New Tank, New Creatures?

So for Christmas my mother bought me a Fluval Spec V (5 gallon) and had it delivered to me early so I could start cycling it and have it up and running as soon as I can. I've gotten it set up and it's cycling fishless right now. I'm going to add my betta fish to it once it's ready, but I was also set on getting some ghost shrimp too. I have a few questions about adding them. Should I add them the same time that I move my betta fish over, or should I wait until my betta fish gets settled into his new tank for a few weeks and then add ghost shrimp? Also - what do you feed ghost shrimp and what does their care entail? I have my tank set up with gravel, some dead corals I found on the beach, mopanI drift wood, java fern and anubias. Is this set up ideal for shrimp or is there something I'm missing? Ill be sure to get something they can hide in, but is there anything else? Thank you!

 

You should be careful with the coral because it can higher the PH of the water, better prefer soft acidic water.

 

You should be careful with the coral because it can higher the PH of the water, better prefer soft acidic water.

My PH has been at 7.0 steady so I'm not worried about my corals. I just wanted to know what I need to do in order to have ghost shrimp...haha. But thank you! I'll keep an eye on my PH - although these corals have been dead for at least a year.

 

You might want to be careful with a HOB filter for shrimp or bettas. The flow can suck them up or stress them out. I think it would be better if you could get a sponge filter so you could have a low flow. They are very cheap and easy to clean. Like Beau21 said, be careful with coral as it can lower pH. The order of adding them in shouldn't matter to much. The bettas will be curious at the beginning but will then realize that the ghost shrimp are extremely bold!

Have fun with your new tank!

 

You might want to be careful with a HOB filter for shrimp or bettas. The flow can suck them up or stress them out. I think it would be better if you could get a sponge filter so you could have a low flow. They are very cheap and easy to clean. Like Beau21 said, be careful with coral as it can lower pH. The order of adding them in shouldn't matter to much. The bettas will be curious at the beginning but will then realize that the ghost shrimp are extremely bold!

Have fun with your new tank!

I'm not sure if the older version of the Spec V had adjustable flow, but mine thankfully does. I have it turned down all the way and I'm going to be adding a sponge to the outtake to "muffle" the flow a bit if I need to. I watched how Solid Gold Aquatics set up her Spec V for her betta fish and that's what I'm going off of. I'm just waiting to see if the flow is going to be too strong for him to see if I need to add a sponge. And the intake is super small for my fish to get sucked in to, so hopefully it'll be okay for shrimp too

And I'd rather not go with a sponge filter because the 3-stage filtration on this tank is one of the main reasons I decided to get it.

Another question though - what the heck to ghost shrimp need to eat? I usually have a load of algae in my tank, but I know they can thrive solely off of that. Are there commercial shrimp feeds for them?

 

Ghost shrimp should be fine eating the leftover fish food in your tank. Have fun, sometimes they have more personality than my fish!

 

Ghost shrimp eat pretty much everything lol. They will eat left over fish food.

 

One strong piece of advice with the Spec V.
Make sure that you cover the hole at the bottom with a sponge, or some type of netting, like a stocking so the shrimp will not get into the back compartment of the filter. Also make sure the the intake slits at the top have some type of covering as well.
If you don't....it will be H E double hockey sticks to get them out!!!!
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