Three's Company
I was at PetCo the other day for some cat supplies, and I got sucked in to the aquarium section, of course. I was already in the market for an oto for the 5 gallon tank, and they had plenty. In the adjacent tank, however, were bamboo shrimp. I saw these little guys (they're actually a couple of inches long!) on the Discovery Channel special Earth - Freshwater. They have four little fan arms they deploy in the current to filter food. They then rake these against their mouth and eat up whatever they find. It is quite a cool process. And sure enough, there they were in the store! I also saw a couple pretty neat sword plants that looked to be good candidates for replacing the temple on the right side of the 30 gallon tank. Before I pulled the trigger and took them all home, though, I decided to do some reseach on the bamboo shrimp in order to see how compatible they would be.
What I learned about the bamboo shrimp was encouraging. It looked as if they would get along well with everyone (including their fellow shrimp which they would dwarf). Seeing as they cost $6, I decided not to "risk" getting two in case there was any problem fitting in. The oto I was given was actually pulled from the same tank as the bamboo shrimp. And when I say "pulled" I mean it. The worker was having trouble coaxing the oto out and literally yanked it out by its tail, which I don't condone, but it seems to be doing okay in its new home.
The sword plant that I picked up had a different shape than anything in my tank (long thin stems topped with wide leaves) and was spotted, which I liked. I toyed with cutting the temple up, but ended up yanking the two main plants out by the roots, trying to leave as much substrate behind as possible. Cutting away the plastic pot and pulling off the "substrate" (it had the consistency of a wet cigarette-filter) took a few minutes, and the plant's breadth and relative shortness made planting it a bit like solving a jigsaw puzzle. Thankfully, it still provided great cover for the tetra that had established the nook defined by the temple, and even the bamboo shrimp enjoyed its shade. The temple got tucked away with its bretheran under the filter, waiting perhaps to be delivered to the local fish store.
What I learned about the bamboo shrimp was encouraging. It looked as if they would get along well with everyone (including their fellow shrimp which they would dwarf). Seeing as they cost $6, I decided not to "risk" getting two in case there was any problem fitting in. The oto I was given was actually pulled from the same tank as the bamboo shrimp. And when I say "pulled" I mean it. The worker was having trouble coaxing the oto out and literally yanked it out by its tail, which I don't condone, but it seems to be doing okay in its new home.
The sword plant that I picked up had a different shape than anything in my tank (long thin stems topped with wide leaves) and was spotted, which I liked. I toyed with cutting the temple up, but ended up yanking the two main plants out by the roots, trying to leave as much substrate behind as possible. Cutting away the plastic pot and pulling off the "substrate" (it had the consistency of a wet cigarette-filter) took a few minutes, and the plant's breadth and relative shortness made planting it a bit like solving a jigsaw puzzle. Thankfully, it still provided great cover for the tetra that had established the nook defined by the temple, and even the bamboo shrimp enjoyed its shade. The temple got tucked away with its bretheran under the filter, waiting perhaps to be delivered to the local fish store.
posted by k-maub @ 7:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home