Newbie Looking To Get Into Shrimp

I'll preface this by saying I've had a variety of fish before though bettas and goldfish are definitely my specialty,I'm a sucker for underdogs, so I know about the nitrogen cycle and basic fish keeping. I moved and couldn't move any tanks or fish.

I have a 10 gallon tank but I'm not entirely sure what equipment I have, I know I'll need a hood and light but I've never kept dwarf shrimp and I'm hoping for some guidance. My plan for this tank is to have it fairly heavily planted but easy plants, mostly java moss and probably duck weed as I adore the look of it. I'd like to keep one sparkling gourami and I know they enjoy small live prey and I'll be adding a bunch of leaves to the bottom if I can get some shrimp safe ones for not to much. I saw that onestopaquatics have culls for 10 for 30 but I guess bee shrimp are supposed to be fairly sensitive so I might need to get RCS. I don't have a ton of money to spend on shrimp, this is going to be a fun hobby tank I dot intend to spend a lot of money on and I especially don't want to spend a lot when I'm first starting out and risk losing a bunch of expensive shrimp. I don't care too much about color and I love ghost shrimp but Id like to breed and not have to deal with larval shrimp. I will probably get a bamboo shrimp after the tank has been set up for a few months. I know shrimp are very sensitive so I'll be getting snails to cycle the tank and theyll remain with the shrimp and gourami. I don't know where my water test kit is so I don't know about the pH but I do have a water softener.

Basically:
*What else will I need to do to setup the tank
*What should I feed the shrimp (Is the food from alder cones and leaves and barley pellets enough or should I get special pellets? What pellets are best)
*Would the bee shrimp be ok or should I start with RCS
*Wheres a good place to get shrimp that has good prices and ships safely (I haven't been to my lfs yet)
*Is there anything I'll need to add to my water to remineralize it?
*What substrate should I use? Is sand ok or should I use something for planted tanks?
*I know shrimp can't have copper but don't fish need copper sulfate? I know its in a lot of fish food but is it necessary?
*Is cycling different with shrimp, will snails be enough to cycle it properly?
*Anything else I need to know or be aware of?

Thanks for any help!

 

Welcome to Fishlore
While you wait for some responses this thread may be of interest
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/resources/freshwater-shrimp-keeping.23/

 

Hi! Welcome to FishLore. Glad to have you here.

I'm no shrimp expert, and my experience with them is really bad luck. With that said, I've done a lot of reading on the net trying to figure out why, and I can give you my little knowlage. The ones that know more hopefully will add in.

I do know shrimp are very sensitive to water. If there is any fluctuating in the peramaters, you can loose them, so right after a cycle, I would not put shrimp in. Personally I would wait a month or two before adding shrimp. Reason for this is by then things have settled down, and fluctuations are less likely to happen.

As for substrate, unless the shrimp has more of a specific requirement for it, I would recommend a sandy bottom. That way all food is left on top, which makes vacuuming so much easier, or spot cleaning using a turkey baster. The plants you wan will also be fine in sand. Duck weed does fine in sand. I would also recommend hornwart as well. Like any plant there is some ups and downs about it, but shrimp seem to like hanging out in it cleaning the needles.

As for filter, a HOB will be just fine, as long as it cycles at least 100 gallons of water an hour for your 10 gallon. I personally would recommend an AquaClear filter, since you basically can customize it to what you need. Plus it will save you money in the long run because you don't buy anything new for it except maybe carbon if you want to. The ceramic pellets last a long time, or you can change them out for something like matrix if you want. And the sponge will need to be replaced maybe once a year. You will also need something over the intake to keep babies and inquisitive shrimp from getting stuck or sucked in. Filter floss or even batting from a fabric store will work. Just rubber band it in place.

GH and KH....well until you get the test kit and give exact numbers, it will be hard to say how much of what to put in. Things like Seachem Replenish is good for GH. Crushed coral and cuttlebone is good for KH and I think GH as well. I have not had confirmation that they effect GH directly. Decorative items like limestone and aragonite rocks will also raise KH (still not sure of GH though).

Now that gourami your thinking about, I'm not so sure will be good. All fish are opportunistic and a freshly molted shrimp can become a late night snack. The babies will definitely become snacks if the fish finds them. If you want to use the fish more for population control, that will work. Anything larger then say a Neon Tetra, your adults can be at risk, and babies will be snack. You might be better to just have snails and shrimp only if you want them to breed.

Food, shrimp need a variety in their diet. Unless you have one that has specific diet needs, things like shrimp pellets, algae wafers, frozen foods, peas, blanched zucchini, etc, would be good. Again it depends on the shrimp and its needs.

I think I hit most of your questions, and I hope I've helped you out. There are others that can give more detail then me though.

Again, welcome to FishLore!

