Finally, an update on the planted tank. Had been dosing it with 4 caps of excel every few days. The BBA are eradicated.

ROD

I went for my last in-camp training. It lasted from 31st August to 12th Sept, but we outpro on the 11th. My army duration lasted from 1989 to 2009, 20 years. Glad it is finally over.

1 day to set up a cherry tank

Once again, the sakura/cherry shrimps' population has increased rapidly. Decided to set up a new 1ft habitat for them. This is the 4th time that I am setting up a tank for them. Bought a drift wood, and 1kg pack of Gex soil, and a pack of white gravel. First thing I did was to take a large piece of sponge filter media from my goldfish tank. Squeezed all the dirty mulm onto the tank, retained the sponge for the hang-on filter for the 1ft tank. I think the sponge filter media from my goldfish tank is amazing. 1 day of goldfish shit is probably equivalent to 2 months of all my shrimps' excrement. So you can imagine the amount of beneficial bacteria, as well as all the micro-organism living in the sponge!!! Placed the gravel, positioned some rocks and driftwood, and planted some crypts and chain swords. Topped up the tank with de-chlorinated tap water, and the tank was ready for the shrimps. The total effort probably took about 1 hour, and the tank was commissioned in a day. The shrimps are now eating, molting and breeding 2 weeks later, without any casualty.
Some measurements:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
PH - 7.5
Temp - 29 degrees

Boy Boy in a box

Boy Boy looking forlorn in a box.
I think if he was abandoned and left in a box, he will be picked up in no time by a kind stranger! He has this natural knack to charm people.

New babies in the Sulawesi Tank

This is so exciting. I spotted some baby cardinal shrimplets and 2 tiny golden rabbit snails in the tank!

Cardinal Shrimplet smaller than a grain of river sand.

Homecooked western dinner

Homecooked western dinner.

Starter:

-Chilled large prawns, fresh mango cubes and iceberg lettuce salad with salad cream

-Wild mushroom soup

Main:

-Cod fillet, marinated with pepper and a dash of salt, lightly pan fried, and surface-roasted with parmesan cheese and fried garlic bits, served with carrots and mayo

-Glass of white grape juice

Project "Dither Shrimps"

Cherry Shrimps
Genus: Neocaridina
PH: 6.5 to 8
Temp: 18 to 30 degrees

Sulawesi Shrimps
Genus: Caridina
PH: 7.5 to 8+
Temp: 26to 30 degrees

Definition of Dither Project:
14 male adults and young Cherry shrimps added to an aquarium with shy or nervous Sulawesi shrimps. The dither shrimps' unconcerned behaviour signals to the shy shrimps that it is safe to come out of hiding, to feed and it is safe to breed.

Cherry shrimps are chosen as dither, since they are hardy, and can tolerate the temperate range and PH range of the Sulawesi setup. They are also not shy, and going around the tank looking for food all the time, with or without people staring at them.

Sulawesi Shrimps in my tank, including Cardinals, Yellow Stripes and Yellow cheek are a very shy species. They basically like to come out only when the lights are off. Sometimes they do come out in the day, but would quickly withdraw back to their crevices when they sense people, sound or movement.

Period of Experiment:
1 day and ongoing

Day 1 Observations:
Cherry shrimps are adjusting well to their environment. Initially, they were swimming around the tank, checking out the environment. After awhile, they started picking on the food and algaes found in the tank. No aggression between the cherries and sulawesies in the day.

Sulawesi shrimps became more curious when the cherry shrimps were introduced. They stepped out of their crevices to check out the new inhibitants.

After 3 hours, Cardinals shrimps were seen perched on top of rocks, and busy grazing on algae with their claws or white chelipeds. The yellow cheek and yellow stripes were not seen. This is the first day, and they could be resting from the previous night's foraging.

Sulawesi shrimps tank upgrade adventure

Finally decided to move the Sulawesi shrimps to a bigger home. The current shrimps population has tripled, and they were cramped in the few rocks crevices. There were also some berried females.
Also needed a new scape so that I can admire them more easily. So I planned on a new scape with river sand substrate and some interesting rock scape.

6 weeks prior to the move...
Recommissioned my 2 ft tank, light and airpump. Took it out from the store room. Placed it on the bay window.
Bought the following:
1 bag of river sand.
1 bag of crushed coral chips.
2 kg bag of gex soil for planting.
1 new hang-on waterfall filter.
2 airstone.
Some rocks.
Collected some large coral rocks from the beach.

1st Week:
Step 1. Washed all the rocks, chips and substrates.
Step 2. Placed the gex soil at both ends of the tank.
Step 3. Positioned 2 airstones and tubes at 2 corners of the tank.
Step 4. Cut out a large piece of very dirty, old filter media (sponge) from the goldfish tank. Squeezed the mulm onto the tank base, and retainted the old filter media for later use.
Step 5. Covered the base of the tank and the mulm with the crushed coral chips.
Step 6. Covered the crushed coral chips with river sand. ( I prefer the river sand to be on top, as I find that shrimplets are tiny enough to be trapped between the larger coral chips.)
Step 7. Positioned the rocks and the coral rocks.
Step 8. Transferred water from the existing sulawesi nano tank to the new tank. This was done over a 2-week period, and I mananged to get the new tank filled 3/5 full.
Step 9. Placed the older filter media and mixed in some new filter sponge into the hang-on waterfall filter. Started the filter, started the airpump.
Step 10. Planted some hairgrass, some dwarf sag and crypts in the gex soil.
Step 11. Made some adjustment to the scape until I was somewhat satisfied. The new scape allows me to easily see the inhabitants and is pleasing to the eye.

