Planning Out a Shrimp Tank/Microfish Tank

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missmonday

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Joined
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Portland, OR
Hello all,

This is very much still in the planning stages, but it's something I'm looking forward to! Currently, I have a 10 gallon tank that is being used as a qt, but after I'm done adding fish to my display tank, I want to convert it into a planted shrimp tank.

Potential Stock:
x1 bamboo shrimp
x6 red cherry shrimp (hopefully they'll breed)
x7-8 emerald dwarf rasboras

I have a single t8 light I can use, so I'll look into growing some low light plants, and I do want to have a piece of driftwood to let the bamboo shrimp filter feed. However, I don't plan on using diy co2, but can use excel.

For substrate, I was thinking of adding a layer of laterite like this, then capping it off with sand and smooth river-rock type gravel.

Should that be enough?? If anyone has experience with these species (or products) let me know!!
 
I like nano fish/nano shrimp tanks. The single T-8 should grow moss, slowly albeit. I would do moss and moss balls. No need for substrate supplements in that case. Or go with crypts (definitely add the laterite).
If you can't find emerald rasboras, then there are other choices:
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I would hold off on the bamboo shrimp until the tank is quite mature. If you do get one you could try feeding it directly with a syringe and airline tubing.
Maybe start with a dozen RCS.
Waiting for TheresaM, Autumnsky, or Laeris to chime in...


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Sounds like a good plan. I would hold off on adding the shrimp until the fish have been in for a month or two, they need an established tank for sure. Be sure to have lots of places for the shrimp to hide, when they feel safe and the water is stable they will breed and breed and breed. Mine like hanging out in my moss clump and inside my tank ornaments. They also like when there are floating pls ts that they can hang from and nibble on.

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Okay, thanks! For the longest time, I thought the lambchop rasboras and harlequin rasboras were the same thing!! Are they both suitable for a 10g?

My tap is a totally neutral 7, but no buffers, so I have a little stocking of crushed coral to keep things steady and it brings it up to 7.4

So a good idea would be to let the fish settle in for a while, then red cherries, then bamboo?

And since my lfs is the Wet Spot, thankfully I can look at their online stock and prices (which are pretty similar, but not exact, to what they have in-store), so I can look at their emeralds in person! :D
 
I'm not sure on the fish but yes. Add the cherries after you've had the fish a while, then the bamboo.

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Okay, thanks! I keep a group of amanos in my community tank, so I do have a little experience with shrimp. I'll have to do a little more research on the rasboras, but most websites I've looked at say they're fine in a 10 gallon.
 
I got my B. maculatus from Wet Spot if you're considering other options. Peaceful and great color!

If you're going with a HOB make sure you have a filter intake cover to keep shrimplets out.

RCS definitely do best in an established tank. Things like IAL, alder cones, and cholla wood help with biofilm. Both my cherries and CRS also really like floating plants.
 
I've got some frogbit in my display tank I could add in when I set this up :) I've noticed my amanos love to camp out underneath it and snack hanging upside down.

What would be the best way to cover the intake but still be able to filter out little bits? Tie a bit of stocking over it? I've heard lots of things about IAL, but do you crumble it up and set it on top? Does it sink??

Looking to replace my little sunsun internal filter with the fluval c2, just waiting to hear from fellow aquarists on opinions.
 
I use panty hose over my intake but all I have is shrimp so I don't have much in the way of bits that need to be filtered out.

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I order stainless filter intake guards, they're easy to remove and clean but stocking would work too.

With nano fish and shrimp you really don't need much in the way of filtration. My 10g jungle tank is full of least killifish and RCS, I don't even run a filter on that tank. I also have a 10g with Endlers fry and shrimp with a double sponge filter.
 
The IAL will float at first and eventually sink. I leave it intact and let it breakdown on its own. The leaves are large, especially in a 10g tank. I suppose you could fold it or break it into smaller pieces.


