Shrimp Noob

[fish.com1]

Hi everyone.

I have an unfilled 9 gallon tank that i am currently looking for ideas to stock with. I have thought that shrimp may be a good idea. Can someone tell me everything(or something!) that i need to know about keeping shrimp. e.g. diet, any differences to tropical fish(my comfort zone!) and best species for my size tank.

all info appreciatted.

thanks

 

[Shrimper]

Hi everyone.

I have an unfilled 9 gallon tank that i am currently looking for ideas to stock with. I have thought that shrimp may be a good idea. Can someone tell me everything(or something!) that i need to know about keeping shrimp. e.g. diet, any differences to tropical fish(my comfort zone!) and best species for my size tank.

all info appreciatted.

thanks

A shrimp tank isn't really any different to a fish tank apart from the occupants. It needs a filter and heater and the shrimp will appreciate live plants.

There is a great article here on setting up a shrimp tank.

I would recommend starting with one of the easier to find dwarf shrimp species like cherry shrimp or tiger shrimp.

 

[Tacklebury]

As the previious poster says: Cherries are hardy and breed like crazy.

Black substrate, some bogwood and java moss/ricca attached,

Feed them flakes, algiie tablets and ideally some fish to produce waste and the cherries will love it.

Before you know it you'll have loads.

 

[pippoodle]

i find the better food for shrimp is the specially designed shrimp pellets that wont dissolve easy for them as shrimps take a long time to eat their food .
I usually leave the pellets in there for 3-4 hours then if they haven't eaten them remove the remainder of the pellets .
The shrimp pellets also contain some of the minerals the shrimp needs to keep them healthy unlike normal catfish pellets or algae wafers .

As already mentioned they love bogwood , java moss and java fern , the black substrate is only used as the cherry shrimp show a deeper red on the dark substrate .
I have found a perfect filter for shrimp is an internal elite stingray - a stingray 5 or 10 would be perfect for your size tank and these filters do not suck up baby shrimplets .

You DO NOT need fish in a shrimp tank to produce waste cos as long as the filter is cycled and you feed them regularly the filter runs fine .
Do not add the shrimp until you have cycled the tank else you will lose them all as they do not like amonia or nitrites .

As for species i would start off with cherries and Amanos then move onto others - there is a shrimp compatability chart on here so you can tell which shrimp you can keep together without them hybridising .

Good luck on keeping the shrimpies and let us know how you get on
BTW if ypou have a pets at home near you they have planted bog wood about 18" in length pre soaked in their tanks for sale at £14.99 each or 2 for £25


Sarah xxx

 

[fish.com1]

Thanks for the great info.


On the site that shrimper reccomended looking at it said that the filter needed to be very mature. I have had the filter for my 9 gallon running on my existing mature tank for about 4 days now others reccomended to run it in that tank for 4 weeks but how long is very mature? Also you say they will breed like crazy. What do you do when there are too many shrimp for the tank? How many shrimp would be ok in this size tank(9 gal). Should i just keep cherries on their own? would riccia be ok in the tank?
EDIT - Read that for the filter to be mature it needs to be running for 2 months! Is this correct. Also the site (UKshrimp) said that the filter musnt be too strong because it will kill the babies. My filter has an outlet in the form of a spraybar and is a classica powerbio 200. It is for aquariums 40 litres maz and does 200 litres an hour. Is this ok for the shrimp.

thanks again

 

[fish.com1]

Anyone?

 

[fish.com1]

Come on guys...

 

[Liam]

One thing you could do is swap some of the filter media from an old filter to the new one another is wash the old filter material in the shrimp tank. Shrimp seem more intolerant of ammonia than fish and very small amounts can be lethal for them, so a mature filter is going to be necessary. As for filter flow, most dwarf shrimp dont have a problem with fast flowing water so long as there are parts of the tank that have calm water, many of them originate from rivers and they can cling on and feed in water coming form very big filters. A fast turnover of the water is good as it deals with ammonia faster. Its the inlet of the filter that needs to be covered with sponge or netting to stop the tiny babies getting sucked up.

 

[fish.com1]

Thanks.

are shrimp good at escaping? Because the lid on my tank has hand sized holes at two sides so you can remove it easily. Do they ever try to escape? Also with the filter should i just cover the slits where the water goes in with fine netting, to stop baby shrimp being sucked into the filter?

edit - how many shrimp would be ok in a 9 gallon tank. Think i'm going to keep cherries. What happens when there are too many shrimp(from breeding) for the tank? How long is a shrimps life?

thanks

 

[AJ Tudor]

Good luck on keeping the shrimpies and let us know how you get on
BTW if ypou have a pets at home near you they have planted bog wood about 18" in length pre soaked in their tanks for sale at £14.99 each or 2 for £25


Sarah xxx

I have a section of that bogwood and although it sounds quite a bit for something you could essentially make yourself it's well worth it, my tree (It's a big plant, ergo it's a tree) is growing really well on it. Definately recommend thiis for any tank, not just for shrimpys

Thanks.

are shrimp good at escaping? Because the lid on my tank has hand sized holes at two sides so you can remove it easily. Do they ever try to escape? Also with the filter should i just cover the slits where the water goes in with fine netting, to stop baby shrimp being sucked into the filter?

edit - how many shrimp would be ok in a 9 gallon tank. Think i'm going to keep cherries. What happens when there are too many shrimp(from breeding) for the tank? How long is a shrimps life?

thanks

My shrimp generally stuck to the substrate with occasional forays up a plant stalk, I don't think you really need to worry about escapees. I'm not certain about stocking rates for shrimp but any aquatics retailer should be able to tell you. One point I'd like to make is they're very susceptable to changes in temperature, I almost lost mine after my heater broke and the water rose a degree and a half.