# 0.8 Gallon Low Tech



## bitstream (Sep 9, 2007)

Starting a 0.8 gallon jar.

*Aquarium*
3 liter glass jar which will only be filled up to 3/4 of the way up
Jar height 30cm
Water level will be 20cm to the bottom
Substrate level 4cm

*Plants (All T culture except the floater)*
Helanthium tenellum
Dwarf Sagittaria
Bacopa monnieri
Common or Normal Salvinia (Floater)

*Substrate*
HELP Advanced Soil for Shrimp

*Water*
3l bottled mineral water

*Intended Fauna*
x3 cherry shrimps
x1 fish to deal with insects mosquito larvae and such
x? snails not sure what type to put in yet

*Lighting*
12W CFL
7am-11am
7pm - 11pm

*Comments*
I have not yet put in the Salvinia as I had salvaged it from another tank with some kind of minor worm infestation so its on quarantine.
It was extremely painful to plant in this vase due to the mouth of the jar being small. The soil was also very light making it difficult to anchor the plants down in the substrate. It took me over an hour to get those few plants firmly in.
I intend to leave this like this for a month for the following reasons :
1)time for the plants to establish
2)time for the Nitrifying bacteria to establish
3)the temperature now in Singapore is approx 31degress in the noon. It should go down to about 28 degrees in a months time which I think is better for fauna

*Concerns*
Not sure if there will be enough oxygen in the jar to support the intended fauna.

Comments and advice welcom


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## johnwesley0 (Feb 23, 2021)

By 1x fish, I assume you mean a betta. It would almost have to be that or some other fish with a labyrinth breathing mechanism (and, I'm not familiar enough with the species to think of any others.)


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## bitstream (Sep 9, 2007)

johnwesley0 said:


> By 1x fish, I assume you mean a betta. It would almost have to be that or some other fish with a labyrinth breathing mechanism (and, I'm not familiar enough with the species to think of any others.)


At this point I am also unsure. My intention is for a shrimp tank. The inclusion of 1 fish is simply to take care of bugs that may appear in the tank. I am also aware that this jar is really small and is a major constraint. I am unfamiliar with betta. Will they eat all the shrimp?


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## johnwesley0 (Feb 23, 2021)

bitstream said:


> At this point I am also unsure. My intention is for a shrimp tank. The inclusion of 1 fish is simply to take care of bugs that may appear in the tank. I am also aware that this jar is really small and is a major constraint. I am unfamiliar with betta. Will they eat all the shrimp?


There are plenty of shrimp enthusiasts on this forum (a shout-out to @ronnie ) but, I would think a much bigger bowl would be necessary to keep both. Bettas are small, beautiful to look at, _carnivores._


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## jatcar95 (Oct 30, 2019)

I think this would be pretty small for fish, especially as there is limited vertical swim room.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I would stick with the shrimp. A Betta would devour them in no time.
I hope that the Bacopa grows in the bowl to fill up that empty space. If not I would try another stem plant. 
That said, looks like a nice start. Never realized that a small would be hard to plant!


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## PlantFan (Jun 19, 2021)

bitstream said:


> *Concerns*
> Not sure if there will be enough oxygen in the jar to support the intended fauna.


Area of a circle
A = πr^2

I don't know the radius at the surface. But if it's let's say 2 1/2 inches then the surface area is 19.6 square inches. According to an aquarium book I have, you can responsibly stock one inch of freshwater tropical fish per 12 square inches of surface area for Oxygen exchange. Labyrinth fish might be an exception to this rule of thumb. You can also take into account the one gallon per inch rule when you consider this. Don't forget about displacement like I always do. Please don't take this as criticism because it's not intended to be critical. I think the vase looks very nice. I love the shape and I know the plants will look good in it.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Not just surface area and fish. Don't forget folks that photosynthesis produces oxygen and soil bacteria consume it. 
If plants don't grow, there will definitely be a lack of oxygen in a container with soil. I would be inclined to add a few more stem plant species to this jar, maybe some Anacharis, Rotalia rotundifolia, or Ludwigia. You may need to hire someone with tiny hands to trim these plants.


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## tiger15 (Apr 9, 2017)

I have two 1 gal shrimp bowls hanged by my window. After subtracting the substrate, the effective volume is no more than 0.8 gal. The mouth of the jar is small, and no hands that can get inside. So I use long tweezer, spoon, chopstick, turkey baster and whichever tool I can get in to manipulate plants. I keep cherry and Amani shrimp, ramshorn snails, but no fish except fake ones. Plants include dwarf hair grass, dwarf sag, frog it, water lettuce and a few Ludwigia, mermaid weed, ambulance stems. Shrimp are thriving, but not multiplying perhaps because of limited space. Due to Direct sunlight which I reduce with sunscreen, I have some clado and spirogyra algae which I remove with tweezer periodically.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Thanks for posting. I think you've have these bowls for quite awhile?

