shrimp tank

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#1
Ok well my paludarium was a failure. So i'm going to try a shrimp tank. It's a 20 gallon tank and the wood that is in it kinda sections the tank into 3 zones. At the upper left I was thinking of hair grass, along the bottom front of the tank i was thinking about baby tears, and the back right i was wanting something fairly tall like ludwigia or something like that. I think the space may be to small for an amazon sword or lilly. things like that. also are there any fish that get along well with shrimp without the fear of them being eaten? any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'll be posting a pic off my phone shortly after this post. Thanks everyone :)
 

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#2
2014-01-16 23.58.13.jpg hopefully y'all can see what I'm getting at in the pic. my phone don't take the best. also the powerhead is just in there for killing purposes. I put in straight hot water twice and using the pump to circulate the water. to kill off the tank. i had some hair algae and blackbeard in it so i'm making the tank sterile.
 

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CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
Jul 19, 2004
3,682
33
48
38
Cape Cod
#3
I haven't had shrimp, but am given to understand that pygmy/dwarf cories are fine with them, super tiny tetras/rasboras (like embers), celestial pearl danios, certain other micro fish. Otos are also shrimp safe. I think threadfin rainbows are supposed to be okay as well as they have such tiny throats. All I've read is pretty much any bigger fish will at the least eat the shrimplets, and many will eat the adult shrimp as well.

You could do a really cool tank with the shrimp and a good size school of one of the micro fish. And/or a big group of dwarf cories - can't wait to get a tank set up for a bunch of those guys, they are just so adorable.
 

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#4
my lfs has a few pygmy cories and i'm not a big fan. i could see them doing a great job cleaning the gravel or sand though. such a tiny fish getting into the little cracks and such. I was thinking some endlers or half beaks as well. I'll ask my lfs when i'm ready for the shrimp if they have any other micro fish. honestly i didn't even think about those lil fish till you mentioned fish that size. I've never paid them much attention since in all my tanks they would probably become food themselves.
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#5
Brandon, my planted 10g is loaded with red cherry and some ghost shrimp. I've got three silver hatchet fish and a Japanese blue guppy in there along with mystery and bladder snails. I've never seen the fish show the least interest in even the tiniest of shrimp fry. Too bad you're not closer. I'd give you a bunch of RCS.
 

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#6
my lfs has some shrimp i plan to get. i forget the name but they look like a cross between ghost shrimp and cherry shrimp. They are not of course but they look like it. they have almost a ruby red colored shell on their front half and the tail is clear. they also have clear legs. they also only get about half the size of a standard cherry shrimp. and they are nearly double the price lol. that's y i'm looking at fish that i know will NOT harm them. think my lfs wants 6 bucks for ones that are about 1/8-1/4 inch long and 12 bucks for the ones that are near a half an inch long. they are expensive lil farts lol.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#7
those sound like rili shrimp, exhumed.

I've kept different kinds of shrimp before. cherry, crystal, chocolates, yellow, and probably some others. I'd say stick with neocaridina shrimp and not the more sensitive caridinas(crystal shrimp, tiger shrimp).
Good choices include, yellow shrimp, cherries, fire reds, orange/pumpkin, rili shrimp of any color morph, chocolate shrimp, blue cherries. just some ones i can remember. i do not keep shrimp anymore, ever since i moved to plecos.

most fish that are omnivores will eat shrimplets, so if you don't see your shrimp breeding much with a fish in the tank it's because the newborns are getting eaten. shrimp of course do best w/o fish or with otocinclus. any 100% herbivorous fish will do fine with your shrimp. farowella catfish come to mind.

