Jump to content

Ohaple's Beginner Shrimp Tanks


ohaple

Recommended Posts

Hello,

I have recently started working towards keeping shrimp. We keep other terrestrial invertebrates (isopods, mantises, and cockroaches) and thought that shrimp would pose an interesting new challenge.

With our mantises, we have focused on bioactive vivariums that include a cleanup crew, microfauna, and plants. That isn't the norm for mantises, but it is almost a necessity in the shrimp-keeping hobby from what I have seen. We intend to take the same approach, including heavily planted tanks, shrimp, snails, and possibly some mosquito rasboras if we are able to establish our shrimp well.

I have some experience with aquariums through helping my dad, who has had several freshwater and saltwater aquariums. That said, shrimp are completely new to us.

My goal is to establish two shrimp tanks, a 7 gallon and a 1 gallon. I understand that smaller is harder.

7-Gallon Tank

  1. Started with the Imagitarium 6.8g rimless tank from Petco.
  2. Modified the filter system to include more biomedia and a more powerful water pump.
  3. Using Eco-Complete for substrate since it is widely recommended for planted tanks and shrimp look better on dark substrate from what I read.
  4. Using Mopani wood as our primary hardscape. We soaked it for several days prior to adding to the tank, but it continues to leech some tannins.
  5. We are trying to stay fairly focused on plants, especially in the beginning. No CO2, but we are dosing ferts and Excel. Our plants include:
    1. Bacopa as a background plant.
    2. S. repens as a mid-ground sort of plant. I plan on letting it create bushes more than creating a carpet.
    3. Micro-sword for a foreground carpeting plant.
    4. Anubias nana for mid-ground/background.
    5. I would like to add a little dwarf water lettuce but haven't yet found a source.
    6. Our plants are notably lacking moss, which I read is preferred for shrimp. We may end up adding a little java moss but I am hoping the micro-sword will give them enough surface area to be happy.
  6. Once cycled, we will be adding shrimp. We are likely going to get blue velvets, starting with 10-15. Once the shrimp are added, the fish will be moving out.

To start out, we are working on cycling the tank. We used some stuff from an established aquarium and added Safestart+ to kickstart the bacteria. Keeping the tank at about 78F with a few Zebra Danios and two mystery snails to keep ammonia going while the bacteria gets established. We are dosing Prime and doing daily water changes to keep the temporary inhabitants happy. It was started about a week and a half ago, and while we aren't seeing ammonia dissipate like we want, it is steadily working. We don't plan to add shrimp until we have 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrite.

Here are some photos of the process and where we are now:

First setup, keeping plants in as we get the hardscape ready

KkAU2Nkl.jpg

After setting up wood and the rest of the plants

uMweGAvl.jpg

1-Gallon Tank

  1. Started with a one gallon vivarium style container from Michael's
  2. Originally planned on it being a no-tech tank, but decided I would be happier with some water movement and filtration. I designed a custom water pump sponge filter.
  3. Used Eco-Complete for Substrate
  4. Using Malasian driftwood for hardscape.
  5. Sticking to fewer plants for this build to stay more organized.
    1. Monte carlo planted in substrate for carpet, and a monte carlo mat to cover up the filter.
    2. A little bush of s. repens.
    3. A small bit of anubias nana.
    4. Would like to add a floating plant, but havent been able to source any.
  6. Once cycled, I will be adding shrimp. Planning on 5 RCS or orange rili to start.

Cycling this tank has been much harder so far. We added some Safestart+, but have not seen any real progress yet. I am keeping two small nerite snails in here to create the ammonia, feeding them since algae hasn't established. This tank will be much more of a custom project for us. I designed and built a 1"x2"x3" large water pump sponge filter to help the water stay a little more clear and give the bacteria some flow to process the ammonia. For the lid, we are also going completely custom, designing an acrylic and wood lid with built in lighting and containment for floating plants. We have a laser cutter and CNC so it is fun to have the lid be a separate design project. My goal with the lights is to have too much light available, and the ability to dim. That way we can grow the plants but turn down to reduce algae problems as needed. This tank will eventually go on my desk at work. Since it is a pretty professional environment, it is important that this tank isn't noisy or technical looking, and is attractive for client meetings in my office. There is a rather small available footprint which is why we went with the 1-gallon, even though it will be more challenging. So far, it looks like we are getting a little nitrite, but its slow going. Doing daily water changes and dosing Prime so we don't kill off the snails.

