Few questions on shrimp keeping

[giffmastaflex]

I have 10 RCS and some java moss in a 20 gallon tank. If I add liquid fertilizer and liquid co2 will this kill my shrimp? On the bottle there are no ingredients listed so I don't know if copper is present. I use seachem flourish witch states that there is 0.0001% copper and I use API liquid co2 in my 55. Will this kill my shrimp? Also when water changes are performed is there a way to get all my shrimp to one side so I don't suck them up in my gravel vac?

 

[Maxw47]

I've just kinda avoided shrimp with the gravel vac.those ferts and CO2 should be fine. I've never used them with shrimp though.

 

[Darkseid76]

Those ferts won't harm your shrimp and honestly you really don't need them with java moss.

 

[giffmastaflex]

Well I'm only using natural sunlight in the tank so i thought it would be alittle boost

 

[giffmastaflex]

Is sunlight good enough for both the shrimp and plant?

 

[drewsuf82]

Hi GIFF!!! Welcome to the world of shrimp.

Red Cherry Shrimps are pretty hardy from my experiences. I currently have some PFR (a variation of RCS) in a 10G and not much seems to bother them. Just make sure they have a decent TDS and parameters in the water and you'll be good. I've found they seem to do best in TDS between 180 and 250.

My concern here is the natural sunlight. Are you talking direct sunlight from a window or are you talking indirect ambient sunlight. At either rate if it's just java moss you really need to make sure you control the light. Java Moss isn't a fast grower and algae can quickly out compete it and take over your tank. Especially with direct sunlight! -- As a sidenote, java moss will do just fine under a T8 bulb

Is this just a shrimp only tank ? TBH on my 10 gallon I've never EVER vacced the gravel (with the exception of where I place the food bowl). It turns to mulm, mulm is great for roots for plants if you decide to add them.

The other worry here with direct sunlight outside of the algae would be the heat from being in the sun. While the shrimp do ok in temps below 80, mosses prefer temps in the mid 70s and down for the best growth.

As for the ferts, I use Flourish for my plant food as my Nitrate levels dictate. Mosses feed from the water column and no nitrates mean no foods for the mosses. Just remember if you're doing your test after using Flourish you'll see ammonia spike up a bit however this is in the form of ammonium and isn't harmful to your shrimp.

I hope this helps

 

[giffmastaflex]

Well it's in direct sunlight but I could draw the shade because the sun does shine though the shade a bit and I have sand substrate I just thought there was a way to not suck up the little guys. In the near future ill look into lighting such as led just in case I get other plants

 

[drewsuf82]

Well it's in direct sunlight but I could draw the shade because the sun does shine though the shade a bit and I have sand substrate I just thought there was a way to not suck up the little guys. In the near future ill look into lighting such as led just in case I get other plants

If you're using sand whenever you vac you're going to suck out all your substrate. So I would def advise against using any type of suction cleaning.

If you go LED I would advise you to either make your own (a fun project) or buy one online that's specifically for plants. A lot of the LED lights in say walmart, petsmart, petco aren't going to give you the spectrum, they're simply there to light up your water.

If you do vac don't go directly down into the substrate. You can use pantyhose over the end in the water to help prevent any unwanted shrimp suctions