O and shrimp love moss. you will want some kind of moss in there. it helps to increase surface area for biofilm to grow on that the shrimp and baby shrimp will eat from. sponge filters function similarly to moss.(not in terms of filtration)
 

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FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#8
Yeah, my RCS were like $3/ea when I bought ~6 of them months ago. I've gotta have $300+ worth of them now! LOL. They sure do pick the tank clean of any green algae. I don't feed them the variety I should. Mostly regular fish/flake food and sinking pellets. Drop a pellet and it's a red cloud in seconds. Then the snails move in. Dunno how they can stand a hundred shrimp on their foot, but they do! Eeek.
 

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#10
well fishdad, water started to seep through the foam causing algae to grow on the spots that were ment to be dry and started to drown some of the plants. and also i could not control the mold. I was concentrating hydrogen peroxide down to about a 50% mix and using that to try to kill the mold off and it would come back within a week. constantly scrubbing it off the wood. I just got sick of trying to keep up with it.

and newman i believe you are right on the shrimp as for the moss i'm going to try to stay away from it. I got some christmas moss in my 55 and it gets EVERYWHERE! i had it all one one piece of wood and now it's growing on another piece of wood in the tank and pieces break off and get hung up in the filter intake. i even have some that has attached to my filter outtake. I don't want it to do that in this tank. but with that being said i plan to have it nice and heavy planted. I'm going for the baby tears in the front to be at least 2 inches tall and like a carpet. a well manicured lawn so to say lol. so it should have plenty of area for the biofilm. also the hair grass should grow pretty dense. It will have high light being that high in the tank so should grow well. I also think with the micro fish like the half beaks should be ok for the shrimp. they on't get big and with the baby tears and grass being dense it should allow plenty of hiding for the baby shrimp. I could be wrong though lol.

and freshy i'd love to take some of your shrimp but as u stated it's a bit of a distance lol. also what kinda snails do u have in that tank?
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#11
Brandon, my little 10g is loaded with bladder snails and 7 or so golden mystery snails. The bladder snails came in with some anacharis I added almost a year ago. The anacharis is long gone, but the tiny bladder snails? No so much. LOL.

When I broke down my 55g planted community tank the other day to move it to the other room, the first thing I did was disassemble and clean the sponge pads in my canister filter (Sunsun 302). I hadn't cleaned this filter a good 10 weeks. When I opened it up, I was surprised to find a whole bunch of shrimp scurrying around in the bottom of it!

From time to time, I net out some shrimp and add them to the 55. Not many make it because of the piglets in that tank. Every now and then you'll see a big (smart) shrimp in the plants. As long as they stay put during daylight hours, apparently they make it.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#13
yea the bladder snail is one of the most common snails we can find with plants in the hobby. they look like pond snails and are called that too. but true pond snails grow big, and bladder snails rarely grow to 1/2 "
they are of the Physa genus of snails. which species remains unknown.
 

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#16
mine do that in my 55. i like snails though. them and the trumpet snails both. I think they help keep the tank clean of uneaten food and dead plant matter. I don't ever see them damaging the plants themselves like other snails can and do.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#17
i have ramshorns mostly. used to have bladder snails and still do but the ramshorns somehow completely overtook the bladder snails. i also found one assasin snail in my tank the other day. interesting surprise, it must have arrived on my amazon sword.
 

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#18
i got a couple rams horns that have a red foot. get maybe as big as a dime. then i got the bladder snails and trumpet snails. and i think i got one nerite snail still alive.
 

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#19
2014-01-19 19.40.52.jpg 2014-01-19 20.15.07.jpg got the gravel today from a local stream. dug about 3 feet down to avoid algae and then sifted it through a strainer to get all the fine sand out. then took out all the large rocks by hand. so I got a nice coarse sandthat I think hair grass and baby tears should grow very well in without compacting. So there is the result thus far. now to order plants and shrimp :)
 

Guanchy

Medium Fish
Jul 17, 2013
93
0
0
New York
#20
i had 6 pygmy cory and they are really cool little guys, but they hide all the time. Super super shy, i only see them when i turn off the light in the tank and put a flashlight close to the tank to see them. They are always hiding under my driftwood and rocks.