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I plaster whole leaves to the back of the tank behind the filter until they soften in my 5.5g. Dump them wherever after that. Shrimpies and snails eat them to lace, at which point I remove them.


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Hello all,

This is very much still in the planning stages, but it's something I'm looking forward to! Currently, I have a 10 gallon tank that is being used as a qt, but after I'm done adding fish to my display tank, I want to convert it into a planted shrimp tank.

Potential Stock:
x1 bamboo shrimp
x6 red cherry shrimp (hopefully they'll breed)
x7-8 emerald dwarf rasboras

I have a single t8 light I can use, so I'll look into growing some low light plants, and I do want to have a piece of driftwood to let the bamboo shrimp filter feed. However, I don't plan on using diy co2, but can use excel.

For substrate, I was thinking of adding a layer of laterite like this, then capping it off with sand and smooth river-rock type gravel.

Should that be enough?? If anyone has experience with these species (or products) let me know!!


With Bamboo Shrimp I've been told 20g tank minimum. They need a place to hang out under the filter outflow.
http://www.aquariumcarebasics.com/freshwater-shrimp/bamboo-shrimp/

Personally I would cap with sand and skip the gravel. Gravel lets food fall down between the pieces and nano fish and shrimp may miss out on some food.

And I'm the odd one out. I would start with a ton of plants and once tank is stable start adding Shrimp. I would advise at least 15-20 to get some different genes. Let the RCS breed and populate then decide if you need/want fish. Otos are Shrimp safe.

Tiny Rasboras won't bother adult Shrimp but almost every fish eats babies. If you want to see your Shrimplets out and about skip the predators.

If you want a mixed tank that's fine too.
f6ab7ccd582b531ffd3fcbe98f6f77c8.jpg



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The plants, any items you will want to add to the tank can be put into your present DT if you don't mind aving a few extra items like cholla wood and leaves, I like Oak leaves more than IAL. There are many other types of leaves to offer shrimp.

The Bamboo shrimp thrives on food filtered from the water column, which in a regular dwarf shrimp tank is the antithesis of what your tank should be. They are great in a fry tank, with many pwc and lots of food. Also in a bigger than 10G tank.

A small tank will be adversely affected by heavy feedings and ammonia spikes can be deadly if a water change isn't done soon enough.

A turkey baster is a great tool to help with target feedings.

Of so many choices of nano fish I have had excellent reproduction from Neo shrimp with Boraras Brigittae aka Chilis and Boraras Merah aka Phoenix Rasbora as cohabitators. Bad results I have experienced from Sundanio Rasboras, and CPD aka Galaxy Rasboras, Green Neons.
 
Hello all,

This is very much still in the planning stages, but it's something I'm looking forward to! Currently, I have a 10 gallon tank that is being used as a qt, but after I'm done adding fish to my display tank, I want to convert it into a planted shrimp tank.

Potential Stock:
x1 bamboo shrimp
x6 red cherry shrimp (hopefully they'll breed)
x7-8 emerald dwarf rasboras

I have a single t8 light I can use, so I'll look into growing some low light plants, and I do want to have a piece of driftwood to let the bamboo shrimp filter feed. However, I don't plan on using diy co2, but can use excel.

For substrate, I was thinking of adding a layer of laterite like this, then capping it off with sand and smooth river-rock type gravel.

Should that be enough?? If anyone has experience with these species (or products) let me know!!

I LOVE what you're planning. It's definitely doable, but it might be a little hard to pull off completely. I have been thinking to do something like this myself and have put some thought into this. My emphasis would be to make sure that your water parameters are livable for your RCS. Water that's good enough for them will be fine for any fish. I'm not experienced about how to keep filter feeding shrimp though, so I can't help you there.

