The Shrimp Diaries

New inhabitants!

2012-02-22T20:41:00.001Z

Assassin Snail tucking into a shrimp pellet

Otocinclus sp dwarf catfish

I got two Otocinclus sp. dwarf catfish today and what was sold as 'Yamato shrimp', which is the same as Amano shrimp (Caridina japonica) but it sure as hell is NOT an Amano shrimp... I didn't tell the fish shop I thought they were wrong, but it looks more like some kind of Ghost Shrimp. After a bit of Googling I think it's unfortunately a Macrobrachium lanchesteri, which grow very large and can be very aggressive... Oooops. It's beautiful anyway :) I don't think it's right they can't even tell you the species you are buying - the Otos were just labelled as Otocinclus. OK. There are about 200 species according to Wikipedia... Is it too much to ask they find out from their supplier? There is a good article about Otos here on the 'Practical Fishkeeping' magazine website which is a good base for trying to find your particular species! I may find mine eventually :)

These will remain with the Assassin Snails for now while I ponder their future housing!

Thor the Tarantula sheds!

2012-02-20T21:13:00.005Z

I had a feeling that little spidey, now officially called Thor the Tarantula, was about to moult. He hasn't eaten anything in little over two weeks, his abdomen was going darker and when I came home today I found him curled in the corner, on his side, looking very dead... Oh no! I took my torch out to spy further into his burrow, and voila - there he was in his newly dug tunnel, waving his from legs threateningly in the air! I was so pleased :) The little I saw of him however it looks like he's grown A LOT!! I will leave him now for a week or so to harden up and hopefully he will feel like some juicy bean weevils/roaches after that :)

Giant African Land Snail Bath Time!

2012-02-12T10:27:00.001Z

The girls are having their weekly bath :) They have grown considerably on a diet of organic lettuce and cuttlefish bone! I'm separating them today, as the new habitat is ready, so lets hope they will be ok!

Bug Room update

2012-02-10T13:20:00.000Z

I've got a mega-cold at the moment, finally starting to feel a bit better today and I actually slept last night :) Anyway, I have been observing my critters on and off since I've been off work, and it seems spidey, now officially known as Thor, is about to moult?.. He is very plump and has now refused the last roach offered (it went back into the colony) and is preparing sticky carpets on the substrate... Lets hope all goes well!

My A reticulata is a bit shy!

The new Lucky Reptile heat mat arrived yesterday so I will set up my Exo Terra Breeding Box for my Achatina reticulata snail now. I am not sure they will be happy to be separated but it's gotta be done! I will make a little video maybe of setting up the habitat. Here is a photo of the snails, they are very beautiful :)

The Assassin Snails are still with me, I am struggling to feed them, as they won't really eat crab pellets. I keep depositing baby snails in there but of course, there are three adult Assassin Snails to feed... But they are beautiful! You can see why they are also called Bumblebee Snails.

Slim Jim tries to be fearsome!

And look how stunning Slim Jim the Peruvian Black Beauty stick insect has become! By unscrewing the lid I annoyed him, and he curled his now scarily fat tail and flashed his bright red wings in a show of displeasure. And look at those scary bright yellow eyes and striped antennae! What a stunning insect :) That's a shed leg hanging, but I can only see one other leg, no body?.. He may have eaten his exuvia to regain the nutrients, or it has become buried in the substrate? I will definitely buy more of these when he is gone (I don't think introducing nymphs with a fully adult specimen is a good idea).

And look how lovely the Purple Flower Beetles are, eating their brown sugar beetle jelly! I swear it's like crack for beetles, they always seem to be rushing around like mad after an eating session :)

Tarantula update!

2012-01-31T20:35:00.001Z

I've still not decided on a name for this guy :O

He's a real bulldozer, just look at that beautiful burrow he's made :) Yes, here he is at a stand-off with a Turkistan cockroach (inside the burrow), intended as his dinner but I think he may not be hungry enough to stalk him and kill him just yet!! Guess the roach will get a rude awakening in the night when spidey does decide to strike :P

He is doing really well, I am very pleased. He has had Bean Weevils and Dubia roaches so far. I think that he liked the Dubias best; he went for one a few days ago that was almost as big as his body! And that's probably why he is in no hurry to kill this roach... I think I will fish the roach out after I lure it out with some roach food.

** UPDATE ** This afternoon I came home to find the spider was busy chewing his way through the Turkistan roach! :)

Tank 2 and Other Updates

2012-01-21T21:56:00.000Z

All is well in Tank 2! But I was getting fed up with the poor performance of the Elite Stingray filter. So I got myself an Eheim Aquaball 45 instead, hopefully it will improve the water colour a bit. The bog wood pieces is colouring the water brown, even after all this time. I might have to get an extension kit with a charcoal filter for the Aquaball but I will see how this gets on first. I am using the spray bar on the Aquaball for now, so I will see if the 'boys' find themselves a new perch to filter from, then see if I need to make other arrangements.

My spiderling took a small Dubia roach yesterday! I did get some larger than I'd hoped sized roaches, I might have to ask the local reptile shop if they want them as I won't be able to feed them to the little guy. I hope that it will take to Dubia roaches as I am so afraid the bean weevils will escape :O

I have set up the habitat for the Giant African Land Snail that is going to my friend. I am however finding that the Pro Rep heat mat is far too powerful and is cooking the habitat :( I think there might be something wrong with it. I have a similar size (about 4"x4") heat mat from Komodo, and it's working really well and doesn't seem to radiate the same kind of scorching heat?.. I know you should hook these up to a thermostat but I did that and it was still getting too hot on the reverse of the pad! I will see how it goes but it really does need a heat mat, as I don't think they are very active just now as they are too cold.

Little spidey's 3rd dinner! :)

2012-01-19T20:18:00.004Z

Please note this video contains a tarantula catching and killing a bean weevil!

This is little tarantula's 3rd feeding, but this time I actually had the camera ready :) He's got super-spider senses already at only about 1cm body length. It was great at his first feed to see he had already settled and was displaying his natural behaviour!

The spiderling is here!!

