Questions regarding Bamboo shrimp....

[Karackle]

Well, I have a fair few questions, I'll try to make them brief and clear, please stick with me!

I've become interested in adding a couple bamboo shrimp to my zoo as i've become rather fascinated by these very cool little critters to, they seemed really cool from discussions and then I saw some at my LFS and i think i stood in front of the tank staring at them for about 15 minutes because they're so cool! Anyway, I know that they need good water flow so my 5 gallon is probably out, but I want to know if they would work in my 20 gallon and in the Paludarium I am working on constructing for my gecko. (A paludarium, for those who don't know, is a tank/enclosure that is part land, part water, I'm building mine in a 60 gallon hex tank)

Paludarium: Will have about 6 gallons of water and a waterfall, so I am assuming with the waterfall there will be enough flow for them to filter feed, but is that enough water volume for at least 2 of them? The paludarium is nearly complete and should be up and running in 1-2 weeks.

20 gallon:
Well planted, HOB filter,
Inhabitants:
3 female bettas
4 mollies
2 Guppies
3 Zebra danios
1 Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami
1 Chinese Algae eater (~1.5")
1 Clown Pleco (~1.5")

My questions for this tank are:

1) Can I "fit" like 2 bamboo shrimp in here? Or will it be too much bioload?

2) Should I be worried about anybody attacking the shrimp? (Everyone seems to get along really well in the tank, the Bettas and Gourami which I know can be kind of agressive species are pretty docile)

3) Should I wait until the Paludarium is completed before adding shrimp to the 20 gallon in case they don't get along with my fish they'll have somewhere else to go? OR would they do ok with 1 VERY docile male Betta in my 5 gallon for a week or so until the Paludarium is complete and ready for inhabitants?

As always, thanks in advance!!!

 

[Purrbox]

My gut instinct is that the paludarium is your best bet for a home for those shrimp. The 20 gallon has a lot of fish that could potentially go after them.

 

[patryuji]

I would think you will have to "supplement" food for the bamboo shrimp(s) in any of those tanks.

Definite no on the 5gallon.

Maybe on the 20 gallon.

Not sure how many microorganisms will grow within 6 gallons of water in the paludarium. Will the gecko go into the water hoping for a snack?

I believe in the minimal case people will have a single bamboo shrimp in a planted 29 (or 30) gallon tank and not worry about starvation. In my 29 planted (from several years ago) I had to supplement food as it would scavenge in the substrate on occassion.

 

[Karackle]

Thanks for the responses! No, I don't think the gecko will be going into the water, i did think of that It's a crested gecko and they're not big water lovers.

My 20g tank is well established, but i'm also happy to supplement food, so that's not a problem either, i am worried they might get attacked by some of the fish in that tank though.

I'll have to think about all of these things i suppose

thanks again!!!