200 Days Later: My Thriving Walstad Method Cherry Shrimp Tank!

[@user-bj9nw5wf5n]

This is probably one of my favorites out of all your tanks, I love following it’s progress and am hoping to try a tank like this out for myself next year.

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

Its a great little project mate, one of my friends is setting one up for his little girl right now and I'm giving them some yellow neocaridina to get them started onces its ready :)

[@JarMaster]

Great video, tank goods great! self sustaining systems are fascinating

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

Cheers mate, got alot more planned like this for next year :)

[@bigrededdy]

love your videos, keep it up mate

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

Cheers mate :) Glad people enjoy them.

[@bigrededdy]

@ i’m dying to do a few more smaller tanks like this for Neos, but the wife isn’t budging!

[@bradferguson4943]

Always appreciate the references to peer reviewed research that sometimes challenges conventional wisdom.

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

I always try to link to stuff when I can mate :)

[@GupPi_3.14]

Wtg great work

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

Cheers mate :)

[@stevegee8010]

The algae wafers may be helping, as they contain calcium and magnesium.

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

oooo thats a good shout mate, didnt even think of that. I will probably stick with the algae wafers as shrimp food moving forward then or at least the bulk of their food that I add.

[@railfe_]

My goals :)

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

Its a great little project mate, would recommend this type of tank to anyone in the hobby!

[@railfe_]

@@GlassBoxDiaries got a 2 month old dirted tank. Just added some yellow neos a couple of weeks ago and moved the schooling fish to a bigger tank. Kepts the cories and 1 panda garra. Let see if they breed :) Havent tried the no filter yet.

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

@@railfe_ Sounds awsome mate, the plants for my next dirted tank should be delivered tomorrow so hoping to get it built over the coming day or two :)

[@ikanpari24]

do you clean the brown algae on the side? cherry shrimps don't graze on them right?

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

I only clean the front pannel, I leave the side and back as some of the babies seem to graze on it from time to time but the adults just ignore it.

[@user-bj9nw5wf5n]

Shaun, I was wondering what camera equipment and editing software you use for your videos, I’m hoping to start my own fishkeeping channel soon, and you are a huge inspiration for me so I’d appreciate some advice.

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

It's just my iPhone and the free version of CapCut mate. I knocked my old camera over when it was on its tripod and broke it so just slumming it for now. Let me know if you start a channel though mate, always interested in learning from other people :)

[@user-bj9nw5wf5n]

Thanks so much, do you have any other advice that could help, I know this is a very niche hobby, but I want to share my fishkeeping knowledge and experience with others.

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

@@user-bj9nw5wf5n If you want to be a full-time content creator you have to put full time hours into it, often for a long time without making any money. Also, the clues in the name, if you want to be a content creator, you have to make content. I have a bunch of friends in different niches who are “going to be KZbinrs” but havent uploaded their first video yet and they have been saying it for years… Its only getting harder too so the best time to start is now, even if your first videos are terrible, its all part of the process. Be as authentic as possible and grow an audience specific to you. In the age of AI, a lot of people watch videos because of you and your specific journey, not the subject of your video. If you are considering using any front end AI checkout the comments section on the AI content video last week on the Prime Time Aquatics channel. Alot of publishers see AI as a short cut but its starting to get more and more push back. One of my friends grew a channel to 500k subs in the motivation niche using AI voice and images then KZbin demonitized him without notice and I think that's going to be more common place like the text to speech Reddit thread spam from a couple of years back. Theres no point trying to be a MD Fishtanks, Aquarium Co-Op, or Fish4Ever clone, it might help you in the short term but you need your own audience that are interested in the stuff you do in your fish room but you can pick up things from the bigger channels to help you grow your own. Theres plenty to be learned from smaller channels too, I love the style and framing of the @BioLilianne channel but I dont think it would work well in my current setup but its in my notes of something to improve on. Avoid the groups that like and comment on each others videos, it can actually hold you back. Modern KZbin is about CTR and view retention. Having a couple of people click your video, like it, leave a comment, and move onto the next video before they get to the 30 second point may do more harm than good. Show your mistakes and own them, it's only a failure if you don't learn from it and it can help your audience avoid the mistake in their tanks. A lot of the fish keeping videos I watch are for entertainment/escapism, similar to TV, rather than to actually learn something so random stuff you think may not work can still do well. Churn the videos out and try to get 1% better each time, you should be embarrassed by videos you made 3 months ago as it shows how much you have developed. Scale horizontally across multiple platforms rather than vertically on a single platform. The majority of the content I post on other platforms is just copy and paste from KZbin but it does ok. Something I have learned recently when talking to brands about sponsorships is that you get higher UGC sponsorship rates if you are on camera rather than having a faceless channel, sometimes as much as double the retainer fee. KZbin is still terrible at segmenting your traffic and showing long-form, short-form, and lives to the right people and it can cause problems. An argument can definatley be made for sticking to one content format during your growth phase. Depending on your situation, paying someone on Fiverr to make your thumbnails may be worth it but its something I want to move away from soon. An AI editor tool like Gling can save you an insane amount of time considering its about $10 per month.

[@user-bj9nw5wf5n]

@@GlassBoxDiaries Wow, thank you for all the advice, this means a lot and I really appreciate the guidance. Cheers!

[@naturalaquariums76]

Love the setup mate! Their colors really look stunning on the Java moss 🍀

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

Cheers mate, yea they look great on the deep green but that ones called Christmas Moss, looks slightly different to Java Moss :)

[@naturalaquariums76]

@ never heard of Christmas moss - will check that out for my tanks 🤘

[@muizacetheadorable5319]

4th comment

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

Cheers mate :)

[@raysgadgetsandprojects1734]

Nice setup. I have 6 armano shrimp but very rarely see them so thinking of getting maybe 10 orange or yellow cherry schrimp.

[@GlassBoxDiaries]

Cheers mate, some of my Amanos seem to hide a lot while others are out all the time. Cheery shrimp will be a great addition though, and they breed quickly so you get a lot of them to watch :)

[@stevegee8010]

It's a shame amanos are a pain to breed - I'm sure we'd have solid coloured ones by now otherwise.