somebody familiar with shrimp

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TenaciousTriggerFish

Aquarium Advice FINatic
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Dec 20, 2011
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I have been working on a custom acrylic tank for a while now... It will only be a couple gallons so shrimp and snails are my only options... Goat shrimp and red cherry shrimp are cool but what others can I get?
 
One thing about the ghost shrimp and cherries... Some have seen ghost shrimp to be aggressive, so they should not be mixed with another species. I have cherry shrimp and they are very fun!
 
Well with a white substrate they will stick out then right? I am putting them in my Xbox tank (check out my build thread)
 
As others have said, maybe don't mix ghost and RCS. Ghost will eat anything they can catch, and small RCS will be on the menu.

Amano Shrimp will be just fine with them. As will Bamboo shrimp, but they need an aged tank and a flow of water that they can sit in and filter feed.

Assassin snails will give you great color in the tank and clean up any left over food and such. They can't catch shrimp.
 
hpiguy said:
As others have said, maybe don't mix ghost and RCS. Ghost will eat anything they can catch, and small RCS will be on the menu.

Amano Shrimp will be just fine with them. As will Bamboo shrimp, but they need an aged tank and a flow of water that they can sit in and filter feed.

Assassin snails will give you great color in the tank and clean up any left over food and such. They can't catch shrimp.

1) yeah don't worry I don't plan to mix I was just listing the only two kinds of shrimp I know..
2) I will look into what these amano shrimp are
3) assassin snails sound perfect!
 
Don't do bamboo! Those get too big for a 2 gallon.

And also, there are literally TONS of varietys of neocaradina and caradina shrimp. I've ordered from eliteinverts a few times but now they only sell their shrimp in groups.
 
I have mine Cherries and a couple Amano but that is 18G. And love Ramshorn snails. The bright red ones especially and Nerite snail.

Black sand is preferred as they color up better in the darker substrate/ feel safer?!? I have one tank with black and one with white, on the white one I added a graduated blue background and so many plants it now looks like a jungle and the rocks are medium and darker, they look great.

the shrimp also feed off biofilm in your tank so it takes some time to get that developed. If you have a strip of filter pad you could add which had been used for awhile the shrimp would use it to feed off of and love to pick at it. Or you could add a piece into your filter beforehand to start growing BB and stuff to add into your new tank.

I used a piece from a roll of bulk filter to slow down water flow in the HOB return and those guys are up in it all the time picking goodies.

Also what I use to seed for new projects, I would get one ready on an existing tank for your new one and be that much further ahead in your cycle.

I love the shrimp they are fun.

You could go with a ton of options just not the Crystals at first since they need a very established and stable tank with excellent water quality.

Some extra ideas for decor...Driftwood twigs, Moss balls, Java moss, Cholla wood, Anubias Nana, Java Fern, Microsword, Dwarf hairgrass (higher light requirements),
 
Autumnsky said:
I have mine Cherries and a couple Amano but that is 18G. And love Ramshorn snails. The bright red ones especially and Nerite snail.

Black sand is preferred as they color up better in the darker substrate/ feel safer?!? I have one tank with black and one with white, on the white one I added a graduated blue background and so many plants it now looks like a jungle and the rocks are medium and darker, they look great.

the shrimp also feed off biofilm in your tank so it takes some time to get that developed. If you have a strip of filter pad you could add which had been used for awhile the shrimp would use it to feed off of and love to pick at it. Or you could add a piece into your filter beforehand to start growing BB and stuff to add into your new tank.

I used a piece from a roll of bulk filter to slow down water flow in the HOB return and those guys are up in it all the time picking goodies.

Also what I use to seed for new projects, I would get one ready on an existing tank for your new one and be that much further ahead in your cycle.

I love the shrimp they are fun.

You could go with a ton of options just not the Crystals at first since they need a very established and stable tank with excellent water quality.

Some extra ideas for decor...Driftwood twigs, Moss balls, Java moss, Cholla wood, Anubias Nana, Java Fern, Microsword, Dwarf hairgrass (higher light requirements),

Uhm I don't plan on doing a "cycle" but I will let it sit for a little... And also I really want to do live plants a little down the road
 
Do you already have BB seeded filter media ? Are you going to use a filter? Shrimp do better in very clean water.

As far as I know it should be cycled or seeded with BB as the shrimp will die if there is too much ammonia, which will cause more ammonia. If there aren't BB to break down the ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites, you can poison the shrimp. :ermm:

You need to feed the BB with ammonia or fish/shrimp waste as they multiply due to feeding, they can handle the breakdown of the harmful components of the waste. I am not a scientist or biologist just a shrimp keeper. Maybe others have other opinions or I missed something. Up to you of course, how to set up your tank.
 
I plan on (since it is only 1-3 gallons or so I'm gonna take water from my established fish tank.. A 55 gal long with tetras and a pleco in it now I have live plants and it's a great tank... Is this a good idea?
 
TenaciousTriggerFish said:
I plan on (since it is only 1-3 gallons or so I'm gonna take water from my established fish tank.. A 55 gal long with tetras and a pleco in it now I have live plants and it's a great tank... Is this a good idea?

No!
Water has virtually no bacteria in it. Most of the bb is in the filter media. Adding tank water will only be adding high nitrate water into the tank.

You could use the media in that tank to seed the new tank, or if you get a sponge filter you could run it in your established tank for a few weeks to seed it, then put it in the shrimp tank, essentially "instant cycling " it.

Testing will still be important though, just to make sure it's working
 
tarpon said:
No!
Water has virtually no bacteria in it. Most of the bb is in the filter media. Adding tank water will only be adding high nitrate water into the tank.

You could use the media in that tank to seed the new tank, or if you get a sponge filter you could run it in your established tank for a few weeks to seed it, then put it in the shrimp tank, essentially "instant cycling " it.

Testing will still be important though, just to make sure it's working

What is seeding a tank? And no filter just water changes and a power head
 
It has to do with the Beneficial Bacteria(BB) in the tank which break down waste as I mentioned a couple of posts up. By having a filter, even a sponge filter it gives the BB a place to create a better environment for the fish and a cycle of breaking down waste from toxic to not toxic.

By doing water changes you remove a larger portion of toxic substances maintaining an okay environment, but not really a great environment.

Seeding is developing BB on an item, like filter pad - taking a part of filter media and putting it into an un cycled tank where the BB can create the waste breakdown process. You still have to do PWC but not as much and not as often.

This is some info about fish in cycling in a tank.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/fish-in-cycling-step-over-into-the-dark-side-176446.html
 
Tap water has chlorine and stuff in it which kills BB so you should use treated /declorinated/conditioned water to keep as much BB alive as possible, to rinse off rocks and when you have a filter pad or sponge, to wash it with.
 
Ok I understand the process but LITERALLY in very sIMPLE terms what do I do?
Ex: put a sponge in a job filter to get bb
 
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