2012-01-14T17:59:00.001Z

My Chaco Golden Knee (Grammostola pulchripes) spiderling finally arrived today from Tarantula World! :) It was supposed to be here yesterday but the postie decided not to ring the door bell to see if I was in so the parcel had to sit overnight at the post office depot, grrrrr!!!

He was lively and had a nice fat abdomen, so looking good in terms of health :) After exploring around his cube he has decided to burrow under the vine in a corner to recuperate from his journey. If he is still looking lively tomorrow I might decided to give him his first feed on Monday! If I can catch those creepy little bean weevils with my pooter that is :O I've not thought of a suitable name for this little guy yet (and of course I've no idea if it's a boy or a girl yet!).

The substrate hasn't dried as much as I'd hoped to even though baking it on top of the Exo Terra terrarium light canopy. As you can see there is still some condensation along the sides. Annoying. It will dry up more but it's still annoying. I have decided to place the 4" cube on top of the Exo Terra terrarium so that it can get some heat from the light canopy on one side so I won't have to fiddle about with heat mats.

I also made a Bug-Room video! It's finally come together in terms of habitats, so I decided to make a video. You can see the 4" tarantula cube in the video.

What's this micro-habitat waiting for?..

2012-01-13T11:51:00.000Z

What could it be for?..

I am very impatiently waiting for a late birthday present. For myself, ahem. So post man, hurry up already!!

Meanwhile I tidied out my other cages and made some videos of the Giant African Land Snails. After seeing the albino flesh Acatina reticulata I can't bear to let him go - he is just too gorgeous! I will give my friend the 'Jadatzi' A. fulica when I next see her and then also get another A fulica to keep it company. I am currently testing the new habitat setup but I am having problems with the heat mat.

I noticed that my Peruvian Black Beauty stick insect Slim Jim had shed while I was away but I wasn't prepared for how huge he has become!! He appears to have had his adult moult now - just look at those wings! They are vestigial so he can't fly but they are used for defense. He is about 4 inches now, and quite scary-looking :)

How To Build A Jungle Jar

2012-01-10T11:42:00.000Z

Stick insect Jungle Jar

Temporary home for Assassin Snails

Jungle Jars are great habitats for small arboreal invertebrates such as stick insects, mantids or arboreal spiders. You can also use them as temporary habitats for a variety of other uses - here is a photo of a waterfilled one with Assassin Snails as they are waiting for their new tank!

You can use a variety of plastic, or glass containers with screw on plastic lids. Of course you can also use a glass jar with ladies' nude tights across the top held in place with rubber bands. But if you do that, beware of the sharp jaws and legs of inverts as they rip holes in the tights and escape :O The same might happen with plastic insect mesh - if you have a choice, I would say to use aluminium mesh or the really small vents as I am showing here.

The finished lid

Be very slow and steady when making the slits through the lid with the carpet cutter

'Shaving' the sides of the holes to fit the vent

Step 1: The Lid
Some lids are easier to do than others. The red one was ok, the plastic was fairly thin and malleable. I have also made another one using an old cous cous container - this is the one above with the water in it. The lid on that nearly cost me my fingertip, ahem... So always use that carpet cutter with a slow and steady motion as you cut the small incisions that eventually leads to a hole. Once you have the basic hole, 'shave' the sides off it until they are smooth-ish and you can gently push through the vent. It should be snug-fitting; if it's too loose, glue it down with super-glue. If you use glue, let the container sit unused for a week to cure the glue and let the fumes dissipate fully or you may end up with dead inverts!

Be slow and steady using the carpet cutter to make incisions - on harder plastic you may end up cracking it!

Step 2: Additional Ventilation
If you think you need it, drill additional holes in the sides. I suggest using a hand driven drill with a drill bit dimension smaller than the head of the species you intend to keep - you will be amazed how small a hole a stick insect nymph can squeeze through!! You can also use a small, sharp sewing needle to make the initial hole, then increase the hole size with a large blunt darning needle. If you plan on having a spider in there, also drill holes at the substrate level to increase circulation of air.

Step 3: Decoration
You should decorate the Jungle Jar as is appropiate for the species you are keeping. This one has been decorated with a stick insect in mind - sloping vertical surfaces to hang and moult from! I also have a water container with a small hole to stick branches of privet in so they keep fresh. Most species benefit from a substrate such as coir or vermiculite.

Maintenance
Check the lid for escape-proofing when you clean the jar. Change out the jar's substrate totally and wash the jar in hot water every month.

'The Hoff' crabs! :)

2012-01-06T09:45:00.003Z

It's a fact we know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about the deep ocean...

'The Hoff' crab is new ocean find

Hermione the Hermit Crab is the June spread!

2011-12-24T08:18:00.001Z

My loveable little hermit crab Hermione is the June spread of the ReptileForums UK unofficial calendar :D

Slim Jim's new Jungle Jar

2011-12-17T19:02:00.004Z

I finally got round to making the Jungle Jar for Slim Jim. I am working on a tutorial, but probably won't have time to finish it until after Xmas. I found these great fine mesh push-fit vivarium vents on eBay, and got the sweetie jar from a woman who sells sweets in town. I have put some dry coir in the bottom, and the wooden stick thing is one of these from the hamster section of Pets@Home, they are bendable so you just roll it up and put it in then unroll it! I have a little screw top jar with water for the privet.

New arrivals - Giant African Land Snails

2011-12-15T20:31:00.003Z

'Jadatzi' variety of Achatina fulica

An albino flesh Achatina reticulata

I have acquired two Giant African Land Snail babies. They are a Xmas present for a friend, so I hope I don't get too attached!!

The white one is a 'Jadatzi', or full albino, Achatina fulica. The little mottled one is an albino flesh Achatina reticulata. I am in love with the pattern on the shell, in combination with the ivory body it looks amazing. I've just got them tucked in so just quick photos and video for now. They are in a small Exo Terra Breeding Box for now, they will move into their proper home once they are taken to my friends house. I am keeping them on moist cocofiber substrate, and they have a small Exo Terra Cave to retreat to. The lid has very shallow water should they need to rehydrate. They are yet to feed on the organic cucumber I painstakingly acquired however! But I don't blame them for being cautious, they have completed a journey in the mail system so they must be feeling a bit unhappy.

