Please Help With Shrimp Tank

[stanleo]

This is my shrimp tank and I think I need help.
10 gal, temp is steady at 75f, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and about 10 ppm of nitrate Ph 6.5, soft water with a sponge filter that I cycled using water from my community tank.
I started with 10 cherry shrimp and 3 of them had eggs. 6 shrimp died including two of the mommies. One mommy hatched and I have 7 of the babies. I added them six weeks ago and I have not had any die since then and 5 of the babies are about half the size of the adults. 2 of the babies are still really small. like they just hatched. None of the shrimp have saddled yet. I put a dwarf Asian crayfish in there just because I thought it was cool and the people at Aquarium adventure assured me that it wouldn't harm my shrimp. (I know I should never buy something just because its cool without researching first I just couldn't help myself

 .) also 3 assassin snails because I transferred plants from my big tank and the bad snails came with it. I also put 2 endler's livebearer's in there just for some more activity and was told that they would be safe with the shrimp. One of the fish died.
Should I have more shrimp by now?
Is there anything I should be doing differently?
Should I be concerned that 2 of the babies aren't growing?
Is it ok to have that crayfish in there? supposedly he won't get any bigger than he is. If I need to I can put him in the big tank.
Is it ok to have the fish in there? Again I could put it in the big tank.
Are my water parameters right? The info I got off the web says it is but I am not trusting that anymore.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I saw a pic of someone's shrimp tank on here that was amazing and would love to get that!
 

 

[stanleo]

here's a pic. (hopefully)
[URL="http://i1293.photobucket.com"]http://i1293.photobucket.com[/URL]


[IMG]http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b581/stanleo/shrimptank_zps0e881b04.jpg

 

[This Old Spouse]

Not sure how you cycled the filter just using other tank water. But if your stats are consistent you might be okay. Shrimp usually are kind of sensitive to a new tank situation.
 
I'd be really worried about a crayfish with anything else.
 
What is that tall plant right in the middle?

 

[stanleo]

I filled the tank to begin with with water from my established tank and did water changes over a month period without anything in it. The how to that I read online said to do it that way. Like I said though not trusting that anymore.
 
The crayfish hasn't even attempted going after them but do you think I should still move him?
 
That is an African sword that I transplanted from my big tank.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Crayfish always make me nervous when there are other fish in the tank. All it takes is one that's moving a little too slowly ...

 

[Baccus]

From how your message reads you used existing tank water in the new tank but not actually any cycled filter media, and then you did water changes to the new tank but with nothing in the tank to provide a food source for the new filter bacteria, am I right? Also did you add any dechlorinators to the water when you did the water changes?
 
If the above is correct then the filter is not cycled, shrimp have a relatively small bioload but as they increase in number they can get a filters bacteria nicely established. I am guessing that the Endler died from two problems. It is possible that the Endlers where from tanks with hard water ( shops often add aquarium salts to liver bearers tanks - so always pays to ask if the shop does this), and that the uncycled ( non bacteria colonised) filter lead to an ammonia spike which in turn poisoned at least one of the Endlers. Generally speaking Endlers are pretty adult shrimp safe but they will have the odd go at an adult shrimp and will definantly eat shrimplets. When keeping fish with shrimp it always is a good idea to have lots of plants like Mosses and bunching plants like Parrots feather for the shrimp to hide in, also some shrimp logs are a good idea for shedding shrimp to stay safe while their new shells are soft. Also shrimp are at the bottom of the food chain so ideally if keeping fish with them go for fish with small mouths or herbivores. Or better still keep the shrimp on their own and once their numbers have increased to a couple of hundred ( should take around 3-6 months) then add a peaceful fish. That way the shrimp population is large enough and stable enough to withstand some predation.
Another good thing to have in shrimp tanks is some wood, which can raise the acidity of the water while still keeping it soft, leaves are also really good for shrimp with many people keeping Indian Almond Leaves in the tank and feeding the shrimp fresh banana leaves and mulberry leaves. I am also going to try giving my shrimp some rose leaves, but only add leaves if you know no chemicals have been used on the plants or around them. Indian Almond Leaves which are often for sale online will generally from chemicals.
 
