Suitable Substrate

[benthyer]

So I have just got myself a tank for free and I am planning on having shrimp in it.
 
My plan is to get lots of moss and plants that only need low level lighting, some wood and tunnels.
 
However I am not sure what substrate to go for, I currently have some sand I could use but was wandering if this will be ok or if I should go for something else?
 
 

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Sand is fine, but so is gravel. I am not big on inverts, I only have red cherry and Amano shrimp. But I have them in 4 different tanks, One is sand and the other 3 are gravel, They seem to fine in both. The one common feature of all these tanks is they are well planted.

 

[benthyer]

Sand it is then most likely, I only asked because I've read so many things where they go on about substrates being right when having shrimps. 
 
I'm probably only going to have RCS and Amano's to be honest but I'll see how well it goes first. I was going to do a shrimp only tank but it's quite a tall tank I'm using so might get some small top dwellers in with them

 

[Baccus]

Sand will be much easier to deal with when trying to catch shrimp out later, speaking from experience shrimp have an annoying knack of getting down into gravel while your trying to catch/ remove them. Also when you take a scoop with a net you end up with gravel in the net, with sand at least you can sift out the sand if the net is not too fine a mesh.
 
Depending on what top dwellers you end up going with, you could try some of the dedicated shrimp substrates, from memory they buffer the pH and gH. The main problem I think there is with shrimp soils is that they do deplete and need replacing at least I think from memory every year.
 
Also when adding fish to a shrimp tank I would always have the shrimp first and ensure they are multiplying before adding fish. Almost all fish with the possible exception of otocinclus will view shrimplets and sometimes adult shrimp as food.
Also with fish added keep in mind that it will make it incredibly hard to medicate the tank at a later date if needs be. Almost all medications will contain copper which will poison inverts.
 
With the shrimp you could look at adding some nice or unusual snails, Giant Ramshorns look nice and some of the trapdoor snails are also interesting as are almost any of the Sulawesi snails.

 

[benthyer]

Thanks for the help Baccus.
 
Maybe I'll reconsider having fish in the tank then and go for some snails. I already have Assassins in my main tank so be nice to find something else.
 
I haven't tested my pH in a while but I remember it being quite high at around 8 so have been considering getting someting to buffer the water but hopefully if I get some wood that will do the trick. I'll have a look at some avtive substrates as well though
 
My other concern is that the filter I am going to be using is currently running in my main tank and I had to medicate the fish a while back, is there still a risk of some copper being present or do you think it will be safe now?

 

[Baccus]

It all depends on if there was copper in the medication, copper can be very hard to remove from water.
 
I would hope that if there is any residual copper left in the filter that it is is such low amounts as to be harmless to the shrimp. The only way that I can think to ensure that there is no residual copper would be to change the old media out for new. Filters unlike tanks dont tend to have silicone in the corners that can allow chemicals to seep in and then leach back out at a later date,

 

[benthyer]

There was copper in the medication.
 
Maybe I'll look at getting a new sponge filter which is a shame because I'll have to start a fresh cycle

 

[Baccus]

You could kick start the cycle using some substrate or ornaments from your other tank provided they where not also exposed to the medication.
 
Otherwise you could use a portion of your current media and add it to the new filter media to kick it along, then before adding the shrimp throw out the old medicated media.

 

[StevenF]

"Almost all fish with the possible exception of otocinclus will view shrimplets and sometimes adult shrimp as food."
 

 
 
My aquarium has two blue shrimp that are about 1/2" long and 5 black neon tetras  (1' to 1.5")  The tetras have shown no interest in the small shrimp.  I have seen a number of aquariums on the web with red cherry shrimp  and small small tetras.  There are a lot of verities of small tetras and Danios out there which should do well with RCS.  Small fish don't have big mouths so Amano and RCS are probably too big for small fish to eat.

 

"I haven't tested my pH in a while but I remember it being quite high at around 8 so have been considering getting something to buffer the water but hopefully if I get some wood that will do the trick. I'll have a look at some active substrates as well though"
 
 

 
 
Another option is to mix some RO water with your tap water.  That would reduce the mineral content and help lower the PH.  However don't use just RO water.  RO water doesn't have enough calcium for shrimp and they will likely die.  My tap water it too hard to use so originally I used just RO.  I tried Amano and then later ghost shrimp, they all died. My Nerite snails (very good glass cleaners) did fine  I now add some Calcium and Magnesium carbonate to the RO water to keep the KH (total Alkalinity) at a suitable value.  My shrimp are doing well and molting regularly.