Escaping snails and Red Claw Crab practical joke...

2011-12-14T22:30:00.000Z

A crab moult!

I went to check on Sophie the Ivory Apple Snail, but she was nowhere to be found??! I then thought "OMG what if she has escaped!!" and I looked under the desk and what do you know - there she is!! She had sealed off the shell so I assumed she would be OK. I dropped her back in the tank and she is fine now :) Silly snail! I've now taped the loose lid on, to prevent further escapes.

Next on the feeding rota was the Red Claw Crabs. I opened the lid and saw a white crab upside down. In slight panic I started lifting the decor up. I picked up what I thought was a dead crab. Most of the legs came off. I felt very sad. But then I saw two very much alive crabs looked back at me as I lifted up the bogwood and waved their claws to try and scare me. It was almost as if they were mocking me going "Haha! Made you look!!" But seriously, this looks more like a dead crab than a moulted shell! I can't even tell how the little guy crawled out of the shell.

Slim Jim sheds!

2011-12-08T19:52:00.001Z

Slim Jim and his former self!

Slim Jim the Peruvian Black Beauty stick insect is moulting again! I first thought he had some old skin stuck on him but it looks like it's the beginning of his adult 'wings'! :) Very exciting. I just changed his cage out, I am going to build his medium Jungle Jar this weekend, as he is growing quite large. He is almost twice the size now than when I got him and has moulted 3 times so he should be nearing his adult stage! I can't wait for him to be a big fat stick insect but at the same time that kind of scares :)

Invertebrate Xmas 2011: HEXBUG®!

2011-12-07T13:48:00.001Z

I was shopping for gadgets, as you do at xmas, when I came across this! How amazing a xmas gift would a HEXBUG® make for an invertebrate lover???? :)

This is the Crab from HEXBUG®, they also do other inverts and a super-fast little wee thing called the Nano. These retail for £14.99, perfect for the invert geek in your life (or for yourself!).

Ivory Apple Snail

2011-11-29T20:34:00.001Z

This will be a short post as I am very unwell with the 'flu so I am just off to bed... Not much happening just now apart from that Citizen Snipz and Hermione are both out and feeding happily on the hermit crab pellets from Absolutely Crabulous! They are both climbing round like crazy, they sure love climbing and hanging in the mesh ceiling of the terrariumI've still not seen Zoidberg since he changed shell so I am hoping he's just moulting again...

This is the Ivory Apple Snail in the new tank. It's doing well but is a large eater - I have to feed it algae tablets every day!

Happenings at the Zoo...

2011-11-20T10:05:00.001Z

I've been busy cleaning out and redoing the cages over the weekend when I've not been playing 'Rage' or planting privet bushes for Slim Jim. Obviously the fresh cage made certain pets go a bit 'ape'; this is Hermione the Hermit Crab scaling the ceiling of the Exo Terra...

I finally redid Tank 1, the Fluval Spec. I put in black nano gravel from Hugo Kamishi, it's got very small grains so it is perfect for shrimp and live plants. I kept all my old plants, I will have to see how they get on. I discovered I have such a strong current in the tank that the marimo ball is actually rolling around?? I may need to see if I can direct the flow nozzle so it is less turbid... The Apple Snail is enjoying the new habitat I think! I only have two Cherry Shrimp left - a mature female and a juvenile. I hope that I can get some more after Christmas break maybe. I'm going to get some Dennerle Crusta Tubes for this tank as well now that there is increased floor space.

Tank 2 still has tea coloured water from the bogwood. I think I need to get a different filter, one with a bigger carbon filter cartridge. I have been thinking about getting one with a spray bar as well, to make things a bit easier on the Ramshorn Snails while still providing a current for the Bamboo Shrimp.

The Flower Beetles have now discovered the beetle jelly and they seem to be loving it! :) I have bought some banana though for a treat...

Purple Flower Beetles

2011-11-18T18:07:00.001Z

Got a good photo of the Apple Snail today, I think I will call it Sophie the Snail...

These beautiful guys arrived today from a lady in Edinburgh who breeds them :) They are just settling in, and seem completely unimpressed with the beetle jelly I so lovingly provided, so I am going to have to cut up a bit of apple and put in for them!

New addition and updates!

2011-11-12T09:08:00.001Z

A lovely ivory apple snail has joined the crew! It is currently being held in quarantine before being introduced to one of the tanks. My Peruvian Black Beauty stick insect, who has acquired the name 'Slim', is doing well. He is probably one moult away from adulthood! He has the red mouth parts and those bright yellow eyes... I am actually quite apprehensive how to handle him when he grows large, he looks quite scary :O

Zoidberg, the first hermit crab to moult and changed his shell, has re-buried, not sure why? Hermione has emerged again however after moulting and taken Zoidbergs old shell. She was out eating chicken pellets this morning so I picked her up for the first time. She was very quick to come out of her shell and stroll around on my hand. I wish I'd had my camera handy!!! I am still waiting for Citizen Snipz to re-emerge and change his shell.

I am thinking about re-doing Tank 1 completely after the wee disaster with most of the Crystal Red and Red Cherry shrimp dying. I am now wholly convinced that it was the salad I put in to lure out the Tadpole snails that put contaminants into the water :( Live and learn. I think I might put in black gravel this time, to be able to see the wee beasties better! What I am also doing then is separating the assasin snails out, as I think I would like to put the apple snail in the little tank until it grows a bit bigger. I've got couple of second hand Exo Terra breeding boxes coming so hopefully on my day off next week I can do it when I have some spare space to put my critters while I clean the tank out!

Of course, no weekly updates are complete without videos nowadays, so this week I have a quick video from when I went to St Cyrus Nature Reserve to learn about land snails a couple of months back! This is a collection of native snail 'zombies' coming out of the collection jars!!

Finally, I found this native jumping spider scurrying over the paper on the coffee table! How cool is this little guy??? He isn't as large as he appears - about the size of a grain of rice :) but he can jump like a kangaroo!

Cleaning day at the Zoo!

