Coffee with Teejay

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/22/2022 at 7:26 AM, Guppysnail said:

bell peppers are crazy fun. You get yellow, red orange and green snowflake snail poo everywhere

Ooh Teejay is spoiling his snails!  Yeahhh!  Mine got some boiled zucchini today.

When I gave York the carrot, there was orange “dust” everywhere in the tank the next morning. I thought I had some weird strain of algae at first, then it dawned on me. I think I will stick with the greens… although she LOVED the carrot and carried it around. So it could be an occasional treat, I suppose. 🙄

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

My friend and I were joking about snail names the other day. Here are a few suggestions:

Scooter

Marble

Slime Shady

Qbert

[TeeJay]

So the co op order came in today! Picked up 3 nano sponge filters,a gang valve, some catappa leaves and air stones.

First I double stacked 2 of the nano filters to put in the back left corner behind the slate cave. I left in place the small size sponge filter since it's already seasoned. I connected the two sponge filters in the shrimp tank and the single sponge filter in the 10 gal guppy/Cory tank with a gang valve and a co op air pump. The one pump does a good job supply air to all 3 filters.

After I got the sponge filters in place I rebuilt the slate cave in front of the new sponge filters to hide as much as I could with what stones I had available. After I added a bit of extra fritz zyme 7 to help build up the new filters.

The next step will be to get the mosses and other plants ordered to complete the main tank setup. Stay tuned for more shrimpy fun!

 

On 6/22/2022 at 11:52 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

My friend and I were joking about snail names the other day. Here are a few suggestions:

Scooter

Marble

Slime Shady

Qbert

Scooter and qbert it might have to be!

[TeeJay]

The rams-horns snails will be delivered today. A day earlier than expected. Have to work until 9pm today. So it will be a later unveiling of the new friends!

[TeeJay]

Just got home from work and got the new ramshorn snails out of there box. Packaging was done very well. Seems like the all made the trip except for 2. So 19 out of 21 is a success I would say. Got them temp adjusted to my water and put them into the tank to adjust for the night with the lights off. We will check in, in the morning with them and see how they are doing. Thanks to @FishPlanet for doing a great job getting them to me.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

They are little guys, huh? I like their shells. Looks kind of pearly. You could throw a piece of cuttlebone in there for them to eat. It will help with shell development.

Edited June 24, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea
Added

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hi @TeeJay, how are the ramshorns doing?

[TeeJay]

On 6/28/2022 at 11:36 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Hi @TeeJay, how are the ramshorns doing?

Unfortunately they didn't make it. So we are going to wait until the weather is a bit more cooler and try again for another delivery. Probably about mid September.

Been a little over a week since I last posted for the shrimpy tank. All is going well so far. Did another round of bacter ae this week to help keep building up the biofilm. The mystery snails are doing well. Java moss and Java ferns have been adjust well. So we are at that point where it's just a waiting game and feeding the bio film to get it shrimp ready.

 

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/3/2022 at 6:50 PM, TeeJay said:

Unfortunately they didn't make it. So we are going to wait until the weather is a bit more cooler and try again for another delivery. Probably about mid September.

Sorry to hear about this @TeeJay. Seems like you are in a warmer climate and that the problem could have occurred during shipping. Did you drip acclimate them? Or float them to temperature adjust to your tank? 

[TeeJay]

On 7/4/2022 at 12:06 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Sorry to hear about this @TeeJay. Seems like you are in a warmer climate and that the problem could have occurred during shipping. Did you drip acclimate them? Or float them to temperature adjust to your tank? 

No I drip acclimated them. I think just the overall shipping temps were just to hight for there little selves. So we are going to try again late sep. The temps should be down a good 20-25 degrees then to give them a better chance.

[MommaOlenik]

Some name suggestions…

flotsam and jetsam

Stark and stormy

jabba and hutt 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@TeeJay well anyway. The tank is looking good and we can look forward to shrimpy updates in the meantime. I only ever had ghost shrimp and that was many years ago. There are lots of different cool-looking shrimp on the market today. 🦐 

[TeeJay]

On 7/4/2022 at 5:46 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

@TeeJay well anyway. The tank is looking good and we can look forward to shrimpy updates in the meantime. I only ever had ghost shrimp and that was many years ago. There are lots of different cool-looking shrimp on the market today. 🦐 

Yes wear pretty much in that waiting period now. The slow painful wait lol. But I'm sure it will be worth the wait. It's going to be fun watching the colony grow. I told my daughter she could pick what color we will go with. She likes the green jade and orange reili so we will see 

[TeeJay]

Not much new news to report for right now. Someone had some names for the mystery snail pair so I think I have decide to go with flotsam and jetsam thanks to @MommaOlenik. Just been doing tiny doses of bacter ae and feeding the snails. Still waiting to get the new mosses and other Java fern types for the tank until the weather gets a bit cooler. Stays pretty hot hear in ne Ohio this time of year lol. I'm including the most recent pic of the tank.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Is it hornwort in the back @TeeJay?

