# Just another 20 Gallon Long . . . . . (Updated Aug/10/08 . . . )



## JustOneMore21 (May 23, 2006)

Beautiful tank! I love the Blyxa. 

And great pictures for a camera phone.


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

I like it. I think you did a good job, especially with planting in a way that gives a tank like that a depth feel.

Your camera phone takes damn good pictures btw.


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## ganjero (Aug 4, 2005)

Here is my 20 long http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/photo-album/50332-20-long-planted.html

Yours is really nice. I was thinkg in planting some bigger plants on the back.


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

Thanks all for the kind comments~~  



BiscuitSlayer said:


> Your camera phone takes damn good pictures btw.


It is a Sharp 903SH. I still can't get the right exposure, everything looks too bright & yellowish~~ maybe it's just cause of the light fixture I have.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

you have multiple foreground plants! 

the setup looks very nice, lots of varieties. i like the narrow leaves java ferns, blyxa, and weeping moss.


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

Did a few changes in this tank as I am getting it ready for some CRS next week. Removed quite a few plants included Utricularia graminifolia, Baby Tear, Riccia, Pennywort & Anubia Nana, as they might not suitable for shrimp tank. I've also installed a sponge filter to pump more air into the tank. 

Here you go, a few picture taken today~~  Any suggestions are welsome.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Nice lookin tank! Good luck with your CRS! 

Has it taken very long for your HC to start filling in? Is a good bit of your Blyxa toward the back rooted at all or has it grown out of the substrate? The stuff in my tank had already started to get really bushy and pushing the mass upward so I'm thinning it out a bit at a time.


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

MrJG said:


> Nice lookin tank! Good luck with your CRS!
> 
> Has it taken very long for your HC to start filling in? Is a good bit of your Blyxa toward the back rooted at all or has it grown out of the substrate? The stuff in my tank had already started to get really bushy and pushing the mass upward so I'm thinning it out a bit at a time.


Thanks for the generous comments. The HC are growing quite well, and spreading much faster than I expected. They are pearling very nicely, and I had to do pulled some out from the more dense area, & replant it somewhere else. 

The Blyxa Japonica has such long roots, and it seems that my soils are not deep enough although they are rooted down pretty well. I would say as long as they are not floating, you are fine J.


I saw your 20 gallon long just now for the first time, the tank looks great. There are quite a few similarities in our tank, being both the same size with lots of Blyxa J, HC & Moss, how our Downois are on the same corner, although I just planted them J. We should start a 20G long club or something  . . . . j/k


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

Great looking tank! I have never really liked the look of Downoi untill I saw it growing on top of the HC like that. Nice work! I do have to say that I liked it better before you pulled out all those plants, but it still looks wonderful.


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

octopus44 said:


> Great looking tank! I have never really liked the look of Downoi untill I saw it growing on top of the HC like that. Nice work! I do have to say that I liked it better before you pulled out all those plants, but it still looks wonderful.


Thanks J ~~
I personally like the old look a bit more as well, but the objective is to cut out all the fast growing plants or plants might be harmful (Utricularia graminifolia’s bladders might trap shrimplets & Anubias may release out poisonous stuff after trimming.), so I have to sacrificed them to create a more CRS friendly environment. 

A side note….. That these new Downois in the left corner I got off another member were really huge & health, I had to cut their stem down to avoid the coconut tree look~~ haha~~


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

I LOVE the mini pelia on the wood- its beautiful! The whole tank is great, but thats something I don't see often and I really love it.


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

turbosaurus said:


> I LOVE the mini pelia on the wood- its beautiful! The whole tank is great, but thats something I don't see often and I really love it.


Here are a couple closer shots of mini pellia for ya


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

Got a few update pictures after introduce some more CRS.... Haha.... now I found out CRS seems to be much more shy than Cherries, most of them are hiding in the bushes~~~ :icon_roll


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## Matthew_Machine (Oct 12, 2003)

very nice! i love the coloration on those shrimp.


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## groyed (Oct 3, 2007)

I'm feeling envious maximus looking at the flora in your tank, good job old man lolx.


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## sNApple (Nov 6, 2005)

tanks lookin super good, who'd u get the cystals from? im lookin to get a some, pm me the prices and who u got em from ,


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

LOL~~ thanks for all the nice comments~~~ Here are a few random photos I took recently.... 


A full tank shot while doing a water change.... no major changes except all the plants are getting really bushy, and I am thinking of re-do the whole scape~~










Some of the residents enjoying a good spinach meal~~ 










A baBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~~~~~  Can you see me??


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## Gundy (Oct 31, 2007)

Beautiful scape! Do you use any fertilizers?


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## python (Mar 21, 2007)

I think the 'scape looks awesome... love the way the plants are all filling in and establishing boundaries. You shouldn't rescape it now, its in its prime. I understand the urge to play with stuff, though. That's what new tanks are for!:icon_wink


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## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

Its very tranquile. Just looking at it makes me so relaxed. I love the Blyxa and how its just a bush and just looks so soft!


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## Jerry23 (Oct 28, 2007)

Wow thats a sweet tank those plants go good together


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

Did a little update on this tank, and probably gonna have edit the title of this thread~~ Anyways, I've finally took out all the Cherries (I think I did.... maybe there are babies in there I can't seeeeeeee~~), and I have more CRS~~ Some new ones, few white/gold ones and some are from before.