2011-11-05T15:09:00.001Z

Haha, well, I may not have a zoo just yet but according to my long-suffering other (better) half, it is turning into one! I changed the biomax and carbon media in Tank 1 and did a 50% water change, hoping it will clear the water of whatever contaminant killed off most of my beloved shrimps. I have at least 5 shrimp babies and 2 berried females still - so there is hope for a recuperation of the Cherry Shrimp population. The tank is eerily free of Tadpole snails... The Assassin Snails don't hang about! I will soon have to re-house the Assassin Snails, so I think I will advertise 2 of them on RFUK. I am afraid that now most of the Tadpole snails are gone, the Assassins will turn on eachother so I will look to separate them soon. I have tried them on some sinking fish food pellets though, and they seem to like them, so maybe they won't turn on eachother if I keep feeding them. They are very attractive!

I have a booming population of Black Ramshorn Snails in Tank 2, so I will try and see if the local Dobbies want to take some to sell. They are lovely! I have also managed to wangle a juvenile Ivory Apple Snail off a nice lady who breeds them, that should be arriving this week! :)

I also cleaned and topped up the Paludarium, the Red Claw Crabs are looking in good health! I think I will need to consider some kind of lighting for them other than the desk light, so I am thinking of some LED lights as they don't really require much UV. I will look into the matter before Christmas.

I recently re-did the Crabitat again. This is a video of the current setup. My partner says he thinks it looks the nicest so far - so much for the waterfall setup, haha... But I think it is pretty much true, there is more roaming space now, and digging space for moulting.

After spending all morning cleaning my pets homes, it's now time to clean my own. Somehow not as attractive an activity :(

My baby is a calendar girl! :D

2011-11-04T20:50:00.000Z

Hermione the Hermit Crab posing for her calendar shoot!

I love my wee critters, and today I found out one of my hermit crabs has been chosen to appear in one of the Reptile Forum 2012 calendar :D I entered the photo above in the open entry category and it's been chosen! I have pre-ordered a desktop calendar so of course I will have to show it to you when it arrives!

Hermione is burrowed down to moult at the moment or I could have treated her to a nice bit of food :)

Where's Zoidberg?..

2011-11-02T20:56:00.001Z

As I said in previous posts, one of my hermies, Zoidberg, was moulting, took him 6 wks to finish. He re-emerged a few days ago, and today I found his empty old shell (middle right cone shell) and as I lifted the white and brown shell, his big purple claw was firmly protecting him in the hole! :) He's busy roaming around just now looking for some food so I put in a bit of fresh apple for him.

Return of the light!

2011-10-29T16:10:00.001+01:00

Tetra made good on their promise and the new hood for the AquaArt tank arrived today! :) Not a moment too soon as my Pogostemon helferi is starting to die due to the lack of light! The shrimps are happy as you can see.

Good news in the crabitat too - Zoidberg has re-emerged freshly moulted! This gives me hope that the two other hermies will also re-emerge in due course. I have had to remove the waterfall - it was sliming up and the pump was getting really noisy. I will take a photo of the revamped crabitat a bit later as he's still digging around in a little pit so I don't want to disturb him.

Snail = Love + Hate

2011-10-23T13:43:00.000+01:00

"Let's get it ooooon...."

I love my Black Ramshorn snails! They have all moved into the still dark Tank 2 as I've now installed the Assassin Snails in Tank 1. As you can see they're obviously liking it and there will soon be more Black Ramshorns! :)

The face of Death...

The Assassin Snails aren't hanging about. They're like the Foreign Legion of snails! There are a lot of empty snail shells already, hopefully the Physella acuta population will be manageable again...

Black-out and myserious disappearance...

2011-10-21T21:45:00.001+01:00

The light unit in my Tetra AquaArt has failed so the Bamboo Shrimps have been in darkness for a few days. I got in touch with Tetra and they have promised to send me a free new hood as there is a known manufacturing fault with these. I am glad, as all you can get on the internet let alone your local shop is the spare bulbs...

In other more sad news, some mysterious event seems to have killed off my Crystal Red shrim :( I am sad, as I really loved their brightness. But my Cherry Shrimps and babies are still alive so that's at least something. I will need to change the filter media in Tank 1, so I have some coming in the post. I will then introduce assassin snails, after I have transferred the remaining shrimp to my AquaArt tank (if the light arrives) and I will need to re-do my Fluval Spec. I am praying that the remaining Cherry Shrimp will be ok, I love those little guys! I am desperate to get them out but they are tricky to catch...

This is of course a 'live and learn'; I tried to lure out some Tadpole snails with cucumber and I belive this introduced some contaminant. Very stupid and I am beating myself up about it. I am now introducing the assassin snails tomorrow after their quarantine as I need to rid the tank of the infestation of Tadpole snails. I've not overfed; the Tadpole snails are just so damn hermaphroditically fertile??? They seem to have exploded and as the recent plant growth has increased I suspect a spike in nitrates from their poopy. I will be trying to move the remaning shrimp to the more stable larger tank ASAP depending on light hood delivery...

On a positive note, both the Red Claw crabs and the stick insect have successfully moulted for the first time! They both seem to be doing fine, my stick insect is eating and pooping happily! Crabs are eating too but it is more sneakily. All 3 of the hermit crabs have burrowed to moult so the crabitat is very quiet...

Peruvian Black Beauty nymph

2011-10-15T15:03:00.003+01:00

Peruphasma schultei - the Peruvian Black Beauty stick insect. This is a nymph.

I said a couple posts back that I had a stick insect nymph coming - and here it is! I've had it for a week now so I cleaned out his Jungle Jar today. He likes hiding inside the loo roll tube so I just put that in another jar while I cleaned the Jungle Jar.

When I was finished I took the old toilet roll tube out of the jar I'd kept him in while I was cleaning to 'tap' him into the clean jar. I may have had slight palpitations as he quickly scurried up my arm - he was soooo quick, how the hell would I get him back in the Jungle Jar??? But no worries, I managed to get him to climb my finger and I could put him back inside the jar... Phew!

