Fluval spec V shrimp tank?

[Razzy]

I recently purchased the fluval spec 5gallon fish tank and I really want to house some shrimp in it (red cherry shrimp to be exact). I'm in the process of letting it cycle before I add/purchase some.

But I am mainly concerned with the filter intake at the bottom and the slits on the top for waterflow. How should I cover them up? Or should I cover them up ? I dont want my shrimps to get sucked up at all.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

My dad has the same tank on his desk in his office and we put a giant thick sponge cutout in the overflow section where there is a little space. It has worked pretty well.

 

[cherokeeluvr]

I have rcs shrimp in there and they weren't getting sucked in, but the could fit threw and they made it their little hiding spot and when I came over they bolted out of the slits.. As said above, I use a peice of filter floss. It's kinda spongy as well. It's the fluval water polishing pads. After a little bit of cutting they fit in well, and I haven't had any get in since. Still haven't come up with a good way to block the bottom, but my shrimp can't fit through it right now..


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[Fresh2o]

The filter intake design was the #1 reason for me not purchasing this tank because I wanted to do a shrimp tank. I do like the overall design, however. I know this is not a helpful post *after the fact* but someone who is on the fence might stumble onto this thread. Not saying this will not work for dwarf shrimp, it can but you will have to improvise.


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[Razzy]

Okay! Thanks for all the replies.

While I am concerned about the slits I do really love the design of the tank.
I'm thinking of getting a sponge block and just cutting it and placing over the top slits and I thought about covering up the bottom intake with substrate or maybe aquarium glue.

 

[cherokeeluvr]

That's good for the top however don't do that for the bottom. Water needs to get in still. Get some fine mesh or something to block it, and keep it clean


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[Razzy]

Right! I just completely forgot about water needing to enter.. haha.

SO I decided not to ill up the water over the slits so the water level is right under it and I've left the slit on the bottom open. Are shrimp still able to get into this one ? It seems pretty small but I'm just wondering.

How should I go about placing the mesh on the intake and securing it? And where can I obtain said mesh ?

 

[cherokeeluvr]

Right! I just completely forgot about water needing to enter.. haha.

SO I decided not to ill up the water over the slits so the water level is right under it and I've left the slit on the bottom open. Are shrimp still able to get into this one ? It seems pretty small but I'm just wondering.

How should I go about placing the mesh on the intake and securing it? And where can I obtain said mesh ?

Haha yes don't cut it of I think you still need to have water at the slit level. Water comes in from there too. For the top I bought some fluval water polishingn pads at petsmart. I cut it to the right size to fit on top of the black sponge and go to the top of the glass (so full of the empty space in there). I don't have anything covering the bottom intake. Full grown shrimp or mostly full grown shrimp can't get in from there, don't know about little ones though.. When they start breeding I might empty out the tank and silicone some mesh on there. And the "mesh" I'm using is actually a fabric. It is a really fine mesh but it considered a fabric, it could be found at Jo Ann's or micheals. It's kinda silky material, but the water goes through it well, the only issue is you have to clean it off.. I'm not to worried about the bottom intake right now, so I don't have a good answer for that :-| maybe there is some kind of sponge you could cut and wedge in there. Not sure, sorry couldn't help much for that part.. But for the top sponge make sure it's snug in there and pushes against the slits.


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[Razzy]

Ah that is a great idea, I'll be picking up the polishing pads before I add my shrimp in. I'm only worried for when the shrimp are young and small and the force from the bottom intake will suck em in. Seems it's gonna be a hassle to even try and get them out. I wonder if I can just push the foam block all the way down it would kind of block the hole.

 

[cherokeeluvr]

Ah that is a great idea, I'll be picking up the polishing pads before I add my shrimp in. I'm only worried for when the shrimp are young and small and the force from the bottom intake will suck em in. Seems it's gonna be a hassle to even try and get them out. I wonder if I can just push the foam block all the way down it would kind of block the hole.

Good! The top is easy to block off and easy to get the shrimp out, but if they get into the pump side they can swim down to the bottom and get back into the sponge side underneath it. There are small plastic edges that keep the sponge off the bottom, which makes it hard to get the shrimp out, or to stuff the hole... If your tank isn't too complex I would recommend draining the water and using some sort of aquarium safe sillicon to attach a fine mesh around the bottom intake. If you do that also invest in some long tweezers (you can get them on Amazon for about $5) to pick off any debree that doesn't get sucked in.


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[cherokeeluvr]

Ok I don't know if you still need to figure out how to cover the bottom intake, but I just figured it out. After rescaling the tank and seeing how much stuff got crammed into the tank I got an idea. I cut up fine mesh into a small piece a little bit bigger than the intake slot. Then I held it down next to it and let the auction "grab" the piece and now it's stuck there. When you turn off your filter check to make sure it didn't come off when the suction was gone. It took like 2 seconds to put it on so its really easy! If you still hadn't figured it out there's something to do. I just now got around to it because I think some of my shrimp might be berried!


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