Shrimp Tank Noobie
Hello! We have a few shrimp (3 Amanos), and a Dwarf Blue Crayfish, in our big tank, and they are doing really well. They are fascinating, and I want to start a high-tech planted tank, and have just shrimp in it! I got quite a few questions, and hope to learn a lot before I jump in.
I plan on going with a 10 Gallon Tank, I'm mostly in the research/planning stage, as I haven't picked up the tank yet. What kind of substrate do you recommend for Shrimp (or what do you find works the best for them?). I was thinking of possibly going with a fine sand, but I don't know how well it will work with plants. What brands are your favorites?
Shrimp I've been looking into:
Black Bee Shrimp/Crystal Black/Crystal Red Shrimp
Cherry Shrimp
I also liked the Blue Jelly shrimps they had on the same website.
Can any of these shrimp coexist together? Are they relatively easy to care for water parameter wise?
Any tips anyone has for someone trying to do my first shrimp tank, would be greatly appreciated!
I plan on going with a 10 Gallon Tank, I'm mostly in the research/planning stage, as I haven't picked up the tank yet. What kind of substrate do you recommend for Shrimp (or what do you find works the best for them?). I was thinking of possibly going with a fine sand, but I don't know how well it will work with plants. What brands are your favorites?
Shrimp I've been looking into:
Black Bee Shrimp/Crystal Black/Crystal Red Shrimp
Cherry Shrimp
I also liked the Blue Jelly shrimps they had on the same website.
Can any of these shrimp coexist together? Are they relatively easy to care for water parameter wise?
Any tips anyone has for someone trying to do my first shrimp tank, would be greatly appreciated!
1 - 15 of 15 Posts
I'll probably start with the Seachem Excel. I would like to eventually get into injected CO2, but the chance of gassing the shrimp scares me a bit. We currently use the liquid fertilizers in our big tank, though I've heard dry fertilizers are much better, especially cost wise.I got that far and stopped.
do you plan on using CO2 and ferts?
We currently have these (liquid form):
Activate-Phosphorus
Propel-Iron
Synthesis-Nitrate, ammoniacal, nitrogen
All of them are Seachem's.
Oh and we also use the Seachem Root Tabs as well.
Low tech tanks really seem better suited to keeping shrimp like CRS because they like soft clean water, with specific TDS levels, and many ferts tend to raise TDS such as K2S04. Also, bee shrimp like 0 or very close to it KH, this is difficult with CO2 because it makes the PH swing wildly with nothing to buffer it.
If I were you and I were keeping Bee shrimp: (I just did this with my 10 restart).
I'd start with ADA Amazonia
add RO water reminirlized to 4-6 GH and 0KH
substrate will put the PH in the right range from there.
TDS should be no higher than 180.
Temp - 74
Let cycle 2 months, once the ammonia is 0 you can add a fish to build up biofilms and such.
Then remove the fish when you add the shrimp.
Ammonia / Nitrate / Nitrite should be 0
Do weekly 10% water changes always with reminirilized RO water, and topoff with pure RO water only.
Oh,.. low light is great, with easy plants like moss, ferns, and easy stems. You can see the one I'm working on in my sig.
HTH,
Whiskey
If I were you and I were keeping Bee shrimp: (I just did this with my 10 restart).
I'd start with ADA Amazonia
add RO water reminirlized to 4-6 GH and 0KH
substrate will put the PH in the right range from there.
TDS should be no higher than 180.
Temp - 74
Let cycle 2 months, once the ammonia is 0 you can add a fish to build up biofilms and such.
Then remove the fish when you add the shrimp.
Ammonia / Nitrate / Nitrite should be 0
Do weekly 10% water changes always with reminirilized RO water, and topoff with pure RO water only.
Oh,.. low light is great, with easy plants like moss, ferns, and easy stems. You can see the one I'm working on in my sig.
HTH,
Whiskey
IMO shrimps belong to a tank by themselves, especially the more fragile species/sub-species, they really don't fit very well with other things. You can add a few snails here and there, but absolutely no fish (except otocinclus), they are also susceptible to many ferts, CO2 fluctuation aren't good for them, and the list goes on
Difficulty wise cherries (blue jellies are just blue cherry shrimps, not that different) are quite easy, and they also come in large numbers so if anything goes wrong you can always grab some more, CRS/CBS need more attention, check out this for CRS/CBS care:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=25115
Difficulty wise cherries (blue jellies are just blue cherry shrimps, not that different) are quite easy, and they also come in large numbers so if anything goes wrong you can always grab some more, CRS/CBS need more attention, check out this for CRS/CBS care:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=25115
I started a shrimp tank recently and to my surprise I spent about a month trying to figure out what is wrong with my tank.
From water perimeters to substrate to tank pest (snails, flat worms, etc). And currently the most annoying thing is the molting issue which I have yet to solve. So with that being said I think you should experiment with the cheaper red cherry shrimps first after your tank cycles
. Imo, the crystal red shrimp did a bit better for me than the cherrys did even though they are said to be easier to care for.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk
From water perimeters to substrate to tank pest (snails, flat worms, etc). And currently the most annoying thing is the molting issue which I have yet to solve. So with that being said I think you should experiment with the cheaper red cherry shrimps first after your tank cycles
. Imo, the crystal red shrimp did a bit better for me than the cherrys did even though they are said to be easier to care for. Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk
Thanks for that advice! I definitely will be cycling it for quite a while, though I might take some water out of the 40L, to get it started a bit quicker. I don't plan on anything other then some shrimp.Low tech tanks really seem better suited to keeping shrimp like CRS because they like soft clean water, with specific TDS levels, and many ferts tend to raise TDS such as K2S04. Also, bee shrimp like 0 or very close to it KH, this is difficult with CO2 because it makes the PH swing wildly with nothing to buffer it.
