Shrimp overpopulation in community tank

Hi everybody. First post here. This forum has been one of my main sources of education for setting up my first ever tank.

I have a planted 20 gallon community tank. It has been running for 3 months and it is mature by what I can tell.

Stocking is:

8 harlequin rasbora
5 cory panda
2 otos
1 mystery snail
1 amano shrimp
1 ghost shrimp
1 red rili shrimp

The red rili is the latest addition. I noticed she was berried when I transferred her to the tank after acclimation.

My tank is now home to an indeterminate (15+ I'd say) baby shrimp. It's great for me, my next project is a 10 gallon shrimp tank so this has been a pleasant surprise. So far, most of them live in a floating moss ball, but some of them are starting to explore the rest of the tank. The fish don't mind them at all.

I'm worried about future overpopulation. My plan for the shrimp tank is going to be just let the population control itself, but in this tank I have to think of the rest of the fish/inverts. Is there a risk of having so many shrimps in 2 or 3 generations that it will cause problems with bioload/crowded space?

 

No, they have a very small bioload and your fish will eat the babies. I've never read of too many shrimp causing problems.

 

No, they have a very small bioload and your fish will eat the babies. I've never read of too many shrimp causing problems.

Thanks! I'll not worry for now then.

Those 15 or so that I have identified are big enough now that I doubt the harlequins can eat them anymore (5 mm or so).

 

They may compete for food with the ottos, amano and snail so make sure you’re adding food like veggies/ wafers / shrimp specific foods.

most folk will say 3 months is risky for ottos but I suppose it depends , don’t scrape glass and leave the light on longer than 8 hours and you should be producing enough food.

you’d need upwards of 100 for neocaridina shrimp to make a dent in bio load but if you’re going to set up a specific tank then that’s perfect ! Get that set up and growing biofilm as soon as you can to really mature , this way you’ll have a back up colony if something ever happens . In a community tank you’re providing free live food in the form of baby shrimplets so I doubt you’ll be over stocked.

do you know your kh and gh ? Kh is a great indicator if things are going to go wrong

 

They may compete for food with the ottos, amano and snail so make sure you’re adding food like veggies/ wafers / shrimp specific foods.

most folk will say 3 months is risky for ottos but I suppose it depends , don’t scrape glass and leave the light on longer than 8 hours and you should be producing enough food.

you’d need upwards of 100 for neocaridina shrimp to make a dent in bio load but if you’re going to set up a specific tank then that’s perfect ! Get that set up and growing biofilm as soon as you can to really mature , this way you’ll have a back up colony if something ever happens . In a community tank you’re providing free live food in the form of baby shrimplets so I doubt you’ll be over stocked.

do you know your kh and gh ? Kh is a great indicator if things are going to go wrong

Kh 6, gh 12.

I bought the otos to deal with a bad diatom explosion. They took care of that in a week; after that, I always see them eating out the glass or plants. They both look plump and happy (they play with both the rasboras and the corys).

Light is on 10 hours on average, mainly to try to "dirty" the tank a bit for the otos.

I have not noticed molting problems; the amano disappears for a week when molting but always gets back to action. As an aside, the amano turned yellow but all I have found online points to that being a diet thing.

 

Kh 6, gh 12.

I bought the otos to deal with a bad diatom explosion. They took care of that in a week; after that, I always see them eating out the glass or plants. They both look plump and happy (they play with both the rasboras and the corys).

Light is on 10 hours on average, mainly to try to "dirty" the tank a bit for the otos.

I have not noticed molting problems; the amano disappears for a week when molting but always gets back to action. As an aside, the amano turned yellow but all I have found online points to that being a diet thing.

Your KH and GH are fine for shrimp.

My Amanos would turn orange when I fed Red bell pepper to my Pleco.

 

I second that , your parameters are fine.

mine go green with spirulina flakes hah. Multi coloured amanos eh who’d of thought it because they are clear you can see the stomach contents.

Good luck with the shrimplets