What is different setting up a shrimp tank vs. a fish tank?

I recently wound up with two empty tanks, a 3.7 Gallon AIO cube, and a vertical-oriented ten gallon. I was thinking of setting up the 3.7 gallon cube as a dedicated shrimp-only tank. It has a large filter chamber in the back and an adjustable 20 gph return pump. It's the Imagitarium brand with the bent glass corners and I think it'd look really sleek planted up for some Red Cherry Shrimp.
So my question is, when I look up "how to set up a shrimp tank" I keep getting linked to articles about how to set up a fish tank. What I'm really trying to find out is what do I have to do differently to set up for shrimp? Since I can instant-cycle with media from one of my 5 other currently running tanks, can I just fill-er-up and add shrimp like I do with fish when I set up a new fish tank?
Here's what I am thinking so please correct me if I'm wrong:
Scape, fill, and start the tank, adding plants from existing systems
Give them a couple of weeks to settle in and perhaps start growing a little biofilm and algae
Move active filter media from an existing tank to the filter in the shrimp tank
Add shrimp

It seems too easy. Am I scared of keeping shrimp for no reason? Do I need to specifically feed them or just make sure the lights are on enough to grow algae?
I keep reading and reading but it doesn't feel like I'm getting anywhere. Can someone who has time sort of give me a Primer?
Thanks!

 

You don't have to do anything super complicated. It's like setting up a fish tank. Cycle it, give it a month to build up some bio-film, and introduce them.
You could toss in an algae wafer just in case the bio-film isn't enough.

 

Youve got everything ready to go so add water from one of your established tanks along with media and filter, plant it up and get it going as you'd like to see the finished tank, add a few fish to keep the cycle going, you only need to do this for two weeks, caution is need here mind! Being a 3.7 tank it is susceptible to parameter changes these need to be checked every few days and watch for them to become stable, ph/gh/kh take these readings when you set up, then every few days over the two weeks, your fish will be ok to go straight in,

 

Like you I was nervous about getting shrimp. So much so that I let my 2.5 gallon bowl run for about a year before finally getting brave enough to put shrimp in there.

I have to think as long as you can move some plants and media from up and running tanks over to your new shrimps home they should do fine. The media should instantly cycle the tank and the bio-film on the plants should help feed them.

My little guys seem to be thriving in my bowl. So much so that I am constantly seeing more and more babies in there. I feed them Omega One Veggie Rounds, Hikari mini algae wafers, crab cuisine and mulberry leaves. I feed them in a white shell. By doing so it keeps the food from going down into the gravel and makes it really easy to see the little guys when they pile in there to eat.

When I do my weekly water changes on the bowl I use a piece of airline tubing to siphon the water out. By using the small tubing I have time to siphon out any waste I see without much fear of siphoning babies out or pulling out too much water too quickly. To replace the water I have another piece of airline tubing with a control valve on the tank end so I can drip the water back in slowly.

Check the parameters in the tank before the water change and try to match those parameters as close as you can in the water you are putting back in there.

 

Youve got everything ready to go so add water from one of your established tanks along with media and filter, plant it up and get it going as you'd like to see the finished tank, add a few fish to keep the cycle going, you only need to do this for two weeks, caution is need here mind! Being a 3.7 tank it is susceptible to parameter changes these need to be checked every few days and watch for them to become stable, ph/gh/kh take these readings when you set up, then every few days over the two weeks, your fish will be ok to go straight in,

Thank you - yes I was concerned about GH and KH because our water where I live is usually pretty soft and comes out of the tap at 7. Should I plan on adding some crushed coral to the filter chamber to buffer these? I can borrow a little rasbora from another tank for a couple of weeks.

 

Can you give us whst readngs you have

 

1. For best results, I'd suggest setting up the tank with the used filter media, add a few fish, and let it run as you normally would with fish for at least 2 months to let it stabilize and build up biofilm. Then remove the fish and add the shrimp (drip acclimating them).
2. I'm not familiar with that filter type, but you will likely need to use some filter media or something similar to cover the intake to keep juvenile shrimp from being sucked up in it.
3. They will graze on biofilm, but it's probably best to feed them also. There are a number of commercial shrimp foods, but they'll eat any commercial fish food. They also benefit from some fresh food, such as blanched spinach or zucchini.
4. They like places to hide, like dense plants or a pile of small rocks.

For more information do a search here for posts from richiep, or just review the discussions in the cherry shrimp section of this forum (Cherry Shrimp Forum).

 

Can you give us whst readngs you have

Not off the top of my head, because I'm at work. I haven't set it up yet just thinking still. If I try to remember them I get the GH and KH mixed up!