Here is the custom filter. The sponge media goes in the acrylic cage, and water is pushed out the grated hole. It fits neatly behind the driftwood and is not visible except from directly in the back. The top is covered in a monte carlo mat to hide it better.

guPAAKJl.jpg

Q22WAT7l.jpg

Here it is set-up and slowly cycling. We are temporarily using a CFL hood for the light to keep the plants going well. It also raises the water temperature to about 75F, not very high for establishing bacteria.

Gjv8XaDl.jpg

t3PwKNVl.jpg

 

I already received some good advice from @jayc regarding how the temperature needed for Zebra Danios is lower than the recommended temperature to get bacteria growing quickly. I am hopeful that with some patience and careful monitoring, the danios will stay healthy and the bacteria will get going. I have read many articles about fish/fishless cycling and do not plan to change to fishless for this build.

Any comments or advice appreciated. We are taking it slow, but are getting excited for cycling to complete so we can start adding shrimp.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • Subtlefly
      Science fish has the water results 25/11/23 PH 7.4 Ammonia 0.0 Nitrite 0.0 Nitrate 10 ppm Hardness 70 Carb Hardness 3 Thanks all and have a great day
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Those are some great shrimp and the tank look awesome! The tiger shrimp are between neocaridina and caridina when it come to ease and toughness. They should be fine in the neocaridina tank until you are ready to transfer them to their new home. You may need to drip acclimate them when transferring them if the water parameters of the 2 tanks are different and I would just transfer a couple to start just to check as it hasn't been running for long. Also make sure you have finished with the additives/chemicals (especially ammonia) you are using before adding any shrimps, apart from bacter ae which is ok as I use regularly anyway and the tank is set up and running as it will be regularly, light time etc.. Being a small tank anyway you don't want to risk throwing the balance out by adding too many shrimps in one go at the very start. You may want to decide on one or other of the filters as you don't need 2 and are making extra work for yourself, but if you decide to remove 1, leave the sponge in the tank for a few weeks for the bacteria balance not to crash etc. From the way you have set it up the tank probably is cycled but there won't be much for the shrimp to graze on yet (another good reason to just do a couple for now). Be very cautious about using plant fertilizers, I know you don't have soil substrate, but I would try NO ferts from the start as the shrimp waste etc will be a source of fert. If you later find you do need fertilizer then be VERY cautious and use as little as you can get away with, but I suspect you snouldn't need any when you have the tank with enough shrimps in it. Aside from that you don't want the plants to grow quickly anyway in a small aquarium as that just makes a lot more work and disturbance. When dosing bacter ae (or any powder, inc food) I use a wood matchstick or similar, dip that quickly half a cm or cm in the water, then put it into the bacter ae, shake excess off and then swirl the matchstick in the tank, this way you don't get too much in the tank and it gets spread around more, and is just the easiest way all round. I would add 2 or 3 shrimps and if all goes ok for a week then transfer the remainder? Maybe do a 50%+ water change first because of all the stuff you have been using to get everything started? Good luck and i'll keep my fingers crossed!
    • Aqua67
      Does anyone keep tiger Caridina shrimp on inert substrate successfully?   I’m 1 week in to cycling a new 3.5 gallon aquarium for 5-10 super tiger shrimp.  I’m using plantable (small pebble) inert substrate which I sprinkled with Bacter AE when I set it up.  I’ve also mixed some Bacter AE with tank water and added it to the aquarium.  Three tiny ramshorn snails are now in the aquarium. I’m so anxious to add some tigers that right now are being kept with my neocaridina in a tank that is a couple of years old. Despite the tank being so small, I’ve added a separate tiny nano sponge filter and tiny air pump, in addition to the existing HOB filter with a course sponge over the intake, ceramic rings and the filter cartridge (right now with the carbon it came with - I usually slice the filter and shake all of the carbon out in all of my tanks), plus some old dirty filter floss from one of my established aquariums.  