1) In a 10g, the main issue I see is where you'll have enough rasboras (8 or so?) around to eat pretty much all the shrimplets before they grow up. Your RCS can and will breed, but the shrimplets don't know the first thing about hiding from predators. It's pretty sad to see them dart out into the mouths of even the most peaceful fish. 10g is fine for bioload, but unless your tank is EXTREMELY heavily planted, I wouldn't expect shrimplets to grow up.

2) You can get more than 6 RCS if you're limiting the number due to overstock. I think they almost have no bioload. You could certainly get 10-20 in there if you wanted to.

3) As for the substrate, I think I would try something that can grow plants on the bottom and black sand on the top. Black helps bring out shrimp color. I haven't heard of the brand that you use, but most people who keep RCS and CRS with plants use Fluval Stratum or EcoComplete. Yours might be just fine but please check if there's any copper in the substrate. Copper is instantly lethal to RCS. Other than that, RCS appreciate movable substrate. If you ever wanted to switch to pygmy cories, soft substrate on the top (like sand) is preferred. That way you have more options in the future.

4) Filtration: What can I say. Keeping RCS I strongly recommend using air pump driven sponge filters, but almost anything is fine as long as you cover the intake valve with a pre-sponge or DIY equivalent like pantyhose. I think if I started a tank like this I would install a Hamburg Matten Filter in the corner, but that takes more effort and isn't required.

5) Plants: I would get a lot of high surface area mosses for the shrimp to hide in and graze on. Flame moss / Java moss / Willow moss, etc.

6) If this was a QT tank, make sure you've NEVER used copper containing meds in there. It's nearly impossible to get of traces of copper and that may kill your shrimp.

7) Cycle cycle cycle cycle! There are a lot of products that you can use to help start the cycle in your tank for RCS. I recommend looking into something like GlasGarten Bacter AE to put underneath the substrate when you're first setting up the tank. RCS frequently succumb to "new tank syndrome" because while the tank may be somewhat cycled, it can take six months to fully get bacteria colonies in all parts of the substrate. BacterAE can speed that up dramatically.

I would do the fish in first with the plants and introduce the shrimp one month afterwards at the earliest. Shrimp can be really sensitive to water swings, especially in smaller tanks like 10g where a small ammonia spike somewhere can have a big impact on the tank. After a month of growing, the plants will have a lot of little algae / biofilm for RCS to nibble on.

9) Food: Feed the rasboras and let the shrimp get the leftovers. If you must feed the shrimp, I'd feed no more than once a week with a small amount of sinking wafer like Shirakura Ebi Dama. That's my hands down favorite food for shrimp.

Sorry to give you a lot of stuff to worry about but I think you can pull it off really easily if you pay attention to your shrimps' needs the most. That's my honest advice and I hope it helps. Post some pics when it's up!
 
The plants, any items you will want to add to the tank can be put into your present DT if you don't mind aving a few extra items like cholla wood and leaves, I like Oak leaves more than IAL. There are many other types of leaves to offer shrimp.

The Bamboo shrimp thrives on food filtered from the water column, which in a regular dwarf shrimp tank is the antithesis of what your tank should be. They are great in a fry tank, with many pwc and lots of food. Also in a bigger than 10G tank.

A small tank will be adversely affected by heavy feedings and ammonia spikes can be deadly if a water change isn't done soon enough.

A turkey baster is a great tool to help with target feedings.

Of so many choices of nano fish I have had excellent reproduction from Neo shrimp with Boraras Brigittae aka Chilis and Boraras Merah aka Phoenix Rasbora as cohabitators. Bad results I have experienced from Sundanio Rasboras, and CPD aka Galaxy Rasboras, Green Neons.


What kind of Oak leaf specifically? There are so many different types.


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Any oak really. I have used White Oak, Post, Black: and Amur maple which are thinner and disappear quickly.

I like the kind from the trees that seem to retain their leaves into the winter because I think they are thicker and stronger. And take longer to break down.

Clean leaves not foliar fertilized or sprayed with insecticidal soaps or poisons including fungicides and for bugs.
 
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