My Odd Bunch of Neos

[Jennifer V]

On 5/18/2022 at 12:18 AM, Torrey said:

My tanks are all on timers. So much easier to get healthy and consistent growth that way.

For photography:

1. Make sure the front glass is cleaned, scraped on the inside and wiped clean on the outside. Let everything settle for an hour after cleaning, so the filter can clear things up.

2. Turn off all out of the tank lights. Sometimes it helps to have an LED flashlight to shine on the shrimp from an angle that isn't reflected into the camera

3. Switch to "pro" on your camera. Select the 100 ISO, and use a tripod so you don't get any movement (makes images blurry)

Here's my camera's autofocus:

Versus "Pro" mode at ISO 100 (shorter focal length, sharper focus, and less light gets in the aperture)

See how the camera focused on the tree and moss in the autofocus, but I got a clear closeup with ISO 100 and the background got blurry?

 

If possible, get the camera against the glass, to minimize refraction. You are going to get refraction from the water, no matter what. May as well minimize it as much as possible, so a specimen container, or coax them to the front of the tank (I use the bamboo skewers, coat them in food, and wait for the shrimp to come check it out. I sat still for an hour to get a dozen awesome photographs)

This is such great advice! Thank you!! I'll work on getting better photos so I can share. I'm just obsessed with these little guys. 

And you're totally right, I need to just get with it and order another timer. I have one from ACO on my puffer tank and am thankful every day that I do. 

How many hours do you recommend for the shrimp/snail tank for the best plant growth? I have a bunch of green algae, which I don't mind because of the shrimp and it's super easy to remove. It's actually really pretty. No other algae issues. Oddly, as soon as I added the crushed coral, all of the staghorn algae disappeared. I have all epiphyte plants in the tank because I have sand substrate. All of the plants are growing like crazy! But we're kind of haphazard when it comes to how long the light is on. It's just the stock LED light that came with the kit. Some days I'm sure it's on for waaaay too long. 

[Torrey]

On 5/18/2022 at 5:02 PM, Jennifer V said:

This is such great advice! Thank you!! I'll work on getting better photos so I can share. I'm just obsessed with these little guys. 

And you're totally right, I need to just get with it and order another timer. I have one from ACO on my puffer tank and am thankful every day that I do. 

How many hours do you recommend for the shrimp/snail tank for the best plant growth? I have a bunch of green algae, which I don't mind because of the shrimp and it's super easy to remove. It's actually really pretty. No other algae issues. Oddly, as soon as I added the crushed coral, all of the staghorn algae disappeared. I have all epiphyte plants in the tank because I have sand substrate. All of the plants are growing like crazy! But we're kind of haphazard when it comes to how long the light is on. It's just the stock LED light that came with the kit. Some days I'm sure it's on for waaaay too long. 

I don't run CO2, so I run my lights with siestas. My big tanks can handle 4 hours on/4 hours off/ 4 hours on.

My 2 pico tanks up front grow too much algae for the shrimp and snails to stay on top of now that I added the submersible LED lights (see my video in Scapes From Scraps) so they are on for 3 hours at a time right now (until plants are a bit bigger) for 3 different photoperiods.

So, 3 hours on/3 hours off/ 3 hours on/ 3 hours off/ 3 hours on/9 hours off.

Here's the light I modified the stock tank light with:

 

[Jennifer V]

My first set of shrimplets in my odd tank are a month old and starting to show a bit of color. I've noticed some blue, red and one that looks black. Other than that, the others look clear, which is what I expect the majority will be but still very cool. I wish I could catch them long enough to get photos! 

Another observation, the female adults seem to be much more fearless and quick to go for their food than the males. I'm learning so much from these little guys! 

A few of the adults in the snail heap looking for food. The adult male to the left is hard to see but he's very dark blue and so pretty.