Shrimp in a planted tank

JDM

While at the LFS I decided to consider putting shrimp into the new tank. While thinking about this one of the store reps answered a few questions about the ideal I thought appropriately.

Now, with all of 10 minutes of research, I found that most freshwater shrimp are not fond of warm water, I'm likely going to be in the 79F range.

Shrimp are not good to put in new tanks, which makes some amount of sense as they eat algae which takes some time to establish... along with other bottom build up.

Shrimp are intolerant, deathly so, to copper. I don't have my water test results handy but I think that there is some level of copper in there.

Then there is the obvious, they are small and could get eaten.... I'm not fond of buying expensive shrimp only to have my other fish have sushi on me.

Long and short is that I am not going to bring home even some cheap shrimp to toss in the tank right away.

So, this brings me to my second tank, which has been in the back if my mind of late. I was considering plants only but thought that a shrimp tank might be interesting. Many plants are listed as slow growers in warmer water which sounds good for shrimp.

Can I get away without filtration and maybe just put a very small power head in to keep things moving?

I'm thinking a 20gallon extra tall as a minimum, that's 24" tall I believe. I'm sure there are different chores to do if there are only shrimp, I'll figure those out later.

Jeff.

Byron

True, but unless you use a copper-based medication, and with live plants, you will never have copper at levels likely to harm shrimp. Even the copper in fertilizers like Flourish is not high enough. And plants can take up excess copper, at least any that might be in tap water. It is the copper treatments that can decimate shrimp (and some plants and fish, for that matter).

Any shrimp small enough to be eaten by fish likely will be. In most tropical waters, crustaceans are a natural food item of fish. Larger shrimp with small fish works, although if the shrimp breed some of the offspring will likely be eaten.

Yes, planted tanks can manage without a filter. Natural thermal currents will move the water around sufficiently; especially if the heater is a fully submersible type and placed horizontally (rather than vertically) along the back just above the substrate. I ran a 10g with no filter, no light (used a SW facing window), just a heater. I did find the water was never crystal clear, so after several months I installed a sponge filter, but I moved it away from the window (the window light source wasn't the best either).

That is an odd tank size...must look like a vertical rectangle? The normal 20g high is 24 inches length and might work better.

Byron.

JDM

The extra high was one of the first tanks that I looked at when started investigating tanks but it was a purely aesthetic thought. It was either 23" or24" tall but I think it was not very deep, less than 12" anyway. I liked the height thinking that it would give a nice visually appealing look where it was likely to end up. Then I saw the bowfront... but that didn't work out mainly due to a delivery time issue with Christmas so close.

Are there any warmer water shrimp that are available in shops reasonably easily? I would like to consider them for my fish tank still. The largest fish is possibly to be a dwarf cichlid, oh, I just double checked... Male up to 3.5".

Red cherries are ok temp wise but like a higher pH than I am aiming for.... but they might be a bit small too.

Maybe I just don't need shrimp... ultimately it's really my daughters call... I think she'd like the shrimp.

Jeff.