[Guppysnail]

Is that the tiny piece of hornwort that came with snail?  Holy cow Mr. Green Thumb. It looks 😎 awesome

[Solstice_Lacer]

My shrimp love hornwort, soon you will have a nice forest for yours. If yours grows like mine eventually you'll be pulling out extra

[TeeJay]

On 7/14/2022 at 8:56 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Is it hornwort in the back @TeeJay?

Yep it sure is

 

On 7/14/2022 at 9:30 AM, Guppysnail said:

Is that the tiny piece of hornwort that came with snail?  Holy cow Mr. Green Thumb. It looks 😎 awesome

Yes it is. And I already cut it into 2 pieces so I have that much in the shrimp tank and the 10 gal guppy and Cory tank

[TeeJay]

So I started setting up the tank on June 9th. So it's been basically 40 days so far. It has gone great so far. Enjoying how it has come along so far. Now the only issue is I'm getting the itch to want to add the shrimp already 😮🤔😊. I knew it would be hard to hold off on getting them but I didn't think it would be that hard to not scratch the itch lol. The Java ferns are starting to get established. As will I had another nice fern drop from my larger plants so I added another to the tank. The bacter ae has definitely done it's job and build up a solid layer of goodies. I think I will cut back on adding it one a week to once every 10-14 days. I need a distraction from the shrimp itch lol

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/18/2022 at 3:37 PM, TeeJay said:

So I started setting up the tank on June 9th. So it's been basically 40 days so far. It has gone great so far. Enjoying how it has come along so far. Now the only issue is I'm getting the itch to want to add the shrimp already 😮🤔😊. I knew it would be hard to hold off on getting them but I didn't think it would be that hard to not scratch the itch lol. The Java ferns are starting to get established. As will I had another nice fern drop from my larger plants so I added another to the tank. The bacter ae has definitely done it's job and build up a solid layer of goodies. I think I will cut back on adding it one a week to once every 10-14 days. I need a distraction from the shrimp itch lol

Hahaha, I know the feeling. That's how I feel when I have fish in quarantine. I'm excited to add them to the main tank, but I know it's for the best if I wait.

[Guppysnail]

I have good news for you and your itch. Having snails in the tank shortens your wait drastically. Their digestion is poor and their waste grows all the goodies shrimp need. Adding bacteria shortens it as well. Feeding veggies helps to. If it is no longer fluctuating parameters and your cycle is complete and stable. Go for it. Prime example. I used two cycled nano filters and bladder snails to start the funny tank for panda fry and snails. As soon as I added snails that same day I started it and dropped in plants (bare bottom) I added shrimp day 1.  Now I have a thriving little colony. No deaths. Snail poo is so beneficial 🥰

Edited July 18, 2022 by Guppysnail

[TeeJay]

On 7/18/2022 at 4:26 PM, Guppysnail said:

I have good news for you and your itch. Having snails in the tank shortens your wait drastically. Their digestion is poor and their waste grows all the goodies shrimp need. Adding bacteria shortens it as well. Feeding veggies helps to. If it is no longer fluctuating parameters and your cycle is complete and stable. Go for it. Prime example. I used two cycled nano filters and bladder snails to start the funny tank for panda fry and snails. As soon as I added snails that same day I started it and dropped in plants (bare bottom) I added shrimp day 1.  Now I have a thriving little colony. No deaths. Snail poo is so beneficial 🥰

I'm going to monitor the params for at least the 60 full days and as long as I don't see any fluxuations I'll think about getting some shrimp ordered. I haven't had any ammonia spikes or nitrites. Very low nitrates. I'm sure the plants have been eating it all up.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I love your patience @TeeJayI think you will be rewarded with an excellent shrimp tank. 

[TeeJay]

On 7/18/2022 at 5:13 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I love your patience @TeeJayI think you will be rewarded with an excellent shrimp tank. 

Patience is definitely a virtue and it's hard lol. But it will be worth it in the end. I still want to get some suswassertang and more have moss in there before I get the shrimp as well. But I want to wait until some of the summer heat goes away before I order it. Dont want to end up with  a pile of mush when there delivered.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I had a plant order come in last week where only 1 of 4 Buce survived the shipping so I agree, wait, take you time and order plants when it is ready in another month or so.