New RCS tank

[Wufghi88]

Hi,

Welcome to the Shrimpside!

Be careful about the dwarf shrimp and the Cherry shrimp.

I actually have that combo at the moment. But... it boils down to a problem with the filter feeder needing lots to filter and the shrimp preferring it pretty clean, with stuff to scavenge.

One wants the food on the ground and the other wants it in the water, and if you have both it can make for a dirty/toxic tank. So you just have to be careful.

RCS like when you don't over clean their tank. They need bio film on the glass and rocks and other stuff. Food particles to scavenge. So lots of plants /moss are excellent for "cleaning" up/using up the stuff the shrimp can't have in their water!!!

Other tips,

don't use flaked food in a shrimp tank, often causes ammonia spike when over fed.

I use Hikari Shrimp Cuisine and lately Crab cuisine. Cuddlebone. And most all other kinds of food by Hikari and a couple others I feed my fish and recently started with tiny amounts of fresh steamed veggies

Feed tiny amounts/don't over feed I was told to think of the fish/or shrimp stomach being the size of its eye. That is a very small amount. They need established tank for the bio film to establish, and also will feed of plants biofilm too. You can feed them tiny amounts a couple times a day.

Don't over clean the tank

A couple red Ramshorn snails unless you are not a snail person much, then a Nerite (although females can lay eggs in your tank). Some people dislike that very much. I have two females and they can lay a lot of eggs it is annoying at times but I like the snails more than I care about the eggs.

Get a magnifying glass to see little tiny things like eggs/berries, baby shrimp, minute shrimplet eyes when they are berries. Very fun.

Amano shrimp can be aggressive towards food and I have also had them in with my shrimp population, BUT I think the tank had a higher number of baby shrimp growing up when the Amanos were NOT in the tank...as in I think maybe they snacked on them. Just a thought.

I would get the population thriving and then add micro Rasboras (if you wanted them) or other things as many fish creatures would eat the tiny baby shrimp, and you wouldn't see a nice rise in population like in a "shrimp only" tank.

Enjoy!

Hey autumnsky thanks so much for all the info!!!!!! I can't wait to get my RCS!!! Lol the ghosts are doing great!! They have molted already so I think that tank will support RCS beautifully !!

 

[Demonknight]

quick question on the cuddle bone, its a calcium supplement correct? if thats the case would oyster/clam shells work as well? Have tons of them around (BIG seafood area)

 

[jwh0818]

quick question on the cuddle bone, its a calcium supplement correct? if thats the case would oyster/clam shells work as well? Have tons of them around (BIG seafood area)

Yes but you need to boil them to get rid of any bad bacteria or parasites. I would do clam or just throw a bit of cruched coral in. I think the cuddle bone is better

 

[Demonknight]

oh yeah.. I boil/bake everything (well almost) before it goes into the tank..

 

[jwh0818]

oh yeah.. I boil/bake everything (well almost) before it goes into the tank..

Id stick with clam shells over oyster shells becuase clam shells arent as sharp

 

[Fresh2o]

quick question on the cuddle bone, its a calcium supplement correct? if thats the case would oyster/clam shells work as well? Have tons of them around (BIG seafood area)

That is a good question and hopefully the veteran shrimpers will chime in.
I think the cuttlebone will raise the calcium level without impacting the pH as much as oyster shell (I may be wrong on this).

 

[aluka]

clam and oyster shells will increase the ph, which is not good for your shrimps.