Jan Feb Mar 2021 Ecologist Diary

 Crystal Shrimp Population continue to Bloom, had decided to reduce the feeding to see if it help to control the population. Opae Ula seem to be hiding during the cold thunder storm at the beginning of January, they only became more active when the weather became warm and sunny. The breeder told me that he notice that they are more active and breed more when the weather become cold during the end of the year, that is something completely different from Crystal Shrimp which seem to breed during mid year warmer weather.

Baby Cabbage is ready for harvest after a month, it had grow beyond our expectation. There seem to be always one vegetable which grow to a very big size in the large tray, the other one is Beet Root which Sixth Aunt give us last year. It was suppose to be Micro Green but it had grow into a normal plant instead, we harvest the leaves and bring it to Sixth Aunt house. She is very excited when she saw it as a bundle, she also measure the sugar content and the result is also beyond her expectation.

Never expect the Marimo Ball to grow in Blackish Water, it had become an obstacle for the Opae Ula to overcome as they doesn't seem to be able to see the fine thread and always got tangle in it. My mom had been very childish and went to my room without my permission to shake the bottle, she is unable to see the Opae Ula and try to make them swim out. She had been doing it for a few times until I got piss off when I discover that she had topple the Coral Fan and cause some damage to it. 

 

 

Crystal Shrimp Mass Orgy

 

Opae Ula on Sea Shell

 

Marimo Ball Grow in Blackish Water

Baby Cabbage

 

Finally decided to get some Mini Mexican Crayfish, Sixth Uncle had given me a lot of Lava Rock. I was planning to use the tank for water conditioning as I start to find increase in fatality on Crystal Shrimp, I also change the Water Filter Element as it had been used for six months. I am not sure why but I found mosquitos breeding in the tank even though I had a sponge filter with air bubble to agitate the water surface. As I find it troublesome to pick out the larvae one by one to feed the fish, I decided to use the tank for other life form.

 

As I am worried that the Mini Mexican Crayfish will harm my fishes, I decided to get some Danio for matching them. As Danio swim faster, it became very hard for the Crayfish to catch them. The other fishes also seem to be lazy and like to lay on sponge filter, drift wood and pebbles to sleep at night. The Lava Rock seem to form a perfect environment for the Crayfish to explore and hide with a lot of hole and opening crack for them to wander around. But they also seem to behave like Crystal Shrimp and like to climb to high ground.

 

 Manage to find Horn Nerite Snail and Rabbit Snail to help with cleaning the tanks, it will save me a lot of time as I had became lazy. Their cleaning abilities are beyond my expectation, at least they are more effective as compare to Otocinclus Catfish and Yamato Shrimp. I also decided to get more Yamato Shrimp to help with clearing the regrowth of Black Bread Algae, Siamese Algae Eater seem to become lazy after they grow big.

Found a Baby Rabbit Snail few days after, not sure if it was born inside the tank or came together with the bigger one. As I do not see any egg as shown in the YouTube Video, I am not sure if it is really born inside the tank. Horn Nerite Snail doesn't survive long, they start to die after few days. Not sure if it is because of the Hydra Removal Powder that remain in the tank that is affecting them, just hope that the Rabbit Snail will be able to survive longer.

As the snail will give off a lot of ammonia when they die and rot, it had cause a lot of fatalities in all my tank. I first notice the dead of two Otocinclus Catfish, then I also notice two Mini Mexican Crayfish are affected. There is one Neon Tetra also found dead but it had been very weak since before Chinese New Year so it should not be affected by the snail. The good thing is the Crystal Shrimp death seem to reduce back to normal as the snail did help with cleaning up the tank especially the sand and pebbles. 

 

I will still have to clean the glass once in a while but it had help by reducing the amount of work for cleaning the substrates. To further make it easier to manage, I transfer the remaining Mini Mexican Crayfish and Danio to the Fish Tank. The Marimo Ball which had grown a lot had been clear up for the better living of Opae Ula, the additional growth seem to be like fine thread or candy floss.

 

Mini Mexican Crayfish

Horn Nerite Snail

 

 

Close Up of Mini Mexican Crayfish

 

Birth of Baby Rabbit Snail

 

Another surprise came a few days later, we discover a few Baby Danio had hatch from the eggs. I can only say it is pure luck, as I only put two Danio inside the Shrimp Tank to help clear the White Thread Worm for few days. The odd of having exactly one of each opposite sex of the fish is already very low, and they had to determine that the environment is suitable for breeding is even lower within just a few days.

The probability of the fish laying the eggs before I transfer them back to the Fish Tank is another factor that affect the success of the breeding, and the fact that the eggs manage to hatch inside the safety of the Shrimp Tank instead of the Fish Tank is another advantage. If the eggs were lay and hatch inside the Fish Tank instead of the Shrimp Tank, the Fish Fries would not be able to survive and will become food for the Bigger Fishes.

