10G shrimp tank questions

[DrNic]

I am thinking about setting up a shrimp tank early tomorrow (I have cherry shrimp arriving on Tuesday-ish). It'll be a 10G tank, heavily planted of course with plenty of java moss. But I have some filtration and feeding questions.

When I setup the tank (tomorrow, Sunday, morning) I have three filtration methods to chose from. I have a large sponge filter rated for 40G, a small penguin biowheel rated for a 15G tank, or a larger biowheel filter rated for a 40G tank. What is my best option here? Do the shrimp like a lot of water movement? If I use either of the power filters I will cover the intakes with sponge.

I'm going to seed the filter with material from one of my other tanks. My next question is which tank do you think I should seed from?
29G Angelfish tank (6 angelfish, 1 featherfin cat)
29G Tetra tank (~25 neons, 4 corries)
20G Platty tank (6 platties, 2 corries)
20G Guppy tank (6 adults, ~15 fry, just cleared it out a bit)
I was thinking the angelfish tank, as it seems the most 'stable'.

Finally, what can I feed these guys and how much should I feed them? I was planning on using my sinking brine shrimp pellets and maybe some algae pellets (although I've been warned to check for copper in the algae pellets). What else to these guys eat?

Any help would be awesome! I was so eager to get my hands on shrimp finally that I think I may have jumped the gun a little. :hmm3grin2orange:

[Wild Turkey]

I would use the sponge, only because the smaller powerfilter isnt quite enough. Make sure you wrap nylon around the intakes so your babies do not get sucked in if you use one of the power filters.


They wont do great in a ton of current, since they are small, but gentle current doesnt seem to bother them. As long as they can swim freely and dont have to cling to everything to stay put your fine I would say. Its never been an issue for me, Im on my 2nd rcs tank starting a 3rd.

Seed from a filter on a tank that is..

A. One of the oldest established
B. Has a large amount of media. The larger the amount, the less of an effect taking a small piece will have.

The staple food for my rcs is red flake. Only a small bit each day. I feed pellets and wafer pieces sometimes but not often, and frozen food once a week, usually brine shrimp which they fight over.

Edit grammar

[gm72]

BAM! What he said!

[Algenco]

WT covered it, If possible the top layer of the substrate should be from an established tank, shrimp feed on the bio-film that forms on surfaces.
Feeding isn't as important as stability.
If you really want to keep them happy put a wad of Java moss from another tank in once a week and watch them attack!
If you get a little algae on a plant in your other tanks, toss it in with the shrimp for a day or two.
Any high quality flake food will do, a pinch 3x per week

[DrNic]

The staple food for my rcs is red flake. Only a small bit each day. I feed pellets and wafer pieces sometimes but not often, and frozen food once a week, usually brine shrimp which they fight over.
Edit grammar
Is red flake a brand name? A google search doesn't bring up anything specific.

I just spent an hour looking for the sponge filter and came up with nothing. I know it's around here somehwere, just not sure where. For the mean time it looks like I'll be using one of the power filters. I'll probably end up using the larger type that I have, and adjusting the intake (which you can do on this model), to reduce the turnover. Luckily it takes the same cartridge size as all my other tanks which will make things easier.

Thanks for all the help!! I'll toss photos up once I get things established!

[Wild Turkey]

Is red flake a brand name? A google search doesn't bring up anything specific.

I just spent an hour looking for the sponge filter and came up with nothing. I know it's around here somehwere, just not sure where. For the mean time it looks like I'll be using one of the power filters. I'll probably end up using the larger type that I have, and adjusting the intake (which you can do on this model), to reduce the turnover. Luckily it takes the same cartridge size as all my other tanks which will make things easier.

Thanks for all the help!! I'll toss photos up once I get things established!

Thats sounds like a good plan.

By red I mean the color, Algenco's advice actually, red makes the red come out in the shrimp

The brand i feed is Omegaone

[DrNic]

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the help. The shrimp arrived today. After a 2 hour drip acclimation into the new tank they went. They seem to be doing great. I have to admit that they are much smaller than I thought they would be. :hmm3grin2orange:

[DrNic]

Oh yeah a few more quick questions that I forgot before:

I was planning on making a java moss carpet across the entire floor of the tank. Do I need to keep an area clear? I see a lot of shrimp tanks have clear areas with no plants or moss in them.

What is the life cycle timespan for cherry shrimp?
How long from young to adult?
How long until sexual maturity?
How quickly should I begin noticing pregnant females? (My package actually came with one which I'm really excited about)

Can other types of shrimp be kept with cherries? A friend has a great 25 gallon super-long tank (i.e. REALLY long, but really shallow) that I think would make an awesome shrimp tank, but he wanted to put in different types. I recently saw bamboo shrimp which were HUGE. Can they go in together? Can any types of shrimp be kept together?

[Wild Turkey]

Oh yeah a few more quick questions that I forgot before:

I was planning on making a java moss carpet across the entire floor of the tank. Do I need to keep an area clear? I see a lot of shrimp tanks have clear areas with no plants or moss in them.

You dont need to, but its makes it easier to view them.

What is the life cycle timespan for cherry shrimp?
Good question, a few years? I really dont know
How long from young to adult?
Only a few months
How long until sexual maturity?
Same thing, a little less maybe
How quickly should I begin noticing pregnant females? (My package actually came with one which I'm really excited about)
Pretty much as soon as they are settled they should begin
Can other types of shrimp be kept with cherries? A friend has a great 25 gallon super-long tank (i.e. REALLY long, but really shallow) that I think would make an awesome shrimp tank, but he wanted to put in different types. I recently saw bamboo shrimp which were HUGE. Can they go in together? Can any types of shrimp be kept together?
Cherry and other Neocaridina species can interbreed, otherwise its okay.

[DrNic]

Cherry and other Neocaridina species can interbreed, otherwise its okay.
Is that a bad thing? Or is it just that interbreeding leads to ugly shrimp?

[Wild Turkey]

Is that a bad thing? Or is it just that interbreeding leads to ugly shrimp?

You got it, natural brown

[DrNic]

Thanks for the tip :hmm3grin2orange:

Assuming these guys last ok over the next week or so I might try to find some crystal red to mix in. This seems like a common mix and they won't interbreed

[Wild Turkey]

Thanks for the tip :hmm3grin2orange:

Assuming these guys last ok over the next week or so I might try to find some crystal red to mix in. This seems like a common mix and they won't interbreed

Yup, you are right on track therethumbs2: