Good beginner shrimp?

Nubster

Box filter should be ok...but the inlets might be large enough to suck up baby shrimp. By box filter I assume you mean those clear plastic corner filters that are powered by an airpump. If you mean the HOB filters, they are fine too as long as you have some sort of pre-filter on the intake.

The sponge filters are preferred since the shrimp are safe and they love to crawl all over it and pick at the sponge eating whatever they find.

I prefer substrate, just more natural but that's just my opinion.

Shrimp LOVE plants. Make sure you have some moss too. They really like going through it eating the biofilm and stuff.

Clean water is important and stable conditions even more so.

My tank isn't what I would call low flow but the shrimp seem to be doing just fine.

Here is a shot of one of my girls...



I have a tank of yellow neos too. They are really neat as well.

1stAquarium

Thanks Nubster, this is all great information. I do mean the corner box filters, but if a sponge filter is preferred by the shrimp, I'll do that. I need to read about making a sponge filter.

I'm setting up a 48 litre Interpet Fish Pod tank for them. What do you use for substrate? Do you have a photo of your set up?

How much and how often do you do water changes?

Nubster

I still do 50% water changes weekly even though I have a low bioload with just shrimp in the tank. Especially in my big tank since I dose ferts.

DIY sponge filters should be pretty easy but really, for the cost of buying them, it's not worth the time or effort to make one unless I felt I could improve the design. Not sure availability over there, but here you can get an ATI Hydro Sponge filter for $5-$10 depending on the size.

Here is a full tank shot of my main tank. This is before I added the sponge filter that is in there now. I will probably remove the HOB filter in a couple weeks once I am sure my sponge is well seeded. My substrate is just inert black sand.

1stAquarium

That's really nice. Do you just have shrimp in there? I've never tried sand as a substrate.

1stAquarium

Aquarium Fish Tank Super Biochemical Bio Sponge Filter | eBay

Would you recommend this type of sponge filter? I've never used one before so don't know if there are different types? I guess I just connect my air pump to this and give it time to cycle?

Nubster

Yeah, just shrimp and a few dwarf crayfish. It's a 75g tank.

A lot of people use and really like those sponge filters. I use the ATI Hydro Sponge filter in both my shrimp tanks and will use them in my 40B tank too when I get it setup.

ATI Sponge Filters

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_fr...All-Categories

Just connect the airpump and let it run like you would a normal filter to cycle. If you have another tank, you can stick it in that tank for a week or two to become seeded, then you would be way ahead of the cycle game.

redchigh

I would not do bare-bottom. They love plants and mosses, I'd go with a fine black sand. They'll sift through it and play in it.

1stAquarium

Wow, big tank for the shrimp, bet they love that! What do you do with all the babies?

Great idea, I'll put it in my main community tank for two weeks and then move it to the tank I'll be using for the shrimp.

I keep thinking of more questions...are there different types of Cherry Shrimp? I know there are different grades.

What temp do you keep your tank at?

1stAquarium

Hey redchigh, thanks for the advice. That tank does look great with the black background and substrate, I bet it shows the colours up really nicely. I'm going to put some plants in and get some Java Moss. Do they like wood in the tank? Do you keep/breed shrimp redchigh?

redchigh

I used to sell them, and I can still get you a good deal if you need more.
Pictures are here-
FS: RCS (Red Cherry Shrimp) live arrival guarantee!

They love mosses like Java Moss, tannins from real driftwood seem to be beneficial. Fine leaved plants are great too... Fast growing plants also keep the water quality good. Shrimp are fairly sensitive to nitrates and nitrites. Stargrass is good.. Combined with floating plants like Duckweed, it really adds a dimension when the shrimp can walk on the underside of the floating plants. They also need calcium and iodine, but don't worry about dosing anything. Just feed good food- a combination of shrimp pellets, algae/spirulina tabs, fish food, and fresh blanched vegetables like zuchinni, squash, cucumber, etc.. pumpkin is great for bringing out their color.

You have to be careful adding fish, since they'll eat the baby shrimps. crawfish, ottos, snails, and super tiny fish work well though. (Pretty much any fish smaller than an inch and a half will be ok as long as there are hiding places)

evidently you got me talking. lol.