My poor downoi all died after my 3 weeks vacation, the floating plants and the Java fern was covering the light on top of them so it didn't make it!!~~ HC was getting a little too thick, so I took out a few patches and replant the empty areas. Took the weeping moss out, and cleared some spaces in the back corner, so I can grow some more different plants~~ Anyways, here are a couple pix I took just today~~


This full tank shot shows this tank is not photo ready~ but I just want to record what I have for now.










One of my better looking guy~~ I think is a "HE".....


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

Great thread! Amazing tank!! Thanks for sharing!


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## jen0910 (Jan 13, 2008)

Nice tank.


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

Hey thanks guys~~  Tank looks messy~~ but I am trying to leave my hands out of it~~


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

GREATTT JOB!!!!!!

Your tank looks really amazing. Multiple foreground plants, pelia on the wood, you've got everything going and it works really well!

That blyxa mass in the middle is beautiful!


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

dekstr said:


> GREATTT JOB!!!!!!
> 
> Your tank looks really amazing. Multiple foreground plants, pelia on the wood, you've got everything going and it works really well!
> 
> That blyxa mass in the middle is beautiful!


Thanks, the blyxa is doing great in this tank without adding ferts, the co2 probably is the key~~


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

A couple pics of my gold CRS, well... more like CGS~

A preg gold CRS resting on fissidens.










Found a young one hiding in the HC bushes~










Spinach dinner time~


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## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

I really really really really like your tank. I just love the HC. And that Gold CRS looks awesome.


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## aquanut415 (Jan 21, 2006)

very nice looking scape, and great photos too!


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Really nice shrimps and great pics. Nice Fissidens wall you have getting started there!


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

MrJG said:


> Really nice shrimps and great pics. Nice Fissidens wall you have getting started there!


Thanks guys for all the kind words. The fissidens wall will probably takes a few more months to get to the bushy looks I am looking for, but yeah~~ I got time !!


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

CRS does do better, at least they starts to get pregnant after I up the Temp to 25DC....










POOP~~









Moms to be.....


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

dang i absolutely love it, niiiiiccccceeeeee shrimp!!!!


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## CmLaracy (Jan 7, 2007)

Those shrimp are completely redic, and so is the tank. Major props!


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

After about 1 month when I first saw the pregnant female CRS, now I start seeing a lot of babies for the first time... Woohooooo   

Although most of the "red" shrimplets seems to have the "no entry" sign already, but I don't see the white spots on the head on everyone of them.... hope it's just too small to see.... time will tell I guess~



















A couple of gold CRS shrimplets~



















She is preg again..... wow... it's like once a month~~~


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Absolutely beautiful shrimp & congrats on the babies!

When I saw that you updated, I was kinda hoping for a full tank shot Is there _any_ chance of posting one? Along with mrJG's 20L, this is one that inspired me to start my 20L!!


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

those high grade CRS are beautiful. congratulations on the babies. i think they will be high grades too


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

roybot73 said:


> Along with mrJG's 20L, this is one that inspired me to start my 20L!!


Thanks Roy, if I do that, will you build me a nice stand like yours? Heh…. You are right! I’ll take a few full tank shots when I get home, it’s been a while since I do that~ 




ikuzo said:


> those high grade CRS are beautiful. congratulations on the babies. i think they will be high grades too


Ikuso, thanks, I hope so too..... I am currently cycling a new 40 gallon breeder tank, it will be a very nice breeding ground for these younger shrimps. I’ll be finally able to divide them and do a little selective breeding…. soon!!


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

shaobo said:


> Thanks Roy, if I do that, will you build me a nice stand like yours? Heh…. You are right! I’ll take a few full tank shots when I get home, it’s been a while since I do that~


Hey - I'll gladly build you a cabinet...

...if you want to fly me and my tools out to beautiful B.C. for a long weekend!:hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :biggrin:


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## SeaSerpant (Feb 20, 2008)

python said:


> I think the 'scape looks awesome... love the way the plants are all filling in and establishing boundaries. You shouldn't rescape it now, its in its prime. I understand the urge to play with stuff, though. That's what new tanks are for!:icon_wink


Couldn't say it better myself.


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## fishboy87 (Feb 19, 2008)

i love the look of your tank!

i dont mean to threadjack but is there any difficulty to keeping downoi as im planning on having some for my nano


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

roybot73 said:


> Hey - I'll gladly build you a cabinet...
> 
> ...if you want to fly me and my tools out to beautiful B.C. for a long weekend!:hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :biggrin:


LOL, I guess I'll be placing my tanks on racks for the rest of my life... Anyways. here is a full tank shot as promised~~ Sorry, don't have much photography skills :icon_redf :icon_redf


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Wow! That Blyxa is majestic!!!


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## CobraGuppy (Sep 23, 2007)

Your tank is great!

I like the shadows that the plants give


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

Here are a few shots I took during a spinach feed to my CRS....


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Is there an update on this tank so far?

And do you just boil the spinach then drop it in the tank?


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> Is there an update on this tank so far?
> 
> And do you just boil the spinach then drop it in the tank?


Yes, pretty much it. Just need to boil for a couple minutes. I usually do whole lot at once and freeze them. So I can just defroze the portion I need everytime.

I'll do an update soon.


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## shaobo (Jul 29, 2007)

Today I was playing with my camera tonight, trying to take some closer up photos without an actual macro lens. After maybe more than 100 shots later, phew~~ here they are......

   

First photo is just a couple male CRS doing whatever.... 
Second one is a near white-body pregnant female. 
And the 3rd picture is this strange dark red shrimp that I've been trying to capture some shots for a while. 

Anyways, enjoy.....


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