 

I'm officially confused. I wanted to stay away from ghost shrimp as I'd like to have some babies, I'm not too worried about breeding but I would like some to survive and not have to buy a lot at once or have to "restock" them. I thought ghost shrimp need brackish water to survive but I've been doing more reading and I guess that's not true? They just need an established tank with a lot of plants to hide in and eat? I love their antics but I'd never had any babies survive although they were being kept with a betta in a tank that was fairly sparse plant wise. I'm seeing a lot of conflicting information on this can someone help me sort through it all?

 

Welcome to the forum!

Just one thing I do want to say, please go fishless for the cycle or use something other than snails. Snails are also very sensitive to water parameters, assuming you are thinking mystery snails since they have the higher bio-load.

Ghost shrimp are born in a larval stage, so they are harder to keep alive when they are babies and need different food. It's also very common for them to be eaten before they turn into "real shrimp."

I think Dragonnes basically answered your questions. I would definitely suggest you pick up an API master test kit as well as a GH/KH test kit. That will give you ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and then GH and KH as well. Cuttlebone, ime, does not do anything to Gh/KH, but it does give the little guys some extra calcium if they want it to keep their shells healthy.

Please pay special attention to the comment about the pre-filter sponge! You really will need it. I know a lot of people think, oh, that won't happen... The shrimp will get in everywhere. I have had them crawl into the outflow of my filter.

Are you planning on using RO water? If so, yes, you would need to remineralize it. If you aren't planning on using something like RO water, there probably wouldn't be a need depending on how much your water softener pulls out.

I currently have 1 ghost shrimp and an uncounted number of RCS (started with 8, have had 2 sets of babies, and 3 more berried females currently). The RCS really enjoy a mix of food, while I have a difficult time getting the ghost to eat anything not meaty.

I have not ordered shrimp online, so can't provide info there. Mine have all come from my LFS.

 

From my understanding, ghost shrimp are supposed to be the hardest shrimp out there. They are also supposed to be the easiest to breed. With that said, that's why they are bred as food. Which means they are normally not kept in the best conditions at pet shops, and some breeders are guilty of that as well. That is why they can be purchased for like $.49 each. Their hardiness has been greatly diminished because of those factors, and its hard to keep them alive past a month. I have not read anything about ghost shrimp in brackish water, I do believe they are fresh water only, though I could be very wrong. I believe most shrimp would be sensitive to any salt in the water.
TexasDomer Dolfan Anders247

 

Many ghosts are actually caught wild for feeders as well, which is part of why you end up hearing of the horror stories of "the ghost shrimp ate my X." They catch anything that looks kind of like a ghost shrimp, so you end up with things that may not be. I ran into one guy who ended up accidentally purchasing baby prawns as ghosts...

 

I was thinking of pond snails or mts to cycle, honestly I'm not even sure if apple/mystery snails are legal in Florida, got an empty shell the size of a tennis ball out of a pond here. I've used pre-filter sponges a lot to protect little guppy babies and I plan to have a lot of mossy and grassy plants to hopefully let the not-quite-shrimp live. I have a sponge filter I might use instead of normal filter, mostly because I already have one and I remember my old shrimp loving it. I haven't been to my lfs yet (not that local, its an hour away but the closest one ive found that actually has freshwater not just salt) but a lot of the tank will depend on what they have, how does something seem so much more expensive when you need to pay shipping? I know the chain pet store near me sells ghosties for like 10 for $1 and my old lfs had them for not too much and I didn't have a problem feeding them and most lived but I would assume a wild/freshly caught shrimp would be pickier and more sensitive. I might end up using RO if my water is really poor, I'm guessing it will need remineralized either way, just a hunch though. I think I'll be staying with mostly nano fish, the little 1 inch sparkling gourami, some little schooling fish like dwarf rasboras or maybe endler livebearers, (can you tell I like having babies in tanks?) again it depends on what I can get at my lfs and overall compatibility, and then the shrimp, maybe ghost maybe RCS, once the tnaks mature I'll bet a bamboo shrimp. Actually, a bamboo shrimp would probably eat baby ghost shrimp right? Thatd be the deciding factor between ghost and RCS I think. I appreciate all the help, clearly I'm not very decisive. I will hopefully start cycling the tank soon and I probably won't be getting any fish until July. What substrate should I use? I'm wanting something black or dark brown, would getting something like the seachem Flourite gravel be ok or should I stick to something without fertilizers?

 

I'm not sure you'll have enough of a bioload with snails to cycle it. I'd add pure ammonia and cycle it without anything living in there. If you're just doing shrimp in the tank, 1 ppm of ammonia should be plenty to cycle with (add ammonia every day or as needed so the ammonia level is 1 ppm - no need to go over this).

 

You can use Black Diamond Blasting sand for a black substrate.

 

Well I'd like to use a substrate for plants as I have a bit of a black thumb with aquarium plants but would it be shrimp safe? Also I was looking at some of SeaChem Trace but that has copper sulfate, what do you use to remineralize water?

