Shimp noob help

[Sillyfishies]

I'm planning on breeding a hardy neo species. It's a 10 gallon tank that will be heavily planted. Filter is a 125 GPH Aqueon whisper filter. Ill have a prefilter sponge and lots of filter floss to slow the flow.

How often and what should I feed?
How often do you do waterchanges?
Any special water treatments I need?
Are they sensitive to liquid carbon or ferts?

 

[aluka]

how often depends on how many you have. There are many many types of shrimp food available, there's hikari, Mosura, Borneowild. Best is to include some fresh blanched veggies

Most people do weekly waterchanges, For neos, range from 10%-20%.

You need to pay attention to the gh of your water. Neos needs to gh of at least 4 to molt correctly or you'll have some dying off from molting issues. Use a gh booster like seachem equilibrium (sells on amazon) or salty shrimp gh+

They are not as sensitive to ferts or liquid carbon as other shrimps, but still start slow. Start at 1/4 dose and increase dosage slowly to let them get use to it. I would not double dose excel on inital dose as per instruction.

 

[Sillyfishies]

how often depends on how many you have. There are many many types of shrimp food available, there's hikari, Mosura, Borneowild. Best is to include some fresh blanched veggies

Most people do weekly waterchanges, For neos, range from 10%-20%.

You need to pay attention to the gh of your water. Neos needs to gh of at least 4 to molt correctly or you'll have some dying off from molting issues. Use a gh booster like seachem equilibrium (sells on amazon) or salty shrimp gh+

They are not as sensitive to ferts or liquid carbon as other shrimps, but still start slow. Start at 1/4 dose and increase dosage slowly to let them get use to it. I would not double dose excel on inital dose as per instruction.

I still need to get a GH test. If its too low I can just dose magnesium through PPS-Pro

 

[Legit Fish]

well to start off almost all neos are hardy and you shouldnt feed them everyday. maybe feed them every around 3-4 days. remember they are scavengers in the wild so they are not used to 24/7 food source. i feed mine hikari algae wafers and every few week i give them blanched zucchini. they are no special care except just make sure the water is clean and that no copper gets in the water because copper is one major reason why shrimps die a lot. and there have been many and when mean many i mean like millions whether to use frets or liquid carbon because others say it kills them and other say it doesn't so i wouldnt take the risk. i hope you have luck with your shrimps and wish you a happy colony!!! good luck!!!

 

[Sillyfishies]

well to start off almost all neos are hardy and you shouldnt feed them everyday. maybe feed them every around 3-4 days. remember they are scavengers in the wild so they are not used to 24/7 food source. i feed mine hikari algae wafers and every few week i give them blanched zucchini. they are no special care except just make sure the water is clean and that no copper gets in the water because copper is one major reason why shrimps die a lot. and there have been many and when mean many i mean like millions whether to use frets or liquid carbon because others say it kills them and other say it doesn't so i wouldnt take the risk. i hope you have luck with your shrimps and wish you a happy colony!!! good luck!!!

Well that will be hard because this is going to be a heavily planted med-high light tank with 2 high wattage CFLs and 1 T8

 

[Khuligirl93]

With medium high light tank you're probably going to need pressurized CO2. I've used a paintball setup on my 10g for about 6 months with success. It's been lasting me about 6 weeks before needing a refill.

 

[Sillyfishies]

With medium high light tank you're probably going to need pressurized CO2. I've used a paintball setup on my 10g for about 6 months with success. It's been lasting me about 6 weeks before needing a refill.

If anything ill probably do DIY co2. If not there has been success with liquid carbon.

 

[Fishfur]

The copper that kills shrimp is not usually the sort found in ferts or foods. It's the sort you get in meds like Copper safe and other meds used to treat things like ich, which are also inverts and thus sensitive to copper. Because they're very small, they're more sensitive than large creatures or fish, which is why you can use those meds if you must. But it's hard to get rid of, so If you have ever had ich in the tank and used one of these copper based meds, don't put shrimp in that tank.

Otherwise, not a big worry. Planted tanks that get fed heavily, as in the EI method, are still fine for most shrimp. Most foods, if you check labels, have some copper in them. Even though they are sensitive to copper, foods with copper supplements don't cause a problem.. likely because of the form it's in.

Excel and it's brother brands don't bother Neos either. Just don't overdose. Follow directions and you'll be fine. I've got cherries, mini fan shrimp, Ghosts, two other species of large fan shrimp & stone shrimp, all in planted tanks that get ferts and glutaraldehyde.. aka Excel, no issues from any.

 

[Autumnsky]

What is your pH? That can affect what substrate and additives you may need.

Regular Cherries/Neos are very hardy and can acclimate to different pH and tank parameters.

Mine get many foods and I feed a little each day but will skip a day if it is a messy food like frozen brine shrimp, or kale because it takes a day for them to finish eating.

And they love the Hikari Bottom Feeder Wafers a lot. I break them into little bits. Do not over feed thing of their tummy as about the size of their eyes and you shouldn't ever have a problem with over feeding.

The should do ok with Crab Cuisine, 3.99 at most Petcos. If you happen to be ordering online Hikari Crab Cuisine is nice because they have super tiny wafers, and they will grab them and run off to eat them!!!

I think that it is better for color and things as well. You can look online and find the ingredients in them.

On more sensitive shrimp you would need to remove the food after a little while.

