Sas' 10 Gal "Shrimptopia" Journal

[Saspitite]

thought i'd start one of these to document my journey as a first-time tank keeper! i'll be updating all my progress with my very first 10 gallon, species-only cherry shrimp tank and all the chaos that may (but hopefully wont) ensue. 

this is my tank a little over a month old. things are going pretty well, water parameters are quite stable (of course, since there's nothing living in here yet)...

...and we have this! seems to be a biofilm colony of sorts, at least i'm fairly sure. i haven't found any mold that looks strikingly similar to biofilm online yet, so i'm not too concerned, i'd say. 

i'm also finding more of this similar stuff elsewhere in the tank, but it appears more stringy, like a spider web almost.

again, i haven't matched it up with anything potentially threatening or bad for my tank, so i'm not too worried, but if anyone has additional input i'd be very happy to hear it!

you might be a bit alarmed by the lack of plants- and i should clarify that there are no shrimp in this tank yet either- but plants are actually the next goal for this tank! once i've got the money and time, i'm going to get them nice and settled in there. i plan on getting java fern, windelov, java moss, and marimo moss balls. considering some anubias as well. i'm thinking maybe in the future i'll appropriate the substrate for some micro sword, too! (but that'd be a bit into the future)

i have lovingly named this tank "Shrimptopia" and i eventually want to try and decorate it like it's a town, since i think that'd be cute! 

i hope you all enjoy your time here watching me progress through my journey in the aquarium world! much love and updates to come soon 🙂

[Tlindsey]

On 7/6/2024 at 4:51 PM, Saspitite said:

thought i'd start one of these to document my journey as a first-time tank keeper! i'll be updating all my progress with my very first 10 gallon, species-only cherry shrimp tank and all the chaos that may (but hopefully wont) ensue. 

this is my tank a little over a month old. things are going pretty well, water parameters are quite stable (of course, since there's nothing living in here yet)...

...and we have this! seems to be a biofilm colony of sorts, at least i'm fairly sure. i haven't found any mold that looks strikingly similar to biofilm online yet, so i'm not too concerned, i'd say. 

i'm also finding more of this similar stuff elsewhere in the tank, but it appears more stringy, like a spider web almost.

again, i haven't matched it up with anything potentially threatening or bad for my tank, so i'm not too worried, but if anyone has additional input i'd be very happy to hear it!

you might be a bit alarmed by the lack of plants- and i should clarify that there are no shrimp in this tank yet either- but plants are actually the next goal for this tank! once i've got the money and time, i'm going to get them nice and settled in there. i plan on getting java fern, windelov, java moss, and marimo moss balls. considering some anubias as well. i'm thinking maybe in the future i'll appropriate the substrate for some micro sword, too! (but that'd be a bit into the future)

i have lovingly named this tank "Shrimptopia" and i eventually want to try and decorate it like it's a town, since i think that'd be cute! 

i hope you all enjoy your time here watching me progress through my journey in the aquarium world! much love and updates to come soon 🙂

@Saspitite thanks for sharing. May you be successful on this journey. 

[nabokovfan87]

Very cool, glad to have another shrimp keeper!

[Whitecloud09]

Awesome! Can’t wait to follow along!

[Saspitite]

07/22 Update: Some Interesting Growth...

first of all: plants are finally coming in tomorrow and i couldn't be more excited! i have a bunch of java ferns, windelov, moss balls and java moss coming in from the co-op and buceplant! it's nice that the delivery dates matched up pretty closely.

while i'm waiting for those, i decided to thoroughly check my tank in preparation, and lots of growth has happened since the start of this journal:interestingly, the first colony that appeared (shown in the last image) has significantly shrunk and i suspect it'll clear up soon. now, i do believe this is just the natural process of my driftwood releasing its nutrients into the water and creating these biofilm colonies, but if anyone suspects otherwise, do let me know!  
i'm considering clearing out some of the biofilm before i add the plants, but i'm not sure, we'll see if it becomes an issue. any tips are highly appreciated as always!

[Saspitite]

07/23 Update: PLANTS!!!

i'm happy to report that all plants arrived safe and in good condition! this tank definitely looks much much better with some more greenery to populate it. now i'll let this tank run for another month or so before i finally add in the stars of the show!

[Whitecloud09]

It looks great, i see some java fern, windelov java fern too, some moss balls, looks awesome!!! Again if i did not say this already, are these plants from AC? It looks like it. I have a windelov java fern in one of my aquariums too that looks identically the same. But some plants can look the same i guess 😄 @Saspitite.

On 7/23/2024 at 11:29 PM, Saspitite said:

07/23 Update: PLANTS!!!

i'm happy to report that all plants arrived safe and in good condition! this tank definitely looks much much better with some more greenery to populate it. now i'll let this tank run for another month or so before i finally add in the stars of the show!

 

[Saspitite]

On 7/24/2024 at 7:14 AM, Whitecloud09 said:

It looks great, i see some java fern, windelov java fern too, some moss balls, looks awesome!!! Again if i did not say this already, are these plants from AC? It looks like it. I have a windelov java fern in one of my aquariums too that looks identically the same. But some plants can look the same i guess 😄 @Saspitite.

 

thank you, they are in fact from AC! although i did get a mat of java ferns from Buce Plant as well, since i had a coupon. 🙂

[Fishtake]

I had that white gel looking substance on my wood also, LFS told me it's basically bacteria eating the decaying matter from your wood.

He suggested i take it out and boil it if i don't want that in my tank (which i did it is gone now). I have also read and watched other resources that told me it would clear up eventually when the bacteria reaches equilibrium.

[Saspitite]

9/10 Mini Update: Black Beard Algae?

shrimp are officially on their way! i admittedly probably didn't make the best decision in hindsight, choosing Shrimpy Business- they seem to have good reviews but i also hear a common theme of disease/parasites, so i'm quite worried. i unfortunately only found out about the latter part after ordering, so we'll just have to move on from here. and of course, i'll be updating you guys as soon as they're in the door!

the "mini update" i had was this recent observation i've made in my tank- little black specks on my cholla wood. after a little research, it seems to be black beard algae at its youngest, but if i'm wrong, please let me know immediately! i'm currently deciding to just keep an eye on things since i haven't heard anything bad about black beard, so long as you don't let it grow out of control. any suggestions?

[Lynaea]

I don’t know much about bba but it could just be from the wood like the lighter colored stuff. If your shrimp eat it and it doesn’t grow then it’s probably not bba. 

[Schuyler]

On 9/10/2024 at 1:12 PM, Saspitite said:

the "mini update" i had was this recent observation i've made in my tank- little black specks on my cholla wood. after a little research, it seems to be black beard algae at its youngest, but if i'm wrong, please let me know immediately! i'm currently deciding to just keep an eye on things since i haven't heard anything bad about black beard, so long as you don't let it grow out of control. any suggestions?

I had stuff like this initially too. I saw the same stuff saying it was bba but it's been two years and they're still just little black bumps:

 Maybe keep an eye out but don't panic over it