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Shadow_Arbor

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Everything posted by Shadow_Arbor

  1. Shadow_Arbor
    The freshwater breeding Neritdae: Theodoxus jordani
  2. Shadow_Arbor
    Sorry for taking forever to answer. I've settled into my new flat and my first year at Uni. Just googled the scientific name and it would seem that you’re correct. I will send you a message about how to properly document this and how to get it submitted in a journal. If you're ever in Israel I would be glad to give you a plant. A friend of mine observed flowers that flowered underwater occasionally produce a seed (or bulb) that will develop into a new plant. I haven't observed this myself, but I'm keeping my eye open for this.
  3. Shadow_Arbor
    I really like Chihiros lights. I've upgraded to some of their higher end lights like the WRGB2. All their lights are very powerful and will grow red plants. Their A series also falls into his category, but it's pretty thin so you may need two. There is a but... Growing red plants is not the same as fantastically colored red plants. Their white LEDs will grow most red plants really well, but the colors only pop with lights that are RGB. If you have the budget, I would recommend the WRGB2, it's a fantastic high end light. If not, the A Plus RGB uses the same tech as the WRGB2 but with less LEDs and less power. I think they're not being manufactured anymore so you might have trouble getting the RGB.
  4. Shadow_Arbor
    Haven't been active on here in a while. I've moved and I'm now setting my tanks up in a new flat. Got a surprise before moving, my Nymphaea minuta flowered! In super high tech conditions this plant develops flowers that flower underwater! Super high tech in this instance is a bit more than 30ppm co2, daily EI dosing, Remineralized ro water (GH 6 KH 3), and very intense light. This is a short tank, 26 cm high with a Chihiros WRGB2 30cm. This means that this super powerful light is about 20cm from the substrate. Please pretend the algae isn't there 😉 I've neglected this tank a but preparing to move...
  5. Shadow_Arbor
    Thought I'd update this with some less fun news so that people can see that all tanks go through problems. So about two weeks ago we had a heatwave and I wasn't home for a few days. My tanks are in my room which is air-conditioned so I have no fans on my tanks. Also they all have covers to deal with evaporation. Anyway this heat wave made my crypt flamingo and crypt pontederiifolia melt back heavily. It also killed one of my 3 year old grandpa blue neon gobies. The ammonia spike (from the dead goby and some dead neos) and melt together caused a green dust algae bloom. It didn't help that during this time I doubled my fert dose as I thought the melt might be from nutrient deficiencies. This is the tank a day before melt. This is after a trim on the day that the melt started: Here are some images from today. Tank is recovering and algae is receding. I treated the tank with some Mardel Marcyn I ordered off of eBay a year ago (sorry I couldn't order from the coop I don't live in the states). From experience, by next week it'll be gone.
  6. Shadow_Arbor
    Yes, I'm currently working on a red flowering Calliandra, a Wisteria vine, two Juniper blue moons, and just got myself a Japanese mountain maple. I'm also trying to sprout some magnolia seeds I ordered from the States. Luckily I'm only 22 so I have time to watch the grass grow, so to speak.
  7. Shadow_Arbor
    This is a relatively new hobby of mine. As far as I'm aware most trees used in Bonsai are trees with small leaves. Some schools of thought claim that keeping trees pot bound and removing foliage helps reduce leaf size. In general If you have larger leaves make a larger bonsai. The Red Mangrove leaves don't become too huge so I am not too concerned about this. It probably wont be a perfect classical bonsai as i can't keep it super pot bound, and I'm not sure I'll be able to develop good ramification in the pads but I'll give it a try. Worst comes to worst I'll have a funny looking red mangrove on top of my tanks. I have just checked on google images. There are mangrove bonsai but not any kept in aquariums, as far as I can tell. I'll probably be putting one of my other young mangroves in a pot as this seems like a really fun long term project.
  8. Shadow_Arbor
    One of my other hobbies is Bonsai. I have some red mangroves in 4 out of my six tanks and decided to start experimenting on one of them. I am attempting to give it the informal upright shape so I've started some very basic wiring when its still young and pliable. Not the best wiring, but I want to avoid wire marks so I've wired pretty loosely. I'll update in a few years lol. Here are some pics:
  9. Shadow_Arbor
    Thought you guys might enjoy a short live molt video I filmed 🙂
  10. Shadow_Arbor
    Yup, weekly 50%. Ten liters of remineralized RO water.
