One thing about your substrate: using a KH buffering shrimp substrate, isn't really required or recommended for Neocaridina, as they need some KH hardness in their water. You could always add some Aragonite to make up for the KH deficiency.

Hi @Pwilly07 ; tank looks great - 20 gallon just for shrimp would be amazing.

To my mind you have everything ticked off:
- cholla wood
- java moss

Though looking at the photo - do you need the heater? Tank would look better and I believe shrimp will be healthier at lower temps.

Good luck with it.


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I think your tank looks to be off to a great start. My main advice would be the longer you let it run before adding shrimp, the better. Besides the nitrogen cycle we concern ourselves with in fish tanks, when keeping shrimp, we are trying to establish a good growth of biofilm and various film algae that make up most of their diet. If I may nitpick one thing out of Gramp's good advice:I agree that it isn't required or recommended for Neocaridina shrimp, but I would not add seashells or aragonite. That is just going to overwork and shorten the lifespan of your substrate. Either let the soil remove the carbonates or don't use soil. I do not find that Neos require a testable level of KH. My own are breeding in 4 tanks using aqua soil and remineralized RO/DI with 0 dKH and 6/7 GH. It may not hit the targets that the care sheets suggest but I promise the shrimp don't care! I am also of the mind that the heater is completely optional. They get awfully cold in my outdoor pond in the winter and if they can live below 40 for months at a time, I cannot imagine you'll have problems dipping to around 60. I think you'd lose plants to cold temps before temperate shrimp from China.

Well yeah if the tank is of a size that it doesn't change temperature rapidly like a 10 or 5 gallon, then a small temperature holding heater wouldn't hurt. I'm running a 25 watt in my 10 gallon Neo shrimp tank because we often dip to the mid 50's in our house at night in winter. It varies down to about 68, but I'll see averages of about 70-ish most days.

I run full covers on all of my home aquariums since we heat with wood.

I like it!

Is the tank to be viewed from both sides or just one? If it's both, I would personally move the vallis and sword over to the left-hand side, add the spider wood to that side too, and move the filter and heater over to that side, space permitting.

I'd have the smaller plants around the bottom of the wood and perhaps rocks. I'd probably add more crypts too, but they're just my go-to species. Dwarf hairgrass will look lovely in there.

Honestly though, it's your tank and what I'd do doesn't matter <a href="https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/images/PlantedTank_net_2015/smilies/tango_face_grin.png" border="0" alt="" title="Big Grin" >:-)</a> even if you did absolutely nothing else to it, I think it's nice now and will be even nicer once the plants have grown in a bit.

Oh and on heaters, I'd probably keep one in there to ensure temps stay fairly stable, even if it's set much lower than you would suit tropical fish. It would also help avoid the dreaded "crypt melt" too. Then again, it depends on the ambient temperature in your home/work at night - I live in a stone flat built in the early 1800s with drafty windows, so it's probably much cooler at night than a temp-controlled modern building.

Edited to add: If the tank's only meant to be viewed from the side shown, then I really like the small hill on the right-hand side. A wall of vallis at the back, with bushes of mixed plants and wood on either side and an emptier plain in the middle (maybe with a hairgrass carpet?) would look great too.

I'm just a n00b as far as shrimp raising or as a 'scaper.


But as a lifelong DIY aquarium tech experimenter, I like seeing DIY LED solutions like your tank lights. I think you may find that two of those double foam filters are probably more than enough filtration, as shrimp tend to be quite low on the bioload scale. I like powering mine with a tiny, DC voltage powerhead, keeps the natural CO2 levels slightly higher.

One thing about your substrate: using a KH buffering shrimp substrate, isn't really required or recommended for Neocaridina, as they need some KH hardness in their water. You could always add some Aragonite to make up for the KH deficiency.

The other comment about heaters probably is justified, *if* your house can be counted on to stay above 70 degrees. I would keep the heater in just as a fallback and set it at 70~72 degrees.