no means an expert, but if you have any specific questions I am happy to try to answer them. One of the better resources I found for information on brackish tanks is this tumblr page: https://thebrackishtank.tumblr.com/

 

On 5/28/2023 at 10:57 AM, ktk4beees said:

So direction on how to acclimate the two from fresh to brackish water would be helpful also.

I think the best strategy is to start the tank as freshwater, then increase the salinity by 0.001 SG each week until you hit your target salinity. Adding about 1 teaspoon of marine salt per gallon of water will give you about a 0.001 SG increase. I personally aim for very low end brackish (1.003SG) because it gives enough salinity and minerals for my fiddler crabs/ red claw crab, while also not limiting my options for plants by too much. I measure my salinity using this refractometer https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Z4ITWU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 
 

[Will no planaria killing pest snails cause an ammonia spike]

On 5/27/2023 at 12:13 PM, Torrey said:

I have a planaria in most of my tanks, because they exist in nature where the fish naturally exist, and planaria make a good clean up crew in addition to being a food source.

Neither Guppysnail nor I have found planaria harming any of our healthy shrimp in all shrimp tanks.... however, without any fish to control the population planaria have multiplied exponentially in my 4' NANF tank that is still establishing itself with P paludosus and other North American inverts before I add fish.

I've been  struggling to get rid of all the planaria in my shrimp tank, but its sounds like I shouldn't be too concerned about them. I currently have ember tetras and guppies in there. Do you think they will control my planaria population?

[RTS (Restless Tank Syndrome)]

I do this too, but it's my favorite part of the hobby. 

[Anubias which is best for background]

For background: hastifolia, caladiifolia 

For midground: barteri, coffeefolia, congensis, nana

[Ninjournal]

Did some work on my brackish paludarium today.
-I've decided to give up on crypts. Most of them metled away and the ones that didn't seem to have rotting roots. I also am very inpatient, so I don't like relying on slow growing plants.
-I planted micro sword in the foreground yesterday. It is supposed to be one of the most brackish tolerant plants, so I am expecting it to work out well. I am a little bit worried about my twinstar b-line lamp not providing enough light, so I may move it closer to the front if the micro swords are struggling.
-My rubin sword seems to be doing quite well, so I decided to move one of my other swords from my 75g to fill out the right side.

 

[Swapping filters...]

On 5/26/2023 at 1:22 PM, asweeney32 said:

Greetings all,

Here's my situation. My current HOB filter has died, and I need to get the replacement seeded and up and running ASAP. Usually, I would swipe some media from the old filter, place it in the new and run both in tandem for a week or so. However, this is not an option this time. Other than putting all the old media containing all the beneficial bacteria in the new filter and dosing turbo start, what other tips would you recommend to ensure I don't crash my cycle? Luckily the media tray for the new filter is very customizable.

 

Thanks in advance!

I think if you are moving all of the old filter media into the new filter, that should be sufficient. Remember, there is also beneficial bacteria elsewhere in your tank, not just in your filter.

[Switching my 10-gallon fake planted aquarium to a planted aquarium.]

Some easy green fertilizer for the plants would help. You could also consider getting an auto feeder, so you don't have to rely on friends or family to feed every day. They could maybe just refill it every once in a while. 

[Ninjournal]

I got my microsword today. I hope it solves my brackish foreground woes. 

[Ninjournal]

On 5/25/2023 at 4:12 PM, Lennie said:

Super cool mate

Do they have names? 

The female is named Lulu, the males are Crabby (larger light colored claw) and King (smaller darker orange colored claw) 

[Ninjournal]

On 5/25/2023 at 3:06 PM, Guppysnail said:

I’m just hoping to learn about their behaviors. 

My fiddler crabs have been really chill scavengers. They behave pretty similarly to shrimp, walking and climbing all around and eating bits of everything including algae. 

They aren't shy, but they do get startled easily, especially when they are on land. So if you move near them quickly or sometimes when you just walk in the room they will make a mad dash. 

I haven't seen any agression towards my shrimp or guppies, unless they touch the crabs, then they kick them away with their legs and continue about their business. I have seen the males battle once by grabbing eachothers big claw, but neither were injured. 

The males will sometimes dance or wave to court females. 

They are also escape artists. I have found them on my floor in various rooms multiple times. 

 

Red claw crabs are known for being more predatory and aggressive, so they aren't a reccomended community member. I started with a very small female crab, who was missing a claw to hopefully minimize any aggression. She is a bit more terratorial than the other crabs, and messes with my ramshorn snails, but seems to mostly stick to herself on top of the pre-filter sponge or scavenge like the other crabs. 

The Indian lilac crabs mostly find a spot to hang out and chill sometimes in the water sometimes out of it during the day, but will also occasionally cruise around the tank. They seem to ignore my fish and other inverts so far, but do eat small snails. They don't seem to get startled by my presence. 

[Ninjournal]

On 5/25/2023 at 1:55 AM, Guppysnail said:

Im looking forward to reading more about your crabs. The only tank my hubby ever recommended we get another tank was for crabs. I don’t know much about them so I backed out.

What are you hoping to know about them? I'm happy to answer any questions.

I got some decent photos of my gold claw fiddler crabs today. Still need to get some photos of my red claw crab and Indonesian batik fiddler crabs though.