If there are snails, they will eat alot of food so make sure to have enough for both.

I had snails eating almost all the food and the shrimp didn't get much.

I do small pwc about every 2 weeks (for Neos) Very established tank and filter (2years).

 

[Sillyfishies]

Is it a problem that my tap has .50 ppm of ammonia?

 

[Fishfur]

Yes.. but you will use dechlorinator, and that will solve the problem. I'd advise using Prime or AmQuel, both good brands. Prime is quite concentrated, thus a little goes a long way, making it very economical.

You might want to get a Seachem ammonia test. It will tell you how much free ammonia and how much bound ammonia, ammonium, you have, so you won't be freaking out over false positives.

 

[GodFan]

I'm planning on breeding a hardy neo species. It's a 10 gallon tank that will be heavily planted. Filter is a 125 GPH Aqueon whisper filter. Ill have a prefilter sponge and lots of filter floss to slow the flow.

How often and what should I feed?
How often do you do waterchanges?
Any special water treatments I need?
Are they sensitive to liquid carbon or ferts?

I feed every 3-4 days I guess. They get a wierd mix of fish food lol I feed algae wafers for shrimp, pleco, and ottos and a mix of leftover flakes and betta pellets for the fish and the shrimp.
Heavily planted a once a month water change could probably be ok although more often will encourage breeding.
Other than that have fun!

 

[Sillyfishies]

Yes.. but you will use dechlorinator, and that will solve the problem. I'd advise using Prime or AmQuel, both good brands. Prime is quite concentrated, thus a little goes a long way, making it very economical.

You might want to get a Seachem ammonia test. It will tell you how much free ammonia and how much bound ammonia, ammonium, you have, so you won't be freaking out over false positives.

I overdose with prime with large 60% weekly waterchanges. I never bother to test because at my old house my tap water was fine. And there's no way toxins could build up fast enough. Well I never thought to test the tap at my new house.

It would be helpful to find out how much is ammonium... My actual tank is only .25 the first 2 days then the plants eat it.

 

[Autumnsky]

Is it a problem that my tap has .50 ppm of ammonia?

Yup!

You can get that water to mellow out I understand with a trash can, let's say, or any large new container which is fish and water safe. Treat liberally with Prime, aerate the heck out of it and it should be fine after a day or a few, and may need additional treatment with Prime. If you have a bunch of tanks you could do 2 trash cans one with ready to go water and one with water doing treatment time. That way you would be ready for a water change anytime! You can also use a bunch of media and or bulk floss to add lots of BB which can help you too.

I have a trash can filter on my old pond and it worked amazingly well!! Always perfect water!

This is how I was told to do it, as I had a problem with .25 ammonia in my tap. Shrimp tank, that is as high as you want it to get, around 0 is good!

I have used big totes and done this. It seems it happens occasionally with our city water.

 

[Sillyfishies]

Yup!

You can get that water to mellow out I understand with a trash can, let's say, or any large new container which is fish and water safe. Treat liberally with Prime, aerate the heck out of it and it should be fine after a day or a few, and may need additional treatment with Prime. If you have a bunch of tanks you could do 2 trash cans one with ready to go water and one with water doing treatment time. That way you would be ready for a water change anytime! You can also use a bunch of media and or bulk floss to add lots of BB which can help you too.

I have a trash can filter on my old pond and it worked amazingly well!! Always perfect water!

This is how I was told to do it, as I had a problem with .25 ammonia in my tap. Shrimp tank, that is as high as you want it to get, around 0 is good!

I have used big totes and done this. It seems it happens occasionally with our city water.

Doing 50% water changes only bring my ammonia up to .25 ppm on my 30g. So doing 10% water changes on a shrimp tank will bring it up to .05 ppm of ammonia. And it will be a 100% planted tank... Is it still a problem?

 

[Autumnsky]

Doing 50% water changes only bring my ammonia up to .25 ppm on my 30g. So doing 10% water changes on a shrimp tank will bring it up to .05 ppm of ammonia. And it will be a 100% planted tank... Is it still a problem?

Try it and find out...test. I have no idea, than to test.

You could use sale gallons of spring water even. I think the "aging" water thing should be good, you could do it on a smaller scale.

 

[Fishfur]

If you have any worries, get the Seachem test. The big difference between it and most of the others, including good old API, is that most of them raise the pH of the sample to about 12 or so, and then you get a measurement that is a total of both ammonia and ammonium. So it can look like you have an persistent ammonia reading, when in fact what you have is ammonium, which is not harmful. Only ammonia, free ammonia, is harmful.

I don't think it's necessary to age it, Prime is quite effective and will bind ammonia, as well as remove chlorine and chloramines. City water plants often add ammonia as well as chlorine, and they combine to produce chloramines. They last longer, so they work longer, and depending on the source water, may be used all the time or only at certain times of year. But it's rare that anyone will be notified of any change to local water treatments protocols. You can always contact the utility and find out what they use, just to know, but if you get readings that high from tap water, they are using ammonia in your water treatment plant, at least at this time.

Just make sure you treat the water with appropriate products before using it and you'll be fine. If you have space and time and want to age it first, of course, that works too. But where chlorine will gas out in a matter of 24 hours or so, chloramines take up to a week, or more, depending how much there is, to gas out of water. The larger the surface area of the vessel it's aged in, the faster gassing out will happen, and as Autumn Sky said, using an airstone can help by increasing gas exchange.