Shrimp/SNail tank

[hsherman1986]

Ok guys, I really want to do a tank like this. How does this sound for stocking? Its a planted 20g tall

1 blue wood shrimp (4", moving into the tank tomorrow)
5 bumblebee shrimp
5 green shrimp
5 RCS or Crystal Red shrimp
4 Rednose shrimp (already in the tank)
1 breeding colony of Red Ramshorns (getting 10 to start with tomorrow)
1 breeding colony of MTS (already in the tank)

No fish at all, just the verts and snails. How does this sound?

 

[7Enigma]

What size tank? (is this your 2.5gallon from your profile?)

 

[hsherman1986]

no, its a 20g tall. I would never dream of doing all this in a 2.5. The shrimp would have no room to move without running into each other in a 2.5

 

[7Enigma]

no, its a 20g tall. I would never dream of doing all this in a 2.5. The shrimp would have no room to move without running into each other in a 2.5

I just wondered since your profile had shrimp currently in a 2.5gallon and I thought, "boy I hope he's not trying to put all those other shrimp in the same tank!".

 

[hsherman1986]

oh wow, i need to update my profile then...that 2.5 is currently empty now.....

does the stocking list sound ok, now that you know it is a 20g? So far, I have 4 (maybe 5) rhino shrimp, around 40 ramshorn snails, the trumpet snails, the blue wood shrimp, and a baby bn (wasn't planned on, but oh well, he was free )

 

[7Enigma]

I have no idea. I'm not a shrimper (yet) so I don't know the potential sizes that they get to. I also don't know how much waste they produce. I would assume for the smaller species not much, but would guess a 4" bugger would be quite a bit.

I've also noticed that the more herbivorous the species the more waste they tend to generate (ie less is broken down and consumed so you get a lot more poo).

 

[Argblarg]

Bumblebees may breed with Crystal Reds so I would go with the Cherry shrimp.

 

[TwoHobbies]

Blue wood shrimp, that sounds very cool.

Other than the chance of cross-breeding your fine. You have lots of room in there. I have over 100 RCS in a 10g with no problems.

The BN Pleco is no problem eather.

 

[7Enigma]

Blue wood shrimp, that sounds very cool.

Other than the chance of cross-breeding your fine. You have lots of room in there. I have over 100 RCS in a 10g with no problems.

The BN Pleco is no problem eather.

What's the danger/problem of cross breeding? Just that they wouldn't look the same?

 

[TwoHobbies]

Thats it! Its not a health concern. Just that some people may want to keep this from happening.

I also think the greens could cross with the cherrys if he had them.

 

[Purrbox]

There's also some ethical issues if you allow cross breeding between different species. Should you choose to resell these shrimp you need to make sure to state that the shrimp may have crossbred. Many people don't want cross bred shrimp.

Further, most cross bred shrimp tend to end up looking no where near as nice as the pure bred shirmp. Occastionally you might end up with something interesting, but most of the time this isn't the case.

 

[hsherman1986]

Yea, I might not even end up with the crystal reds. They are a little out of my budget, so it will be a while before I get them.

Also, I could add a singapore wood shrimp to this setup, couldn't I?

One last thing I forgot to add. The tank is planted, I wouldn't say heavily (like some of the forests I have seen on here), but defintly not lightly. I will see If i can find a pic of it later. I do not currently have a filter running in it (having some issues with the filter and haven't replaced it), but have not had any problems with the water quality ( still have an airstone running). We also do 50%-75% water changes weekly.

 

[Purrbox]

The wood shrimp are a filter shrimp so they'll need a high flow area in the tank so that they can feed. Without a filter, waterpump, or powerhead this could be a problem.

You don't strictly need a filter with a tank that is planted heavily enough, you just need to ensure that you've got good water movement. The airpump may or may not be providing enough current for the plants. Since things seem to be going well, I'd probably wait and see how it goes unless you decide to pick up something to provide the extra flow to allow you to keep a filter feeding shrimp.

 

[hsherman1986]

would a sponge filter help? That is what I was thinking of putting in this tank.

 

[Purrbox]

I really doubt that a sponge filter would provide much more flow than an airpump. You could give it a try if you want, but I'd recommend being prepared to add a small water pump or something similar if you find that the shrimp is having problems. If you ever see one of these shrimp using their fans to forage in the substrate, you know they are in trouble.

 

[hsherman1986]

i did not know that, I will keep that in mind and watch for that.

This tank has a sand substrate, would a powerhead disturb the sand to much? I am worried that the sand is what is causing my filters to clog and fail, which is part of the reason that I have not bought another one.

The wood shrimp seems to sleep alot. WHen I put food in the tank, he comes out to eat, but otherwise, he stays in his cave and sleeps.

I would defintly rather put a powerhead on the tank then a sponge filter, it seems that it would do more good.

 

[Purrbox]

You could easily mount a small powerhead or waterpump towards the top of the tank where it wouldn't suck up the sand under normal circumstances. You'd probably want to make sure to put a sponge over the intake to ensure that the smaller shrimp and any shrimplets don't get sucked up by it.

 

[hsherman1986]

ok. I will do that then. Ooh, I also wanted to ask, with the adult shrimp eat their babies? I am hoping that they will try to breed, and just want to know if I will have to seperate the babies to ensure their survival.