 

If using a HOB there's a few foam inserts you can rubberband to your intake. I have seen dead adult RCS stuck on an uncovered one. Very rare, but very sad. Many use a sponge filter, 10$ for a 40 gallon one, but very difficult to find in store. (Only one store sells them in a 50mI radius)

I just rehomed my guppies to a friend in fear they would eat my baby shrimp.

Many of my plants are doing well. Started with a used flourescent, just swapped to a plant bulb. Oranger color, but My plants look great. Just make sure the watts/g are accurate.

My LFS that sells shrimp (Forest Lake Pets, MN) I think just swapped to RO water in the last few months. My RCS seem fine in RO, or my city water. I prime both. PH around 7.0-8.0 depending on which I use on vac.

My shrimp love Algae Wagers. But I think the last guy gave them sinking pellets.
Hope this helps. =]

 

I've had rcs, ghost, and bamboo shrimps in a heavily planted play sand 12 gallon tank before. Rcs reproduced the most. Also had success with ghost shrimps reproducing also, but they would eat my rcs. Don't think bamboos ate any shrimps as the are filter feeders. I tried to breed crystal shrimps but had zero success which was a shame because they look so cool.

Try looking on craigslist, there are people on there that sell them much cheaper than lfs.

 

I don't run RO water, so I don't personally remineralize, but I think a lot of people here use Replenish.

 

I use this on my HOB filter. Have yet to see how well it will work w/ shrimplettes. Sponge filters don't have any 'suck' power. Any input?

 

I use this on my HOB filter. Have yet to see how well it will work w/ shrimplettes. Sponge filters don't have any 'suck' power. Any input?

A sponge filter does have "suck" power - it can take up waste too. Just squeeze a used sponge filter in old tank water and you'll see some nasty stuff come out! Especially in a small shrimp tank, a sponge filter provides plenty of filtration.

But a prefilter sponge on an HOB will work too!

 

I have a sponge filter already but I don't want to take up too much tank space although it was in a 10 gallon before and didnt seem too large. If my lfs has rcs for fairly cheap or I can find them online for not too much I think I'll get them, the red on green plants is just gorgeous. Is there a liquid plant fertilizer safe for shrimp? I've used Flourish before but it has copper, but it's also only 0.0001%, I'd think that'd dilute enough for it to be safe but if the plants are still able to use it, its still there right? How sensitive are they to copper? The Flourite sand has copper, too. How do people do planted tanks with shrimp?

 

I personally just have a gro bulb in. Heres my tank.





Everything growing looks nice and healthy to me. ... But maybe grow faster? I don't personally know.

 

I have a sponge filter already but I don't want to take up too much tank space although it was in a 10 gallon before and didnt seem too large. If my lfs has rcs for fairly cheap or I can find them online for not too much I think I'll get them, the red on green plants is just gorgeous. Is there a liquid plant fertilizer safe for shrimp? I've used Flourish before but it has copper, but it's also only 0.0001%, I'd think that'd dilute enough for it to be safe but if the plants are still able to use it, its still there right? How sensitive are they to copper? The Flourite sand has copper, too. How do people do planted tanks with shrimp?

Flourish doesn't have enough copper to harm inverts. I don't have experience using Flourite, but I would expect the same.

 

Quick update on the tank, got the sand in, just plain black aquarium sand and a hood and plant light and got the sponge filter set up. My mom got a lot of plants which did not fall into my perfect plan but they're fine just not moss. Theres some sort of rotala (maybe indica), bamboo, water sprite, 3 small marimo moss balls, some type of ludwigia, and a couple others I don't know the name of. I got some Stability to help cycle the tank and got feeder guppies (endler hybrids) to cycle the tank and help the plants, they'll stay in the tank theyre pretty small. One of the females was very pregnant and gave birth already to about 10 babies. I there's 1 pond snail that hitched a ride but other than that it's just the fish and plants for now. I'll get other fish and shrimp in a couple weeks, I also plan on getting java moss and maybe dwarf babytears or hairgrass. I still don't have a test kit for the tank but I'll be keeping up water changes for the guppies and will test the pH and gh/kh before figuring out what other fish I can get. Not much will be happening the next couple weeks, I'll be watching the guppies and see if they get sick and work on bringing them to full health either way, they almost all have clamped fins from high ammonia in the feeder tank and are kinda thin overall. I got NLS or them but the smallest size PetCo has is still too big for them so I have to crush it with a spoon but they're all eating well and will hopefully be in tip top shape soon.

 

I ran out and got a test kit and Prime last night when one of the guppies started acting almost as if he had nitrate posioning (which I mistook for nitrite symptoms) and a lot of the fish still had clamped fins, the nitrite was 0 but ammonia was .5 so I did about a 20-25% water change and that fish died but most of the others fins have unclamped and I plan on doing a 10% change tomorrow but I was very busy today. There are at least 12 fry that are all doing well, some of the fish have ich that I'll start treating ASAP but overall pretty good for being half starved in a horribly crowded feeder tank.