Newbie!!!

[Caridina17]

Hey everyone! This is my first time joining a forum ever and I hope to learn a lot about fresh water tanks and keeping shrimp from you all.
Currently I have 3 fresh water tanks. A 5gal, 2.5gal and a little less than 1gal Betta vase. In the 5gal is Cherry Shrimp, an Orange Bee Shrimp, a Vampire Shrimp and a Blue Mystery Snail.
The 2.5gal has an ADF and a small Oto Catfish. In the vase is Bamboo and my white/pearl Halfmoon Betta with blue eyes.
I'm wanting a larger tank than my 5gal, no larger than 15gal though. However I'm having a hard time choosing one, so if you guys have any suggestions i would love to hear them.
Also any suggestions on feeding Vampire Shrimp would be great as well.

I hope you all will enjoy having me as much as i will enjoy being here!

 

[Aces11]

Welcome to Aquarium Advice!

 

[redsea]

Welcome! Thanks for joining us!

 

[siva]

Welcome to AA!!

In my opinion a betta needs nothing less than a 5 gal tank, and it's crucial that tank be heated, and preferably filtered. A 1 gal vase would not make a proper home for any fish.

ADF's should be stocked in groups, or at the very least a pair, and need no less than 5 gals, though 10 gals would be better.

Oto cats should be stocked in groups of 3 or more, and added to mature tanks of 15-20 gals or more. A 2.5 gal simply cannot produce enough algae for an oto to live long term on, and they are typically wild caught fish that are tricky to supplement.

Vampire shrimp get huge, and at full size should be in a tank of about 55 gals or more. That guy will not last long in a tank so small. It should be supplemented with foods for filter feeding inverts such as OSI microfood, or a liquid phytoplankton/zooplankton.

You have a lot of stocking issues going on, but I think they are actually fairly easy to resolve...

My suggestion would be to get yourself a tank of 15-20 gals, and to it add your betta, oto, mystery snail, and the vampire shrimp. Hopefully the betta will get along with those guys. If not, he'll need his own 5 gal tank. If so, you can let the tank mature for about 6 mos or so, and add another couple oto cats. You could also add something like a school of neon tetra to fill the tank out. Keep in mind, even in a tank this size, and even once it's matured, the vampire shrimp will need a lot of supplementation. Your best bet is to rehome the vampire shrimp, since it does not belong in a small tank.

A 2.5 gal is an ideal shrimp tank, so then put the dwarf shrimp in there.

Then you can put the ADF in the 5 gal and get it a couple of buddies. Sex the frogs by checking for a bump under the armpit, the bump indicates they are male, and make sure you have either all one sex, or two females and one male. Heat their tank to 80F, and don't add any tankmates with them, since they are nearly blind and can be easily outcompeted for food. Be sure to feed your frogs only frog and tadpole bites and thawed frozen foods like bloodworms and brine shrimp. You can place their food in a feeding dish so they know where to find it and can eat efficiently w/o losing a bunch in the substrate and fouling up the tank.

 

[Caridina17]

Ok thanks Siva. I will be sure to get a bigger tank and follow your advice. Also do you think it would be possible to have the vampire shrimp in a 20gal?
I read that the stocking for them is 1 for every 5gal.
Thanks

 

[absolutangel04]

Welcome to AA!
I agree with siva about your betta needing a better tank asap. Good to hear you are open to that. Your betta sounds beautiful! They are so much more active in bigger tanks and really are much more fun to keep.
I also agree about the oto. They are rather delicate and often starve to death in small tanks. Also, you see more behaviors from them in groups.
Nice to hear that you have shrimp. I have a 2.5g rcs tank and they are great fun.

 

[siva]

That's really fantastic. You'll have a nice set of perfectly stocked tanks when it's complete! The stocking for the vampire shrimp would actually be more like 1 per 55 gals, if you wanted them to be able to survive on the food the tank naturally provides them. I'm not sure if you've seen them full grown, but at their full size they are larger than many crayfish. They get about 6" long and are pretty thick. A filter feeder that size needs a lot of food to filter. I think you can keep one in a 20 gal, as long as you are diligent about supplementing. I use this Amazon.com: Invertebrate Micro Food: Pet Supplies. The bottled phytoplankton or zooplankton I referred to earlier is something you should be able to find at any pet store. It's designed for saltwater inverts, but it will work well for your vamp. You can also grind spirulina flakes/wafers. If you see them picking at the substrate with their fans, that's usualy a sign that they need more supplements. They will do best in a planted tank. They will also appreciate a nice peice of wood to hide under.

