5.5 gallon planted shrimp tank

[8BitBrian]

Hey guys, first post on the forums! Woo!

Anyway, I just got myself a 5.5 gallon tank and I want to do a planted shrimp tank.

The purpose of this post is to ask for some suggestions on plants. I'm looking to get some plants that will give it a jungle look.

My original plan was to do a low tech, no filter, no top tank with some drift wood sticking out above the water. Slightly derailed when it was suggested I have some sort of water movement in there, so I got a really cheap 3gal filter just to have some movement.

Above the tank I have a desk lap running a "40 watt equivalent" CFL (says 9 watt 5000k below it) which was just something I had laying around and I wasn't planning on going out of my way for any special lighting.

Also wouldn't mind some suggestions on the live stock. After looking around at the different shrimp out there, I took a liking towards cardinal, crystal red, harlequin and red gold flake.

At my local big box pet store, I made friends with one of the fish guys who said he would order whatever I wanted provided it was on his availability sheet, so I still have to compare notes with him, but are these shrimp okay to keep with each other, and at 5.5 gallons, how many do you think I could keep considering their low bio load?

apologies for the lengthy post X)

-Brian

 

[Coursair]

I would start with RCS as an easy beginner Shrimp. Cardinals and others will just die unless you dial the tank in just so. There are other colors of easy Shrimp, but if you mix colors you risk ending up with original brownish clear wild colored shrimp.

Easy plants?
Java Fern
Anubias
Crypts

Watch out with that light. May need to raise it up from tank. Too much light will just grow algae. ( too much algae ).

There are a ton of threads in the FW invert section.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f129/

Lots of info on this site
http://www.planetinverts.com/Red Cherry Shrimp.html

My 10g Shrimp Jungle



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[Brian_Nano12g]

Yeah start off with neocaridina sp. of shrimp before you jump into caridina species. Neo's are much more forgiving for a beginner in shrimp keeping.

Check out red rili shrimp, blue jelly, or carbon rili shrimp if you want some exotic looking Neos.
You just can't mix neos with other neos as they'll interbreed and produce ugly offspring. You can however, mix a neo species with a caridina species because they can't breed across species. The easiest caridina sp. are tangerine tigers. Crystal reds are very difficult and I'd wait on those until you gain some knowledge and experience.

As for plants, shrimp LOVE moss. I'd get some mini Xmas, flame, or peacock moss in there.