Ideal Small FW Shrimp Breeding Tank?

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DarylF2

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 22, 2006
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Location
Lexington Park, MD
I'm thinking of setting up a spare 20L as a shrimp breeding tank, for probably Red Cherry Shrimp and Amano Shrimp.

What types of plants (and thus lighting) are ideal?

Should I have a substrate (i.e., Eco-Complete) or go with a bare bottom?

Should I avoid fish altogether, or are there some fish that can coexist with even baby shrimp? I'm assuming I should completely avoid fish, but would be happy to be proven wrong. What about small snails, such as pond snails or MTS?

Do shrimp, particularly Red Cherry and/or Amano shrimp, eat their own young? Will these two species eat each other's young?

Are there any particular good filters for this setup? Any to avoid?

What can I do to maximize baby shrimp survival?

Anything else I should be aware of?
 
Plants: Yes you should have plants. It gives the baby shrimp a place to hide and a place for algae to grow, which the shrimp happily eat! My shrimp love to climb through moss.

Substrate: If you are going to have plants you should have a substrate. There really isn't a disadvantage with shrimp with having a substrate. I'll let an expert make that decision.

Fish: Just about any fish will eat baby shrimp, no real way around it. You can minimize deaths by keeping smaller fish with the shrimp. My guppies don't even bother with my shrimp. Although the shrimp have yet to breed, there are too many hiding places for the guppies to do a lot of damage to the population.

Snails: Snails are perfectly fine. I wouldn't keep pond snails if you are going to have plants. They'll eat the plants.

Eating young: To my knowledge they do not. Although I could be wrong.

Filters: I really like my AquaClear 20 on my tank. The adjustable flow and cheap sponges are great. You can take an extra sponge, make a slit, and stick the intake tube in it. This will help prevent shrimp from being sucker up. Mine like to sit on the sponge and feed.

Survival: Pleanty of hiding areas for the babies to get away from other predators.

Etc: Amano shrimp NEED salt water for their young to survive. Eventually they can be acclimated to freshwater but the young must have salt water to survive. Kind of a pain but it can be done (there are some good articles out there).

Hopefully I provided correct information and helped answer some of your questions.
 
I don't think that there are any fish that wouldn't eat your baby shrimp. I set up a cherry shrimp breeding tank a while back and the snails took it over. I am about to tear down the entire tank and start over just get rid of all the snails. You might be OK with MTS but not with pond snails or ramshorns.
 
Great advice! Thanks!

I'm getting pretty excited about this tank. I guess I'll buy Amanos for my 38-gallon tank, though, and skip trying to breed them, at least for now.

Breeding Red Cherry Shrimp seems fairly easy, though. I've considered a plants-only tank, and so i think I'm make a plants-and-shrimp-only tank instead. My 20L should be fine for that, I think.

I'll keep it snail-free, though. The particular breed of pond snail in my 38-gallon tank never eats my plants, though, so not all pond snails are damaging to a planted tank. These snails breed horribly quickly, though, and required a pair of (lovely and FUN) Burmese Border Loaches for snail population control (and they've done a terrific job).

Any more suggestions?
 
toddnbacka, just a quick update...

I didn't get my shrimp-only tank set up in time (and its still not set up...), so I put the shrimp into my 20L tank (with 5 Cherry Barbs, 4 Corydoras catfish, 2 Otocinclus catfish, 2 fancy guppies, and 1 Bamboo shrimp). I have a nice bunch of Java Moss in there, so I thought it would be okay, and it was!

The Cherry shrimp arrived in great shape, and have thrived in the tank! And now, to my great surprise and joy, they have bred! I have a number (I've seen 3-4 at a time, so a fair number are probably in there) of tiny, baby shrimp, and they seem to be growing well and are quite healthy!

So, thanks again, toddnbecka! :)
 
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