A New Endler Saga

A few months after the female tiger endler died (leaving me with one sole male), I decided to give the male away to a friend (who only had female tiger endlers - could be hybrid with blue/red grass since they are kept together in his tank) in hopes that he will be able to repopulate the numbers.
Luckily, I managed to get a new trio of wild endlers (red chest - Class N) from a friend along with some boraras brigittae (very hard to find these days) 2.5 weeks ago. To my surprise, I saw two little endler frys zipping past the tank. It looks like the endlers have comfortably settled in their new home now ... I hope the continue to populate so that eventually, we'll have an army of these beautiful creatures ... :)

Downsizing

Planning to downsize my aquarium numbers to prepare for my move ... yes, temporarily decommissioning one more nano tank. I may end up selling the entire tank if there is anyone that wants it. Else, it should all be in preparation for the house moving ...

Sulawesi Adventure Ended

After months of trying, I finally decided to end my Sulawesi shrimp adventure ... why? Well, my last batch of 4 surviving (with one berried) cardinal shrimps just decided to move on ... sigh. I was so looking forward to seeing cardinal babies but unfortunately things just went downhill a few weeks after the cardinal got berried. The shrimps started dropping mysteriously one-by-one until none was left.

When I finally decided to decommission the Sulawesi tank, much to my dismay, I found a LAVA ROCK hidden deep within some of the other rocks tied with moss. I guess that last lava rock may be the one still quietly leeching some poison to kill the remaining shrimps ... sigh. Well, after so much investment (both time and money), I am just going to chill for a while ... keeping hopes of possibly trying again in the future ... when both time and money permits.

Finally, Berried Shrimps!!!

YES!!!! You read the title right. :) After months of trying, I finally spotted one berried Sulawesi shrimp. It has been a while since I last updated this blog and the reason was there was nothing much to update. :)

I almost gave up a month ago when I was down to my last Sulawesi shrimp due to the lava rock poisoning. Luckily, Johnny wanted to give up on his shrimping hobby and sold me his remaining 3 Sulawesi shrimps (since they did not reproduce even after more than 2 months in his tank) with a few CRS. Much to my surprise yesterday night, I saw my last surviving Sulawesi shrimp berried. I guess I must have a female shrimp and Johnny's shrimps are all male. One of the CRS was berried as well last week but dropped quite a few of her eggs ... I guess maybe because I did not have a chiller.

Hopefully, both the Sulawesi shrimp and CRS will give baby shrimps soon ... I'm so excited ... :)

Lava Rocks - Poisonous to Sulawesi Shrimps?

As luck would have it, my recent batch of Sulawesi shrimps started dying again after a few weeks. At first, they look to be quite stable but all of a sudden, they started dying again ... up to 2-3 shrimps a day. :( I was determined to save them this time.

I initially thought it was my water conditioner as I got the cheap water conditioner for all of my tanks. After changing the water conditioner to Tension Gon, the problem still persisted. Luckily, J-wing suggested that it could potentially be the lava rocks that I put into the tank as the lava rocks could be leeching some poisonous metals like copper or sulfur. Since I had nothing more to loose, I decided to remove all of the lava rocks and amazingly, the deaths stopped. However, it stopped a little too late as it already dealt a great blow to my Sulawesi shrimp population. I've also reduced the number of ramshorn snails in the tank so that the bio load remains low.

I've also since started to ensure that the top up water parameters is matching as closely to that of the tank. I've setup a bucket with coral chips in it and have the water in that bucket treated for 1 day with Mosura Shizhen before adding it into the tank to top up the evaporated water. It has been going well for the past few days now and I hope the situation continues to stay that way ...

New Sulawesi Shrimps Docked

Hooray!!! A new batch of Sulawesi shrimps arrived yesterday!!! This time around, I originally got 15 cardinal shrimps. However, 4 of the cardinals arrived dead in the bag when Ken (from Aquatic Paradise) delivered it to me. The seller was nice enough to offer a substitute for the dead shrimps ... Sulawesi harlequin shrimps. He gave me 3 harlequin shrimps (which is what he has left alive) and offered to refund me the money for the 1 shrimp ... thanks Ken!! :) However, after looking at it further, I think the 3 shrimps are not harlequins ... and a little googling revealed that they are actually Sulawesi Red Tigers (Caridina sp. Tigri) ... looks just as nice as harlequins.

When I got home yesterday, the shrimps do not look to be in good condition as they are not very active, losing color and I can even see some jumping frantically once in a while. Instead of the proper acclimatization techniques usually used to accustom new shrimps, I decided to dump them straight into my tank. Hopefully I made the right decision. FYI, I tested the water that the shrimps came in and its pH was over 8.8 (beyond what my test kit can measure) and that was what prompted me to act.

No dead bodies yet as of this morning but since I bought so many this time, I've lost count of the shrimps since they are all mixed up with the rest of the Brown Camo shrimps. Here's the count that I should be having (yes, some of the Brown Camo shrimps died :( ...):

Cardinal Shrimp (Caridina sp. "Cardinal"): 12
Brown Camo Shrimp (Caridina sp. "Matano Red Orchid"): 7
Red Tiger Shrimp (Caridina sp. Tigri): 3

Quitting Sulawesi Shrimps?