  11. Shadow_Arbor
    Yeah, also in Germany and pretty much all of Europe as far as I could google. I wonder how they got to such higher parameters here. My best guess is that someone had the wrong information on water parameters but managed to acclimate the shrimp to these parameters. Afterwords it must have stuck, passed on by word of mouth.
  12. Shadow_Arbor
    I personally like to place my HOB filters on the back of my tanks, in the corner, as that makes it easy to hide them. But none of them are long like a 40 breeder... If this is a planted tank that isn't super overstocked I think you might be over filtering. A few pictures could help. With the info given I think your current setup is fine seeing as you have three filters in the tank (again a bit overkill imo).
  13. Shadow_Arbor
    Thought I'd share an update on this tank:
  14. Shadow_Arbor
    Hello everyone, I haven't posted here in a while but today something fun happened in one of my aquariums! A few months ago I purchased 15 Cardinal shrimp and attempted to acclimate them to my tap water. After about two months I was left with only three that weren't doing so hot. The breeder that I got them from was using re-mineralized RO water. This convinced me to get an RO system myself for three reasons: Firstly, I really wanted to breed these shrimp. Secondly, I'm starting Uni in a bit and for the foreseeable future will be moving every few years. Acclimating shrimp to new tap water every few years would be exhausting. Thirdly, I wanted to bring down my rock solid tap water in a nano high tech tank so that I'd be able to grow plants that were struggling in my dGH 20 tap water. After getting the RO unit and Dennerle's sulawesi salt I was at an impasse. The breeder I had purchased the shrimp from, and many of the other local breeders here in Israel, kept these shrimp at 300 tds using the sulawesi salt (this brought the dGH to 11 and dKH to 6-7). All the research I had done, and even the sulawesi salt itself, stated that the natural parameters of these shrimp were half of the earlier stated values. After asking @Cory on a livestream if it would be smart to listen to the local wisdom or try and mimic the shrimps natural habitat I decided to listen to my local breeders. It's been about a month since and the results are in (sorry for the slightly grainy photos)! Female with eggs (I think, it's kind of hard to tell with Caridina) Babies
  15. Shadow_Arbor
    Thanks! The moss on the large part of the spider wood is Christmas moss. The roots on the left side have spiky moss.
  16. Shadow_Arbor
    Anubis pinto is, as far as I'm aware, the white anubias species. It only stays completely white (like the new leaves in that picture) under bright light and with ample co2. I've had the flamingo for about a week and have seen vigorous root growth so that's a good sign. Hopefully it'll send out a new leaf in a day or so. I'm using the EI dosing method, so I need to reset the tank every week. Also this tank is a mixture of RO and my 20 gh 18 kh tap water. Meaning that minerals like calcium and magnesium come from my tap and not from my fertilizer. I am testing out once a month wc on my other hightech tank, but it is 100% tap water, so this might not be entirely applicable. Every week it gets one rest day and I monitor the TDS to know how much nutrient build up is occurring. I may adopt this in my nano, but seeing as it's only a about a ten litre wc every week, it's not any hassle to wc.
  17. Shadow_Arbor
    Hi everyone, This is my 30 liter high tech nano tank. I built this tank myself 🙂 Above this tank I have a 60 liter high tech tank with lots of stem plants. I quickly discovered that if I don't trim that tank on a weekly basis it quickly becomes overgrown and loses it's aesthetic appeal. The goal for this tank long term is to grow mainly rare plants (at least rare in my country) and have it as low maintenance as possible. Here is a picture from today: Rare (relative to my country) Plant list: Anubias pinto (white leaved anubias) Anubias gold leaf Cryptocryne flamingo (took me two years to track down this plant and it cost me the equivalent of 30 USD from another hobbiest) Pogostemon helferi (green and red variations) Nympheae tricolor Nympheae minuta (in ideal condition this plant flowers underwater) I am using the EI method to dose this tank. currently maintaining this tank is pretty easy. I perform a weekly 50% water change and every other week I trim the moss. My plan is to eventually have the Anubias pinto cover the drift wood, but until it spreads enough I'm using moss too keep algae at bay, I still have some Rotala Hra in the back left over. It was added mainly to keep algae at bay when the tank was just set up. Bonus pic of the Israeli Freshwater Nerite @Bentley Pascoe is lusting after 😉
  18. Shadow_Arbor
    I'd highly recommend Medaka Ricefish. They are cold hardy, beautiful, and interesting to breed. I'm trying to get a hold of some for my outdoor ponds. Trying to import them into my country as we don't have any here at all.
