nabokovfan87

what is it?

They all look perfectly happy. The "white ring of death" is a pretty big misnomer. It is more plainly, a separation of the exoskeleton on the shrimp itself. It could simply be a sign of growth of the shrimp and that molting will happen soon. When you see it, simply monitor and feed a complete food with calcium for the shrimp. The tank has plenty of surface biofilm and things to graze on and that is a lot of what you're seeing. I'll attach two videos below. The first is a shrimp with the WRoD molting properly without any issues. The second one is just a fun one on how shrimp eat. The biology of how they function and using that to understand if the tank is setup well for them and how they are thriving. The main thing to keep in mind for shrimp development for me isn't a one off molt, but it's all about are they molting consistently, at the rice pace, and are their shells developing as they should. If you see "shiny shrimp" that is a new molt more than likely and it's one where they would be trying to hide (hence food availability is critical) and likely won't hit the feeding dish for a few days. That is the most sensitive time for a shrimp. That's the key.

I do the same thing... It's so refreshing to see great plants available there. The ones I have locally are always roasted or should be replaced but just sit rotten on the shelves.

To add to the above list of great resources: Pecktec has a ton of videos on the type of filtration method you're looking at. He uses UGF quite a lot for various reasons (plenums, etc.) Tai Streitman is someone who puts out a lot of high quality content on biotopes and their setups. His book is due out any moment now (George Farmer mentioned early 2024 most recently) and he made a series of tanks just for that project. He breaks down his methods, philosophy for setups on his youtube channel linked below. https://www.youtube.com/@biotopia5319 A final one here from a very highly regarded aquascaper doing a talk for green aqua. It's really enlightening to see how the scape was built. Maybe some tips in there you can use in your own setup.

How is this tank doing? How has the sunfish been for you? I read more and it always seems there's a lot for me to learn. It's unfortunate the lifespan on these species are so brief! As always, thank you for the detailed info. Much appreciated.

I don't think anyone has had a "more fun tank" thank Filipe's ram tank. I would definitely add in some shrimp and focus on something that works with said shrimp. Especially caridina.... you're talking some pretty bonkers colors.

I am looking at a few of the Elassoma species. I really thought they were a good ~2.5-3" long, but they are much smaller. Live foods is of course an issue for me, but I think I can get them fed.... we'll see if/when I get some. Darters, shiners, I'm really impressed by all of them. Same thing with minnow species and cooler species like those in the cypranidae family.

I think this is probably more common that most people are aware of. It's not seen as "big enough" to provide a meal and so they ignore it. It's like a great white avoiding sardines and trying to hunt a seal. An interesting dilemma though. Hm, what would fit. There might be some crypranidae. Black sharks or Bala sharks even that work. Pecktec keeps some rainbows with his bicher, maybe he's got something in his big tank update video that sparks some ideas.

Congratulations on everything being ok. What a nightmare that somehow worked out. Wonderful trip and very cool to see all the things. Biggs (guy on YouTube) will often travel and stop in and do tours for his channel. Very fun little way to see a lot of places that I'd probably never get to. 🙂

@Luciferkristi could not imagine....

It looks good @beastie! I see what you mean about the "rubble" on the sand and not being able to see the open space as much. I had to remind myself it's not my tank with a little horde of corydoras in there having some fun wiggling around. It'll be interesting to see how things develop for you and what you decide to tweak and play around with, if anything. Hopefully you're enjoying the tank a little bit more though? ....I love the photo of your hillstream loach, it's a really nice one.

For those who do know what this is because you happen to have seen the video, please don't spoil it for others! I was watching one of the older vids on the channel and Cory and Dean had opened up the FX filter to clean it. This was inside. What do you think it is?!?! I definitely didn't realize what it was at first, but I could only imagine the look I would have opening the thing up and seeing this!

No thank you. 🙂 Had to fight poisonous spiders just to do a WC today. LOL

I would recommend at least checking out Aqueon's newer Nutrinsect line of foods. There's a variety of "pros" for the food and ultimately it's seems to be a very affordable food with good ingredients. It is one I plan to purchase extremely soon.

I have so many questions.... The NANF fish I thought about getting is apparently very much a nano fish. The form/scientific name of the one I wish to get is seemingly difficult to find. I don't think I've ever seen a tank of 30+ of them and I can probably house close to 100 without much or any issues. So much to learn and things to try to understand. I'll have to get some composed thoughts and a DM your way. Sidenote, I saw someone try the above with a series of the fish (pygmy sunfish) and they feed some live blackworms, which led to a leach, which led to a ton of leaches and them not being successful. Very tragic.

