bmwguy525's 2.5 Gallon Shrimp Tank

**bmwguy525** · 01-25-2012, 07:55 PM

Well I built this tank entirely out of leftovers from my current "fish stuff" closet. As I sat staring at my empty 2.5 gallon, I wanted a clean, easy to look at shrimp tank. I figured I would take a shot at making a pseudo Iwugami tank, as the 20 gallon I have is a jungle tank, and the 10 gallon split betta I have feels more like a toy chest than a nature aquarium.

I am constantly trimming my plants in the 20 gallon, and over the months I am realizing that a couple plants that I bought for that tank aren't working well with it. Of course, I spent money on the plants, and I would hate to throw them away, especially since they're alive and healthy! Along with the trimmings and unneeded plants, I also had other leftovers that didn't make it into either my 10 or 20 gallon, so I could make something a little decent! I figured I'd call it a poor man's Iwugami if anyone asked...

First, the specs and a few pics of the build:

Tank: 2.5 gallon - 12"x6"x8"
Substrate: Basic Top Fin black coarse gravel
Filter: DIY sponge filter
Heater: 10w nano
Lighting: For now: 18" 6500 t8 bulb | Planned: LED desk lamp
Ferts: Nutrafin Plant Gro 1mL (x2 weekly)
Flora: Giant Hygro, Compact Hygro, Crypt Parva | Planned: Moss (?)
Hardscape: Miscellaneous black lava rock from LFS
Fauna: Planned: Red Cherry Shrimp

A few minutes of playing around with a configuration

Plant trimmings and outcasts from the 20 gallon
Giant hygro (trimmings), compact hygro (1 full removed), crypt parva (all removed)

Top view planted

Set up

A true Iwugami has clean hand-picked rocks and plants, but I had these two left over rocks that are not clean, and did not work in the 20 gallon. In this tank, I think they'll serve their purpose just fine.

Now for the work that needs to be done. I am working on finding a clip on LED lamp, I just can't justify spending $45 for an 8-bulb LED for this tank when I only spent $40 on eBay for the 24" LED setup for the 20 gallon. So far the hunt for a small, cheap light has been unsuccessful. I also need to figure out how to clip on a light with the glass top hood in the way. I've lost a couple Amanos out of my 20 gallon in the gap for my filter, so I am thinking having a full hood is a must in this small of a tank.

The plants still need some work. I used these plants, as I said above, so as not to throw them away. Obviously a true Iwugami has carefully selected plants, and most commonly uses a carpeting plant. I figured I've seen the crypt parva "crawl" in some pictures on the internet, so if I can make it crawl then it should be carpet enough for me. I also need to get some moss in there, as I feel it's the best breakfast bar there is for the shrimp. I already have some wire mesh, so I figured I'd make a wall and use suction cups to put it on one of the 6" walls of the tank. I am undecided on what to do so far, or what moss to use.

Anyways...this is what happens when I get bored and have a handful of extras and hand-me-downs. I'm hoping I can turn this mediocre stuff into a great tank. I'll be stocking this with RCS. I am going to get them online, as my LFS has crazy shrimp prices. I was thinking of getting 12 for $20 shipped. Any idea on how many will fit in this tank?

**ldoerr** · 01-26-2012, 02:03 AM

Great looking tank!!!! I wish that my 2.5g tanks could look that good. So far they only have 1 fake plant in each of the 3. I have no experience with shrimp other than $.33 Ghost Shrimp.

**bmwguy525** · 01-28-2012, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by ldoerr

Great looking tank!!!! I wish that my 2.5g tanks could look that good. So far they only have 1 fake plant in each of the 3. I have no experience with shrimp other than $.33 Ghost Shrimp.

Thanks! Like I said I really got the idea to put this together when deciding to not throw away my plant trimmings and misfit plants from my 20 gallon. If I didn't already have the plants this thing would still be empty. I also already had the black rock, and while looking around at multiple forums I realized that I loved the RCS against the black/black setup.

I read somewhere that 6-10 per gallon is ok for shrimp, with 5-6 being preferred. With that in mind I ordered 12 RCS from a seller on eBay, they should be here on Wednesday.

I'm still working on a light. I have seen something like and am looking for something like this:

I'm looking for preferably LED lighting. I bought my 24" BeamWorks LED from a seller on eBay for $45, as opposed to the same lighting from Marine Works for $100+. I went back to that seller to look at a small clip on LED light, and he had a 6" 6-bulb light for $36. All other clip on LED's I'm seeing are $35 or more, so I may have to choose another route if I want to stick to my cheap/free motif for this tank.

For now I'm running my t8 bulb for 12 hours a day and dosing plant ferts twice a week trying to build up a little algae before the RCS get here. I'm going to seed the tank with a bio bag primed by my 20 gallon, as well as I'm currently running the DIY sponge filter full time while adding a dash of fish food every day.

**Old Marine** · 01-28-2012, 06:37 PM

Looking Good.

**Lady Hobbs** · 01-28-2012, 06:38 PM

Looks very nice. Black substrate always looks so awesome, I think.

**kurly** · 01-28-2012, 07:13 PM

Looking great!!!!

Guess I need to clean up my 10 gallon Shrimp Tank...it's looking a little jungley

**Fishkeeper** · 03-27-2012, 11:14 PM

I like it! Shrimp have a very low bioload, so I would suggest getting 12 and letting them breed.

**PhillipOrigami** · 03-28-2012, 12:36 AM

Great- We want more!

**bmwguy525** · 03-28-2012, 06:03 PM

Thanks! I've had about 16 red cherry shrimp in here for about a month now and they are all growing like crazy. They are molting every day and they've about doubled in size.

As for the tank, I've sort of been neglecting it for a bit while I have some other things going on. The one thing I took notice of about this tank right off the bat was how annoying it is to take care of a 2.5 gallon! There is no space to do any cleaning or maintenance.

The plants are slowly growing, which is fine by me -- less gardening required. However I think the stem of the compact hygro in the rear left corner may be dead. The other plants seem to be doing just fine.

Last week I had a few different days where I saw a few different loads of eggs! There were about 3 piles of eggs in the tank simultaneously, which was fun to see. Unfortunately I saw some tube worms planting themselves in the substrate around the same time. I attributed both scenarios to heavy feeding doses, so I immediately cut down and I haven't seen any eggs since.

I'll have to clean the tank soon and take some pictures soon. I have had lots of activity in both this tank and my 20 gallon tank recently, but haven't touched my journals at all.