Shrimp tank questions.

HI all! I'm thinking of making a heavily planted 5 gallon tank, and possibly putting a few Ghost shrimp inside. I'm new to shrimp. Before I do this, I have a few questions.

1. With just a lot of plants and a few shrimp, how many water changes would I need to be doing?

2. Would the shrimp be able to live off of the plants, or would I need to buy them special food?

3. How many shrimp could I put in a five gallon tank?

4. Do ghost shrimp need a heater?


P.s, The tank will have a filter and be cycled.
Thanks in advance!

 

You want to try to raise ghost shrimp??! I would start with a simpler way. Do red cherry shrimp. You can have up to 50 RCS in your tank. They will just not have enough room to swim If it's more than 50. What kind of plants will you have in there? Almond leaves and cuttle-bone will really help the shrimplets also remember to cover the in put with a pre-sponge filter or the shrimplets will be sucked up.

 

A lot of Java moss, some Moneywort and maybe some Mondo Grass. Moping to get some wood in there and string the java moss over/on it. Thanks fort the help!

 

I might add a few more plants as I go along.

 

Will be watching what do you have questions on? I will answer them

 

1. With just a lot of plants and a few shrimp, how many water changes would I need to be doing?


2. Would the shrimp be able to live off of the plants, or would I need to buy them special food?


3. How many shrimp could I put in a five gallon tank?


4. Do shrimp need a heater and if they don't can they live with a heater? (I'd probably already have a heater to keep the plants at a reasonable temperature.)

 

1. With just a lot of plants and a few shrimp, how many water changes would I need to be doing?
How large of a water change depends on the amount of shrimp, but you should be doing weekly changes. Water changes replenish elements in the water that benefit both the shrimp and plants. Check parameters with the API Liquid Master Test Kit until you figure out a schedule that works. Keep nitrates as low as possible, 10-20 ppm.

2. Would the shrimp be able to live off of the plants, or would I need to buy them special food?
You will need to buy them special food, especially since they're in a tank with no fish (no fish=no fish food leftovers). Many people use HikarI Shrimp Cuisine. You can supplement that with algae wafers and veggies.


3. How many shrimp could I put in a five gallon tank?
Depends on the type of shrimp. Are you still getting ghosts? Shrimp have very small bioload, but logically you will be able to fit more smaller sized shrimp in the tank than larger.

4. Do shrimp need a heater and if they don't can they live with a heater? (I'd probably already have a heater to keep the plants at a reasonable temperature.)
Shrimp do need a heater. Again, depending on the type of shrimp, around 75 degrees F is a good temp. If you know what shrimp you're getting, you can research the optimal temperature for that type.

 

She said what I would have said lol

 

Thanks all! That's a huge help!

 

Figured I'd add my shrimp question to this thread...I'm considering one or two ghost shrimp for my potted plant tank, but I read in the shrimp sticky they really want sand or fine gravel to build a burrow from! I'd never read that or seen that behavior before. My tank is essentially bare-bottomed. Is building a burrow really important to their well-being, if they have other places to hide?

 

Figured I'd add my shrimp question to this thread...I'm considering one or two ghost shrimp for my potted plant tank, but I read in the shrimp sticky they really want sand or fine gravel to build a burrow from! I'd never read that or seen that behavior before. My tank is essentially bare-bottomed. Is building a burrow really important to their well-being, if they have other places to hide?

They don't mind regular gravel. They don't usually burrow... Do you mean clean themselves?

 

They don't mind regular gravel. They don't usually burrow... Do you mean clean themselves?

Shrimp don't burrow, any substrate is fine for cherries/ghost although when you start keeping harder to keep shrimp you need special substrate like ADA Amazonia, I've even kept shrimp without substrate and had no issues

 

My Amanos seem to enjoy scavenging in the sand to find morsels of food, but I don't think any shrimp requires substrate. You'll just see more natural behavior with it, like with fish.

 

So my betta died a week ago and I want to make it a shrimp tank. I see lots of people have problems starting out. So I'm looking for some advice to be successful. Its a ten gallon with filter, heater, driftwood and working on getting it heavily planted. Currently only has three nerite snails in it.

 

Shrimp like established tanks with lots of biofilm and clean water. So you are in much better shape than many. It's not unusual to lose a few shrimp from shipping loss, so order a few more than you think you need. Once they get going, they're remarkably easy to keep.

Of course if this is ghost shrimp you mean, they are often handled roughly in transit, as they are generally heading for the feeder tank. Again, if you get a few extra it will even out the losses.

You can mix ghosts, amano and cherry shrimp. Just don't mix different colors of cherry shrimp, because eventually they will revert to their native tone.

