Cycling for Shrimp?

[Kiskadden]

This was actually brought to my attention by someone in the "Getting Started" thread but nobody responded so I thought I would bring it here.

I have a Fluval Spec V and am waiting for parts and live plants to get here. What I am now curious about is do I still need to fishless cycle a tank if my first inhabitants will be 10 blue rili shrimp?

If I don't need to fishless cycle because the shrimp have such a small bioload and could start a small cycle themselves w/o much harm, what will happen when I do decide to add a fish? How long should I wait before I add a fish to the mix? Oh I am thinking that my tank could be considered 'heavily' planted, 5 plants in a 5 gallon 2 growing to a foot in height, 3 growing to 6 inches (and 2 of those spread).

 

[4127john]

Doesn't matter. Even fish food can start make the ammonia levels pretty high. Most shrimp are sensitive to ammonia. Not sure about the shrimp you want but I wouldn't risk a shrimp due to not cycling a tank. Only takes a week or two or cycle. Patience is the key

 

[Kiskadden]

Oh, I was already planning on cycling the tank, have pure ammonia already. Just thought for a moment that maybe I didn't need to. Good to know that I should anyway. Thanks!

 

[4127john]

Welcome

 

[Mogurako]

Shrimp shouldn't be added to a new system until it has been up an running for several months. I grow out livebearer fry in my new shrimp tanks to get them ready. I've learned the hard way not to just add shrimp to a fresh tank. Shrimp need that yummy biofilm that's all over in an establish tank. However if you add enough live plants you may be able to get away with it so long as its cycled and stable.

 

[Kiskadden]

Shrimp shouldn't be added to a new system until it has been up an running for several months. I grow out livebearer fry in my new shrimp tanks to get them ready. I've learned the hard way not to just add shrimp to a fresh tank. Shrimp need that yummy biofilm that's all over in an establish tank. However if you add enough live plants you may be able to get away with it so long as its cycled and stable.

Enough live plants is what I am hoping for... I only wanted these 10 shrimp and a betta. I already know it depends on the personality of the betta but here are ways to help a betta work with shrimp like having the shrimp first and then getting a younger small betta.

I was only going to set up this tank first hopefully with the shrimp after a month or 2 (now I will lean on 2 months just adding the pure ammonia to the tank till I get the shrimp and letting the biofilm grow), then buy a second tank for qt and emergency purposes if the betta I got would be an aggressive one regardless.

I was going to get repashy shrimp souffle as food for the shrimp, would that not help out if there wasn't enough biofilm?

 

[Mogurako]

My betta is very mild mannered and I still haven't seen any baby shrimp in my 8 gallon cube and its been set up for almost a year now so its very likely that you won't see any shrimpletts either.

Repashy is a great food but they still need that biofilm to graze on during the day. In my experience a tank that is super healthy and great for Shrimp isn't the prettiest to look at.

 

[aluka]

be careful of your betta. Some bettas can live with shrimps, alot can't. I had many many bettas in the last few years (rehomed because i moved my direction from breeding bettas to breeding shrimps), most of them ate any shrimp that was placed with them besides amano shrimps. Out of all the ones i have had, only 6 bettas were able to live with shrimps peacefully, and then out of the blue 6-7 months later they discovered shrimps were delicious and killed my whole colony.

I would definitely test the betta's agression, by placing in a qt tank with some cheap ghost shrimps and see if he eats any of them over a few weeks.

 

[Fishfur]

That comment about biofilm is dead right. No biofilm means shrimp will die. Sadly true, they eat it, and it also seems to fulfill some other need, much as it does for many fish species. So you must be patient and just have the Betta for now. Try just a few shrimp when a few months have passed and if the Betta is good, then get a few more.

There's little point spending money on shrimp before you know the fish will allow them to live, not to mention you will feed sad if they die.