End of 2 weeks: Algae starts growing on the surface of the tank glass and on the rocks.

3rd Week:
Bought 3 sulawesi snails (yellow rabbit snails) from C328, and put them in the new tank. They were crawling all over.

4th Week:
Measured the water parameters. Zero ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
Moved 2 zebra nerites, 5 horned bumblebee nerites from the existing sulawesi nano tank over to the new tank to feed on the algae. Moved 1 sulawesi cardinal shrimp to the new tank. It survived.

6th Week:
Time for the Sulawesi shrimps transfer.
Moved more water from the existing nano tank to the new 2 feet tank. The new tank is now 3/4 filled.
Carefully removed some rocks from the existing nano tank without stirring up the dirt.
This would make the shrimps easier to spot and catch.
Lowered a transparent glass cup into the tank, and teased the adults to go into the glass cup.
Once they were in, I quickly moved them to the new 2 ft tank. They were teased out of the cup, and swam onto the substrate.
This was done over 20 times to move all the adults.
The baby shrimplets are very small. Netted 6 of them with a fishnet and transferred them unceremoniously to the new tank. Too difficult to catch them otherwise.
Counted 32 shrimps, including the 6 shrimplets during the move.

7th Week:
The shrimps are all alive, no casualty. They are eating and molting just like what they do in their old tank. The berried females are still carrying their eggs, and nothing is dropped.
They are rather particular about real estate space. During the first week, they go around shopping for a new crevice as home. Once they find something the like, they lay claim to it and I suspect chase away other shrimps. You can see them waving their white antenna from the various crevices.
I place their food in front of the tank nightly, on the substrate and do see them coming out to eat them.
The old nano tank is decommissioned. It will be home for my colony of sakura shrimps.

L134 Leopard Frog Pleco

This L134 Leopard Frog Pleco has been a rather elusive inhabitant in the tank. Finally got a chance to see it, and it has really grown fat.

Vanilla Orchid

This vanilla orchid is going to be a gift for a new cafe.
Hope it brings as much joy to the new owner as it has for me.

Baby Jo passed away

Baby Jo, my blind goldfish, passed away today after a long fight with SBD.

3rd Generation Sulawesi Shrimps

Just saw some very tiny shrimplets. Seems like the 3rd generation has finally arrived. This is so exciting!

Experience with Sulawesi Cardinals & Yellow Cheeks

I've got 7 cardinals and 5 yellow cheeks about 6 months ago.
Currently, there are about 25 cardinals and 3 yellow cheeks, which means that there are some births and some deaths, so here are some of the things I learn, which I hope will come useful to others interested in these beautiful shrimps.

They are housed in a 1 feet nano tank, with coral chips as base (covered with gravels). This helps to stabilize the PH.
I started the tank with an established nano hang on waterfall filter (it was used for my very successful cherry shrimp tank). The water falling from the filter creates lots of bubbles and breaks the water surface, and I think that helps oxygenate the tank.
The tank is placed near the window, with morning sun. This turns all the large rocks and coral in my tank green (covered with algae, but not the bushy or hairy type).
I find that algae grow better on course surface rocks.
I do not perform regular water change, but I do top up the water once in a while.
The initial shrimps there were very shy. They went hiding in the crevices of the rocks and corals. Once the algae start showing on the rocks, they come out more often to graze on the algae. I heard that these shrimps likes their own personal spaces, so I make sure that there are enough crevices for all of them.
The shrimps are also fed daily with a rotation of hikari algae wafers, mosura, and some generic shrimp food pellets. Some days they are not fed, so they just pick on the rocks.
They start moulting regularly. This is also when the mating starts. The male shrimps get crazy and start mating with any females that are newly moulted.
Females become berried, and little shrimplets come soon after.
I cover my nano filter with a filter sponge, so that no shrimplets get sucked up the filter.
The new batches of shrimplets are now young adults, and are not shy at all. Like their parents, they love grazing on the rocks.
I last counted 5 berried females. Hope to see some 3rd generations shrimps soon.
The tank is very established, with its own ecosystem of small ramhorns snails and water fleas, which helps finish any food that doesn't get eaten. I also have a crew of nerites snails to help keep the algae in check.

I also learn a trick to determine the sex of the shrimps:
When the lights are off at night, the shrimps become transparent. When you suddenly switch on the tank light, you can see which shrimps have a saddle on it's back, and which shrimps are carrying eggs. Those are the females.
That's all folks.

Mao Shan Wang Durians

Finally get to eat Mao Shan Wang. They were on offer, and we got 2 durians for 10 dollars each.

Nyonya Chang

It's time to celebrate Bak Chang day again...This time, I wrapped about 70 nyonya chang.

Boy Boy got an extreme makeover

Boy Boy was shaved. It's too hot this time of the year for him to have his long coat.

Garfield passed away

Garfield, my favourite goldfish, passed away on 18th April.

Airplant is flowering

The airplant is flowering today, and it turned most of the leaves with a reddish hue.
The little purple flowers are quite pretty.

Bread

Making bread again. This time, I followed the instructions from the baking made easy book.
Hopefully, I can finally have some soft buns.

Sulawesi Tank

Got Sulawesi Shrimps on my chinese birthday on 9th Feb! Total of 13 shrimps, 7 red goldflakes and 6 cardinals.
I hope they survive and thrive, cos they are quite difficult to keep.
I have to put a layer of coral chips to bring up the PH of the water.