I couldn’t fit all of the filter material I took into the little HOB filter, so I do have a piece of dirty filter floss just sitting in the aquarium also. There is already many botanicals, some covered in thick fungus/biofilm, which have been soaking in the water for the full week.  That includes catappa bark and leaf, an oak leaf, casuarina cone, alder cone.  There is a lot of plants, although not the stem/rooted kind.  There is a small bolbitis herteroclita, a could tiny windelov ferns, a rosette sword that stays small, a coconut moss covered arch, a rock covered in moss, and a piece of cholla wood covered in black pearl Bruce which had been sitting in an established tank for several months.  One Thrive fertilizer table is sitting under the sword plant and a small dose of Flourish Excel was added which probably bumped up my TDS some. I’ve added a few drops of household ammonia last week but checked the next day and never had any ammonia reading when I tested.  Now I don’t want to add any more ammonia because the ingredients on the bottle indicate added “fragrance” which I don’t think is good for my aquarium.   I have been added Stability from the start in addition to the Quick Start.  There is no algae growing in the tank yet, but I have left the 6500K lights on 24/7 over this past week.  I realize this may have slowed some bacterial growth initially. TDS this morning was around 165 and I did a small water change to bring it back down to 150. I am so anxious to begin to add some tiger shrimp to the new little aquarium.  I did a similar process with my neocaridina back when I first acquired them and my tank was about a week old when I added the bloody Mary’s and I suffered no losses.  Might I be as lucky with Caridina Cantonensis? Thanks for reading my post.  I attached some pics of the subject shrimp currently living in my neo tank and my new little empty aquarium.  
    • jayc
      @beanbag,  Anything that is likely shrimp safe is probably not going to harm these "Shell bugs" either. Have you tried anything that is not safe for shrimps, but in super low doses? That might kill the shell bugs but not the shrimp.   Here are some meds, USE WITH CAUTION and only in a hospital tank for experimentation of this specific case, namely, to find something that will kill "Shell Bugs". Trichlorfon/Dylox is useful for treatment of: Hydra, Lernia (Anchor Worms), Parasitic Copepods, Monodigenetic and Digenetic Flukes, Fish Lice (Argulus), Leeches.   Malachite Green - has some use in controlling protozoan parasites. Might work in this case too. Formalin - targets similar parasites like MG above. Often used in combination with MG.   Copper sulfate products - like Cupramine. For treatment of freshwater and marine ich (Cryptocaryon), Oodinium, external parasites, fungus, shimmy, and even algae (especially in ponds).    Kordon's Fish Therapy Bath - use of citrus oils (oils include citrus, neem, and lavender oils) to treat termites, fleas, etc. Lavender Oil also has repellent abilities. Neem oil is reported to be effective as an insecticide as well as some anti-inflammation properties, anti-fungal and limited anti-bacterial.     A lot of meds target bacterial symptoms, so I have avoided listing them above.  Good luck, and remember - Don't treat the main tank with this. Only use these meds in a hospital tank. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry to hear you are still having this issue! You could try another aquarium but I would keep everything new and seperate so it will be a slow process. I would get new shrimps for it as well when it is ready! My 'incident' with the heater caused the new trial to not work and I don't really know why to this day? I don't think there was anything wrong with the setup or tank, it worked before the incident well and I used all new stuff except the tank. It has put me off trying again so that tank is still empty and I keep looking at it thinking I should try again (then I think of what that involves), but after the last attempt failing for some unknown reason I can't get the incentive to try again as it is such a long, expensive, time consuming process which may just fail again! It is very frustrating, as you know, when you can't work out why it fails and everything seems 'ideal'.  My betta is doing well and has some red cherry shrimps in with him and a friend gave me some small slightly blue snails and they are breeding wildly, so that tank is doing very well! Good luck and hopefully you'll keep us informed/updated.    
×
×
  • Create New...