Category: Taiwan Bee Tank


Taiwan bee Tank Cycle Update

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April 26, 2012

Day – 6
Removed the heater last night tested this morning at 11am

Temp – 74 degrees Fahrenheit
TDS 172
kh – 0-1
gh – 4
ammonia 0 ppm
NO2 (Nitrites) 0 ppm
NO3 (Nitrates) 0 ppm

Day – 5
No more addition of ammonia, but I did add 5 more ramshorns and 2 guppies last night

Temp – 83 degrees Fahrenheit
TDS 165
kh – 0-1
gh – 4
ammonia 0 ppm
NO2 (Nitrites) 0 ppm
NO3 (Nitrates) 3 ppm

Day – 4
Yesterday (12pm) I raised the Ammonia level to 1ppm today at 10:30am these are the numbers.
I also added about 2 gallons of fresh R/O water

pH 5.6
Temp – 85 degrees Fahrenheit
TDS 188
kh – 0-1
gh – 4
ammonia 0.25 ppm
NO2 (Nitrites) 0 ppm
NO3 (Nitrates) 5 ppm

Day – 3
I added about a gallon of R/O water to compensate for evaporation yesterday.

Yesterday (3pm) I raised the Ammonia level to between 1-2ppm today at 9am these are the numbers.

pH 5.6
Temp – 81 degrees Fahrenheit (28 C)
TDS 160
kh – 0-1
gh – 4
ammonia 0 ppm
NO2 (Nitrites) 0 ppm
NO3 (Nitrates) 2-3 ppm

Day – 2
pH 5.6
Temp – 81 degrees Fahrenheit (28 C)
TDS 165
kh – 0-1
gh – 4
ammonia 0 ppm
NO2 (Nitrites) 0 ppm
NO3 (Nitrates) 0

Current water parameters – Day 1
pH 5.6
Temp – 83 degrees Fahrenheit (28 C)
TDS 157
kh – 0-1
gh – 4
ammonia 0.25 ppm
NO2 (Nitrites) 2-4ppm
NO3 (Nitrates) 0

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Taiwan Bee Setup Update

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April 22, 2012

I wanted to raise the ammonia levels slightly to make sure the bacteria could continue to grow and thrive so I picked up some ammonia at ace hardware and dipped a qtip in the ammonia and then swirled it in the tank. There are about 10 ramshorns and 1 young guppy in the tank so I only wanted to raise the level to about 1 ppm and not to lethal levels for the inhabitants of the tank.

I was successful in raising the level to about 1 ppm and the nitrates test came back at about 1ppm as well.

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Taiwan Bee Tank is full and cycling

Filed under: Taiwan Bee Tank — 1 Comment
April 21, 2012

I finished setting up and filling the tank last night. I added the filter media from another tank to help the cycling process and about 10 Ramshorn snails.

 

Sorry for the grossness but you get the idea.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I also added a 2 drops of ammonia to help the filter element maintain the established bacterial colony while the ramshorns start doing their thing.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Good news on the filtration when I woke up this morning there was literally 0 filter media in the suction tubes and the filters are still pushing the same amount of water.

Current water parameters – Day 1
pH 5.6
Temp – 83 degrees Fahrenheit (28 C)
TDS 157
kh – 0-1
gh – 4
ammonia 0.25 ppm
NO2 (Nitrites) 2-4ppm
NO3 (Nitrates) 0

Day – 2
pH 5.6
Temp – 81 degrees Fahrenheit (28 C)
TDS 165
kh – 0-1
gh – 4
ammonia 0 ppm
NO2 (Nitrites) 0 ppm
NO3 (Nitrates) 0

Day – 3
I added about a gallon of R/O water to compensate for evaporation yesterday.

Yesterday (3pm) I raised the Ammonia level to between 1-2ppm today at 9am these are the numbers.

pH 5.6
Temp – 81 degrees Fahrenheit (28 C)
TDS 160
kh – 0-1
gh – 4
ammonia 0 ppm
NO2 (Nitrites) 0 ppm
NO3 (Nitrates) 2-3 ppm

Day – 4
Yesterday (12pm) I raised the Ammonia level to 1ppm today at 10:30am these are the numbers.
I also added about 2 gallons of fresh R/O water

pH 5.6
Temp – 85 degrees Fahrenheit
TDS 188
kh – 0-1
gh – 4
ammonia 0.25 ppm
NO2 (Nitrites) 0 ppm
NO3 (Nitrates) 5 ppm

Day – 5
No more addition of ammonia, but I did add 5 more ramshorns and 2 guppies last night

Temp – 83 degrees Fahrenheit
TDS 165
kh – 0-1
gh – 4
ammonia 0 ppm
NO2 (Nitrites) 0 ppm
NO3 (Nitrates) 3 ppm

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The Taiwan Bee Setup

Filed under: My OEBT Tank, Taiwan Bee Tank — 2 Comments
April 20, 2012

*I will be updating this post at various points throughout the day, feel free to follow along *

Today I am starting my Taiwan Bee Tank Setup. It is a 26 gallon bow front aquarium.  And here she is
 

The obligatory before picture.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Originally I was going to go with a 25 gallon acrylic, when shipping was delayed on that I decided to cancel that order and buy a tank locally.

Unfortunately I had also ordered a under gravel filter (UGF) to fit the tank that I had ordered. 😦

Well that is no good but expected with the tank change.

