Small Aquarium Advice For Freshwater Shrimp

[thepominlaw]

Hello, 
 
Looking at setting up a small tank for my office desk for freshwater shrimp. Already have a 125litre shrimp tank but its way too large for the office. 
 
There appear to be lots of tanks available that could be suitable but I have no experience with any. I would appreciate your pro's and con's for my shortlist please.
 
Fluval Edge 6 Gallon (LED)
Fluval Ebi
Fluval Spec 2 Gallon
Fluval Spec 5 Gallon
 
Will be buying in the UK so need one thats easily available here. 

 

[Chad]

For me, hands down the Ebi. It's larger than the others at 7.9 gallons which is nice, but the real bonus for me is ease of access to the tank. Also, I've seen some really nice set ups in the Ebi, I mean just fantastic set ups. I think a lot of that is the fact that the size and shape of the tank and that ease of access I talked about really allow for work to be done that just is too hard in the Edge. The smaller size of the Spec is what turns me off from it but the 5 gallon Spec would be my second choice.

 

[Welshweeks]

Sorry to high-jack the thread but I'm in the initial stages of setting up a 40ltr shrimp tank (cherry or something a bit more special) and I'd like to possibly breed them, is there ANY other fish that I could put in there with them? Just looking for a single suitable fish that would need not eat them or the baby shrimp (although I guess there is not such a fish)?

 

[Chad]

My chili rasbora and pygmy cory do not eat the babies. My scarlet badis do, but that's okay I don't mind...but if you want micro fish the chili rasbora lives well with them, at least in my tank.

 

[Baccus]

Another all round shrimp safe fish is otocinclus, almost any fish will happily take a nibble at a small shrimplet, but often a fish with a small mouth is going to be your best bet.
 
Sorry I can't help with the tank selections, but I will say go for as large a tank as the space will allow. I have found even cherry shrimp if housed in to small a tank will be slow to grow, and with a small tank there is less room for any errors. If things are going to go wrong in the tank they will happen suddnenly with little warning.

 

[CezzaXV]

As a side note, can you post a photo of your 125L shrimp tank? That seems an insane size to dedicate just to shrimp and I'm intrigured as to what it looks like now!

 

[Welshweeks]

OK, so Chili Rasbora, Pygmy Cory, Otto's. I know in my 40 ltr I'm very limited to numbers so how many could I put in as it's mainly a shrimp tank which I'd possibly like some bumble bee or crystal red bee and again how many shrimp could my tank support?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Hello, 
 
Looking at setting up a small tank for my office desk for freshwater shrimp. Already have a 125litre shrimp tank but its way too large for the office. 
 
There appear to be lots of tanks available that could be suitable but I have no experience with any. I would appreciate your pro's and con's for my shortlist please.
 
Fluval Edge 6 Gallon (LED)
Fluval Ebi
Fluval Spec 2 Gallon
Fluval Spec 5 Gallon
 
Will be buying in the UK so need one thats easily available here. 

I'd get the largest tank you're comfortable with having in your office. I started out with 6 red cherry shrimp and now have well over 200 in my 20g. I have a number of cory and a flying fox and oto who never bother each other. I also have some cherry shrimp in my 55g in a wad of java moss who seem happy.

 

[Chad]

Well...you could keep 15 chili rasbora in there comfortably. I have 8 in my 22 liter tank and could do a dozen if I felt like it. These are TINY fish we're talking about here but bright red and just awesome. As far as the shrimp you could keep a bunch! They don't require much room or produce much waste.

 

[Baccus]

Because they are slower breeders generally crystal shrimp are a good option, if you have experienced their finiky ways before, but crystal shrimp (either red or black) are going to want cooler temps than otocinclus and posisbly any other dwarf fish is going to like.
 
There are some awesome colours and patterns in cherry shrimp now and if you like the two tone look then red or yellow rili's are a good option. Also so far they are not overly common so being able to off load the offspring will be easier than say just normal run of the mill red cherries.
And as stated shrimp have a small bioload and dont appear to need much space, I guess starting numbers of cherry shrimp (or any shrimp) will be determined by what type you decide to get eg Rili, yellow, black, super red, tiger,King kong, Blue bolt etc and their asking price and what you can afford. If possible I always try to start with a neat dozen that gives you the best chance of having a good male/ female ratio and all your hopes aren't tied to one shrimp.