shrimp on the riverbank Particularly after a water change, the shrimp like to collect on the river run shelf. I’m not sure what they’re after here, but this is a consistent behaviour of theirs. This is the kind of thing you’re not going to be able to observe without a shallow flowing water component to […]
Read more →Category: Critters
Aquarium animals: fish, shrimp, snails and other livestock—species notes, behavior, compatibility, and care.
Three weeks after the first sighting of a new baby shrimp we seem to have arrival of the next crop. These guys are really tiny which does suggest the earlier one had been hiding out for a week or so before debuting. There was a 50% water change today – the usual story with EI […]
Read more →Baby cherry shrimp and friends All those white things zooming around in the water column whilst the baby bloody mary cherry shrimp hangs out on one of the roots of the Java fern (Microsorum pteropus ‘Windelov’ ) are copepods! Unintentional yet still welcome residents of the Shrimphaus, copepods are a form of zooplankton. Like their […]
Read more →There’s a new citizen in the Shrimphaus! Recently a juvenile bloody mary shrimp has started openly exploring. It seems strange that there is only one so far, but there was a mother shrimp that dropped most of her eggs and maybe this is one she held onto. The new shrimp has already successfully moulted and […]
Read more →Following on from the disastrous experience of adding new cherry shrimp to the Fireplace Aquarium I decided to give the shrimp their own aquarium with no predatory fish! I built them their own customised Shrimphaus and after a couple weeks of equilibrating the water chemistry and biology I added some Bloody Mary shrimp sourced from […]
Read more →Ottos playing in the flow The otocinclus catfish is a fantastic addition to a freshwater tank, particularly a smaller sized one. As one of the smallest catfish available, they don’t take up much space and are an essential component of an aquarium “cleanup crew” along with snails and amano shrimp they do a nice job […]
Read more →Neocaridina davidi are small freshwater shrimp and very popular for tropical aquaria. These come in many different vibrant colours, most commonly a bright red usually referred to as ‘cherry shrimp’, but they can also be blue, orange, chocolate, white, black, green and several with alternating block patterns of colour. Looking some something that would be […]
Read more →New otocinclus catfish in action MOAR CATFISH!!! Originally there were five or six otocinclus catfish in the Fireplace Aquarum as part of the algae cleanup crew. These are cute but sensitive little critters and I suspect that early unstable tank water parameters contributed to the gradual yet early demise of all them except one. Ottos […]
Read more →Amano shrimp in action Green plant (top): Bucephalandra caterina Red plant (bottom): Ludwigia palustris mini ‘Super Red’ Bubbles: carbon dioxide gas Amano shrimp – aquarium cleanup crew Amano shrimp have a well-deserved reputation as efficient algae eaters. These small mostly translucent freshwater shrimp won’t hurt live plants or animals but enjoy chowing down on algae, […]
Read more →Pentazona barb – great little fish! Five-banded barbs playing in the current with their friends the rummy-nosed tetras When we first got live plants going in the Fireplace Aquarium, we thought it might be fun to get a fish that would enjoy hiding in the plants to get a bit of a “hide and seek” […]
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