Matt_95

Welcome, nice choice with the wilds, what species are you considering?

Welcome! Do you have any photos of your set up?

Welcome Doug have you got any fish yet?

Welcome to the forum, do you have any photos?

Welcome, there are a lot of great resources here :)

In my experience live food definitely makes the dry grow faster.

Welcome to the forum. Have you bought any new fish yet?

The anemone has bleached, make sure you take good care of it and ensure it gets food since it cannot photosythesise.

Actually, one would think the reds are less hardy because they have been inbred here longer, the gene pool in Australia is far smaller than the gene pool overseas. Even though it says that that does not mean it is completely true, how can a substarte be spherically designed to give optimal conditions for two species when the optimal conditions are different for both. You see people using it with them because they also keep crystals with them or because they have been told by someone selling their products that it is best. Many overseas breeders of high quality cherries use the salty shrimp minerals, the Bossaquaria site even recommends that.

They can carry diseases if they're bred in a system with unhealthy fish, some people keep them in sumps or similar and they feed on the fish waste, if there are sick fish in the system the blackworms can transfer them. If you buy them from a reputable source you shouldn't have any problems though.

The other colours are just as hardy as cherries, like cockroaches. I would recommend the salty shrimp Sulawesi minerals over a shrimp substrate because they're designed for soft water shrimp, cherries can live in a wide range of parameters but will do will do better in some conditions than others. I'm not saying that, but those substrates are designed for shrimp that hail from soft water, usually Caridina cantonensis, not Neocaridina heteropoda, they come from harder water than the crystals and you can buffer them with coral chips or the Salty shrimp minerals. The thing that the shrimp substrates would do that those can't is bind heavy metals often present in tap water as they have a lot if carbon compounds that bind them up, IAL and soil will do the same thing.

You've been misinformed, it is not needed or a must for any of the the N. heteropoda varieties, they prefer a neutral to slightly alkaline water and these substrates make the water acidic. They will do well on a normal gravel and tap water is usually fine, I include something to buffer the water such as coral or limestone usually.

If you have cherries you won't want something that drops the PH, they like it more hard. If you are keeping crystals benibachi is the best combined with Salty shrimp minerals.

From what I can see it does look like some sort of fungi, I would just leave it and it should clear up on its own.

Sorry, I completely ignored your question. It shouldn't be fungus on a resin ornament, any chance of a photo? It could be black beard algae, only thing I can think off of the top of my head. Although slime makes my think Cyanobacteria.

It's not an algae, it's a fungus, after a few weeks it is outcompeted by other life forms and goes away.

The deadly scorpions aren't even that bad (comparatively) anyway, you're only at risk if you're young, frail or elderly. The deadly ones come from the genus Centroides, the most famous is the Arizona bark scorpion, Centruroides sculpturatus. Australia has scorpions in the same family, the Buthidae, but they will cause only very intense pain, and they're very small, most being 30mm or so and the largest reaching 50mm. These are mine, Lychas sp. "riverlands" they belong to the Buthidae as well.

It depends what fish you have, I had cherries breeding in my community tank with angels and tetras, as well as some bettas. They didn't multiply as fast as they do alone but they still did well. They hide more as well.

If a scorpiom stimgs you, the best thing to do is nothing, there is no antivenin and no Australian species are dangerous. Some hurt like hell but you won't die. Most spiders aren't dangerous either, it's just some of the Hadronche species and Atrax robustus.

They're native.....

No, the trail ones, would it be possible to get them with 20 000k ones were the 6500K ones are? Or is that too much of a hassle?

Looks great guys, really wish I could come, good luck to everyone!

I think Yan houses pairs together sometimes.

Would there be any chance to get them with the 20 000K instead of the 6 500K LEDS? Or if not will there be an oppurtunity at a later date to get those ones?

The swords should come back, it looks good Paul, only suggestion I have is to move the lotus back a bit so the leaves come out around the wood, although moving an established lotus is no easy feat! I would expect your growth will slow down with the LED lights because there is a lot of blue in there and very little red, I am not sure how it would affect algae although I think algae will adapt to it easier than the plants. It will be interesting to see none the less. I'm hoping it only slow down the plants, so I can leave the tank go longer without trims.... I have something for you next time I see you as well. Looking at Davo's update now they will be more suitable for plants.... Less so for my coral now :(