Jeffro
Active Member
I've had a 20 long set up with ADA Aquasoil, mote carlo, and some christmas and riccia mosses since January. I did water changes and let it cycle before adding some fish. I put in a couple guppies, 10 white clouds, and a couple large amano shrimp from another aquarium after the cycle seemed to be working well and they did great.
I removed the fish last week and they were healthy, although the guppies probably didn't like the softer water. We have crushed coral in their normal tank, but this one is still very soft with the ADA and our tap water being soft. There's cuttlefish bone and wondershells, which dissolve fairly quickly.
The white clouds loved it and had babies which are swimming around.
I kept the two large amano in since they seemed to be loving it.
I added 20 small amano shrimp and 5 cherry shrimp earlier this week. The amanos seemed to be doing fine, but I did lose a couple cherry shrimp.
I noticed that there seemed to be fewer shrimp, although it is difficult to find them sometimes as they hide, feeding in different areas.
So, this morning, I was looking at the tank and noticed four shrimp with their tails sticking out of the spray bar holes! All but one was still alive and I was able to gently get them to back out of the holes, but now I'm wondering why...
Any idea why they would climb in the holes and get themselves stuck? I was surprised they made it in, because the flow is fairly high. I had drilled out the holes a bit and added a few to reduce the flow, but now I'm wishing I had kept the holes tiny. I don't think the holes are any larger than previous brand name spray bars I've used and this small one came with tiny holes. I had drilled them to 3/32.
Are the shrimp trying to escape or get to more food?
Another couple other things to note:
I do use Aquarium Coop Iron and Easy Green. I also have been adding excel. There is plenty of algae in the aquarium still as is common with ADA setups. In the start, the spikes in nutrients are perfect for growing algae, so I expected this. I have some green thread algae that will likely go away eventually. The plants are spreading and although a bit of the monte carlo died during transition, it is growing. The moss is growing very well too...I've had to prune it a few times.
Could it be the excel? Too much leeching off of the ADA still? I'm very careful not to stir up the ADA at all.
I wondered if the power went out, but I didn't have any usual clock resets...so they must have climbed in head first. It's unlikely that they went in through the matten corner filter as there isn't much space at all and they likely wouldn't survive the impeller, or happen to go out of the spray bar holes tail first...although it could be possible I suppose.
Poor shrimp...I'm definitely not adding more for now. I do want to add more cherry shrimp eventually.
I'm thinking I should add more crushed coral and let this tank keep maturing for a while, but am worried about the spray bar. The holes are too small for the large amano, but smaller amano or cherries could climb in it seems. I've just never seen this happen before.
Thanks!
I removed the fish last week and they were healthy, although the guppies probably didn't like the softer water. We have crushed coral in their normal tank, but this one is still very soft with the ADA and our tap water being soft. There's cuttlefish bone and wondershells, which dissolve fairly quickly.
The white clouds loved it and had babies which are swimming around.
I kept the two large amano in since they seemed to be loving it.I added 20 small amano shrimp and 5 cherry shrimp earlier this week. The amanos seemed to be doing fine, but I did lose a couple cherry shrimp.
I noticed that there seemed to be fewer shrimp, although it is difficult to find them sometimes as they hide, feeding in different areas.
So, this morning, I was looking at the tank and noticed four shrimp with their tails sticking out of the spray bar holes! All but one was still alive and I was able to gently get them to back out of the holes, but now I'm wondering why...
Any idea why they would climb in the holes and get themselves stuck? I was surprised they made it in, because the flow is fairly high. I had drilled out the holes a bit and added a few to reduce the flow, but now I'm wishing I had kept the holes tiny. I don't think the holes are any larger than previous brand name spray bars I've used and this small one came with tiny holes. I had drilled them to 3/32.
Are the shrimp trying to escape or get to more food?
Another couple other things to note:
I do use Aquarium Coop Iron and Easy Green. I also have been adding excel. There is plenty of algae in the aquarium still as is common with ADA setups. In the start, the spikes in nutrients are perfect for growing algae, so I expected this. I have some green thread algae that will likely go away eventually. The plants are spreading and although a bit of the monte carlo died during transition, it is growing. The moss is growing very well too...I've had to prune it a few times.
Could it be the excel? Too much leeching off of the ADA still? I'm very careful not to stir up the ADA at all.
I wondered if the power went out, but I didn't have any usual clock resets...so they must have climbed in head first. It's unlikely that they went in through the matten corner filter as there isn't much space at all and they likely wouldn't survive the impeller, or happen to go out of the spray bar holes tail first...although it could be possible I suppose.
Poor shrimp...I'm definitely not adding more for now. I do want to add more cherry shrimp eventually.
I'm thinking I should add more crushed coral and let this tank keep maturing for a while, but am worried about the spray bar. The holes are too small for the large amano, but smaller amano or cherries could climb in it seems. I've just never seen this happen before.
Thanks!