A 32oz 'Jungle Jar' habitat

I call these habitats Jungle Jars. I am building a larger one for when he is getting bigger, more on that soon! This is a 32oz insect cup, you can buy them various places online, like live food shops. The lid on these insect jars have large air holes covered with a porous paper film to ventilate the cup properly. However, I like to take the lid off for a few minutes every day to air the cup out properly and also check how the stick insect is getting on. I put a custom cut piece of kitchen roll in the bottom to soak up any little poopies he makes. I use a little screw top jar with a hole in the lid to water the privet, it wilts really quickly so it's best to keep it in water. You have to make sure stick insects cannot get into the water as they will drown. I provide water through a moist cotton pad in a milk bottle lid (the red plastic bit on the bottom). I put in an empty toilet roll as a climbing aid and hide in one! Always replace with a fresh loo roll every week when you clean it out as they poopy on it a bit too.

Red Claw Crabs coming out to feed!

2011-10-09T18:58:00.000+01:00

Red Claw is eyeing up the mealieworm....

...or so I thought, I guess he wanted some porridge instead :)

Finally some decent photos of the Red Claws. I have been feeding live mealieworms to the Red Claws, but I've not managed to catch them coming out to grab them. I guess I didn't this time either - he seems much more interested in the rolled oat that accidentally fell in when I took the mealieworm out... :) But when I checked back about half an hour later, both mealieworms were gone so they have defo taken them to munch undisturbed behind the bogwood! The tank is going ok but I didn't realise how much they poop, I will need to clean the gravel next week I think as I can't think of any way to remove the hard black poopy :/ Anyone got any ideas, let me know. I don't really want to decant and upset them again so soon.

He's actually really small, the grains of the gravel is about 1cm across

The Crystal Red shrimp are doing well, this is one of the three 'tigertooth' ones glaring at me through the glass. I really wish I'd put in small black gravel even though I love the look of this stuff. I just think they would really look great against a black shrimp substrate such as the Fluval one. Oh well when I clean it out proper before Christmas I will have to change the gravel!

I also uploaded a video of Hermione the Hermit Crab, she is pretending to be a reptile and basking again!

I am awaiting a free addition to my brood, a Peruphasma schultei nymph, a Peruvian Black Beauty stick insect, from a lady who is overrun by them (they apparently breed just as happily as the good old Indian stick insect...). I am hoping it arrives unscathed tomorrow! I am planning on making a 'Jungle Jar' for it so I will detail the build of this as I go along!

Elvis says "Stop reading Practical Reptile Magazine and fannying about with those inverts, I'm much more important!"

And the first few darkling beetles have hatched, I will have to get another tub for them tomorrow so I can get them to breed and lay eggs without having to compete with the larvae. Anyway I best go feed the cat, he's very unhappy as he's had to wait for me to care for and get photos of the inverts... :P

Black Ramshorn Snail

2011-10-06T20:27:00.002+01:00

Aquatic snails are so lovely - they slowly gliding through the water grazing with long flowing stalks. This is one of my old 'grandpa' Black Ramshorn snails, quietly eating algae off the glass. He's about an inch in diameter!

Rescued Red Claw Crabs!

2011-10-04T20:46:00.000+01:00

One of the Red Claws trying to scale the leopard print hot water bottle...

Gone swimmin'

Showing off his muscles!

I received these two Red Claw Crabs from Social Work after they were rescued from a derelict tank in an abandoned tenancy. They are both fairly small but of similar size, but I've not been able to suss out what sex they are yet. They are still pretty skittish, but I did manage to get some snaps.

I am struggling to keep the heat up in the paludarium, I think I need to get a heat mat maybe. The Exo Terra Sun Glow bulb is helping heat the air. I am currently heating the paludarium wall with hot water bottles! Lo-tech but it works. I uploaded a video of the paludarium as well:

Some videos uploaded and tank updates!

2011-10-01T14:42:00.000+01:00

I've been busy busy busy lately but as usual there is always Saturday mornings to look after the 'brood'. Two of the new hermit crabs are finally starting to venture out and feed, but one is still buried, hopefully moulting. I will take some decent photos hopefully of the crabs when they have settled a bit more, I don't want to handle them just yet.

I've uploaded a few more videos on my YouTube channel, have a look, there are spiders, shrimps and of course the Crabitat videos!

Phil and Terry having lunch

Here is a nice photo of the two Bamboo Shrimps feeding. They have taken to each other really well and have become bolder and are out like this feeding now. When there was only one, he would hardly ever come out like this. That just shows how much they need to live with others of their kind!

VERY large native house spider, so far not formally identified!

I also have a photo of the large spider we found in the bathroom; this shows you just how large native spiders can get :)

Baby shrimp!!! :D

2011-09-23T19:47:00.002+01:00

Shrimp baby eating an algae wafer!

So I FINALLY caught a glimpse of the elusive shrimp babies hiding in the now lusciously growing plants in Tank 1! This is on an algae wafer which is only 0.5cm in diameter so that's how tiny it is!!

I saw one of the berried females had no eggs left and kind of thought they must've either been dropped or sucked into the filter even though I carefully 'blocked' it with polywool but here they are! Once I knew what I was looking for I quick spotted a couple more of them :D So cute!

New plants in Tank 2, Sagitta subulata

My new Bamboo Shrimp also arrived in good condition. Upon release into Tank 2 it immediately sought shelter with Phil, and they now seem very happy to be united! No photo yet as I have the lights off to help him destress. Have a look at the new plants in Tank 2, they complete the setup!

Citizen Snipz and Hermione chilling out

In the Crabitat I find Hermione (just visible to the bottom left of Citizen Snipz) and Citizen Snipz snoozing in the damp dark crevices of the bog wood. They sleep here during the day then they rummage around at night time, eating and climbing around. No sign of Zoidberg after he burrowed down on Tuesday, I am hoping he is molting and will resurface in a couple of weeks with a new skeleton...

The new Crabitat!

2011-09-19T17:23:00.000+01:00

Hermione pretending to be a reptile in her 'basking' spot...

This is the Crabitat in all it's glory. I have sand and coir substrate and a freshwater and a saltwater pools and a nice bit of bogwood with live Sphagnum moss on it for them to climb, and it's become Hermione's new fave spot as you can see!

