# A cube of shrimp



## 91Atrac (Jan 13, 2012)

Love your setup!


From Q's iPhone using Tapatalk


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## smracer31 (Sep 8, 2011)

cool looking tank!
what type of anubias is that?


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

No clue, other than it's just a barteri variety with rounder leaves. The two smaller ones on the rocks are nanas.


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## picotank (Dec 6, 2011)

Looks great... luv the small cube tanks


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## chiefroastbeef (Feb 14, 2011)

Love your setup, photos, and your fun story telling! Thank you for sharing, very entertaining!


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Thanks!

I was thinking of adding a betta to this tank. My main worries are if this would be overcrowding the tank, how a betta and the tetras will get along and hoping that the amount of plants in the tank will provide enough cover for the shrimp so that I'll have a stable population. Otherwise it might be tank #2 if I really want a betta and toss the culls in too. Anyone have thoughts on this?

The tank is a cube foot, about 3.5 gallons.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

nice setup. the tetras may nip the betta fins so that might not be ideal.


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Yeah. The rummynoses are really high strung so that does look like a possibility. Would a short finned betta face the same issues?


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## sssnel (Nov 8, 2011)

I'm not sure your adult shrimp would appreciate a betta. My betta went after the amanos in my tank. After he got one he went into a 2 gallon by himself...


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

They were out in force after feeding time for the fish, picking up all the uneaten debris so I grabbed my phone and took a shot.









I doubt a betta would put a dent in the numbers! What'll I do with all these guys!


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

this is fantastic! I love these little setups.


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Yeah, they werent sunning themselves apparently. I've been steadily raising the amount of excel I've been dosing to try and combat some thread algae thats entrenched in the tank. Apparently I hit the upper limit today and everything started scrambling upwards. A quick water change later and everything's okay. SORRY LITTLE GUYS!


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## gowfan05 (Feb 16, 2010)

NICE TANK! I wish I could add fish into my shrimp tank but I dont think I'd have the gut to watch my shrimpies get munched on. But you have inspired me to start a new project


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## thefisherman (Oct 15, 2011)

i think thats one of the most gorgeous pieces of driftwood i've ever seen. i love the mamma anubias plant perched on there. if you ever breakdown your tank aquabid that sucker, i'm sure you'll command an excellent price.

i live the shrimpies but i fear those tetras might be too big for your cube no? 


- thefisherman


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Yeah, the whole thing is at the stage where I'm looking at a bigger tank to keep all the inhabitants happy. Looking to shift it all into at least a two footer sooner or later. For now though, the neons look pretty happy and are busily exploring and nibbling at things when I peek at them. The rummynoses are panicky and follow the neons everywhere!


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Assistance requested! One of the rummynoses has a buttworm! Stores are shut now, so I'll be off early in the morning to get something to treat parasites. Can anyone recommend a shrimpsafe antiworm medication?


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Fishies are responding well to treatment. And did a little furniture shopping:










Hmmm, looks awfully empty for only one tank, and an extra light? Whatever was I thinking. :hihi:


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Oh god where did this come from! Might as well start sorting out all the gravel and potting mix and clay that turned up in my storage cabinet at the same time. 

And while I was moving stuff around.








Found this guy in the carpet. Crispy. Silly bugger.  Very crispy so she must have jumped forever ago.


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## daphilster08 (Oct 21, 2009)

Love you cube tank!


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## skindy (Jan 30, 2012)

Oh my, wherever _did_ that tank come from?  Nice cube setup! What are you thinking of moving into the bigger one?


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Pretty much everything, will do a capped dirt substrate this time and try grow more rooted stuff. With the larger tank, may get a betta to help control the RCS numbers. If they all dont get along then the small tank will end up being the betta cube + cull hideout.


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Shrimpland II, a 10 gallon tank, is coming along nicely. I got the mud bed topped with gravel yesterday. Went and picked up an assortment of plants and came home to find that the heater and filter I ordered online have been delivered!









All the plants in, with a healthy dose of filter sponge crap squeezed out from the first tank's filter. Val, ambulia and lileaposisisisis or however you spell that, plus bacopa and floaters from my existing tank. Once it's cycled, everything in tank 1 is going in. Except the cull shrimp. They get to stay behind and welcome their new neighbour, Mr. Betta. 









Yeaaah. I thought the Sicce Shark filter was going to be smaller! It's pretty nice though, the canister section is magnetic, so twist it at an angle and it comes off quick and easy. Once all the air bubbles in the impeller dissipated, it's been quiet as a baby fart. It really looks like I dropped a canister filter inside my tank though! :v


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## Koi Kameon (Apr 25, 2010)

*who was the manufacturer on the orig. cube?*

Not familiar with the writing on the side on one of your original photos. I LOVE the nanas on the driftwood. Never ponied up for some on driftwood. Need to re-think that. Or throw the 3 I have on a piece of mopani someday...


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

The original cube is a Dymax IQ5. Neat little cube, but a bit small and cramped at the moment, plus shrimp keep finding their way into the filter area somehow and fishing them out is really annoying! Plus if I stick my hand in there to do anything, the tank overflows. The large tank is basically to have more living space for plants and animals, and make maintinence easier. Well, aside from having to use a larger bucket for water changes, it looks like it'll cover all these needs well.

