Algae eaters tank

[carefulest]

I was in my LFS one day when I saw a no-brand low iron glass 10 gallon tank selling for $50. I quickly made it into a holding tank for plants and conveniently I had an extra light and filter ready to go.

I held some Ludwigia arcuata there that I pulled from my emersed growth setup, while thinking of some different aquascaping ideas for the new tank. First I thought to make it a farm tank for plants complete with an actual little resin farmhouse and plants arranged in neat rows.

But then someone I know who has a shrimp breeding business wanted to rehome a lone CPD with me. When I went there I bought 10 yellow neocaridinas and decided to make it a tank for them. Another friend gave me a bunch of narrow leaf Java fern and some Hydrocotyle leucocephala.

It's said that the only fish that can be safely put with the shrimp are otocinclus. I set my light (Twinstar series A) to a 12 hour photoperiod and grew some algae. I also like other invertebrates so I got 4 Amano shrimp, 2 red racer nerites, and 2 clithon corona snail to help tame the algae. I gave a clithon corona to my wife's tank, where it's doing a great job dealing with a small algae outbreak.

So can I keep this system balanced to meet the needs of a full tank loaded with algae eaters? This might be a really interesting experiment to try.

In the meantime I've been trying to plan the scape. I'm going to use the plants already there, like Iron Chef. I bought some tissue culture Pogostemon helferi and Staurogyne repens. The plan is to use these together with the Ludwigia all arranged in random patches as a kind of foreground, foregoing the traditional carpet (though there is some Monte Carlo in there from another tank). For hardscape, I have a piece of wood that was found in the mountains and some basalt with quartz veins from the beach. I'll put the Java ferns and some other epiphytes, maybe a nice bucephalandra, on the wood.

 

Tomorrow I'm planning to pick up the otos and plants I need to finish. I'll probably make a video on my Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC86e8JIClN4j3oZ4W11iGEA) and an update on this journal when I get it all set up.

 

[Guppysnail]

This is a lovely project. Super cute red racer. I have done a somewhat similar shrimp snail algae eater tank. I loved it the only thing was the microfauna became incredibly over abundant.  Once your shrimp colony is established and thriving with several generations you can keep other fish. Through hitchhikers migratory and intentionally trying to keep tanks from being overrun with neocaridina I have them in most of my tanks. I have them with peaceful fish. Guppies, Pygmy and panda corydora, CPD, bristlenose pleco. (I used to have them with a betta and neon terra). The adults are left alone and if they are happy they become so over prolific they do not get predated faster than they reproduce so their numbers continue to grow. I have had to start taking them to the LFS. Looking forward to seeing your progress with this tank. 

[carefulest]

On 10/3/2021 at 3:24 AM, Guppysnail said:

I have done a somewhat similar shrimp snail algae eater tank. I loved it the only thing was the microfauna became incredibly over abundant.  Once your shrimp colony is established and thriving with several generations you can keep other fish. 

Did you have otocinclus as well? I actually had a CPD who got injured somehow and I isolated her in this tank last week. I didn't feed at all but she seemed to get fat off of detritus worms. She healed really quickly and I put her back in the other tank.

I was really busy this weekend and didn't have much time to go to fish stores. But I sat down tonight and finished the scape. I ended up not using the Pogostemon helferi. There was an overwhelming amount of Staurogyne in the bag so I was able to fill the whole tank with it. I might try to give the TC cup back to the LFS or try to sell it somehow. 

Tomorrow I'm going to get the otos and some Anubias. I'll update with pictures of the build then.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I have 35 of my homegrown Otos in a 10 gallon. As you might imagine there's no short algae to be found anywhere (there's some hair algae that grows on the swords in there. I feed them Hikari Algae wafers (they were raised on them) and English cucumber (they have hated everything else I've tried). They can be picky eaters. 

[Guppysnail]

 

On 10/4/2021 at 5:53 AM, carefulest said:

Did you have otocinclus as well? I actually had a CPD who got injured somehow and I isolated her in this tank last week. I didn't feed at all but she seemed to get fat off of detritus worms. She healed really quickly and I put her back in the other tank.

I was really busy this weekend and didn't have much time to go to fish stores. But I sat down tonight and finished the scape. I ended up not using the Pogostemon helferi. There was an overwhelming amount of Staurogyne in the bag so I was able to fill the whole tank with it. I might try to give the TC cup back to the LFS or try to sell it somehow. 

Tomorrow I'm going to get the otos and some Anubias. I'll update with pictures of the build then.