 

[Caridina17]

Omg I didn't know they got that big! I will get the tank mess sorted out asap so my fish & shrimp will be happy. ^_^ Thanks guys. Oh the Vampire shrimp has a cave in the tank now and I haven't seen him scraping the substrate yet. I have been crushing food for him myself, mixing it with his tank water and injecting in the current while he is filtering until I could find some liquid food. I had no idea you could use the saltwater invert food.
As for the Oto, I don't know to much about them. The lady at the pet store said they could clean up my tank and where smaller than plecos so he would be fine in a 5gal. I feel really bad now, he must be really lonely.

Do you guys have any suggestions for any good tank brands/types I should put them in?

 

[siva]

Anything would work really. You could check craigslist if you want to try and find a used one.

Yeah, pet stores often give bad info about fish. I can how based on the size of an oto it may seem like they are good candidates for a small tank, but because of their feeding habits that just isn't the case. I wonder if you've seen your oto eat algae wafers? If so you'll have an easier time moving it over to the new tank. Blanched shelled pease and zucchini are good supplements for them also. You may want to put some stones in a bowl of tank water and leave it in a sunny place until algae has grown on the stones, and then add them to the tank for it to feed on. This would be a good idea to start right away and do for it while it's still in the smaller tank, and for when it's tranferred to the new tank which will not immediately be producing enough algae either. Again if you see it eating other supplements, it should be OK w/o doing this, but many won't ever eat a wafer or even veggies.

When you do set up your new tank, you're going to want to tranfer some filter media from another tank over to the new tank to avoid going through a cycle. If you don't know what this means, I don't think we need to tackle it just yet, but make sure to talk to us first before moving fish into the new tank and we can help things go smoothly. If you don't already have one, you're going to want an API freshwater master kit. It's impossible to properly start up a new aquarium, or to maintain any aquarium really, without one. They are often expensive in shops, but you can usually get one for around $25 on amazon or walmart.com. It's an investment but it's going to last quite a while.

 

[Caridina17]

^_^ sounds good. My Oto does eat wafers , one a day and any left over food in the tank. That's probably why he is still alive.
I will start training him with the rock thing right away. Thanks again

I was also wondering what kind of light would be best for the shrimp. Also I heard Cherry shrimp breed well but mine aren't. So if u know what conditions would be best for them let me know please.
Thanks :0)

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard. We are glad you found us here at AA.

 

[siva]

Oh don't worry about the rock thing! If it eats wafers, that's fantastic. You could still grow the extra algae for it if you want to, but it's the oto's that don't eat supplements that you really need to do that for. I would start supplmenting from time to time with veggies like blanched shelled peas and zucchini. If it eats wafers I would expect it should take right to veggies as well. You can use just regular frozen peas and microwave them in water until soft, then pop the shells off. I mic my zucchini in water until soft as well, just cut it into strips or discs so they can get at the inside.

So the shrimp will be going into the 2.5 gal..is that a glass tank or something like a minibow? If it's a minibow, you can screw a regular household CFL bulb into the socket instead of the standard aquarium incandescent bulb. Look for one that is about 10 watt and specifies that it is 6500k or better. Your shrimp will do fine with any light, or even no light, but if you want to grow plants in their tank this bulb will allow you to do that.

How many cherries are there? It's possible there isn't a male/female pair. Do you know the pH and temperature of their tank?

 

[Caridina17]

I'm actually thinking about getting a fluval edge 12gal and the 7.9gal.
I have 4 Cherrys and an orange bee shrimp. I plan on getting more though. I think the obs is the only male lol. The temp in their tank is 75-79 and the water is hard. pH is high I think at 8.5
I was looking into non chemical ways to lower it but the water parameter thing confuses me. I'm trying though -_-

 

[siva]

Hard water should be great for them. I am surprised they are not reproducing for you..maybe it is a male/female issue. If you want to try to sex them and see for sure, it's pretty easy, you can read here for info on it: Red Cherry Shrimp .:. Neocaridina heteropoda sp. "Red Cherry" .:. Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp Species Information Page. You may not need to lower your pH at all. It is a bit high, but depending on what fish you want to keep in the future, they may all do fine at your natural pH. Most fish are very adaptable when it comes to pH, but some are more sensitive.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

to AA!

 

[Caridina17]

Oh that's good to hear.
I'm pretty sure they are all female except the orange bee. They hide a lot though and I read they are pretty active shrimp so maybe there is something up with mine.