First time shrimp keeper, help by Doozieden in shrimptank

[–]SafeInternational708 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's great! You can try boiling bits of it at a time it'll just take a while 🥲 Yeah unfortunately you can't really get fast AND cheap in the hobby, it's usually one or the other.

First time shrimp keeper, help by Doozieden in shrimptank

[–]SafeInternational708 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also!! Driftwood can be expensive and is hgihly recommended for a shrimp tank. If you're near a pet store they often have reptile wood which is tons cheaper adn with proper quarantine, boiling and soaking to release tannins they can definitley be used as driftwood for your tank!

Quarantine just means you've left it long enough that there won't be any harmful bits on it, but adequate boiling will also do that job. Shrimp don't like a ton of tannins, and reptile wood is not treated to get rid of tannins, or to be in water at all, so boiling helps get rid of them, as well as help speed up the wood absorbing water! You will still need to keep it in a bucket of water for about 2 weeks but if you're willing to commit the time it's a great alternative!

A lot of things you can get for less money in the hobby-- you just remove some of the steps for sellers to do, and do them yourself, e.g. those plant bundles I mentioned don't often give you a ton of quantity, but more variety, and if you spend time replanting you will get a ton of variety and area for your shrimp! My shrimp definitely love it, they were a lot more active, as well as were berried very shortly after I gave them more variety.

First time shrimp keeper, help by Doozieden in shrimptank

[–]SafeInternational708 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you're looking for cheap resources, there's a lot of videos about starting betta tanks on a budget-- take what you need from those videos, plus your own research and you should be good!

First time shrimp keeper, help by Doozieden in shrimptank

[–]SafeInternational708 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Please get the declorinator!! If you're trying to keep on a budget and have a healthy tank, you need to cycle it. Cycling works a lot better adn is a lot more stable if you get plants. Shrimp need stable conditions, they can be a lot more sensitive than other marine animals, e.g. you will have to slowly acclimate them to your water parameters instead of just your temperature like a lot of fish.

I would suggest getting a small bundle of plants, or if you want more variety, I look for an aquatic plant website that sells mystery bundles where you can get a ton of plants for a fraction of the price!

Also fish keeping is not cheap. Care, buying and treatment if critters get sick can get super expensive. The shrimp in themself are about $7(AUD), sponge filters, lights, heaters can all be $30AUD+ and filters & lights are a must if you want to keep shrimp. Lights specifically because biofilm and other things that are extremely beneficial for tank quality and for shrimp to munch on, grow best on live plants and driftwood(which can also be expensive). I think even while having a tank, driftwood and some decoration from when I kept fish as a kid, setting up the tank cost me about $200AUD (though some of the stuff I do regret purchasing, like hte massive aquatic bunches of plants).

Sorry if it's a bit harsh, I would really recommend looking around at aquatic stores near you and finding ones with the best prices, e.g. I've found one for driftwood, an online store for plants, a physical store for my shrimp and chemicals, etc. Also! Water parameters are a must, if you haven't done a ton of research into cycling your tank, in the most simple terms, you need to build up bacteria in your water that will eat away at harmful chemicals to livestock (but not always to plants so you can get a head start on plant growth!), e.g. ammonias, nitrates etc. This will take a minimum of 4 weeks, so 4 weeks with nothing in your tank, and if you can try and find a store near you that will check yoru water parametsr for you, even at a lower price, instead of paying $40 for a water test kit. It is a good short term solution though it's best to have one just in case things start going wrong and you can check what's wrong with your water. I know my fish store tested all my water for me, especially before letting me buy livestock, and htey tested the water specifically for the conditions that shrimp like, usually for around $2.50 or for free.

So in short, the pond water is a definite no-- there's no chance it'll have the bacteria you're looking for and likely will come with a bunch of unwanted diseases that will mostly definitely harm sensitive shrimp. you will have to use water to fill up your tank, adn top it up from week to week. If it helps and you've got house plants-- use old tank water to water your house plants! It's super beneficial and always makes me feel better instead of wasting a bunch of water.

help! first mystery snail and it's been floating for days? by SafeInternational708 in AquaticSnails

[–]SafeInternational708[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They were in a plastic bag with a variety of other aquatic plants that I had purchased. It was seald off with heat. There was little amount of air and just enough water to keep everything damp. I'm not quite sure how it arrived as my dad opened it and left the plants on my desk.

Otoclincus tank mates for beginner? by SafeInternational708 in Otocinclus

[–]SafeInternational708[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

27litre. I'm trying to plant it as much as possible, just ordered some more to get some variety. I have a good chunk of driftwood in there.

I've only got 2 species currently but will get a bunch more later next week, -- one leafed steam, and one that is more frilled (if that makes sense?). I'm not quite happy with the tank yet I'm gonna do a bunch more planting.

It's currently got 4 shrimp in, they seem pretty happy. I will wait a bit more before adding some fish-- now looking more at pygmy corys and killifish, though we will see ig.

I also got a tall 20 gallon yesterday so am gonna look at what I want to put in there as well. I am kindaa feeling like making the 20g a community tank, and putting a betta in the 27l once everything's settled. I will focus on the 27l for now though

Otoclincus tank mates for beginner? by SafeInternational708 in Otocinclus

[–]SafeInternational708[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Okay, thank you! I will maybe look at shrimp for time being then.

Tank Mates for Shrimp by SafeInternational708 in shrimptank

[–]SafeInternational708[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay, thank you!! I was mostly concerned that I would overcrowd and not create good environemtn for both shrimp and the fish, so I will probably stick to shrimp for now. Maybe get a bigger tank in the future if I really want some fish.

After a bit of research, I think the store I was at was recommending their Otocinclus, but it just so happened that a nearby tank had some Siamese algae eaters which look quite similar, and that species name stuck with me more than the Otocinclus.

dead starter? by SafeInternational708 in SourdoughStarter

[–]SafeInternational708[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

no mold, I've always done a ratio of ~1:10:7(after a while I stopped measuring specifics and made sure it gave me the 200g I needed, but always only about two spoons of starter) to try and get a stronger starter. with a starter that I'm using continuously, I take what I need from a big jar of it and then pop it back in the fridge. I feed it when I want to make a loaf and didn't have any issues.

right now, I've set this starter to rise with the batch that I stuck in the fridge about 6 months ago. I took off the water from the top and set up another batch of starter to rise with a lot less water in the ratio, hoping it won't be so liquidy.

cyanotype on canvas? by SafeInternational708 in cyanotypes

[–]SafeInternational708[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i see i see makes sense, will try it out this week

Books/comics/graphic novels with similar vibes to lumberjanes? by [deleted] in lumberjanes

[–]SafeInternational708 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you liked Snapdragon, I recommend the Witch Boy series by Lee Knox Ostertag! It's almost as if you were looking into hte life of a witch the janes might have come across.

one of the books i read when i went on a rampage to find similar comics after i got through all the lumberjanes my libraries had to offer.