I never had otos. But I ended up using that tank as a CPD breeding tank. No more microfauna…hungry buggars 

[amr427]

On 10/3/2021 at 5:03 AM, carefulest said:

I was in my LFS one day when I saw a no-brand low iron glass 10 gallon tank selling for $50. I quickly made it into a holding tank for plants and conveniently I had an extra light and filter ready to go.

I held some Ludwigia arcuata there that I pulled from my emersed growth setup, while thinking of some different aquascaping ideas for the new tank. First I thought to make it a farm tank for plants complete with an actual little resin farmhouse and plants arranged in neat rows.

But then someone I know who has a shrimp breeding business wanted to rehome a lone CPD with me. When I went there I bought 10 yellow neocaridinas and decided to make it a tank for them. Another friend gave me a bunch of narrow leaf Java fern and some Hydrocotyle leucocephala.

It's said that the only fish that can be safely put with the shrimp are otocinclus. I set my light (Twinstar series A) to a 12 hour photoperiod and grew some algae. I also like other invertebrates so I got 4 Amano shrimp, 2 red racer nerites, and 2 clithon corona snail to help tame the algae. I gave a clithon corona to my wife's tank, where it's doing a great job dealing with a small algae outbreak.

So can I keep this system balanced to meet the needs of a full tank loaded with algae eaters? This might be a really interesting experiment to try.

In the meantime I've been trying to plan the scape. I'm going to use the plants already there, like Iron Chef. I bought some tissue culture Pogostemon helferi and Staurogyne repens. The plan is to use these together with the Ludwigia all arranged in random patches as a kind of foreground, foregoing the traditional carpet (though there is some Monte Carlo in there from another tank). For hardscape, I have a piece of wood that was found in the mountains and some basalt with quartz veins from the beach. I'll put the Java ferns and some other epiphytes, maybe a nice bucephalandra, on the wood.

 

Tomorrow I'm planning to pick up the otos and plants I need to finish. I'll probably make a video on my Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC86e8JIClN4j3oZ4W11iGEA) and an update on this journal when I get it all set up.

 

Can I ask what substrate you used for that holding tank? Thanks!

 

[carefulest]

It's just pure Fluval Stratum, one 8.8 pound bag.

[carefulest]

I dug up all the plants to rearrange the aquascape. The hydrocotyle hasn't been doing much above the substrate but there is some new growth below!

Here's a picture before adding the new otos and anubias. Yeah, it's kind of sad that the beautiful plants got covered by a bit of algae. But after adding the otos and plants perhaps it will clear up. If not, then I'll dial back the photoperiod.

It was horrible trying to get the Java ferns to attach to the wood. I was able to cram a few of them in there and then I had to tie two of them on with string. I got like 20 rhizomes from my friend though, so I just threw the rest into the wabi kusa bowl.

 

[carefulest]

Otos and anubias added.

I went to unnamed big box store randomly to look at guinea pigs with my daughter. I was really surprised to see some excellent looking otos:

But I didn't feel comfortable pulling the trigger when the rest of the tank looked like this:

I thought about fish TB and all those other horrible diseases and decided to find another source, even if the price was more expensive and there was no guarantee. Would you have bought these?

Luckily here in South Bay LA there is an aquarium store that I really trust, and most of my stuff comes from there. I made a trip and got some otos as well as nice potted anubias advertised to be snail free.

I used drip acclimation for 2 hours and then dumped in the bag of water. The otos knew what to do:

Later I realized that if they were using medications in the tank at the store then it could be trouble for my shrimp, since I did dump in the store water, but I called and confirmed that they weren't using anything in the oto tank.

So as a takeaway for this entry, I'd like to show my appreciation for all the LFSs that make the aquarium hobby possible. And Aquarium Coop which is doing this on a larger scale, in fact my little store has Cory's videos playing in the background on the TV sometimes.

[carefulest]

One day of otos, before and after:

Don't know why that picture is upside down, I can't fix it even if I rotate it before uploading. Maybe a moderator can help?

Otos are fun to watch and seem to do a good job. Excited to see things grow in a bit.

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by carefulest

[carefulest]

Visible algae cleared from glass and plants:

Got this new Hydrocotyle pad too:

Why do my pictures keep coming in upside down?

[carefulest]

On 10/4/2021 at 3:10 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

I have 35 of my homegrown Otos in a 10 gallon. As you might imagine there's no short algae to be found anywhere (there's some hair algae that grows on the swords in there. I feed them Hikari Algae wafers (they were raised on them) and English cucumber (they have hated everything else I've tried). They can be picky eaters. 

I just fed them spinach successfully. Everyone liked it! I think I'll take the cucumber hint, I'm a bit worried about the anti-nutrients in feeding too much spinach. This is a pretty fun aspect of oto-keeping, I'll make a video about it if people are interested.