20+ RCS enough to maintain a 55gal Cycle?

[Aremihc]

Would 20 or so Red Cherry Shrimp be enough to keep a 55 gallon cycled? I am planning a fishless cycle once I get all my equipment. I am going to slowly add live plants as I have the money, and want to avoid adding fish until it's mostly aquascaped. I intend to have a good shrimp population as well, and was thinking that might be a good way of keeping a cycle without adding ammonia every day. Thanks

 

[JohnPaul]

No. The bioload of RCS is negligible. I would estimate...gosh...maybe 50-100 (?) shrimp generate the bioload of one fish. Having 20 RCS in a 55 gal would be like having one juvenile neon tetra in there.

To put it in another perspective, I had a 10 gal tank with 50+ RCS adults and just gobs and gobs of babies. It was a planted tank but only lightly planted; two smallish swords, a few crypts, and a softball-sized chunk of java moss. I could let that tank go for over a month without a water change and *still* the nitrate readings would be virtually undetectable...if you I looked very closely at the test tube then maybe the color was barely visible enough to register at the lowest possible reading, that was it.

 

[Aremihc]

Alrighty then.... Ammonia treatments it is.

 

[dskidmore]

Red Cherry Shrimp will breed to tank/food capacity if the water conditions are good. 20 is plenty for starting your colony.

I started with a couple dozen for my 75 gallon. A few weeks later a decent percentage of them were pregnant, and they just keep going...

 

[dskidmore]

No. The bioload of RCS is negligible.

Bioload is as much about how much you feed as how hungry the inabitants are. Uneaten food will still rot and go through the nitrogen cycle. You can use excess food in place of pure ammonia to keep a tank cycled. Feed as though the intended inhabitants are already there.

 

[neilanh]

If you're going with a heavily planted tank, you can do what's called a silent cycle. If you have enough plants, they will consume the ammonia and nitrite, keeping it at low enough levels to not harm your fish. I never saw a cycle in my 125g at all, and have a pretty good size bioload in it.

 

[bs6749]

I agree with neilanh. You can put all the plants you want in there and then several days later if you want you can put in your fish. I've used this method before and it works. Not sure what you are looking for as far as plants go but some of the best plants for cycling a tank are the cheap ones that aren't light demanding yet grow fast. Anacharis and sunset hygro are a couple the you should consider.

 

[Aremihc]

Man I love this community, thanks!