I had trouble getting my RCS shrimp to multiply in 1 gal bowls. For a few months they multiplied fine and then they stopped completely. They seem to be doing fine in larger tanks. Not sure why.


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## tiger15 (Apr 9, 2017)

dwalstad said:


> Thanks for posting. I think you've have these bowls for quite awhile?
> 
> I had trouble getting my RCS shrimp to multiply in 1 gal bowls. For a few months they multiplied fine and then they stopped completely. They seem to be doing fine in larger tanks. Not sure why.


The RCS berried and gave birth to shrimplets which failed to grow out. I haven’t observed predation from Amano or planaria which I nearly wiped out by daily turkey baster vacuuming. Adult RCS grow, molt and eventually died from old age. I’m thinking of keeping Amano in one bowl since they live longer, and may try ghost shrimp in another since they are cheap. Even with sunscreen, direct sunlight is still strong. Plants are healthy and stems grow at snail pace due to CO2 limitation.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

A water change is good for The shrimp population. I remember the pH drop below 6.0 in my old tank. The shrimps do better in neutral pH.


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## tiger15 (Apr 9, 2017)

mistergreen said:


> A water change is good for The shrimp population. I remember the pH drop below 6.0 in my old tank. The shrimps do better in neutral pH.


I do regular small water change in my shrimp bowls not to replace with tap water, but to replace with second hand nutrients and CO2 Water from my high tech tank. PH in my shrimp bowls range from 7.2 to 8.8 pre and post sunlight period. I’m not sure how pH would impact shrimp multiplication, but it has no impact on the health of grown shrimp.


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## Arnetta (Aug 12, 2021)

I also do regular water changes in shrimp bowls. But my PH is from 8.8 to 10.2


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I don't think it's water chemistry. You are working with very small populations and they can get inbred and lose fertility. 
Also, be careful on sucking up mulm. I noticed that it often contains baby shrimp.


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## tiger15 (Apr 9, 2017)

dwalstad said:


> I don't think it's water chemistry. You are working with very small populations and they can get inbred and lose fertility.
> Also, be careful on sucking up mulm. I noticed that it often contains baby shrimp.


For me, the problem is not fertility. They continue to breed and give birth to shrimplets, but very few grow up, so over time the population is not replenished. I think temp and pH instability in small volume zero tech may have something to do with it.

I do WC and collect the water in a container, and only dump the water after examination that there are no shrimplets in it.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

tiger15 said:


> For me, the problem is not fertility. They continue to breed and give birth to shrimplets, but very few grow up, so over time the population is not replenished. I think temp and pH instability in small volume zero tech may have something to do with it.
> 
> I do WC and collect the water in a container, and only dump the water after examination that there are no shrimplets in it.


Interesting. I assume your bowls have enough calcium. You are using water from your high tech tank. It may have micronutrient fertilizers that produce border-line metal toxicity. Do you have any shrimp in your high tech tank?


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## tiger15 (Apr 9, 2017)

dwalstad said:


> Interesting. I assume your bowls have enough calcium. You are using water from your high tech tank. It may have micronutrient fertilizers that produce border-line metal toxicity. Do you have any shrimp in your high tech tank?


It is a legitimate concern that there could be elevated metals (micro nutrients) in water that affect shrimp. I don't know the metal levels in my water and don't think home testing kit are sensitive enough to tell me if copper or other metal level is exceeded. This is why serious shrimp breeders use reformulated RO water only to eliminate the unknown. 

However, I don't think metals are likely my problem from the following observations. I added daphnia to my bowls from time to time as green water clarifier and daphnia, highly sensitive to copper, survived for over a week before dying out of starvation. My tap water, pH 7.2, is on the alkaline side and I have dolomite gravel substrate in my high tech tanks and in one bowl to elevate gH. I only dose micro nutrients to my high tech tanks once a week, and change 10 to 20% in my bowl water thereby substantially diluting the source metals. My Amano shrimp are still alive after 2+ years. 

However, without lab testing, I will never know the metal levels and the safety to shrimplets.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Probably not metal toxicity then. Don't worry about metals. I forgot that all those humic acids from your plants would chelate any heavy metals, rendering them harmless. My book, pp 14-15.

If the daphnia are doing fine, then I'd go back to the genetics. Perhaps the young shrimp have genetic defects? Maybe the females berry and deliver, but the young are defective and don't or can't survive. 

Again, you have a very small population size. Small population size lend themselves to genetic problems. Not always, so results are random depending on the parental genetic makeup that you started with. _Founder Effect._ And I don't trust commercial breeding practices. Only Mother Nature breeds for fitness and fecundity. I've had to work very hard to reverse the genetic problems of my guppies. See my article 'Guppy Longevity' on my website. It discusses studies on invertebrate populations.


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