# New Shrimp Tree



## VincentK (Dec 16, 2009)

OMG, that driftwood totally makes me jealous, and I LOVE dwarf hairgrass, so I'd say go for it.


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

Bigger rocks. The rocks will get covered by the dwarf hair grass, and I'm sure you would love to be able to see the rocks through the dwarf hair grass.

Great scape, great looking tree.


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Thanks to both of you.

I agree about the rocks for sure. I'm thinking about raising the substrate level around the base of the tree and using some larger rocks to pant the A. Nana 'Petite' around.


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## BMueller777 (Feb 5, 2008)

Nice tank, deff go with some bigger rocks and DH, I just finished planting mine, once my CO2 is hooked up it should carpet in no time


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## Chafire (Jan 6, 2010)

I think the xmas moss sounds great! here is an image of an aquascape with the same concept:


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Chafire said:


> I think the xmas moss sounds great! here is an image of an aquascape with the same concept:


That is one of the two that gave me this idea. Its quite beautiful and I can only hope mine turns out half as nice.


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## JennaH (Sep 28, 2009)

that's a great piece to create a tree! i think a slope around the base of the tree can add alot to this scape. i think larger, darker stones would look better


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Changes it a little bit. Whaddya think now?


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## Fish4Fun (Jan 4, 2010)

what kind of tree did you get the branch from?


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Fish4Fun said:


> what kind of tree did you get the branch from?


I picked it up at a local shop. If I recall it was labeled lace wood.


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## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

I would angle the tree a bit maybe toward the back corner, not much just a bit, and i dont like how crowded those rocks look around the base. 

here is a nice link to give you some ideas.

http://www.aquascapingworld.com/for...cape-month-september-2008-pinheiro-manso.html

i also agree with the hill idea.


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

AlexXx said:


> I would angle the tree a bit maybe toward the back corner, not much just a bit, and i dont like how crowded those rocks look around the base.
> 
> here is a nice link to give you some ideas.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the link. Those are some great looking trees.

I'm not set on the angle and and still playing with things thanks to input from fine folks like yourself.

Thanks again.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

It looks great so far! I can't wait to see it filled in


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## BMueller777 (Feb 5, 2008)

Nice, the new scape looks much better


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## shoteh (Nov 13, 2007)

BMueller777 said:


> Nice, the new scape looks much better


+1. The rocks look better than the slates. And nice tree that you picked out.


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Well, I got the tree done and the A. Nana 'Petite' all done. I started to plant some of the hairgrass but I've got to get ready for my pool league. Looks like I'll have to finish tomorrow. I'll have some pics up then.

Thanks for looking and commenting.


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Ok, one quickie.










I just realized that I forgot to put a background on. Another project for tomorrow...


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

nice


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## dacrax07 (Jan 10, 2009)

Oh woah, i definitely see the tree now. can't wait for it to fill in


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Thanks for the kind words folks. Can't wait to finish planting and to see everything when its grown in.


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## tuonor (Nov 26, 2009)

subscribed...looking forward to seeing this fill in. I'd echo AlexXx, might look a bit more natural if there was more tilt to the tree.

also, what pre-filter is that on your AC20...?


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## shoteh (Nov 13, 2007)

Looks good so far, can't wait to see it fill in. Also in my experiences leaving a part of the tank alone with just substrate is only delaying more work until later. I have had a few small tanks with big bare substrate as a display idea, only to be planted later on when it didn't match the full grown look.


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

Looks awesome! And this makes me even more excited to make my own . For now the hunt for the perfect wood will continue!


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

Subscribed


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## matthew.shelly (Dec 1, 2009)

i love this kind of scape. i subscribed. can't wait to see how it looks when in grows out some.


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Thanks everyone for following this. I wish I had more to update. The water is a little cloudy with leaching from the AS and the drift wood. Other than that everything is fine. I want it to hurry up and fill in but its going to be a slow grower...


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## dacrax07 (Jan 10, 2009)

Don't worry, I grow a lot of anubias so I know how long it takes


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Things are coming along here. Still not a whole lot of growth so no real point in photos.

Looks like the AS is finally slowing down on the leaching of ammonia. I tested .5ppm the day after a 50% WC yesterday. Anyone know how long it usually takes for it to stop? I'm also reading Nitrite (on the way down) and Nitrate (on the way up) so it looks like the cycle is going well.

I've got a question for you guys though. I'm looking at keeping either CRS/CBS or Blue Tigers in this tank. I've been reading that I need to get the GH up to 6-8 or so. Right now it looks like the KH and GH are both at 2 although that darn test kit is hard to read. So... do I need to so something to get the GH up? If so, what do you suggest?

