# It is amazing what a little light can do...



## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

Here is an updated shot of my shrimp cube. Nothing in this tank grows insanely fast, but nothing in this tank suffers. I have a few light loving plants in this set up:_ Hemianthus callitrichoides_ ( Dwarf Baby Tears ), "dwarf" ludwigia, Nymphoides aquatica ( Banana Plant ), _Blyxa japonica_ and _Vallisneria americana gigantea_ ( Jungle vals, which are not super light loving). All growing and healthy with a small, 5" 9W power compact in a 7.5g cube. To answer a lot a questions about plants out there, here is a FACT to think about when setting up a planted tank. _Balance is more important then anything else_. 

Here are a few pics of my shrimp tank. I have 10 Crystel Red shrimp, 10 Amano Shrimp, 5 Blue Velvet Shrimp, and 1 Ghost Shrimp. There are also 2 fish, A hillstream Loach and a baby placo that I got from a LFS here, and she breeds these guys. They are a cross between a Starlight Bristlenose Pleco (L182) and a spotted sailfin pleco (L165). Very cool placo that is to never be bred, but admired because it is a morph of sorts. I have him in this cage until he gets big enough to swim with the big fish.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

I like your tank, the top view looks especially nice. I wish my banana plant would grow that tall but it is maxed out a 5 cm for some reason.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

murloc ; i hate to tell you this my friend ; but somebody lied to you..i hope you didn't pay too much for that pleco.....you cannot cross a 182 with a 165....totally different species...i have been breeding the fish in your pic for years...it is a longfin brown or chocolate bushynose....they are awesome little fish though..i love em...i'll see if the wife can transfer some pics of mine into my photobucket...
i love planted tanks although i don't always do real well with them...that little tank is gorgreous.....


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## Coolfish (Apr 30, 2012)

Pretty cool tank. I was looking at nano tanks today but i don't want to pay $80 for something that little .


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

Looks really nice, I'm hoping to get some jungle vals later on.
On a side note I just looked up the blue velvet shrimp and Wow! I thought crystal reds were stunning, those shrimp are amazing.


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

Coolfish said:


> Pretty cool tank. I was looking at nano tanks today but i don't want to pay $80 for something that little .


If you look into it, you can pick up a nice used rimless cube 12" for $30-40, no need to pay that much for a new one. 



P.senegalus said:


> On a side note I just looked up the blue velvet shrimp and Wow! I thought crystal reds were stunning, those shrimp are amazing.


If you like the blue velvet, you should check out Black Tiger Orange Eye Shrimp, Orange Eye Blue Tiger Shrimp, and some of the many other awesome colored FW shrimp. 



lohachata said:


> murloc ; i hate to tell you this my friend ; but somebody lied to you..i hope you didn't pay too much for that pleco.....you cannot cross a 182 with a 165....totally different species.


I may have gotten the species wrong, and I didn't pay too much for him. either way, I love the little guy and he is a beautiful placo none the less


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## Coolfish (Apr 30, 2012)

It would be nice for shrimps or a Dario Dario tank.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

you are right murloc..he is a beautiful fish...and just wait til it grows...the fins are fintastic....lol


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

A little update. Re-scaped my Shrimp tank yesterday. Still tweaking with it to look "wild but in place " but so far so good. I wish that I had more substrate to bank it up with, but I only had so much to work with. One cool thing that I did find was that I have dozens and dozens of shrimp fry, most of them blue velvet shrimps, and impossible to get pics of with the marco camera lol. 

I have 35 adult shrimp now.. 5 Blue Velvet, 10 Yellow, 10 Amano, and 10 CRS. And about 100+ fry lol. It looks to me that one of my gravid CRS mated with a Yellow... So I am eager to see if that happened, what color I am going to get. Yellow + Red = Orange? Her little fry she is carrying look dark orange. If they live that should be a cool mix I will have.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

In almost any shrimp cross fry with be a brown color. I think it has to do with their wild colors. Tank looks great y the way!


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

ZebraDanio12 said:


> In almost any shrimp cross fry with be a brown color. I think it has to do with their wild colors. Tank looks great y the way!


I have heard that... I just don't want to believe it lol. I'll be happy no matter what color they are, cuz if they are brown, then they become free fish food :evil:


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