Should I quit on Sulawesi shrimps? That's the question that has been going on in my mind for a while ... but I managed to convince myself to not do it. In fact, an opportunity came up to acquire some new species (non-Cardinal shrimps) when a friend of mine (J-wing) wanted to get some from a seller in Johor. So I jumped on the band wagon and ordered 10 pieces of the Caridina sp. 'Matano Red Orchid' a.k.a. Brown Camo shrimp.

Sure enough, the shrimps arrived yesterday evening but there was only 9 pieces in the bag. :( I guess the seller may have miscounted when putting them in or one died and got eaten by the rest during the transit. I hope the seller will honor the 100% DOA guarantee (or in my case, a missing shrimp).

Anyway, I spent quite some time last night trying to acclimatize them in hopes that they will survive in my tank. I kind of guessed that one will not make it until morning (since it was already jumping in frenzy and turning pale) and I was right. So I'm now down to 8 pieces of this magnificent shrimp ... and hopefully they stay that way or multiply ... :)

Back to Square One ... :(

Just an update that I'm now down to my last cardinal shrimp (picture attached). :( Lesson learnt ... do not change the water in a shrimp tank unless necessary. Just top up water lost due to evaporation.

I'll be getting more cardinal shrimps soon when Aquatic Paradise (Ken) comes to Penang. Hopefully, this time around, I'll have a good chance to keep them alive and eventually breed them.

Currently also have plans to get a few pieces of another type of Sulawesi shrimp i.e. the Caridina sp. 'Brown Camo' or Caridina sp. 'Matano Red Orchid'. I hear that they are as hardy as the cardinal shrimps and so I may give it a try. Keeping my fingers crossed ... :)

Double Whammy!!

It is mid June now and still no new Sulawesi Cardinal Shrimps. Ken said that it will now be end of June or early July before the shipment arrives ... sigh ... and to make things worst, 3 out of the remaining 6 cardinal shrimps that I currently have died over the weekend after a water change. As far as I am aware, I did nothing different from the other water changes. But I did see 2 of my RCS in another tank dying as well and so this leads me to suspect it is either the water that I used that day, the Mosura Shizhen or the Shirakura Ebi-Chi that was added. Need to find out soon before the new batch arrives ... don't want to risk killing more.

It is JUNE Now!!!

June ... time to add new cardinals into the tank!!! Eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new cardinal shrimps from Indonesia. Very hopeful that the survival rate is better this time. According to Ken from Aquatic Paradise, the shrimps should be arriving mid June so it should just be about 1-2 weeks away ... keeping my fingers crossed. :)

Sulawesi Cardinal Survivor Count ... Six!!

After close to 2 weeks, the weaker ones (and disabled ones - some lost a few limbs/claws when I got them), have gone to shrimp heaven. Now left with 6 ... including the lonely cardinal that I had earlier before I got this batch.

It will be June soon and another batch of Sulawesi Cardinals will be added (this time imported from Indonesia) for better shrimplet survival ... hopefully.

No More Lonely Nights

As luck would have it, I did not have to wait until mid June for the Sulawesi Cardinals. :) A member in MAC (Malaysian Aquascaping Club) had some local-bred Sulawesi Cardinal shrimps for sale and I jumped on the opportunity ... and it arrived today!!! :) Let's see how these will survive the remaining journey in the Sulawesi tank ... no more lonely nights for the lonely Sulawesi Cardinal shrimp anymore.

Lonely Sulawesi Shrimp

Finally managed to "scavenge" one cardinal and one red gold-flake from Johnny (from his dying lot) but only to find that the red gold-flake bidding farewell 3 days later (after molting) ... sigh ... I guess, the tank may not be 100% ready for all Sulawesi shrimps but at least the sole surviving cardinal shrimp is still standing. Hopefully, this tank will at least be cardinal shrimp ready for the incoming shipment of cardinal shrimps mid June. Only time will tell ...

Sulawesi Shrimp Tank

Finally, after weeks of emotional "recovery", I've decided to give Sulawesi shrimps another try. This time, I'm going by the books i.e. setting up a dedicated tank for them with controlled water parameters.

I got a new 1ft glass tank, Shiruba XB-303 filter, DIY fan and an el-cheapo lamp for the setup. The substrate was laid with a scoop of Bacter-100 and covered with a layer of coral sand to increase the pH and alkalinity. The top is then covered with white sand and decorated with marble and lava rocks (with some moss tied) to give it a beautiful sandy look ... well, I did not have a place to put the moss tied of lava rocks and so I thought I'd just dump it in.