And driftwood is great. Doesnt weigh anywhere near as much as rocks, so I dont worry about the weight and cracking the glass with it, and it grows tons of algae for the shrimp to eat.


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Looks like you have a good start.


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## Welsh (Nov 9, 2010)

Love the little cube! I've had a 20litre cube for about 2 years and can't figure out a decent aquascape that I like, so I'm going to follow this and see how you get along!  keep us posted!!


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## FisheriesOmen (Jan 14, 2012)

I'm loving this tank so far! Keep us posted on both the new and the previous tank. I don't know where you keep finding such good looking aquariums


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## Quentin (Mar 16, 2011)

Sweet. Stats on light?


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

12watt spiral CFL bulb shoved into a $19 Ikea lamp. It's much, much brighter than my cube's LED light already. We'll see what that does for the plants an algae, since even with the LEDs I've gotten some algae problems, but the plants in there have no problems surviving.

edit: Ugh, condensation building up inside the heater. The downside of ordering online. Not so sure about the filter now either, the output is really, really strong and blowing stuff all over the tank.


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Well, most of the plants and a few sacrificial shrimp are doing well and fine. The bacopa, Lilaeopsis and floaters are all healthy and crisp looking. The vals and ambulia are slowly melting though. I've only done a very light excel dose so far. Would this have been enough to jelly those plants or is it just the trauma of replanting? Should I do anything? Was thinking of cutting off everything on the vals above 3 inches, it's all going brown-green at this point. Or should I just pull them up now?

Substrate is gravel on a potting soil/clay mix on a sparse osmocote spread.
Plants were all soaked in 30% white vinegar/water solution for 5 minutes prior to planting to get rid of hitchhikers.
10g tank's been getting 5 drops of excel a day since the planting two days ago.


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Man, they look pretty damn healthy. Why do you have to be so poorly coloured though! :c You can see the saddles without even trying.


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## Bettacrazy (May 22, 2011)

try introducing some new stock in there.


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## FisheriesOmen (Jan 14, 2012)

are those are babies?! And i kind of like the color almost like you created a new species of orange cherries with really cool looking saddles!


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

The camera makes them look a lot more orange than they are. In person, they're a watery pinkish-red. Not that attractive. This is the cull group though, I've already moved the most promising looking ones into the next tank.


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## FisheriesOmen (Jan 14, 2012)

you just invented the PBSC Pink-Blossom-Saddeled-Cherries :OOO I will take 30 for 200$  lololol


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Ha, that's one way to look at them I guess. Another is free betta food. :hihi:


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## FisheriesOmen (Jan 14, 2012)

I think once i get cherries in my bowl I'm gonna selectivley breed them to have dark red spots with a green saddle and a mostly translucent body, just because I love how they look  I'd be selling Fire Reds as culls lawls i can just see peoples reactions to that


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Welp. Transfered over all the tetras and a buttload of plants over to the big tank. The shrimp got to welcome their new tankmate, a gorgeous blue betta. Minutes after their introduction, I spotted a pair of shrimp antenna sticking out of mr. betta's mouth. I think they'll get along just fine!









A pretty boy with spotted blue fins. He might be racist though because he's in blackface. 









When the light's on him, he's got a little metallic sheen. Here he is contemplating another meal.









Still need a name for him. He loves his tankmates though. :3: Charging at them all the time and scattering shrimp everywhere. Hopefully he'll be sensible with eating.









The other fish are doing fine and really enjoying their new home. Lots of exploring and swimming around. They no longer try jump out of the tank when I enter the room and they even approach the glass when I'm near. Weird what a change in environment can do. Picked up a few more hunks of driftwood, currently soaking in a bucket, and did a few cuttings from the anubias while I was shifting stuff around. Contemplating a background for the big tank tho.


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## CrazyCatPeekin (Aug 15, 2011)

I think maybe if you did a black background on the larger tank you could push them together and it make it look almost continuous from one to the other.


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Tomato, the biggest and most solidly coloured red cherry I have, is berried again. Shifted her back to the 3g and used the 10g as the cull tank with all the fish. Something about the large tank was inhibiting breeding on all the shrimp, which works out well for a cull tank.









And the big tank is trucking along. Added a black background as suggested, keeps all the wires and stuff nicely hidden.


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

Very cool.

My fluval spec and your 3g are eerily similar lol. 

Any planaria/bug issues yet for you?


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

No planaria, plenty of nematodes and a small number of aquatic leechEs unfortunately.


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## FisheriesOmen (Jan 14, 2012)

This tank is so cool. You're the 5th person to convince me to buy a different type of nano tank  I'm gonna have to start saving!


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

I'm quite happy with the tank, though if I'd to do it over again, I would just get a square tank and a separate filter. Having a filter/sump made it very newbie friendly and gives it great bio filtration thanks to the massive sponge area, but it's really hard to evict any baby shrimp that get inside the back. 









Ugh you idiots!


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Cory hiding in the little pot cave. They'll also try sleep on top of the flame moss. Too cute!


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## ~~~ (Apr 2, 2012)

Love your setup 

On the other hand, having 2 or something cories and 2 species of tetra in a 10g is asking for trouble. I say you rehome em and get a real school of one species of tetra. Cories and tetras are schooling fish that *require* at least 9-10 of them to thrive.


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