Tuesday, April 7, 2009

1 comment:

  1. Actually, I have so many quetions for you it is blinding. I have kept freshwater tanks of one kind or another for at least the last ten years. I have no use for the "common" tank as I find them boring. I am (after a couple years of not keeping tanks)brushing up on some knowledge that I feel has been incomplete in my understandng. Just before I quit keeping tanks due to frustration at the water conditions where I moved, I had a couple different types of shrimp, freshwater clams, and a couple other peaceful species of fish. Though I have spent the last couple years building my understanding of the water in my new home, I do need to see if anyone can offer advise on the care and feeding of some of what I think of as the more interesting critter to be kept in a freshwater environment. I am taking no chances this time. Well informed is well prepared, and gives you somewhere to start when there is a problem in practice! (grin).. so..
    Question: How did you manage to grow just the right types of algae for the shrimps you were keeping (this was one of my problems). They are voracious and after cleaning up the algae problem in the larger tank, I could not keep up with their appatite! (was keeping Bumblebees, and Cherrys, as well as a smattering of Red Nosed shrimp). I have also become quite attached to the idea of the Singapore shrimp, but want to make sure that I can feed them without mucking up the tank in the process. And then there are the other filter feeders in the tank. (Freshwater clams).. They are almost totally lacking in any kind of mainenance needs, and do a lovely job of augmenting the biocycle. As for providing a brackinsh environment should they choose to breed, that is not really much of a problem. I have kept brackish tanks with a good success rate. But the conversion must be done SLOWLY, or the animals will go into shock and die quickly. The right type of salt must be used precisely or there will be tragedy. Even with my inability to adiquatly provide the volume of algae required for the voracious cherrys and bumblebees, the ones that were sustainable under the conditions I could supply DID begin the breeding process (there were lots of eggs). But I had no interest in persuing a breeding program at the time as I was already becoming frustrated with the struggle concerning the seriously different water quality and makeup of the area I had chosen to move to. Total pain in the butt. So This time, we will start with RO/DI water and build it up from there! (This was not neccesary in the area I moved From. Hence the frustration). Having to buy gallons of bottled water for the fish tank, seriously frustrating.
    But I find these creatures absolutely fascinating!!

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