I also checked the water parameters for the past few days and it has been stable at pH 8.0 (did not get any test kit to check on the alkalinity but did an immediate pH check after a water change to ensure that there are no pH swings). The result was looking good and so I decided to do an acid test ... with a few green shrimps and a ramshorn snail. :)

Thankfully, the green shrimps and snail has been surviving for the past 2-3 days now indicating that the tank should be fairly stable. I've also added some Shirakura mineral powder to improve the mineral contents in the tank (heard from a friend (J-wing) that it could have helped his last Sulawesi Cardinal shrimp survive in his acidic planted tank).

Another Shrimp Mishap

Luck must be bad these days. Got a few bunches of water sprites yesterday and planted them in both cube tanks. Unfortunately, I think there must be some residue of some pesticide or fertilizer on the water sprites present without my knowledge.

I planted the water sprites at about 5.30pm and when I checked the tanks at about 8.45pm, quite a number of the RCS looked to be motionless with a bunch more struggling for life ... immediately whipped out a series of water changes in both tanks until they finally stabilize.

I woke up this morning to find that all but one of the CRS are dead with quite a few casualties on the RCS as well in both tanks. Thankfully, some still survived the ordeal and hopefully they will multiply in the future ... only time will tell.

Sulawesi Tragedy

Tragedy struck ... all Sulawesi Cardinal shrimps are gone. Time for proper research on how to keep these magnificent shrimps.

Sulawesi Update

Sulawesi survivors to date is only 3 ... the rest succumb to either environment shock or stress. Oh well, I guess this is part of how nature would be i.e. only the strong will survive. Hopefully, the remaining ones will continue to live and hopefully breed (although I still cannot tell the difference between male and female).

Shrimp Fever!! (Part II)

I recently got hooked on Sulawesi shrimps after catching sight of them due to a friend's recommendation ... scoured around for sources to purchase them but came short. The nearest source was in Kuala Lumpur and they are charging a whopping RM20/piece.

Lady luck decided to finally lend a hand here and "brought" a batch of Sulawesi Cardinal shrimps (a.k.a. white spots) to the local CTY aquarium. :) A friend of mine helped to get some even before they were available for purchase ... heh heh ...

Unfortunately, 4 died over the weekend but the remaining 6 is still looking strong in my nano tank. Hopefully, they will eventually compensate to repopulate their lost comrades. Here's a picture that I manage to capture of one of them early in the morning ... magnificent colors (my wife labeled them as Swarovski Crystal like shrimps ... :))

Pictures of My Fauna

Here are some nice pictures of the critters in my tanks ... beautiful little creatures. :)

From top to bottom, tiger endler, blue-red grass guppy and CRS.

New Addition

After putting off taking pictures of my tank for a while (due to its unsightly algae infestation), I've finally managed to snap a few photos of it. If you are a follower of my blog, you'll notice that this appearance changed significantly as I've just re-scaped the 1ft tank. The old layout was too cluttered with a rock in the background which cannot be seen. I've since removed that from the layout so that it looks more tidy.

FYI, I've also since started another planted 1.5ft cube tank and it has been populated with the lovely blue grass or red-blue grass :) (got them from a friend - thanks Johnny). I've also populated this tank with RCS and CRS. Enjoy ...

Shrimp Fever!!

It has been a while since I last updated this blog. Been quite busy with family and work lately. BUT ... I have not given up on the aquatic hobby yet. :) I just got another 15 CRS from a different source to further populate the tank. As the title would have it, the CRS were not the only shrimps I got. :)

Recently, shrimp fever has plagued a few of my colleagues as well and we've been doing group buys for shrimps. We've gotten CRS and green shrimps lately ... yes ... GREEN shrimps. Some of them looked quite green but some are just pale white with the occasional pinkish blemish.

Just got a trio of golden bee shrimp as well to hopefully help generate a better quality CRS when they breed. Will attempt to take pictures and post them. The nano tank has been re-scaped and I've since started a new bigger tank as well filled with blue/red grass guppies.

Finally ... CRS Venture!!

After months of thinking, I finally decided to try my luck with crystal red shrimp (CRS). Got 9 yesterday and they are all still happily swimming this morning. Hopefully they stay that way ... only time will tell. :)

Ultimate Sacrifice - An Irony Tale

Well, I guess I spoke too soon when I said lucky me ... a few days back, both the adult tiger endler females caught the ick and one died the day after I saw the white spots. I quickly transferred the last adult female tiger endler into a separate treatment tank (with general cure and salt).

To my surprise, she dropped a liter of 19 endler frys 2 days later. I was over joyed when that happened but it all came crumbling down a day later when the adult female also froze like a stick. Well, it looks like the ultimate sacrifice for the adult female but at least she made sure her babies are alive ...

Fresh start for 2010 ... at least close to a fresh start ...

As luck would have it, I am unable to battle off the hair algae. Currently trying out the last resort of a blackout for a week or two (recommended by Johnny ... a friend I met at MAC). Hopefully, this will help with the hair algae.

Along with the algae problem, my entire population of peacock snake endlers were also wiped out and so I had to get 2 new pairs of tiger endlers ... and I must admit, they are indeed very beautiful. To my pleasure, the females gave birth in just a week after I got them ... lucky me??