 

Birth of Baby Danio

 

Baby Danio never survive, think they got eaten by the Crystal Shrimp. Within 3 days they reduce from 8 to only 1 or 2, then the remaining one survive for about a week before it completely disappear. Guess it is very hard to breed fish as I do not have enough tanks to isolate them completely, at least the Crystal Shrimp will not eat the young one so it is much easier to breed.

The good new is I manage to find another Baby Rabbit Snail clinging on to the Drift Wood while I am cleaning the Fish Tank. I decided to transfer it to the Shrimp Tank for easy monitoring, as the Fish Tank got too many Drift Wood blocking my view it is very hard for me to spot them.

 

Another Baby Rabbit Snail

 

Found another Baby Rabbit Snail in Fish Tank, not sure if it is Twin with the other one. From the size of it seem to be newly born, if not I would have discover it the other time. 

 

 

Three Baby Rabbit Snail

 

Oct Nov Dec 2020 Breeder Diary

 The breeding of Yamato Shrimp had failed, the salinity of the water is very hard to maintain at a stable condition. After much thought I decided to let the fishes had it as food. Wife finally decided to move the two Neon Tetra back to the Fish Tank after seeing them eating the Baby Crystal Shrimp.

Not sure what actually happen, but a lot of plant seem to start blooming flower. The first one is Kai Lan, then is Chilli, and even Kang Kong which had been harvest a few times also start to bloom flower. My wife decided to keep the Kai Lan growing to harvest the seeds.

The Passion Fruit and the Kaffir Lime which fail previously also start to grow well, maybe the Autumn Season is a very good time for growing vegetables and fruits. Finally brought a Aloe Vera from the Flower Shop nearby, had been trying for few times but fail as it start to rot before the root sprout.

 

 21st Oct 2020 Kai Lan Flower Bloom

3rd Nov 2020 Chilli Flower Bloom

7th Nov 2020 Kang Kong Flower Bloom

 

Chilli had grown, but Cactus take long time to grow. Crystal Shrimp population also start to bloom after the Neon Tetra are transfer back to the fish tank. Passion Fruit also start climbing the steel rack, but we are not sure when we will see it bear fruits.

 

15th Nov 2020 Chilli had grown

15th Nov 2020 Cactus take long time to grow

 

Finally start to see Broccoli Flower Bloom after three long month, we are not sure when it will be ready for harvest. Crystal Shrimp population continue to bloom out of our control, guess large living space and plenty of food contribute a lot to their breeding. The Asparagus look very thin to me, I doubt my wife when she told me they are actually Asparagus.

1st Dec 2020 Broccoli finally Bloom Flower after three months

 

 Crystal Shrimp Aquarium

Crystal Shrimp Feeding

 

Asparagus 

 

 Had been wanting to try Opae Ula aka Wonder Shrimp for a long time, I finally pick up the courage to explore the possibilities when they announce the starting of Phrase 3 in two weeks time. It is the easiest to maintain pet as it does not really need much care, they only need to be keep in a small bottle and feed on algae to survive.

As I am planning on letting the population to thrive, I am using a 5 liters big glass bottle instead of the usual 1 to 2 liters small glass bottle. I already got the sea shell and the crystal glass pebble, so all I need to purchase is the Coral Fan and the Marimo Ball.

The Coral Fan is 5 cm wide and 10 cm tall, it cost $11.50, I got to choose the better looking one and happen to get two pack in the same bag. The Marimo Ball is about 5 cm diameter, it cost $5 and I also try to choose the biggest one.

I brought the salt mix for $10, it will be mix to the salinity of 1.018 with the distill water I brought from the supermarket. I brought 10 Opae Ula Shrimp as it will be cheaper by $10 at $70, if I brought 5 instead it will cost $40. The website only cheaper by $5 at $75 for 10 of it.

 

Opae Ula Glass Bottle Setup

Close Up Shot of Opae Ula aka Wonder Shrimp

Another Close Up Shot of Opae Ula

 

Another Close Up Shot of Opae Ula

 

Black Beard Algae start to appear on the Spider Wood in Fish Tank, after doing some research on the internet I decided to use the most natural method of removing them. I brought 10 Siamese Algae Eater for $8 at $0.80 each. If it is not successful, I will try using boiling water before I go into chemical treatment.

The only thing I doesn't like about Siamese Algae Eater is that they can grow into a very big size of up to 15 cm. But I already had plan to release them into the river at Cousin Iris house to help with the cleaning of Algae when they grow big. The worst case scenario would be buying 100 Feeder Platies Fish and 50 Feeder Ghost Shrimp for the Event.