The darker shelled crab to the left is Citizen Snipz, he's having a bath in the frehwater pool, while the lighter shelled Zoidberg is going for the 'spring-board' cuttlefish bone into the saltwater pool!

Phil the Bamboo Shrimp

2011-09-19T08:46:00.000+01:00

This is my Bamboo Shrimp, my fiancee calls him 'Phil', apparently because he is a 'phil-terfeeder'... Phil is about to get a friend, which will be called Terry (phil-ter(ry)feeder) but he hasn't arrived yet. He's a beautiful shrimp, I'm sure you will agree!

Hermit Crabs!

2011-09-16T11:12:00.001+01:00

I took delivery today of my 3 spritely little Purple Pincher (Coenobita clypeatus) hermit crabs from Absolutely Crabulous! They are to go into the new terrarium but we stuck them in their temporary tank as soon as they arrived so they could rehydrate and burrow down to chill out so excuse the crappy photo!

Holidays snaps!

2011-09-15T09:08:00.000+01:00

I am having a few days off again, one of which I am hopefully taking delivery of my new terrarium and hermit crabs!

Anyway on Sunday we went to Deep Sea World and here are some photos for you to enjoy! :)

Blue darter frogs, they are so.. eh.. blue!

The lobster king! He was so large he would only fit in my bath tub, not my tanks...

The man who shares my life and house gets up close to his favourite kind of invertebrates - spiders!

Guest marine shrimp...

2011-09-10T20:05:00.004+01:00

I went to St Cyrus Nature Reserve today and surveyed for snails, and the reserve manager had a marine tank for the kids set up and in there was this little guy! Not had time to identify it yet so it's still a Mystery Shrimp... He's about 6cm long and was probably fished out from a rock pool at St Cyrus.

Three shrimps and a snail...

2011-09-08T22:51:00.004+01:00

The sticks from the Tetra CrustaMenu are always popular - here three Crystal Red shrimps are wrestling over the stick but they didn't seem to count on the deceptive speediness of the Black Ramshorn snail...

Nano pond!

2011-09-04T18:14:00.000+01:00

"Hey stop with the camera already, I'm trying to have lunch here..."

I've spent all day installing my new pond.... Phew.. It's an 81 litre pond and it will be stocked with my Black Ramshorn snails, a swan mussel and pond plants! I am preparing to house the snails and mussel inside in a plastic tank when the weather gets really cold. I currently have 4 gigantic Black Ramshorn snails, and what seems like hundreds of small ones, so I may need to sell some! As the pond is still settling it's not very pretty, so I got a photo of a Crystal Red shrimp instead :)

New inhabitants!

2011-09-03T17:26:00.005+01:00

Today I took delivery of 5 very spry and oh so pretty Crystal Red Shrimps! Again, I got these from Bee-Shrimp Store. They arrived very well packed and were all very much alive. I believe these are 'A grade' Crystal Reds. I used a different method to acclimatise them this time (I got a sheet with instructions from the seller); this time I used a slow drip of tank water to the holding tank for about 30 mins then transferred the shrimp with a net. The bag was different too I think - more 'floppy' and I actually got a shrimp left in a fold in the bag which came out when I turned the bag inside out. I am afraid that I couldn't get any better photos of the shrimps themselves as they were buzzing around checking out their new habitat and feeding on algae on the Pogostemon... But you can still tell how lovely the colour of these shrimp are against the planting!

Aren't the Crystal Reds just beautiful? I am in love with the intimate nature of the nano aquaria and shrimps, they are so gregarious there is always something to see :)

Tomorrow I am installing my new 'nano pond' in the garden. It will be a bigger, 81 litre version of my Black Ramshorn snail breeding pond. I will get some shots of it when it is finished :)

PROGRESS REPORT
Tank 1:
My water parameters have been very good (for shrimp) in the Fluval Spec, maybe because it is so small? I am starting to struggle with algae on the glass but that's not really that much of a problem. I use a kid's toothbrush to clean the glass once a week at water change. There are also some freshwater limpets in the tank, and I put in 2 Black Ramshorn snails which are doing a grand job with the algae on the glass as hoped!

Tank 2:
This tank is getting better every day, but it seems to have a higher level of algae growth, I seem to remember the light might be a proper plant growth tube. Not a problem though as the Bamboo Shrimp and the Golden Clams are thriving on the micronutrients in the water. The Bamboo Shrimp was a bit timid at first but now sits on the bogwood in the water current even if you come up to the tank! I have sighted some free-swimming nematodes in here, and the Black Ramshorn snails are growing, but nothing to alarm me. The water is a bit coloured from the bogwood still but with new carbon inserts in the filter I am sure this will disappear soon. The beautiful Marimo moss balls are proving to be a talking point too!

Some nice photos!

2011-08-31T20:56:00.002+01:00

I caught some more photos of the two tanks and the Bamboo Shrimp for you to enjoy :)

'Impostor' update...

2011-08-31T12:45:00.004+01:00

I've finally managed to suss out what kind of snail is proliferating in Tank 1, it's Physella acuta, or tadpole snail. And my, they are fertile! P. acuta is mainly a scavenging snail, so they don't eat a lot of algae. They will infest an aquarium that is over-fed but I don't really feed that often, and the water is crystal clear, but there is a little algae growing on the glass. But they seem to find a lot of food somewhere?! I've been picking the young off the glass and killing them with bleach water (they can infest native watercourses if they escape into the wild) and also picking of egg clusters, but they are still failry abundant! They don't seem to eat the plants however so they can stay as clean-up crew and I will have to just keep them in check with picking the young out.

I am introducing some juvenile Black Ramshorn snails, Planorbis planorbis, after they finish their quarantine from being moved from the outside pond and hope they will get to work on the algae on the glass, as the tadpole snails don't seem to do much for it. They may also be able to keep the population of tadpole snails in check by competing for resources...

Berried females!

2011-08-26T11:28:00.003+01:00

I came home from my holidays to discover that at least 3 of my 5 females have 'berried' which means the fertilised eggs have descended onto their swimmerets, where they will be carried while they mature and eventually hatch out miniature adults! :D Another couple of successful moults have also occured. I did the weekly maintenance today and removed a lot of baby snails, they seem to have benefited from the food left over by the large algae wafers I put in and there are eggs on some plants too :( I'll just have to keep picking them out.