My only "dream add-on" would be to have a sound+vibration insulation layer above, behind, and below the tank just for the noise on the fish. Wonderful concept and amazing work again!!! Welcome to the forums. We're gonna need a journal with all your cool stuff to follow whenever you get there.

from a plastics website on the googles.... "Virgin, or non-recycled, HDPE is food safe. Recycled HDPE products are reviewed by the FDA on a case-by-case basis. Virgin HDPE is great for making food safe plastic containers since it resists corrosion, doesn't absorb much moisture and doesn't leach chemicals." This one has some great details. https://www.acmeplastics.com/content/the-ultimate-guide-to-food-grade-and-food-safe-plastics/

so the main thing you want to do is compare the KH and GH to your tap water. You'll need to do a lot of water changes to replenish minerals and let the soil absorb nutrients. It's a very common method and something where you will have the parameters you need (hopefully the tap is good) and then you can have a very nice, planted, beautiful shrimp tank. Once you hit 50 posts the buy/sell section opens up on the forum and there's some really awesome shrimp keepers with a few colors available. 🙂 I can gather parameters for you, but KH you want about 4 or so. GH you want ~8 or so from my research. If things go a little lower or higher you'll be in the right zone. For planted tanks, you generally want KH = 1/2 of what your GH is, if you can.

Why don't they just have this as a thing in houses.... I am so excited to have a place, when I do, and to be able to have that! Beautiful work and it's extremely well done. I can only imagine how much you enjoy being out there and seeing those fish.

I'll start by saying that I absolutely cherish river habitats and species. It seems every single one of my tanks has them as a focus. That being said, hearing the intro and setting the tone is pretty wonderful and giving me that kid-like admiration. I can just imagine being a kid in that neck of the woods and snorkeling and watching the fish all day long. I imagine this is just what Tai Strietman or Chris Lukhaup does for their jobs. Just look at those things in nature in such a way that no one ever does. To try to share that admiration of place and moment of what they encounter. One thing that does stand out to me as the scenes progress is the parasites on a lot of the fish. I understand it's part of the ecosystem and part of nature, but it's just that nagging in the back of my mind that makes me feel like the fish is really suffering as a result of this giant leech on it's back. (to be clear, I see sharks go through this too and some are permanently blinded due to parasites on the eyes... maybe that is why it sticks out) .... I can't help but be in awe and frustrated how easily nature can make it seem to hatch all these eggs and we use fungus and so many things in the hobby to try to get fry. It's such a different tactic when you have rivers constantly changing out the water and that amount of dilution. (part of me can't help but wait for a bull shark to show up) Sidenote: Sturgeons look so much like little sharks, definitely some sort of history there in the origin story. The salamanders look so much like wobbegongs too! Really amazing macro shots and videography. I admire the people who take the time and effort to go and collect muscles to spread them into recovered habitats. I really appreciate that aspect of the hobby as well as the efforts from organizations out there. Trying to preserve what will be or was lost, it is a very important aspect we need to encourage and it is something that we seriously need to educate one another a lot moreso about. I never would've even heard of NANFA and some of the programs preserving at risk species if it weren't for very few people. I'd love to see a talk (and have it be publicly available) on how to get involved with that sort of a program. Heck, maybe there can even be a program to have F&W organizations donate fish to hobbyists for the sake of having them breed them out. I can only imagine what someone like Dean or Greg Sage if it was a passion project. Sort of on that same line of thinking, this is a very informative movie and it's unfortunate that the information is so gated. I hope this is donated to schools to show off to things like FFA programs or biology classes. Geeze. To see the damage of something as minute as silt and how it impacts this ecosystem, to see the piles of debris and garbage, and what comes to mind for me is the chemical dumping and how prevalent that really is. I wish we would all do a whole lot better as a species to understand and be aware of the impacts of such things. Very tragic when you try to grasp the weight of that. Pecktec video tour of the actual facility in the film: "This is the last ditch effort to save a species." That pretty much says it all.... (Someone really needs to give that guy some cut protective gloves!) oh.... Minnow time. I am very excited. These are my fishes! Watching the chub do their thing like they are shellies, then the shiners try to take all their hard work, and then.... Oh heck no, that snake is underwater! Releasing native fish back into their habitats that has been recovered has to be one of the most fulfilling and amazing feelings imaginable. So glad to see the close of the film and Casper sharing his admiration and awe with the field trip. Beautiful and I'm so thankful he's able to do so. I can only imagine how profound his impact has been, sharing the love of nature with them.

I think a few hours, you're likely fine. As @Odd Duck it's not something worth the risk. Food contamination is an extremely easy thing to do... you need slightly warm temps, check, a moist surface, check, and you need time. It's basically very ideal conditions for something like that to form. Toss it in the freezer, email the folks at repashy. Please let us know what they say. Fair warning for everyone, you can make it in a bag, let it cool out, then you can toss that into the fridge or freezer. It might be a slightly annoying step, but repashy flat-packs are pretty awesome things!

Is it an issue of priming it not working or the pump wasn't working? Glad it got sorted. Hopefully it's something simple though. HOB ----> Marineland penguin pro is my choice right now Optimally, maybe it's time for a sump for you.

I would get the smaller one ACO sells. It's not because ACO sells it, but because it's literally the best thing for the job. Barring that. Tetra has the AP150, you'd need "a few" of them. Especially for 20 tanks. You can use metal gang valves to split the lines and create your system that way. If you're setting up 20 tanks.... get the linear piston pump and just make it much less of a hassle on yourself in the long run.

It should be within warranty.... so if you haven't contact fluval. Secondly, out of curiosity what issues are you experiencing? What kind of filter are you looking for, is anything and everything an option?

Nerites might be ok. I wouldn't do amanos with them though. That's just food. I believe @Zenzo does have videos feeding dehydrated shrimp, but would be able to guide you better than any of us.