Opae Ula are not so hardy as I had expected, 7 of them die within a day. As there are only 3 left, I decided to transfer them to a smaller 2 liters glass bottle. I brought some Coral Chip and Lava Rock from Shopee, I will use the 5 liters glass bottle to create an optimum environment over a two months cycle period before I continue with the remaining phrase of the project.

 

The project is actually still related to Yamato Shrimp Breeding, as Opae Ula breeding environment is very similar. So by ensuring Opae Ula ability to breed in their natural environment will increase the chances of my Yamato Shrimp Breeding in the future. Still trying to fulfill the dream of having thousands of Yamato Shrimp release into the river at Cousin Iris house to help with the cleaning of Algae.

 

 

Black Beard Algae in Fish Tank

Siamese Algae Eater

 

Siamese Algae Eater and Yamato Shrimp manage to clear the Black Beard Algae in a week, I did try using hot boiling water to treat the Spider Wood on second day. So I am not very sure if the Siamese Algae Eater and Yamato Shrimp are so efficient or the hot boiling water treatment also help in the process.

Black Beard Algae clear in a week

 

Saw a guy listing on Carousell for Opae Ula Shrimp by chance, it was remove after a day. I try to contact him a week later to see if it is still available and was lucky enough to be able to get it from him at a cheaper price of $5 per shrimp. I decided to get 20 of it from him to speed up the process of the breeding cycle.

 

As he had been keeping it for three years and most of it had been mature enough to start breeding. I do not have to wait for few years for them to be ready, so it kind of save me a lot of time. 

 

The 5 liters Glass Bottle which I had prepared a week ago is ready, the are visible spot of Algae grow on the wall. I think it is because I am using the media from the previous Crystal Shrimp Tank which still have some beneficial bacteria present in it.

Opae Ula Mass Orgy

Sep 2020 Breeder Dairy

 Yamato Shrimp start to have Eggs, they only breed in Salt Water but somehow the condition became suitable for them in the Fish Tank. Now I had to prepare for salt water habitat for the larvae to grow after the eggs hatch in about 5 weeks. It is still thousands of lives that are at stake, still worth the effort to give it a try.

 

Yamato Shrimp have Eggs

 

Spinach start to bloom flower, Sixth Aunt say it is Bolt due to hot weather. I thought it is Broccoli at first, but the Broccoli had been destroyed by my mom due to her impatient. She always want to eat the vegetables while they are tender, her disregard of respect for other had cause a lot of problem to the farm.  

Spinach Flower Bloom

Preparing for the Birth of New Yamato Shrimp. The Eggs will Hatch in about 3 to 5 weeks. The Eggs will Hatch into Larvae and being wash out into the Sea. The Larvae will Grow into Baby Shrimp in about 30 days and swim back to River.

1.020 Salt Water for Larvae to Grow for 30 days. 1.012 Half Salt Half Fresh Water for the Baby Shrimp to Grow for another 15 Days. Each Shrimp is able to Breed about 1000 to 3000 Babies.

I had two Yamato Shrimp having Eggs now and will be expecting their Eggs to hatch next week or next month. If I am successful, I might be the first person in Singapore to Breed Yamato Shrimp in Aquarium. 

 

 

Yamato Shrimp in Breeding Tank

 

1.020 Sea Water

 

1.012 Half Salt Half Fresh Water

 

First batch of Yamato Shrimp Breeding had failed, at first I thought there are insufficient food for the Larvae but later found out that the salinity of the water went above 1.030. Not sure if the Bio Film dosage had affect the salinity or the Mineral Supplement, I had been monitoring the water closely so it could not be due to evaporation.

The half salt half fresh water salinity also gone from 1.010 to 1.018, so I switch it to be use as Sea Water and try to mix another batch of half salt half fresh water. If this batch also fail again then I had to conclude that it is really hard to breed Yamato Shrimp, just had to let the Larvae to become Fish Food in the future.

The the third Yamato Shrimp also start to have eggs, what surprise us is that the first Yamato Shrimp which had just hatch the eggs had also start to have eggs after a few day when I transfer it back to Fish Tank. Not sure if I should start keeping Opae Ula Wonder Shrimp or Brine Shrimp Sea Monkey and use their salt water for breeding Yamato Shrimp, Marine Coral Aquarium is definitely out of the question as it is too expensive to maintain.

 

Okra is ready for harvest after a week from Flower Bloom, not sure why we were not successful in sprouting the plant in our previous attempt. We doesn't seem to have any luck with herb type of plant, not sure if it is due to the environment or got any relationship to Chinese Feng Shui. 

 

Okra Flower Bloom

 

Okra ready for Harvest after a week