Small shrimp colony?

**DrNic** · 04-20-2011, 03:17 AM

I'm thinking about trying some shrimp again this spring once the weather warms up enough for safe shipping. What's the smallest tank size I would be able to get away with using? I saw a long but kind of shallow 5 gallon tank at the pet store during my last visit, which I thought might work well to give the shrimp more room to crawl around in.

Would a 5G or even a 3G with a sponge filter work?

**korith** · 04-20-2011, 03:27 AM

Originally Posted by DrNic

I'm thinking about trying some shrimp again this spring once the weather warms up enough for safe shipping. What's the smallest tank size I would be able to get away with using? I saw a long but kind of shallow 5 gallon tank at the pet store during my last visit, which I thought might work well to give the shrimp more room to crawl around in.

Would a 5G or even a 3G with a sponge filter work?

The smallest shrimp tanks I have are 2.5g. Shrimp really have a low bioload, so you could get by with a smaller tank. Cost wise a 10g tank is fairly cheap too, oddly enough 10g tanks are cheaper here than 5g tanks. Start off with a dozen or so shrimp, if they are red cherry shrimp, in no time there will be a few dozen shrimp in there. Sponge filters work great. I use sponge filters that suction cup onto the side of the tank, on ebay they were around $3 shipped.

**KnightOIce** · 05-09-2011, 01:29 AM

You could always raise Brine shrimp (seamonkey) like me :D

**Strider199** · 05-09-2011, 01:42 AM

When I was looking into starting a shrimp tank I was pricing out a 5 gallon tank but than realized I had a 10 gallon just sitting empty. I bought 50 CRS and then 3 Blueberry, 3 Red crystals and the tanks water readings after a week are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5-10 nitrates. Space wise for driftwood and slate with plants, I'm glad I went with the 10 gallon for it's floor space. But my choice was easy as I already had the tank.