Saturday 10 February 2018

Doctor Beakers Laboratory

Starting a new hobby keeping Halocaridina rubra Shrimp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halocaridina_rubra
It is a small red shrimp, rarely longer than 1.5 cm (0.6 in) in length, typically found in brackish water pools near the sea shore, sometimes in large numbers. Such pools are referred to as anchialine pools (from the Greek anchialos = near the sea). Halocaridina rubra is endemic to the Hawaiian islands, and most commonly found in anchialine pools in fresh lava substrates on Hawaiʻi and Maui Island.
the starting point was finding a discounted tank only, because it was missing it's internal filter which ran a fountain on top with changing coloured LED lights and a basket of plastic plants. I wouldn't have wanted all that crap might as well have had plastic shrimp !
I bought a box of Marine salt, heater, a bag of coral gravel and some Lava rock,
the next quest was to find Reverse osmosis Dionised water tracked it down £2:50 for 25ltrs, bring your own container.
drilled some holes through the Lava rock for hiding caves

couldn't get the Coral gravel to wash clear and it's colour was a clash with the Lava rock so used
Gravel in the tank, heater, small sponge air filter, Lava rocks then added the water


I've a couple of Marimo moss balls which are actually a form of Algae waiting to go in
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimo
as these do well in brackish water. I'll let the tank settle then turn on the heater and filter for a few days then add the salt to a specific gravity of 1.010 (brackish)
I've yet to rig up lights on a timer I've some GU10 6500K LED bulbs (daylight)
then it's waiting for the Nitrogen cycle
which should take about two months. I'll add a couple of Zebra Nerite snails as soon as Algae starts to grow to help keep it down and speed up the Nitrogen cycle as these don't mind brackish water
It's all go in Doctor Beakers Laboratory







2 comments:

  1. I've never seen a snail like that ! Heck , I never even knew something like that existed . When I lived in Florida , back some time , I enjoyed the brackish mangrove areas best. It's really where all the action is , second to a reef I guess . My best friend and I would actually jog through it . The mangroves grew in shallow water among " islands " of what we called oyster bars , basically small fingers of a combo of land and oyster . It was brutal on the feet so shoes were a must . It was a bit of a drag for guys that went barefoot or flip flopped most of the time . I'm rambling .. brackish waters are excellent fishing and there's life there in a cool and active way . It's about the only thing I miss about Florida . Really , Florida is the dangler of the USA

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    1. Hi Ruffinogold, lost touch when I had a hard drive fail and lost all contacts.There's lots of different pattern Nerite snails and the good thing is they eat Algae and don't mind Brackish water I'd never heard of them until I descided I wanted to try Opae ula shrimp
      I'll check out your Blog - cheers Danny

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