Restarting colony in Molly tank

[hannahc513]

Hey guys! So a while back I had a thriving colony of shrimples and it was amazing. Then I had to combine aquariums. I lost a lot of shrimp bc I couldn’t save them all. So to get to the point, I had my shrimps w molly fry and they were unbothered. But molly fry turn into full sized mollies. And mollies eat SO FAST and so much it’s amazing these shrimps aren’t starving to death. So my colony hasn’t grown at ALL since moving them into this combined tank and I’m down to like 5-6 shrimp at this point. I decided to move the remaining shrimp into this container w holes inside of the same tank for now until I can figure out how to run 2 tanks with the same internal sump filter😅 is this cruel? Are they suffering? Or can shrimp thrive in smaller spaces? I get a turkey baster 2x a day to suck out any debris in the container and I figured this would be the best way to make sure they are eating and not getting eaten by my not so small mollies. I’m attaching pics. Please let me know if this is cruel for them bc the last thing I want is for them to suffer!! But I have NO CLUE how to run two tanks off of this biocube tank😭 any help and advice would be amazing. Thanks in advance!

[Autumnsky]

Why do you need to run 2 tanks in one?

I would say this is at best, something for a temporary situation. Not ideal. If you can rotate in some stones from the tank for the shrimp to pick at, or wood or other things which may have developed biofilm.

[SteffeyJ]

I ALWAYS keep a 3.5 gal. Tank *just in case*
And it came in handy a few months ago when I had to treat for a fungus. The treatment was not invert safe. So I quickly set up the 3.5 gal. Got all the shrimp and snails in and luckily I had been running a second micro sponge filter.. plopped it in the 3.5 with the TEEENY powerhead that it came with... and everyone is GREAT!! and all my test show the water tests the same as my big tank!
I even had a saddled shrimp go to berried to babies in the 3.5.... so I honestly would recommend just getting another tank.. a small one. 2 or 3 gallons even! Just run a small sponge filter in your larger tank for awhile and then move it over. Do lots of small water changes at first... and all should be well!!
This is just my experience though...
Wish you the best of luck!!