  19. Shadow_Arbor
    Yes it definitely is great to know exactly what I'm feeding. I am currently in the process of developing foods specifically for my other aquatic inhabitants. The main reason I have decided to do my homework and create the foods is that the ingredients (including vitamin additives and the like) are relatively cheap, and the foods I have been feeding my critters are relatively expensive. I feed mainly Shrimp King foods and Vitalis (previously New Era) as these are the highest quality foods available. I can make myself the same foods (I would argue maybe even better quality but I am biased) for a fraction of the cost. This is a huge benefit as I am Starting University and money is about to be really tight.
  20. Shadow_Arbor
    Hi Bentley, really enjoyed your latest SunSun rampage! I agree, I keep snails in all my tanks, currently trying to get these guys breeding in all my tanks as they are phenomenal! They help keep algae at a minimum, and I can tell if I'm over feeding by how many eggs they lay. They're also a great indicator of water quality as they become less active if something goes awry. I've done some home work since I last posted here. They are not exactly legal to export or raise on a farm level. There are two ways you could possibly get them out of the country: 1. Science. If a University requested a group for study they might be granted some. You'd obviously need connections and a University interested in studying them. 2. NOT ENTIRELY A LEGAL OPTION... Come visit Israel and just... take some home with you... My friend is doing some homework on their exact status as a species and I will continue to search for ways too export them, if I ever discover a way I'll definitely let you guys know here.
  21. Shadow_Arbor
    @Alesha Done. Let me know if they're visible for you know!
  22. Shadow_Arbor
    I doubt it. I will ask a few local friends that might know more than me. As far as I am aware, it's not entirely legal to collect them from the wild, but it is legal to keep and breed them. I technically own them legally as I received them from a friend and he from a breeder and so on. At some stage someone collected them from the wild and I wouldn't know if that was done legally. There are a ton of rules on snail import here (pretty much all snails are illegal to bring into the country) but I am not clear on rules of export. I assume any farm interested in exporting them (or a private person like me) would obviously need the permits but also might have to prove that these snails were originally collected in the wild, or get a permit to collect them himself and then breed them. All this isn't exactly cheap or easy, but I will definitely ask my friend if he knows more (he has connections with wildlife preservation organizations).
  23. Shadow_Arbor
    Thanks for the reply! How strange, I just dragged them from google photos to here instead of downloading them first, possibly messed up there. Will try and download them in the morning and re-upload. Will at you @Alesha when I do that!
  24. Shadow_Arbor
    Hello everyone, I thought I'd share an incredible species of snail I personally own that is local to the country I currently live in (Israel). Meet Theodoxus jordani, this tiny snail is part of the Neritidae family. It behaves exactly like it's larger cousins, is voracious algae eater, looks amazing, and lays tiny little eggs everywhere. There are two main differences between it and a "regular" Nerite: Firstly, it's tiny! This snail reaches a maximum size of 1 cm but most commonly they reach the size of 0.5 cm. Secondly, they breed in freshwater. They lay tiny singular eggs in the aquarium that hatch after about 30 days depending on the temperature. This is what makes them incredible in my eyes. I have breeding groups of them in 4 out of my 6 aquariums. Breeding behavior Size comparison Horrible macro shot of an egg.
  25. Shadow_Arbor
    Hi, how odd that my pics aren't showing up for you. They're showing up for me on my phone where I am not logged in. I don't think anything has changed on uploading files since day 1 of the forum but I'll check Lizzie's post to see if I made a mistake as I haven't been around in a bit, thanks for the help! I'll attempt to delete and re-upload them tomorrow morning. Most of my ingredients I purchased as either dried leaves or dried powders (everything organic). The dried leaves i ground up myself. In the future, things like spinach and nettles which I can easily grow myself I will also dry myself but I'll need to see which is more cost effective.
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