Penaeus monodon- Tiger Shrimps

[Penaeus]

Hello,
I've tried in the saltwater forum and no luck yet so here goes:
Any advice gladly accepted...
We are currently producing a film about mangrove ecology and biodiversity and are especially concentrating on the mangroves role as a fish nursery area and shrimp hideout. We want to film some shrimp action and figured that the best way is in a tank, essentially we want to make a mangrove setup in two 1 metre long tanks. The live shrimp is not a problem, we have many here in Mozambique, all other raw materials are close to hand. We really need advice on the best way to start up a tank like this, should we be worried about anything? Has anybody done this before?
Thanks,
J

 

[Bearfan]

Is this going to be a permanent setup, or is the goal to film a sequence and re-release the shrimp? The reason I ask is the approach would be much different in terms of filtration and water movement.

***Moving this post to the saltwater section***

 

[Penaeus]

Thanks Bearfan,
The plan is to set up a tank that is permanent but that there will be temporary guests as you suggest above. I would like to create a tank that looks like a mangrove root structure and system and to introduce the shrimps only as long as it takes to film a sequence. Afterwoods the shrimps will be recaptured and grilled with a little peri-peri... only a jest, they will then go back into Maputo Bay. Other introduced species will be Merguia Oligodon (a little climbing shrimp) and various crabs (Uca's and a species of Scylla). None of these are particularly vulnerable to being 'repositioned' for a short time. I am basically keen to have a tank that just will keep on going whether it has a guest or not.
Cheers,
James

 

[Bearfan]

How do you plan on doing the mangrove roots? Will you harvest live root?

 

[Penaeus]

Sorry for the silence....
As I mentioned before we are in Mozambique so all raw materials are close at hand. The root will probably be one of the many bits of dead root that we find here. Some of the species (particularly Ceriops tagal) leave very good root structures which would work well as part of a 'stage set'. I think that trying to manage growing Mangal will be challenging. We do however have another plan to film time lapse of prophagules growing in a glass flask.