Thank you JettsPapa I had been thinking that letting the tank mature was probably the name of the game, and all of these replies sort of bear that out. The tank has a built in filter chamber in the back so the water flows through overflow slots, a larger pore media, then through a big block of sponge filter and then the return chamber and out through the same wall via a little nozzle. You are right though, I would certainly want to screen off the slots so the babies don't get sucked in.

Do you all think it would be possible to use snails instead of trying to stuff a fish in a 3.7 gallon tank? Like a few ramshorn snails?

 

Snails should be fine for seasoning the tank. I have snails in all my shrimp tanks anyway.

 

If I set up the ten gallon for shrimp, and let's assume that they start breeding and I suddenly have a boatload of shrimp and of course they are still breeding and so forth....what then? How many is too many, and what do you do with the 'overage'?

 

If I set up the ten gallon for shrimp, and let's assume that they start breeding and I suddenly have a boatload of shrimp and of course they are still breeding and so forth....what then? How many is too many, and what do you do with the 'overage'?

Sell them.

 

Sell them.

Or set up more tanks

 

Or set up more tanks

lol, I still haven't figured a place to put the one I am considering! It's clogging up the hubs' workbench right now!

 

I think I am going to have to figure out something before long. The 10 little guys I started with in my 2.5 gallon bowl are blessing me with lots of babies. I bought a mixture of colors. Some of the blue ones are having blue babies but it seems most of the little ones have little to no color. I really don't care about the color though so it works for me.

I am on the lookout for a 10 gallon tank. Thankfully I do have a place for it without taking up space on hubby's work bench. I will have to move a big Chinese Evergreen though.

 

Reading this makes me think I must be a bad cherry shrimp daddy.
But no I don’t think I am.?
i have never had a written letter of complaint from my shrimp.

Seriously many times I have set up dry tanks for new arrivals. ( quarantine tanks) Set up for only as long as quarantine or for a breeding pair. Even fry grow out tanks all get the same treatment.
Adding an estimated sponge filter and established box filter along with old wood and leaf litter. A terracotta pot plant , java moss with pond snails and a few dozen CHERRY shrimp no problems.


MomeWrath the difference has already been mentioned. I suggest you be careful when doing your water changes.
And add plenty of media if you are not using box filters and big dirty sponge filters In the little 3.7 gallon you will need something that has the natural foods on it. Java moss and plants you mentioned would be enough if as you wrote it’s from an established dirty tank.

 

Reading this makes me think I must be a bad cherry shrimp daddy.
But no I don’t think I am.?
i have never had a written letter of complaint from my shrimp.

Seriously many times I have set up dry tanks for new arrivals. ( quarantine tanks) Set up for only as long as quarantine or for a breeding pair. Even fry grow out tanks all get the same treatment.
Adding an estimated sponge filter and established box filter along with old wood and leaf litter. A terracotta pot plant , java moss with pond snails and a few dozen CHERRY shrimp no problems.


MomeWrath the difference has already been mentioned. I suggest you be careful when doing your water changes.
And add plenty of media if you are not using box filters and big dirty sponge filters In the little 3.7 gallon you will need something that has the natural foods on it. Java moss and plants you mentioned would be enough if as you wrote it’s from an established dirty tank.

Thank you - I am actually leaning more towards the ten-gallon anyway. The 3.7 would surely be overrun in short order and I'm not looking to add a ton of work to my life (another reason for pause before I begin!)
I can surely get plenty of established plants and moss from my other tanks, and I have no shortage of snails either. Good point about the sponge filter. I will use a sponge filter over the intake for the HOB. I have more Poret foam at my house than I know what to do with, since I had a 2.5" thick matten filter in my 75 gallon tank for a while. That's a lot of foam.
If I go with the ten, first step is to find some-dumb-where to put it. I have gravel in it already, access to lots of plants and a sponge to add over the filter intake, so it's just a matter of location, and access to some shrimps at this point, and time to wait for it to grow enough gunk to feed them. And of course finding a local-ish source for the shrimp themselves. I think richieP is a little far away but I'd rather get them from someone here than a commercial outfit... My LFS hardly ever has them.

 

I think I am going to have to figure out something before long. The 10 little guys I started with in my 2.5 gallon bowl are blessing me with lots of babies. I bought a mixture of colors. Some of the blue ones are having blue babies but it seems most of the little ones have little to no color. I really don't care about the color though so it works for me.

I am on the lookout for a 10 gallon tank. Thankfully I do have a place for it without taking up space on hubby's work bench. I will have to move a big Chinese Evergreen though.

Maybe I should sell you my 10 and be done with it lol.