Zooplankton

[Disciple]

Hello SKFer's,

 

I have been doing a bit of reading over night and I have become quite interested in learning more about Zooplankton in our shrimp tanks. I want to learn a lot more about how to keep them happy and how to incorporate that into my current weekly tank maintenance schedule.

 

I was hoping some members could help point me in the right direction.

 

Or is it as simple as making your WP good and they will just start to appear? Since My tank is still currently cycling I would like to get a colony of zooplankton to behind before I start introducing shrimp.

 

Am I one step ahead? do I need plankton first? lol

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Disciple

[kizshrimp]

I have kept daphnia in tanks before, sometimes they do well and others not so well. Obviously they need to eat, and keeping up a source of food for them is tricky. They like bacterial blooms and green water both of which are sucked up by filters - as are the daphnia if you're not careful. I think the same problems extend to other zooplankton. 

 

Seed Shrimp are probably the best thing for the job as they like to live in shrimp tanks anyway, and graze fixed algaes rather than filter feed like daphnia. 

[fishmosy]

Agree with kizshrimp. Aquarium filters by nature remove pelagic phytoplankton and zooplankton from the water column, so the only 'zooplankton-like' organisms that are found exist on surfaces (i.e. They are benthic), the example being seed shrimp. If wanting to grow zooplankton for your shrimp, you will need to grow phytoplankon and the zooplankton in dedicated setups. It may be mostly a waste of time though as the zooplankton is likely to just end up in your filter rather than the shrimps bellies. The only exception may be for filter feeding shrimp such as riffles, but even then BBS are an easier option.

My feeling is that mosses and other complex structures will hide a wide variety of organisms that shrimp might feed on, hence IMO mosses are basically essential in shrimp aquaria. The question is, how do these organisms come to colonise the moss and how can we manipulate the process so that there is a ready supply of these organisms?

One option is to have a moss refugium. If I was going to do this, I would set up an aquarium outside, covered to prevent insects getting in. In that aquarium I would have a series of tiles/plates/wood with moss attached. I would add water to that aquarium from a pond or nearby creek so that the mosses would become colonised with organisms from the creek/pond, ensuring of course that the water did not contain large nasties like snails and their eggs, fish larvae or eggs, insect eggs or larvae, ect. Filtering the water through a 100-200 micron mesh should do the trick, but still allow our desired micro-organisms through. Then I would rotate the moss between the refugium and my tanks containing shrimp.

In fact, a moss refugium without adding water from creeks/ponds would probably be enough to allow the population numbers of the microorganisms time to recover between feedings by the shrimp.

And if you wanted to be supertricky, you could plumb a moss refugium directly to your shrimp tank to provide a continuous inflow of microorganisms, the same way refugiums are used in marine setups to provide phytoplankton and zooplankton to the main aquarium.

Edited March 31, 2015 by fishmosy

[northboy]

As Ben said.

 

The only time I have raised plankton in numbers is in bare tanks and feeding the plankton with Yeast or something like that, shrimp wont like that at all because its a boom and bust cycle with the Zoo plankton and the water quality changes with it, you feed it enough to get it going with out sending the tank bad, OH should say NO filter just a air stone, then when it slows down you water change half and hit it again and if you are slack for more than a day it all over and start again.

If you start to get a die off its a 90% water change and wait for it to kick off.

 

Not a easy one, but that is not to say don't try it, what works for one may not work for another, as water is so different and is every ones tank keeping is so different

 

Bob

[Disciple]

Thanks for the explanations Kiz, Ben and Bob.

 

I seems there is a whole lot more for me to look up and learn about. It does not seem like I will be able to incorporate something into my current tank but I like the idea of a Moss refugium. Just got to think of a way to sneak another tank in the house lol.

 

It seems a lot more complicated then I was thinking. I just thought if I could get a colony established in my cycling tank it would give my shrimp another source of food especially future shrimplets but from what bob has mentioned to keep a colony of zooplankton going maybe not be compatible for shrimp. Always good to understand these things. Thanks again guys.

[northboy]

Hi Mate

 

The water conditions are way to different for the shrimp to be happy, but there will always be some zoo plankton in your tank and as Ben said moss, so if you can put some moss from an old  long established tank there will be some sort of zoo plankton in it to kick start your tank.

 

The types of Zooplankton number in the hundred's of  thousands and some of the plankton are shrimp, although a little higher up the scale.