This would reduce the effectiveness of the UGF


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
So I get out my trusted serrated kitchen knife (I love to cook and high quality blades can be multi-purpose) and a pair of pliers. After creating a seam with the blade I simply use the pliers to break along the seam and voilà I get the fit I was looking for.

Granted if I had broke out my power tools I could of made the fit better but this is close enough, don't you think


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now to power the UGF I have decided to go with HOB filters, now granted I have never tried this method but I think the theory should be fine. I do have 1 issue that I will have to resolve later that the HOB filter and the UGF don’t exactly fix snugly so I used an old sponge filter to temporarily fix this issue. I plan on picking up something to make a proper seal at some point today. Suggestions are welcome.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I am kind of a big fan of Seachem products, and I wanted to use Seachem Matrix as part of my Under Gravel Filtration. After asking around to make sure it was shrimp safe I found I was not the first person to do this and it was completely safe for shrimp. I also found this thread (Shrimp Tank How to by Mordalphus) (also known as Liam from Aquarliam, the next part of what I did I got the idea from him. In addition to the Matrix I also wanted to add a bit of “substrate starter” if you will.
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
While I didn’t have time to order Liam’s proprietary blend for my substrate setup and my Mosura old sea mud didn’t arrive in time to use it I did the best that I could with what I did have available to me.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Here is what I used, Biozyme at 3x normal dosing, equal amount of Ken’s Freeze Dried Cyclops and a double dose of Ebi-ken Sose provided by Aquarliam
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Africana finally arrived but it was missing 1 bag (ordered 5-3 liter bags, received 1-9liter 1-3liter) ADG was very fast to respond as they shipped all they had and offered to express ship another bag, was unneeded as the 12 liters was plenty. I will update with pictures soon-ish.
 
Substrate in, and some small decorations.
 



 
 
 
 
 
 

And the first of the water and the plants are added
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Another Item from mordalphus goes into the tank, 1 package of Ebi-ken Shou. (it is only a half dose, I need to pick up another 2 packages)
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Okay the tank is 1/3rd full and I have the aeration going. Also wanted to say thank you to OVT for the plants (TPT Thread)

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tank is setup and running, photos in the morning (left the camera on and the battery died)

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Setup of my Taiwan Bee Tank starts today.

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I have all my plants, the tank, the filters, almost all my additives, (the Mosura Old Sea Mud got delayed ) all that is left is ups to deliver the Africana substrate.

I will be documenting the process and everything I used will be public. *Disclaimer I have never kept TBs before this is simply my attempt to setup an aesthetically pleasing tank for Taiwan bees.

As many of you know, I am not a breeder, I am a hobbyist. I don’t claim this will be the best possible setup or that it will even work. I don’t assume it will optimize breeding or that it will will be successful. I recommend if you are curious if my method works that you follow my blog and my progress for this tank before you attempt anything similar.

Also the tank is a 26 gallon bow front. I will be using Undergravel Filtration powered by HOB filters. If you have any specific questions or things you want me to show in my setup please add a comment.

The obligatory before picture.

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3 and 4 berried OEBT Females

Filed under: Community Tank, My OEBT Tank, Shrimp Breeding and Raising, Taiwan Bee Tank — Leave a comment
April 19, 2012

I found Berried Female OEBT 3 and 4 today, they are younger so not as many eggs at the big old ladies but still it is nice to see I will hopefully have many babies in the next few weeks.

 

I also have about 6 berried malawa shrimp and 3 Berried painted fire reds. My Orange Sakuras 3 have saddles so I am hoping they get berried sooner than later.

 

I am still waiting on my Taiwan bee tank to arrive so I can do the setup. Don’t worry I will post picture and what I do to set that tank up.

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My First Mischling Shrimp!

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April 18, 2012

Today I received my first Mischling shrimp. For those of you who are unfamiliar these are shrimp who have a Taiwan Bee Parent and a CRS/CBS Parent. If you breed them you should get 25% TB from the offspring.

I ordered 8 but I received 11, granted the extras are TINY but extra shrimp are extra shrimp. I purchased them from Alpha Pro Breeders , and as always the shrimp were all alive and healthy.

Here are some pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a couple Photos in their new home.

 

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Alpha Pro Breeders – OEBT & Mischling Shrimp

Filed under: Internet Vendor Reviews, My OEBT Tank, Taiwan Bee Tank — Leave a comment
April 11, 2012

Professional service and high quality shrimp that have a long history (bred by APB for over 7 years) of excellence.

APB ships small OEBT but I have never seen OEBT that have such nice color when so small. Most will not be colored up but when you see solid blue at 1/4th an inch you know you have very high quality stock.

I received 13 total shrimp instead of 10 and they all survived with 2nd day shipping.

Personally I recommend getting very young shrimp as you know you are more likely to get an even mix of sexes so in a month you end up with a strong breeding population. I have noticed when buying mature and sub-adult shrimp that you are more likely to end up with a higher number of males because the berried females will always be removed before sale. I think buying younger shrimp is always in your benefit unless you are getting a favor from a friend.

5 stars, Buy OEBT http://www.alphaprobreeders.com/orange-eye-blue-tigers-sale-10/

Pictures of the shrimp – all about 1cm, most OEBT don’t show any color until twice this size.

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Update – I also got a batch of Mischling shrimp (Taiwan bee shrimp hybrid with Crystal red/crystalblack) also very small but kind of awesome.)

I ordered a batch of 8 but as you can see I got more than 8 🙂

Mischling shrimp acclimating

After 30 minutes in their tank 

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