 

what kind of shrimp are you thinking? RCS are pretty easy to care for and are pretty common. They do require an established tank that's fully cycled and heated. As for a filter, you could also use a sponge filter ( if using an hob, make sure the intake has a prefilter so the shrimp are protected )

You could get Java moss and or moss/marimo balls. Mine is in a 5 gallon tank that is pretty heavily covered with moss.







They breed like crazy but are a fun addition and have very little bioload so you can have tons of them!

 

Just gunna start with some orange sakura I think. Maybe add a different kind once they are going

 

I agree with the others that they're actually easy to keep in an established tank. I think one of the most important thing for shrimp are constant parameters for PH etc. they like stable, non changing water. They breed like crazy! Agree you'll lose some of what are shipped to you. I actually lost all my original shipment over about s month but many had offspring and none of them have died. Mine also love moss and Java ferns to hide in.

 

Should I invest in some mineral rocks for them? Or almond leaves? Or are those not really necessary?

 

Do you know the GH of your tap water (general hardness)? They do need mineral salts in their water either in the source water or added or it makes it difficult for them to molt.

 

They do require an established tank that's fully cycled and heated.

I disagree with some of this. They don't require a heated tank; they do well water in the low to mid 70s, so if your room temp falls within this range, you don't need a heater. I don't heat my RCS tank, and they breed well and live long lives.

For the cycling situation, I'm definitely an advocate for fishless cycling tanks. I've been thinking about shrimp tanks though, if they start out lightly stocked in a large enough volume of water with lots of plants and with frequent water changes, I don't think they need to be cycled ahead of time. If OP starts with 5-6 shrimp in a 10 gal with lots of plants, those shrimp shouldn't be enough to spike ammonia and kill them.

I tried it with my 10 gal, 4 adult shrimps, heavily planted, 2 new sponge filters, weekly water changes, and I didn't lose any. 3 months later and they're breeding and I still have the original 4. I'm thinking the plants removed the waste from the original 4, as as they reproduced, the bacteria slowly built up to handle what the plants couldn't. I never saw an ammonia spike, and even now, I'm not convinced it's actually cycled because I don't register nitrates. I'm thinking that however much ammonia is being produced by these guys is mostly (or all) taken up by the plants, and that essentially it was a shrimp-in cycle without spikes or deaths because the plants took up most, if not all, of the nitrogenous waste. Now I wouldn't recommend throwing 20 shrimp into a 5 gal, but I think 5-6 shrimp in a heavily planted 10 gal would be fine without cycling ahead of time.

So OP, you likely lost all of your beneficial bacteria over the past week, but if you have live plants in your tank, I would feel comfortable adding a few shrimp in without fishless cycling.

 

I disagree with some of this. They don't require a heated tank; they do well water in the low to mid 70s, so if your room temp falls within this range, you don't need a heater. I don't heat my RCS tank, and they breed well and live long lives.

For the cycling situation, I'm definitely an advocate for fishless cycling tanks. I've been thinking about shrimp tanks though, if they start out lightly stocked in a large enough volume of water with lots of plants and with frequent water changes, I don't think they need to be cycled ahead of time. If OP starts with 5-6 shrimp in a 10 gal with lots of plants, those shrimp shouldn't be enough to spike ammonia and kill them.

I tried it with my 10 gal, 4 adult shrimps, heavily planted, 2 new sponge filters, weekly water changes, and I didn't lose any. 3 months later and they're breeding and I still have the original 4. I'm thinking the plants removed the waste from the original 4, as as they reproduced, the bacteria slowly built up to handle what the plants couldn't. I never saw an ammonia spike, and even now, I'm not convinced it's actually cycled because I don't register nitrates. I'm thinking that however much ammonia is being produced by these guys is mostly (or all) taken up by the plants, and that essentially it was a shrimp-in cycle without spikes or deaths because the plants took up most, if not all, of the nitrogenous waste. Now I wouldn't recommend throwing 20 shrimp into a 5 gal, but I think 5-6 shrimp in a heavily planted 10 gal would be fine without cycling ahead of time.

So OP, you likely lost all of your beneficial bacteria over the past week, but if you have live plants in your tank, I would feel comfortable adding a few shrimp in without fishless cycling.

of course you do

 

So OP, you likely lost all of your beneficial bacteria over the past week, but if you have live plants in your tank, I would feel comfortable adding a few shrimp in without fishless cycling.

Just want to mention the ammonia oxidizing bacteria can/will go dormant for long periods of time as long as there is O2 and flow. The colony will greatly shrink but once ammonia comes back into the equation they've been shown to come right back out of dormancy. I am not sure if this is true also for nitrite oxidizers, hmm, will have to look into that one a little more.