If you have even a slight interest in zoo plankton, get you self a microscope and have a look, its unreal what is even in you tank and talk to Ben he plays with that stuff all the time.

 

 

Bob

[fishmosy]

If interested in microorganisms that can be found amongst mosses, google tardigrade or water bears. Amazing little creatures.

[fishmosy]

And rotifers are pretty amazing too. These were the first microorganisms I saw under a microscope and I've liked them ever since.

[Grubs]

 I just thought if I could get a colony established in my cycling tank it would give my shrimp another source of food especially future shrimplets.

 

True zooplankton that live in the water includes minute animals like rotifers, daphnia, seed shrimp, copepods and even larval shrimp.  People culture these tiny organisms as first food for fish fry and corals ... but they are not really the sort of food that most shrimp are eating.   Most shrimp are feeding on the bacteria, fungi, algae and animals in the biofilm that grows on the surfaces of the substrate, glass, wood, etc (the benthic animals fishmossy referred to).  The zooplankton you commonly see in your shrimp tanks like seed shrimp and copepods you might see on the glass are eating the same biofilm.  So these animals are not really shrimp food... they are more like room mates.

 

The biofilm isn't removed by your filter, it occurs inside the tank on every surface - you dont need a refugium.  Promoting biofilm is very easy (just imagine a filthy neglected tank)...but often not what we want to look at.  A good idea though is to have a spot where you can put rocks and sticks to accumulate biofilm, and then you can periodically put these into your shrimp tanks and let the shrimp clean them up.  A shallow pond in the garden in a sunny is a great place to grow shrimp food.  I often pull sticks and plants from my pond and put them in the shrimp tanks for a "clean".  The shrimp go nuts over them, they get loads of nutrition from the biofilm that they'll never get from dried prepared foods.

 

Riffle shrimp are the exception because they filter plankton and other particles from the water.  Promoting zooplankton in a refugium to supply a tank of riffle shrimp with a constant rain of food would indeed be a cool thing to set up.

[Disciple]

Yeah I have a some moss that I will bring over from my other tank I am just soaking some drift wood atm and once they are ready I'll tie moss to it and put it into the new tank.

 

I am quite interested, its also good to know more about what other creatures contribute to a healthy tank. maybe down the track I will get myself a microscope but at the moment I am saving up for some more shrimps.

[Shrimpy Daddy]

Hello SKFer's,

 

I have been doing a bit of reading over night and I have become quite interested in learning more about Zooplankton in our shrimp tanks. I want to learn a lot more about how to keep them happy and how to incorporate that into my current weekly tank maintenance schedule.

 

I was hoping some members could help point me in the right direction.

 

Or is it as simple as making your WP good and they will just start to appear? Since My tank is still currently cycling I would like to get a colony of zooplankton to behind before I start introducing shrimp.

 

Am I one step ahead? do I need plankton first? lol

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Next time you come to HK, I will give you a couple bottles of Revive Vita and The Sinewy Cereal S. ;) They are the food source for zooplankton.

 

The Revive Bianco, Revive Colore and The Sinewy Cereal S provide food source for some of the bacteria in the Revive Vita. This complete the whole microbes food chain. ;)

Edited April 1, 2015 by Shrimpy Daddy

[Disciple]

Next time you come to HK, I will give you a couple bottles of Revive Vita and The Sinewy Cereal S. ;) They are the food source for zooplankton.

 

The Revive Bianco, Revive Colore and The Sinewy Cereal S provide food source for some of the bacteria in the Revive Vita. This complete the whole microbes food chain. ;)

 

I am booking my flight now.

 

Shrimpy Daddy thank you for the offer, you are very generous but if I do end up in HK this year I would rather buy these products off you. No offence. You will have to let me take you out for dinner too lol.

[Shrimpy Daddy]

LOL!!! I'm not familiar with HK. How about when you come Japan, I will bring you out for dinner instead.

[Disciple]

I have been planning to go visit my cousin in Osaka around feb/mar next year and take the kids to go see snow. Maybe it would be possible.

[Shrimpy Daddy]

Eh... Osaka has no snow, mate. Go Hokkaido. Usually I'm there during Christmas period.

[Disciple]

Yeah I mean I would visit my cousin first then I would take my family to a ski resort but still in planning stages. lol