Thanks


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Just a quick update. Things are moving reeeeeeeeeeealy slow. Pulled the DHG and the E. Tenellus 'Micro Red' that replaced it is growing in very well and turning a very pretty pink color. The 'Petite' is doing what it does and growing very slowly. The moss on the tree is also growing in very slowly. I added some more xmas moss to the tree but when I got up the next morning it was all brown and dead so I pulled it back out. The shrimp all seem to love their new home though. Very active and no deaths at all.

Other than that I've got a minor problem with hair algae and have been invaded by ramshorn snails. There's hundreds. I made a trap today so we'll see how that goes.

Pics:

























Should have pulled the equipment but it was a spur of the moment photo session.


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## plantedpufferfreak (Feb 2, 2010)

Nice!


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

plantedpufferfreak said:


> Nice!


Thank you.


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## matthew.shelly (Dec 1, 2009)

Looks like the moss is coming in pretty well. In a couple months this will be an absolutely stunning scape.


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## D'cecilia (Jun 12, 2009)

This thing looks really nice


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Thanks to you both. I can't wait until the moss in the tree grows in. I think it'll look great then.


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## matthew.shelly (Dec 1, 2009)

I was just looking back at the pictures. It seems like you have a lot of snails up along the surface of the water. This is often a sign that something might not be right with the water conditions. If you have a master test kit, I would advise checking everything. If not, you should get one. Wouldn't want you to lose you're shrimp.


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

matthew.shelly said:


> I was just looking back at the pictures. It seems like you have a lot of snails up along the surface of the water. This is often a sign that something might not be right with the water conditions. If you have a master test kit, I would advise checking everything. If not, you should get one. Wouldn't want you to lose you're shrimp.


I've tested and everything looks good. I had 3 snails in there for a month or so and all of a sudden within a weeks time I had hundreds of babies. I'm working on getting rid of them but they multiply so damn fast its tough.

I have no idea why there was such a sudden explosion in snail population but the shrimp seem to be doing great. Molting fine, active, eating normally, everything else looks great.


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## MWBradshaw (Mar 21, 2010)

I'm not sure about the bigger species but most small species are hermaphrodite's (having both male and female sex organs) and most can and will self fertilize when a food source is abundant. That's why all of a sudden you'll see explosions in snail populations, they are introduced into a system, given a little time to adjust, find out if food levels are abundant, then they reproduce like crazy. Some people are fans of them, but I am not one of them.


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## D'cecilia (Jun 12, 2009)

Oh man those snails soo hard to get rid off.
I had them in my twenty gallon, then moved my stuff
to a ten gallon, still had them, then moved everything again
to a 2.5 gallon and a 1.5~ gallon, and still had them.
It wasnt until i really took everything apart, checked every
plant that i got rid of them.


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

I've got a trap in there now that I made and it seems to be doing its job. I took out the full grown ones yesterday. All thats left is the hundreds of babies that are too small to lay eggs yet. Hopefully if I can keep pulling them out I'll get them all before they're big enough to lay more eggs.


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## MWBradshaw (Mar 21, 2010)

In most cases it's a never ending battle. I hear of people getting Assassin snails and they keep the small pond and ramshorn snail populations in check. Although I don't know how they'd do with shrimp. My guess is not good, but maybe look into it and find out some info!


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## AquaDean (Nov 20, 2009)

In trying to control the snail population I always come up with a question that I've never had answered. 

How big do the ramshorn and pond snails need to be before they can lay more snail eggs? Anybody know?


I use a Potassium Permanganate dip/bath for all new plants that I bring in but still it doesn't always get rid of all the snails.


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

MWBradshaw said:


> In most cases it's a never ending battle. I hear of people getting Assassin snails and they keep the small pond and ramshorn snail populations in check. Although I don't know how they'd do with shrimp. My guess is not good, but maybe look into it and find out some info!


I'm thinking about getting assassins. From what I've read they'll only go after shrimp when they run out of slow snails to eat. If I do go that route as soon as it looks like the ramshorn's are gone the assassins would get moved to my other tank to feast on those snails. Still not sure if I want to go this route yet. It's kind of a last resort if manual removal doesn't work well.


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

AquaDean said:


> In trying to control the snail population I always come up with a question that I've never had answered.
> 
> How big do the ramshorn and pond snails need to be before they can lay more snail eggs? Anybody know?
> 
> ...


I have no idea exactly how big they need to be but 99% of the snails in the tank are smaller than a pencil lead. There were three big ones originally but I pulled them a while ago. Now its just all the tiny babies that hatched.


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## matthew.shelly (Dec 1, 2009)

Any picture updates? I would love to see how the tree has grown in in the past 2 months.


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