10 gallon CO2 shrimp/plant tank

Hi! About a month ago my brother and I acquired a cheap 10 gallon courtesy of boxing day sales. We're planning to use this as a gateway for carolina shrimp, as we have failed a couple times previously, and we would like to try again properly.
Substrate: fluval stratum
Filter: aqueon hob
decor: wood, lava rock, plants, leaves
dosing: >1 bubble of CO2 per second
plants: Rotala blood red, rotala ramosior florida sunset, ludwigia inclinata twister, proserpinaca palustris, ludwigia palustris super red, monte carlo, anubias, red root floater, some species of hygrophila, and subwassertang
Inhabitants: 6 pseudomugil gertrudae, 2 otocinclus, 10 blue bolt caridina shrimp, hitchhiker snails



At first I was worried that the rainbows would bother the shrimp, and they did at first, but now that they've settled in and the shrimp have molted there's less aggression and the shrimp can waltz around without much issue. There was some diatoms growing, but that's currently being dealt with. There may be some hair algae due to the extreme excess of nutrients, but I'm sure after I trim and plants some more that will be sorted out. For now I'm just going to remove it as best as I can.

Tacocat said:

Hi! About a month ago my brother and I acquired a cheap 10 gallon courtesy of boxing day sales. We're planning to use this as a gateway for carolina shrimp, as we have failed a couple times previously, and we would like to try again properly.
Substrate: fluval stratum
Filter: aqueon hob
decor: wood, lava rock, plants, leaves
dosing: >1 bubble of CO2 per second
plants: Rotala blood red, rotala ramosior florida sunset, ludwigia inclinata twister, proserpinaca palustris, ludwigia palustris super red, monte carlo, anubias, red root floater, some species of hygrophila, and subwassertang
Inhabitants: 6 pseudomugil gertrudae, 2 otocinclus, 10 blue bolt caridina shrimp, hitchhiker snails

View attachment 335324

At first I was worried that the rainbows would bother the shrimp, and they did at first, but now that they've settled in and the shrimp have molted there's less aggression and the shrimp can waltz around without much issue. There was some diatoms growing, but that's currently being dealt with. There may be some hair algae due to the extreme excess of nutrients, but I'm sure after I trim and plants some more that will be sorted out. For now I'm just going to remove it as best as I can.

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Blue bolt caridina shrimp need soft water with low pH to thrive. You may know this already. sounds like a great tank.

gwand said:

Blue bolt caridina shrimp need soft water with low pH to thrive. You may know this already. sounds like a great tank.

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Done! I'm glad that I used the fluval stratum which lowers the parameters of tap water. I had thought the tds would be a problem, but it seems to be holding steady at just about 190, even when I top it up, so for now I think I'll be trying this using tap water. If something happens though I might get an ro unit but hopefully it should be fine.

Ah, you do have a larger tank!

Once it's cycled, and you've got it more settled, please, please, move the pygmy corydorad from your five gallon to the ten. With enough filtration and water changes, since all the fish mentioned have a relatively low bioload, the pygmies should fit in well, and won't bother the shrimp at all. Give them plenty of plants, some wood and/or stone to create hiding places and things for them to sit on (they like to sit on stuff, it's a thing with them, trust me, I have a breeding colony of pygmy coradoras in a 15.5g, with a gang of otocinclus).

The five gallon is too small for a group of pygmies, but they should do well in a ten gallon! Nice to find a tank on sale, it's looking lovely already! I love psuedomugli too, I have some luminatus.

Shrimp pics!

I love the blues!! My fav, in shrimp and fish, I'm always drawn to the blues and purples. Lovely shrimp!

I noticed some shrimp humping each other so I’m hopeful about the implications. I also noticed one shrimp looking close to moulting so I’m hoping to catch it on video

Quick update with photos: shrimps have molted some more and some have reached adult size. We lost a rainbow earlier this week but the rest are doing fine. The rotala blood red is also looking great and I’ve trimmed it again- hoping to be able to grow enough to sell online by next trim

Tacocat said:

Quick update with photos: shrimps have molted some more and some have reached adult size. We lost a rainbow earlier this week but the rest are doing fine. The rotala blood red is also looking great and I’ve trimmed it again- hoping to be able to grow enough to sell online by next trim

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I added four orange dwarf, Mexican crayfish to my shrimp tank. They are a great addition. Here is a picture of one of them. Look at those cute claws.

gwand said:

I added four orange dwarf, Mexican crayfish to my shrimp tank. They are a great addition. Here is a picture of one of them. Look at those cute claws. View attachment 336393

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I didn't know you could keep crayfish and shrimp together that's cool.

Tacocat said:

I didn't know you could keep crayfish and shrimp together that's cool.

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So far the shrimp and crayfish stay out of each other’s way. The crayfish are much more shy than the shrimp. If I keep the crayfish well fed I think they will leave the shrimp alone. That’s my hope. Right know they are all grazing peacefully on algae and biofilm.