The other tank has had a miniature algae bloom while I was away, which didn't seem to affect the bamboo shrimp or the golden clams - they seem to have been feeding happily off it. It's looking better after I performed a larger water change, about 40%, and there are about 10 small ramshorn snails sliming around to eat off the algae off the glass.

I've also got 3 Marimo algae balls that surely are popular as you can see from this male feeding eagerly!

Tank 2 Progress

2011-08-19T20:59:00.006+01:00

So the water readings are great in Tank 2 so I have moved the Bamboo Shrimp in. He immediately made himself at home in the current on one of the bogwood pieces. As soon as I switched off the light, he started fanning the water.

I like this setup a lot! I've also got 3 Marimo moss balls coming to complete the look. While I was doing the setup of the bogwood pieces, right behind my back, Elvis the Cat dipped his paw in the bowl where the Bamboo shrimp and golden clams were put while I did up the tank. Naughty moggy!! Luckily I caught him just as the paw was lowered towards the surface... Anyway I'm off on a 4-day mini holiday on Sunday so I better go pack!

Another new inhabitant...

2011-08-18T19:16:00.002+01:00

A bamboo shrimp has joined the ranks in Tank 1, he will move out to Tank 2 when it matures a bit more :) Water tests are all really positive, so I am thinking it may be time soon.

This not so little guy is currently busy fishing out Tetramin Baby flakes with his big fans from the relative safety of the Neoheater.

New inhabitants!

2011-08-16T20:21:00.004+01:00

Tank 2 today got it's first inhabitants - a pair of Golden Freshwater Clams! They have already started feeding from the liquid algae feed I have prepared as you can see.

PROGRESS REPORT - Tank 1
I have tested ammonia levels in Tank 1 and they are >0 ppm, so I am happy. I did a water change of Tank 1 today and the water was put into Tank 2 to support the cycling of the tank.

But in more important news, in the above photo, that's not a glass shrimp but the first moult for one of the babies! :) I think the little guy who shed this is hiding behind the Neoheater to harden up. I couldn't get a decent photo of the moult as it keeps flapping around in the current from the filter. And also, as you can see all my 5 females are now displaying a prominent yellow saddle which is very exciting as it means they are reaching maturity to breed!

New tank setup

2011-08-14T19:23:00.003+01:00

So I finally got my old Tetra AquaArt tank back into action. I am hoping the Triops can go into it, that is if they ever hatch (or maybe I am too blind to see them as they are only 4 days old and still pretty microscopic?..).

I used a sand for this tank as as substrate as I think it would be better for the shrimps for foraging. Using old stones and some limpet shells I also made some hideouts. The plant is a Pogostemon helferi, this was a surplus plant that has been living in the pond outside since I set up the other tank. I have a bit of a colony of Black Ramshorn snails in the pond so I am sure I probably brought in one or two babies on the plant but what the hell.

The filter I am using is a Hagen Elite Stingray 5, it is very quiet, but we will have to see how the shrimps get on with the intake. But it will be further up when tank is filled so hopefully it won't be anywhere near them. I have also ordered a Neoheater for this tank so I will install that when it arrives. I've had the old poly-wool from Tank 1 in the tank to add some ammonia so will see how that works out. I am adding the water change from Tank 1 as well once a week. We will see how this works out!

I will now refer to the Fluval Spec tank as Tank 1 and the new tank as Tank 2.

PROGRESS REPORT
I've got a bit of an overheating thing going on in Tank 1, the light on the heater is flashing at 24 C, so I have to keep an eye on it. This may be because it has again got quite warm outside... Damn this changeable British weather!

The pea was no hit with the shrimps so I've fished it out and I am now growing some organic spinach in a pot in the window for them...

First veggie meal

2011-08-12T20:27:00.002+01:00

Shrimps are doing really well, they're active and healthy-looking. The females have all started showing prominent 'saddles' so I hope they will have wee baby shrimp soon :D

This shrimp is eyeing up his first pea, he used his antennae to check out what it was before starting to feed! And he's been there for ten minutes now! I hope the other shrimps will find their way there too soon.

I've got some Dennerle Crusta-fit and Crusta-mineral and Catappa leave on their way to me, so I hope they will support the continued wellbeing of the little guys. I am in the processing of setting up my 20litre tank so I will post that when it's ready to go :)

Triops!

2011-08-09T21:23:00.003+01:00

I got given a Triops habitat today! :D I've heard about them before but didn't think they were sold as pets in playsets?.. I am so stoked! I am setting up the old Tetra fish tank this weekend again and once hatched out and large enough (about 3 weeks) I will transfer the Triops to the tank where they can live out the rest of their days (which supposedly is unfortunately more than about 60-90 at the most...)! If I don't get any hatchlings I can try again as the kit comes with enough eggs for 2 batches. If I still don't get any hatching out I will use the larger aquarium for more cherry shrimps instead!

This has a cool volcano with glo-in-the-dark pebbles and cave lagoon underneath (top right corner), a trench for jungle grass (top left corner), a main lagoon with a Pteradactyl skeleton and sand and gravel and a beach. The little pool with detritus in the lower left corner has the eggs in it and is where the babies will hatch out before being allowed into the larger habitat. The species in this set is Triops longicaudatus from Utah, USA.

I will keep you updated on the progress of the Triops habitat but it will be at least a couple of weeks before there will be any photos of the babies!

PROGRESS REPORT

I installed a bamboo cane with Java moss attached as you can see and it is proving very popular. It appears some Daphnia has also hitched a ride on it and is darting around the tank... But as biodiversity teaches us, the more species the merrier :P Speaking of species - there are definitely two snails, both pea sized, so time to keep an eye on them before plants are starting to get eaten. I can't seem to match what species/family they are from, they will have to grow a bit more first. I did a 20% water change today, so two have now been made. The poly-wool wasn't changed as it hasn't become dirty yet.

An impostor in the tank!

