penance

I'll be getting the necessities to starting my red cherry shrimp colony soon but I had a question on the filter, I realize that these little guys don't have the biggest bioload but I would like to get the smallest filter I can and yet not stand a chance of them getting sucked up by a filter.

Questions:

Any recommendations for a sponge filter?
Is a 25 watt heater for a 5 gallon tank?
Sand or gravel?

MissMTS

I am getting ready to add a colony of RCS to one of my tanks as well. My tank has gravel because I had some extra laying around, but if I had the choise I would go with sand since they like to sift through it. I am pretty sure that any sponge filter will work fine. You can also use a regular HOB filter and put a filter sponge over the intake. A 25 watt heater should be perfect for a 5 gallon tank. Have fun with your new little shrimp

harpua2002

Hubby and I have a 20 gallon long RCS tank. We use an Aquaclear 50 HOB and cover the intake with netting tied around the tube. It's worked great for us but a sponge filter is another good option.

wot_fan

I have some RCS in my 29 gallon tank with my Endlers. The tank has 2 AquaClear 50 filters with sponges on the intakes. It also has a couple of sponge filters. The shrimp have no problems with either type of filter. In fact, there are always at least a couple on the sponges cleaning them . You should be fine with any size sponge filter.

Here is a pic of the tank. There was only one sponge filter in the tank when the pic was taken though.

coffeebean

i would go for sand and a sponge filter over the HOB

SWilkins

I have mine in a regular 20 gal with gravel (brown/tan) with a regular HOB with filter floss around the intake. Plants in there for them to hang out on and some deco. I read after the fact that they show up better or show their colors better on darker gravel or sand....like I could get all those little things outta there and change out the gravel now...yeah right. I do go to an invert site rather regularly and they all seem to think all of the different shrimp show up better on the darker gravel or sand and from the pics I have seen they are right. It is something about them using their color for camoflauge....they just don't realize they are not regular colors and so they darken up to try and blend in with their darker substrate. Mine do show up lighter but they are still great fun to watch.

harpua2002

That's totally true. They look a lot different in our 20L breeding tank with black gravel as compared to the 8 gallon with pool filter sand, even though the ones in the 8 came out of the 20.

penance

Some updates ...

I got the 5 gallon tank 2 weeks ago and it came with a purple light like that was going to help me see anything so I had to replace that with a clear light and unfortunately the light is only on one side of the hood so hopefully anything I plant will get enough light but I doubt it. I might have to replace the hood with a hood light that has the bulb going all the way across.

I bought black sand (first time experience) and that didn't go so well, it totally skipped my mind that sand sticks, it floated bits of sand to the top and clumped really bad so I got rid of that and replaced it with black gravel.

I went with a small sponge filter and attached the airline to it, that seemed to be the easiest part of the setup lol I added an onion plant (under the lit area), marimo balls and a nice piece of driftwood.

Trouble is the heater, I thought it was a 25 watt but it's actually a 100w heater, will that be too hot?

I added the TSS tonight but I plan on waiting a full 7-10 days, check the stats and if everything is okay then I'll add the shrimp This is my first time using TSS and I'd rather not have the shrimp used as guinea pigs.

I almost forgot, will it be alright if I keep my current 3 red cherry shrimp in my 55g, where I have them in one of those plastic cups that Petco keeps their betta's in for the week as long as there is food?

I learned the hard way where I released 20 red cherry shrimp, most juvies and lost them all and a week later I found 2 -.- I don't want that mistake again, so I've got them captive lol

penance

update - 07/06 ... all is well I probably have around 15-20 juvenile and adult shrimp roaming around their 5 gallon home.

Last night I found several babies they are the tinest cutest babies I have ever seen - I'll try to get a picture of their setup tonight

I've replaced the incandescent hood light (single screw bulb) that came with the tank for a fluorescent light and omg I could finally see the shrimp lol 5 gallon hood light and accessories are hard to come by in some pet stores and it cost me $25 for the hood and light but the shrimp are worth it

Question: what would be a healthy diet for them?

I have been feeding them some flake food and algae wafers but am I missing something?

mjordan

i give them some of the omega1 seaweed.....brown
i also give them zuccini
flake
bloodworms
pellets
and let them filter out and eat the decapped brine shrimp eggs