Jul Aug Sep 2021 Ecologist Diary

 

 

13th Baby Rabbit Snail

 

14th Baby Rabbit Snail

 

15th Baby Rabbit Snail

 

Lettuce had Flower

 

 Mini Mexican Crayfish

 

16th Baby Rabbit Snail

 

Rabbit Snail breeding continue at a faster pace after the transfer of all Adult to Fish Tank. Almost one Baby is born every week, not sure if it is Twin or Triplet. Lettuce had Flower, waiting for it to bear fruit to collect the seed for future planting.

 

Had decided to keep Mini Mexican Crayfish again, this time we keep it together with the Wild Type Primitive Crystal Shrimp. Also brought some more Neon Tetra and White Cloud Mountain Minnow to replace those which had die during the power stoppage. 

 

 

Passion Fruit had Flower

 

Crystal Shrimp feeding on Spirulina Tablet

Rabbit Snail feeding on Spirulina Tablet

 

Air Plant Flower Bloom
 
 

Glass Fish Bowl

 

Lotus Seed had Sprout

 

Lotus Leaf start to open after 2 weeks 

 

 17th Baby Rabbit Snail

 

Banana had Sprout

 

 The Passion Fruit had Flower after about a year, but the long wait is worth the effort. It will be producing Fruit for the next 4 to 5 years, although the main purpose is to provide shelter for the Vegetable. Air Plant Flower Bloom, notice that it always happen when the weather are hot.

 

Happen to see Lotus Seed when I am looking for Banana Lily Seed last time, decided to give it a try. The Lotus Seed start to sprout after a day, and it had grow to a very long length in just 5 days. I found out that the life cycle is about 2 months, so I am expecting the flower to bloom in 1 month and bear Pod with Lotus Seed in 2 months.

 

One thing lead to another, due to my interest in Lotus Seed the shopping website start to recommend Bonsai Fruit Plant Seed to me. The Banana Tree really caught my attention as I never expect it to be able to fit into Bonsai Pot. The other plant that also caught my attention are Apple, Cherry, Kiwi, Fig, Peach as I only see very big and large version of them so far.

 

I also purchase some other seeds like Black Berry, Papaya, Guava,  Pomegranate, Custard Apple and Sugar Cane to try out. I didn't really held high hope for the rest as I had seen the actual version before and still feel they are a bit too big for Bonsai. The only exception in this group is Pomegranate as the photo shown is similar to Apple which I had never seen before.

 

Lotus Leaf start to open after 2 weeks, everything is according to my expectation so far. My Sixth Aunt add some earthworm poop as fertilizer, her Lotus Leaf open more and earlier then mine. Actually I had alternate between normal tap water and aquarium water between the water change every 2 to 3 days, so it also able to absorb some nutrients from the fish poop.

 

Manage to find another Baby Rabbit Snail under the Drift Wood use for Java Fern, I thought it was an empty shell like one of the previous case as it is not moving at all. But when I transfer it into Shrimp Tank, it start to show its head and start crawling around. The breeding had seem to slow down back to the normal rate of about once a month, but I am not sure what is the reason that contribute to that changes.

 

I had decided to transfer the Lotus to Fish and shrimp Tank for easy management, I had to use the Bio Ceramic Ring to help weight it down. The Rabbit Snail seem to like sucking the sticky liquid from the seed, it had cause quite a few broken stem which unable to grow back after some observation. Just hope the remaining one will continue to grow well.

 

Banana had start to Sprout after about 5 days, the remaining fruits still under close observation. I will sow new seeds if they did not sprout after about a month or two depending on the type. I had order some more Lotus Seeds to start a second batch as back up, I had also send some to Cousin Iris and a Friend for them to try it in their fish pond. 

Watermelon had Sprout

Sugar Cane had Sprout

Fig had Sprout

 

18th Baby Rabbit Snail

Watermelon had Sprout after 5 days, Sugar Cane had Sprout after 7 days and Fig had Sprout after 9 days. Most of the other fruits had not sprout, I will replant the seed at end of the month if they still doesn't show any sign of sprouting.

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