2011-08-07T16:41:00.005+01:00

Things have been fairly stable and happy in the tank in the last week. Until my other half spotted a shrimp behaving strangely. Before I hade a chance to ask him to put on glasses, he exclaimed "Oh wait, it's a snail!"... Indeed it seems a little snail has managed to get into the tank, probably through some greenery. No problem yet; he is busy cleaning up the algae wafer that the shrimps don't seem to like (they prefer their TetraCrusta Menu) so he can stay for a little bit longer.

PROGRESS REPORT

As you can see from the photo, I've lost the Cryptocoryne wendtii to it's tendency to slime-up and die off. I should have remembered from previous aquariums that they never last. I have had success with the oxygenating plant that came with the shrimp, it continues to grow and set roots through the gravel. I am going to see if I can find a suitable stone or ornament to lean against the glass to create a new level for the shrimps to browse on.

Another problem that has been made more apparent after a slump in outside temperature is the ambient temp in the house is no longer enough for the shrimps. So I've installed the Neoheater earlier than planned and set it to 23 C. What a difference! In just a couple of hours, the shrimps have all come out to browse! From only seeing about 4 at a time, I am now seeing 8 of them. I suspect the last two are browsing behind the fronds of the Pogostemon helferi and I'm too myopic to spot them!

Little shrimp close-up...

2011-07-29T21:22:00.003+01:00

The shrimp seem to be doing well! They are all scurrying around and eating algae or little bits of their TetraCrusta Menu. As they are still very small, they have taken a liking to hiding in the greenery, especially the Pogostemon, which means you can scan the aquarium for several minutes before you spot them. This morning I took this close-up of one of the little guys (or is that a girl?...)!

First dinner-time for the babies!

2011-07-27T21:39:00.002+01:00

After the shrimps had settled in I decided to drop them an algae wafer. Yummy! As it slowly releases it's goodness they take turns to eat! I've got 3 of them in this shot but the others are circling to have their fill!

As a marine biologist who did her BSc Honours project on Carcinus maenas I should be used to watching crustaceans feed, but I still love the process of picking with claws then into mouth :)

The babies have arrived!

2011-07-27T14:39:00.004+01:00

I took delivery of the shrimp babies at 11:20am. They are all there (I counted 10 individuals!) and all are lively and healthy-looking. They were very well packed with double breather bag and newspaper. I am very pleased with the service from Bee Shrimp Store; I could even choose my delivery date exactly. I used the acclimatisation process from PlanetInverts as recommended on Bee Shrimp Store's website and it worked very well. I got a bit of greenery with them too which I put into the aquarium as well. I have been glued to the tank since then taking photos and looking at the little shrimp swimming round. It's roasting hot here today and full sun so I am now writing this post outside with my netbook as I soak up the rays...

Only got one decent shot of a shrimp!

PROGRESS REPORT

The water has settled on 22 C without heating. The ambient temp should be high enough until winter for me not to use the AquaEl Neo Heater until maybe September.

I realised when I saw the size of them I would have an issue with the filter sucking them through the grille and landing them above the filter sponge. One unlucky baby went through, then swam back again. Phew, no harm done but better safe than sorry! I dug out some Marina Poly-Wool I had stashed and 'plugged' a thin veil of it between the sponge and the grille. It has not impeded the power of the filter unit but it has prevented the babies from getting sucked in :) I'll have to change it every week probably but that's not a problem.

Gravel Close-Up

2011-07-25T19:19:00.002+01:00

This is the gravel I've used in my tank, a mix from Pettex Roman Gravel called 'Natural Mixed Gems' (this is what it says on the bag but it is called 'Amethyst Crystal' on the website). It appears to be made up by a mix of tumbled chips of semi-precious amethyst and quartz and large chips of other stone. It is a lovely mix, definitely adds interest to the tank!

The Shrimp Diaries!

2011-07-25T12:49:00.003+01:00

You may wonder what on Earth this blog will be about?..

Maybe came here on a strange link while looking for recipes for dinner?

However you ended up here, welcome! I can tell you that this blog will be about... my new Red Cherry Shrimp nano aquarium!

Yes, ok so it's maybe not as exciting as you first thought, but it will have lots of information I have gathered on these amazing invertebrates and hopefully a lot of cool macro shots of shrimp. And if you too are thinking about starting with a nano aquarium there will surely be some good advice offered from experience!

Above is my new Fluval Spec nano tank. The pink phone cover fit my Samsung Galaxy S, it's roughly the height of a 330ml Coca Cola can. THAT'S how small this aquarium is :) It's what we in Scotland would call 'proper wee'. It holds 7.6 litres. I put in a fancy gravel from Roman Gravel that even has amethyst crystal tumbled chips in it :) How Feng Shui is that?? I belive the mix is called 'mixed gems' but I could be wrong? It is very pretty in the LED lights, I will do a macro shot of this tonight I think.

As for plants I put in two live ones, the one at the front is Cryptocoryne wendtii and the short fern-like one at the back is Pogostemon helferi. Both are from Tropica. I could not find any Java ferns or I would have got some of that. I will keep looking.

PROGRESS REPORT
In the section called Progress Report I will cover what recent actions have been taken in terms of maintenance, setup etc; a new progress report will probably come out once a week or so.

Fairly straightforward to put together, but it took me some time to figure out how the filter pump fits down the back...

So far it's been going for just over 24hrs. I treated the tap water with Tetra AquaSafe yesterday when I filled it and added the live plants. I've also this morning added Tetra SafeStart, but I believe that it will not significantly boost the friendly bacteria until they get some waste products from fish/shrimp to feed on.

I got my Neocaridina heteropoda / Neocaridina denticulata sinensis var. red (Red Cherry Shrimps) from Bee Shrimp Store - in a 'breeding group' of 10 baby shrimp. Supposedly there will be a minimum of 5 females, so I will need to buff up on how to tell the sexes apart!

Tomasz who owns the business also sells a lot of VERY fancy types of shrimps - I am hoping my amateur shrimp-keeping doesn't turn into an obsession :O The babies are due to arrive on Wednesday morning just in time for my summer holiday, so hopefully by then my new tank will have settled a bit more!