If I were you and I were keeping Bee shrimp: (I just did this with my 10 restart).
I'd start with ADA Amazonia
add RO water reminirlized to 4-6 GH and 0KH
substrate will put the PH in the right range from there.
TDS should be no higher than 180.
Temp - 74
Let cycle 2 months, once the ammonia is 0 you can add a fish to build up biofilms and such.
Then remove the fish when you add the shrimp.
Ammonia / Nitrate / Nitrite should be 0
Do weekly 10% water changes always with reminirilized RO water, and topoff with pure RO water only.
Oh,.. low light is great, with easy plants like moss, ferns, and easy stems. You can see the one I'm working on in my sig.
HTH,
Whiskey
My current plant list:
Christmas Moss
Java Moss
Anubias Coffefolia
Wysteria
Dwarf Baby Tears
Rotalla
I think most of them aside from the Baby Tears should be able to do fine without CO2. Is the CO2 dosing dangerous for them? (Seachem Excel) Or is it just CO2 on a whole?
Another question (regarding lights), I was initially looking at the AquaticLife T5 HO Dual Lamp 20" 36W fixture, is that going to be wayyyy too much light?
Thanks for that guide! I appreciate it quite a lot!IMO shrimps belong to a tank by themselves, especially the more fragile species/sub-species, they really don't fit very well with other things. You can add a few snails here and there, but absolutely no fish (except otocinclus), they are also susceptible to many ferts, CO2 fluctuation aren't good for them, and the list goes on
Difficulty wise cherries (blue jellies are just blue cherry shrimps, not that different) are quite easy, and they also come in large numbers so if anything goes wrong you can always grab some more, CRS/CBS need more attention, check out this for CRS/CBS care:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=25115
I most likely won't add any snails, just shrimp. They really are quite beautiful and fascinating. Are the Root Tabs safe for them, as long as they are buried?
If you are willing to do the work required to dose heavy ferts, heavy co2 and do heavy water changes while keeping sensitive shrimp, you definitely can. It is quite a bit of work though especially if your tank is large with a high volume of water and EI dosing just adds to it if you ever decide to try that. Better to start with more hardy shrimp like RCS as someone stated earlier. I contend with nitrates and TDS daily. Plants love nitrates, while my shrimp are better off without, so holding a balance of 20ppm takes a ton of testing, for me at least. TDS rises fairly quickly over a weeks time, so a weekly water change is needed along with resetting the abundance of fertilizer that build up over the week. I started with RCS and I am now setting up a 20g long for some CRS which will be in a high tech and heavily planted environment.
That's why I'm hoping starting with a 10 gallon will be a bit easier then going large. I've been doing a lot of research atm, so it's going to definitely be a few months of heavy learning/reading before I go any farther.If you are willing to do the work required to dose heavy ferts, heavy co2 and do heavy water changes while keeping sensitive shrimp, you definitely can. It is quite a bit of work though especially if your tank is large with a high volume of water and EI dosing just adds to it if you ever decide to try that. Better to start with more hardy shrimp like RCS as someone stated earlier. I contend with nitrates and TDS daily. Plants love nitrates, while my shrimp are better off without, so holding a balance of 20ppm takes a ton of testing, for me at least. TDS rises fairly quickly over a weeks time, so a weekly water change is needed along with resetting the abundance of fertilizer that build up over the week. I started with RCS and I am now setting up a 20g long for some CRS which will be in a high tech and heavily planted environment.
Believe it or,not smaller shrimp tanks can be more challenging. Water changes change the chemistry,so much. And easier to over feed and cause water fouling. I have a bunch of 10g, not to bad though. Just saying, smaller tanks require more tlc sometimes
-Chris
-Chris
I've been looking at the ADA Amazonia but it's so expensive :icon_eek:
My current plan is to have a dark substrate throughout the tank, with a creek made of small pebbles running to the back of the tank, with a forest look, in an attempt to create depth. The ADA stuff would set me back over 70 dollars. And I also read it turns to mud after a few years, is this true?
Before the ADA Amazonia suggestion, I was looking at Eco Complete, is that substrate just not going to cut it?
My current plan is to have a dark substrate throughout the tank, with a creek made of small pebbles running to the back of the tank, with a forest look, in an attempt to create depth. The ADA stuff would set me back over 70 dollars. And I also read it turns to mud after a few years, is this true?
Before the ADA Amazonia suggestion, I was looking at Eco Complete, is that substrate just not going to cut it?
Try fluval shrimp stratum. It isn't too expensive, and it works well for me as an active substrate in my red bee tank
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
I picked up the ADA stuff at a website for $30 plus shipping, probably came out to 45 total. It was a 9L bag (Double what I need for my 10G tank).
Whiskey
Whiskey
That's not too bad at all. Just looking on their actual website and a 9L bag is only $30 bucks, which isn't too bad. Petsmart has Eco-Complete at $17 for a 15.6lb bag, but if the ADA stuff is really that superior, I'm assuming it couldn't hurt to go for the ADA.I picked up the ADA stuff at a website for $30 plus shipping, probably came out to 45 total. It was a 9L bag (Double what I need for my 10G tank).
Whiskey
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