Cherry shrimp going to be a mother!

Yesterday, while looking at my shrimps, had found that one of the bigger cherry shrimp is pregnant (she got the yellow eggs below her legs). Below is the picture of the pregnant cherry mother!

Finally I'm able to see a cherry shrimp pregnant. Since mine came rather small, also not sure when will they be pregnant and also my females are also not a lot compared to males. Will see how it goes.

Have just taken some moss from David on Monday. He cannot determine whether they are Singapore or Christmas moss but has triangle branches but he mentioned they grow differently in different environment (sounds like Singapore moss)... Have just put them into the tank which I'm soaking a driftwood but no idea where to put it yet.

As I was tying the moss that gave me on to the driftwood that I have left soaking in my previous 1 ft tank, I realise that there are some sex organs (cannot find the name for now so leave it as it is) and they are commonly found on Singapore moss (including what I have). Looks like it is Singapore moss but his are better in appearance than mine.

I have put a male guppy into the female guppy tank so that hopefully it can produce the offspring similar to the male guppy. I think he looks the nicest of the lot and looks like endlers lifebearers. Just looked at the females and they seems plump. Either they are getting pregnant or just eaten their dinner.

I was too lazy and also had to work on 2 PCs after all of mine got problem. Have bought and setup my new one and reinstalled my bro-in-law laptop. The last one looks like gone case. May have to tell my friend the bad news.

I would be in going for my ICT soon (20 Feb 06) and be back on 3 Mar 06. Hopefully my fishes , plants and shrimps are ok when I come back. Should be able to book out on the weekends, I hope. Else I told my wife I would upgrade to 5 ft tank to keep arowana instead. : D

Equipment update:
The DIY CO2 generator was a not successful. It does not generate enough CO2/pressure to push out to the wooden air stone in the shrimp tank. Was so sick of squeezing the bottle to see CO2 so might redo the whole thing soon. Last time I did was ok. Worse case do it like the last time.

Notice my HOF flow rate is getting slower. Would be doing some maintenance soon. Just ask some bro in forum to advice before I do the maintenance.

Plants update:
Tiger lily still not much changes. Don't know if the root monster don't work or not enough. See how it goes.

Since my Singapore moss carpet was a failure (not put them not close enough, got too much empty patches and also got too much hair algae growing on them. Will redo that soon.

If got time, might tie more moss on the bogwood (shrimp tank) since it still looks bare.

Tank update:
Shrimps and my boraras are still getting well in the shrimp tank. I have added a ketapang leaf to my shrimp tank HOF. Does notice some redness in my cherry shrimps or it is due to the yellow water? See how it goes. Some bro has mentioned to leave the tank alone and the shrimps would thrive. May do that soon since I be on ICT on 20 Feb - 3 Mar 06. Will ask my sis to help me feed them since my wife would not be home during my absence.

No new updates for the other 3 tanks.

Others:
A friend has recommend me to buy flakes for my fishes since his fishes were doing very well with that fish food. He recommended me a brand (forgot what brand it is but in a bigger yellow plastic bottle cost $6 at JE217). Will try it out after I finish my current fish food (bought too much spare so cannot buy new ones now).

Just some minor updates since nothing much has happened...

Have found 1/2 shrimps outside my shrimp tank during spring cleaning (not sure about the other one as I vacuum too fast. Don't know why they like to jump. Too bad not become dried shrimps. At least less crowded now. Hope the cherrys grow bigger and have eggs soon. I can't wait. : P Also found a dried kuhli loach. Also don't know why it jumped out of the tank. Now I left with 4 of them. : (

My tiger lilies still looks the same. Still got some rotting leaves but since almost botak, not much leaves to rot now. Maybe the root monster effect still have not kick in yet or I need to inject CO2... See how first. Now ran out of pet bottles...

1 Cherry shrimp has died but I could not determine the cause. Poor fella... Now I got 19 of them left. : ( At least my 10 boraras maculatus are still living well in my 1 ft tank. : )

I have decided to add a DIY fan for the 1 ft cube shrimp tank to reduce the temperature since it can rise up to 29 and lowest around 27. Now can hit 25?!? and highest around 27 (if I not wrong as did not see it in the afternoon). Should be better for the shrimps and moss with such temp but water evaporate fast. Just top up water yesterday night.

Just now saw a bro mentioned that the secret to red cherry shrimps is to add KTP leaves. Will be adding 1 tonight after I get home. Hope it works!

Have bought 10 boraras maculatus from Biotape (Bukit Merah) on Friday evening. Small little fishes around 1 cm to keep with my shrimps. Owner very nice and had a nice chat with him and his colleague. He also got Eden 501 filter for sale but I don't need it... for now. May want to get one next time. I managed to put them into my tank (after mixing my tank water with the water brought from Biotape) in the night. They seems to not bother the shrimps in my tank (good news)! For those who are curious on how they looks like, below are 2 pictures that I got off the web (http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/aquarium/boraras_maculatus.htm) since my photography skills for close up shots needs to improve.: )

My boraras maculatus does not look so cherry as u can see in the picture but looks like the ones above.

My boraras maculatus looks more like the ones above. Cute, isn't they? The clearer one looks hungry.

I have added some hair algae into the shrimp tank but the shimps seems to ignore or did not eat much. Intent to stop feeding them until they finish my hair algae. : P Else I might lose my algae eating crew.

Was home really late (12am) so since I went to get a wooden air stone, I have decided to to setup my DIY CO2. I have did DIY CO2 before so I get to reuse the old equipement that were already done up so cut down on my time for this setup.

Initially wanted to use the 1.5L one for the 2 ft planted tank but the cap is different from the normal ones so in the end, I have decided to use a 500ml pet bottle for the solution instead. I also changed my mind and use the DIY CO2 for my new 1 ft cube shrimp tank instead, in hope that the moss would grow better and cover most of the bogwood in there. Also shrimps are also taking out my moss so need them to grow faster. Some forumer mentioned that 500ml bottle would need to refill more often. Oh dear, I did not thought of this... Initial want to have a small bottle so I can hide behind the tank. May change to a bigger bottle to let the CO2 last longer.

I do notice that the temperature is rather high, can see it goes higher than 29 degrees (which is bad for moss and my shrimps). Would monitor this and if it gets worse, would have to use DIY fan on this tank. : P

Finally got time to do a quick update...

Was putting root monster near my Tiger lilies (buried in the lapis sand) recommended by some bros. Hopefully they stop rotting on me. Almost botak already.

My cherry shrimps are living well with the malayan shrimps in my 1 ft cube tank. Some forumer mentioned that it is crowded for a 1 ft cube tank. Will see how first. May up the decommissioned 1 ft tank or find a 2 ft one instead. See how things goes. Saw a molted shell of a cherry shrimp (so they are growing).

On and off I managed to find a few guppy fries in the shallow tank. Have 11 guppy fries now. Up from the previous 7. They are also doing well.

I have also added sand from my 1 ft tank into the shallow tank (RHS). Looks nicer than the bare bottom tank. During adding the sand, 1 kuhli loach jumped out. I was wondering how come I got only 4 kuhli loaches (should have 5). Then I saw something move around a wooden step and found the missing one. It is quite dry and I quickly put it back into the tank. Looks like want to die but later seems ok. Have no time to check if any died today. May check tonight.

Til the next update.... Sign off for now.