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I started Taiwan Bees in a 15L tank (12L actual shrimp tank), so was under 30cm and had no problems. As JayC says RO water remineralised is important with Caridina shrimp. They are a lot more sensitive than neocaridina. The 'problem' with a small tank as I found out, is that if it works you will soon be over-run with shrimps as I had about 100 in about 3 months or so, from putting about 10 adult shrimp in the tank. It may be worth thinking about a different tank from the start as it will save a lot of work/time/money in the long run? If you do think about a change of tank I would go with one which has more horizontal space than height, as shrimps spend most time wandering at the bottom of the tank so the height is unnecessary and a bit of a waste when the same capacity can give you more base area. Looking forward to hearing how t all goes. Simon

I started out with a 30cm tank, and it's my only shrimp tank, started of about November with Neo's and added a few Taiwan bee's, king kong, wine reds, pinto's and blue Bolts around feburary, my Neo's have multiplied, but given many away, and finally giving most away, leaving only cardinia, my water seems ok, since many of my cardinia are still here, and my Taiwan bee have berries, shrimplets should come any time. I think you should be prepared to spend money, for me I have a HOF, CO2, water cooler and the right light, i'm intend to change the current substrate from ADA to the PB, but have to wait for the Taiwan bee to have shrimplets.

Having multiple tanks and a tank rack may be where you want to go eventually but that is probably for the future? If you want to test out the cardina you may want to go the route I did in that having a mix of shrimps colour and pattern in one tank is certainly more interesting to look at than 10 tanks with single/pattern, and I keep getting new ones that I didn't have before, even the boss should like them!!!!! It is obviously a lot cheaper and takes up a lot less time and space as well. I got the 35L dennerle scapers tank (used 3L of substrate) and it is 40cm x 32cm x 28cm and it has 28L of water (my measuring jug is a cheap one so maybe inaccurate, but the tank isn't filled to the brim and stuff in the tank takes up some space). It would give you an extra 10cm x 32cm (plus 2cm x 30cm) which to shrimps is quite a lot, not that I am saying you should necessarily get this tank but just as an example of how less height (which isn't needed for shrimps) in a tank can make a lot of difference to the floor area of a 'similar' capacity tank, but you may think it is too much money for such a small increase, but obviously there is a whole range of other tank choices out there.I assume you would use the heater/light/filter etc from the old tank if you weren't going too much larger? And, of coarse, you can just stick with the tank you have and that should still work out fine for a starter/tester tank? If you want to see the mix then just click on gallery/New images and scroll down. You should show the boss and I a sure it will swing it in your favour! I don't think you should have any problems with caridina if you are sticking with remineralised RO water and proper shrimp products from the very start. It took me years to get to where I am now but I think ALL the problems I had were because I was trying to use 'tapwater', as soon as I started with RO remineralised no problems whatsoever. Any other specifics/question feel free to ask away. Simon

Good advice from our new mod