It perhaps will not come as a big surprise that the hobby sometimes ascribes common names incorrectly to species names. Tangerine Tiger shrimp are a case in point. Tangerine Tiger shrimp are almost universally described in the hobby as Caridina serrata, but actually they are Caridina cantonensis (much more on that below). Does it matter […]
Read more →Author: Andy Pierce
Learning about planted freshwater aquaria and WordPress.
I love Aquarium Gardens. Such a great aquascaping shop. They recently opened a new larger operation in Peterborough, so I thought I’d check it out. Owned by Dave Pierce (no relation) they stock plenty of aquascaping kit and plants. They also have a showroom where you can get some inspiration. They only moved in two […]
Read more →You may have noticed a new request for cookie permissions on the Fireplace Aquarium. Nothing nefarious here, Google Analytics and such. Ordinarily I wouldn’t be bothered with this kind of thing but I was notified that Microsoft Clarity would do something threatening (I didn’t really pay attention to what) if the situation was not fixed. […]
Read more →It is a struggle to find plants that can thrive in the Shrimphaus. The combination of low-KH high-GH “low tech” not-CO2 injected water seems to make things difficult. I recently gave up on the reputedly “easy” Staurogyne Repens. Still, lots of plants left to try. This time we’re having a go with another “easy” plant: […]
Read more →I thought the Blue Velvet neocaridina shrimp had all died off, but then suddenly, babies! There are at least 5 new little guys in the Shrimphaus. I have no idea where they came from – there is no sign of their parents. I gave them some protein flakes and they seem to be enjoying those. […]
Read more →The Fireplace Aquarium was looking pretty overgrown and I hadn’t done a water change in a couple of weeks so time to get stuck in for some maintenance. For me, once I get going on this kind of thing it tends to get a little more vigorous than first anticipated, but it has a way […]
Read more →I recently put some Rotala rotundifolia ‘Blood Red’ into the Fireplace Aquarium and it came in more of a burnt ochre shade of dusky reddish orange than ‘blood red’ as such. I looked around for the (potentially mythic) ‘Singapore’ (SG) variant of the Rotala which is claimed to be more red under a broader set […]
Read more →Having some red in the Fireplace Aquarium gives some nice contrasting colours. I picked up some AquaFleur Rotala rotundifolio ‘Blood red’ to see how that would do. Red aquarium plants There are lots of good choices to provide some red colour in a planted aquarium. I had very good success previously with Ludwigia palustris mini […]
Read more →Here is a new baby Blue Velvet neocaridina shrimp in the shrimphaus. A berried Tangerine Tiger caridina shrimp does its thing on the left side with a pure red line caridina watching on. The zoom out at the end shows the scale. I thought the Blue Velvets were not doing well, but there are at […]
Read more →The Shrimphaus gets some light brown coloured algae-like material growing on the glass which needs periodic scraping off. It won’t just rub off casually, but it comes off using a credit card blank relatively easily. It does seem to happen more in regions of higher lighting. It isn’t super unsightly, and doesn’t happen fast enough […]
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