There is every chance that the baby shrimp (shrimplets), are growing its just that you are seeing new babies that have been born. When cherry shrimp are first born/ hatched they shed pretty much daily since they have such fast growth rates, then as they reach half grown size they tend to slow down in the growth department and also hide more. Also always check inside your filter, many times I have discovered shrimp inside my filters, they love filters for the easy food in there and find interesting ways of getting into the filter.
 
I would also be very careful with keeping a crayfish with either fish or shrimp. Crayfish are usually scavangers but if given the chance they will hunt down food sources. Also because crays and shrimp are relatively closely related there is the chance that either species could transmit diseases to the other species. On a shrimp keeping forum I am on a person strongly advises not keeping Australian native shrimp with any introduced species of shrimp because of the disease transfer, and the Australian shrimp have no immunity to overseas illnesses. Also plants aren't usually safe with crayfish, they tend to eat them down to nothing in a very short amount of time. Or worse use tall plants to aid in their tank escapes.

 

[stanleo]

I thought the bacteria was in the water and not just on the filter. The water I used was RO water so no chlorine but I have learned that using straight ro water is not good because I need to have the minerals in there. I am going to get a dechlorinator and start using that. I do put carbon and iron supliments in it for the plants.
 
I am going to get some wood and hiding places tomarrow along with some java moss.
 
So will it eventually cycle? The water tests pretty consistently. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 10 nitrate. Ph is 6.5, it is soft water.
 
The alkalinity is low. Should I do something to raise it? If so what?
 
Thank you so much for your post, Baccus! I really wish I would have found this site before I started this shrimp tank. I thought I followed all my research about the cycling to the letter.

 

[Baccus]

There will be a limited amount of bacteria in water, but mostly beneficial bacteria are going to be found in the filter where it is safe from nibbling fish (if you ever drop your filter fibre in the tank you will see your fish race to it for a good picking over- well mine do and the shrimp go nuts for it), but the other main place to find good bacteria is in the gravel in the tank, on ornaments that have been a long time in a tank and even to a degree plants like mosses that tend to trap all sorts of things in their fine growth. One of the reasons that shrimp adore moss is its ability to trap tid bits of food.
One of the ways I have sped up the cycling process in my tanks has been by raiding gravel/ sand and plants from other long established tanks. With a new tank I also tend to understock and allow the filter bacteria to increase gradually as the tank approaches its eventual full quota of fish
 
I would say that the reasons that your water was testing negative for nitrates/ ammonia is that you have live plants (always a good choice in my books

 ), and the plants would be using any nutrients they can get. Also shrimp really do have low bioloads, so if it had of been just shrimp in the tank, with no live plants and food being added daily you would have ended up with ammonia readings very quickly, if not water that went disgusting very quickly.
 
Cherry shrimp can get accustomed to many types of water and even soft water is only likely to become a problem when the shrimp numbers start building up and calcium gets less available to them. If you want to raise the alkalinity you could add some bog wood to the tank, Mopani wood or really any water safe type of timber. Most of my tanks contain either eucalyptus or native bottle brush branches, since these don't contain residual chemicals like plants with milky saps do. Some people add pine cones to tanks and even a type of overseas (overseas for me) type of nut which name escapes me for the moment, to raise aciditity. As suggested Indian Almond Leaves which are usually solf dried are great in almost all tank situations, they have good medicinal properties too.
Another option for your shrimp is to feed them a varied diet instead of just say fish flakes. My shrimp get a combination of foods that are also fed to my fish. Things like Hikari micro pellets, Hikari catfish wafers, specialised shrimp/ crayfish pellets, a good quality tropical fish flakes, high algea content flakes and even defrosted bloodworms. Trust me shrimp LOVE defrosted bloodworms as do most fish. Fresh banana is also relished by shrimp, and you can try other fruits and vegetables as well. It is advisable if using fresh produce to make sure it was organically grown to make sure there are no residual chemicals that could wipe out your shrimp.
The main trick with shrimp is to not over feed them, so only give them small pinches of food and maybe just give them a little bit of food of different types on different days.
 
Best of luck with your tank and shrimp and don't forget to add pictures as your shrimp tank progresses.