 

of course you do

It's not personal

 

Tank Info:
Gh 14, Kh 7
Ph 8.4
Nitrates 20ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Tanks size 17L

Tap water:
Gh 16, Kh 10
Ph 7.4
Nitrate 40ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm

Currently feeding every other day. Changing 40% max a week.
Mixing distilled water. Currently 2 liters distilled, 5 liters tap water.

My tanks got 10 cherry shrimp all ages, one snail and 3 yamotos.

With out having to buy RO. And adding extra minerals.
Is they're anything I can do to lower my ph and gh naturally?

I've just brought mineral balls and capta logs.
I've also got a very small piece of bogwood.
And a bunch of plants.
Crypts, Java fern, Java moss and Moss balls.

I was seeing deaths every week but the death rate has slowed down and no deaths in the last two weeks.

 

Is your gh and kh listed in degrees or ppm?

So lowering hardness and ph...

You can use a specialized substrate like Fluval Stratum for Shrimp and Plants. It naturally lowers pH.

Then plant heavily and use a good light and faster growing plants (if low light, java moss, anacharis, hornwort and water wisteria are fast growers... I would go for all of them). Go for 80% ground coverage.

You can add drift wood or Indian almond leaf to the tank. It will reduce pH and slightly impact gh.

And lastly you can add filter compatible peat moss pellets to your filter. This will lower you hardness and pH.

Or I guess you could do it all.

 

Just make sure you do it slowly so you don't have a huge KH/GH drop!

 

Why are you trying to lower KH and GH? I had no issues breeding RCS in a high GH and KH tank.

You can also use other types of leaves, ones you collect yourself, as long as they don't have chemicals on them and they're dried out. I use magnolia and oak in my tanks.

You can also use more distilled water, and less tap water.

 

Don't shrimp need a higher KH for their shells?

 

Don't shrimp need a higher KH for their shells?

Usually. But that is a little extreme if degrees.

Fact is that most neons do fine in hard water. They do prefer acidic though.

 

Starting shrimp tank, informative will be watching. Thanks

 

Don't shrimp need a higher KH for their shells?

Mostly a higher GH, KH is less important for them I believe

 

It's how many drops I done until it changes to the desired colours,

I've now put in capta log and a capta leaf.

My tank is long and not very tall so most of those Plants either don't take well to my tank or don't fit in there.

I've got crypts, java moss, java fern and moss balls also.

After today's water change
my ph is now 7.4

As I done 3 liters of distilled and 5 liters tap.
My nitrates are now 5ppm finally.

I'm going to measures gh and kh tomo.
I've also got bog wood in this tank.

 

It's how many drops I done until it changes to the desired colours,

I've now put in capta log and a capta leaf.

My tank is long and not very tall so most of those Plants either don't take well to my tank or don't fit in there.

I've got crypts, java moss, java fern and moss balls also.

After today's water change
my ph is now 7.4

As I done 3 liters of distilled and 5 liters tap.
My nitrates are now 5ppm finally.

I'm going to measures gh and kh tomo.
I've also got bog wood in this tank.

 

It's how many drops I done until it changes to the desired colours,

I've now put in capta log and a capta leaf.

My tank is long and not very tall so most of those Plants either don't take well to my tank or don't fit in there.

I've got crypts, java moss, java fern and moss balls also.

After today's water change
my ph is now 7.4

As I done 3 liters of distilled and 5 liters tap.
My nitrates are now 5ppm finally.

I'm going to measures gh and kh tomo.
I've also got bog wood in this tank.

 

It's how many drops I done until it changes to the desired colours,

I've now put in capta log and a capta leaf.

My tank is long and not very tall so most of those Plants either don't take well to my tank or don't fit in there.

I've got crypts, java moss, java fern and moss balls also.

After today's water change
my ph is now 7.4

As I done 3 liters of distilled and 5 liters tap.
My nitrates are now 5ppm finally.

I'm going to measures gh and kh tomo.
I've also got bog wood in this tank.

 

It's how many drops I done until it changes to the desired colours,

I've now put in capta log and a capta leaf.

My tank is long and not very tall so most of those Plants either don't take well to my tank or don't fit in there.

I've got crypts, java moss, java fern and moss balls also.

After today's water change
my ph is now 7.4

As I done 3 liters of distilled and 5 liters tap.
My nitrates are now 5ppm finally.

I'm going to measures gh and kh tomo.
I've also got bog wood in this tank.

 

 

 

I'm also thinking about adding ferts but unsure as lighting is low and I don't use co2