Considering A Small Shrimp Tank?

Didge007

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Considering getting a small tank (I think it's about 20L but I haven't gotten around to taking a look at it) and stocking shrimp in there. Will it be big enough? Also can you house ghost and cherry together or just one species (I'm assuming for that size just one)?
How many could I get? I don't really want anything bigger for them as I'm strapped for tanks as it is lol.
 
Considering getting a small tank (I think it's about 20L but I haven't gotten around to taking a look at it) and stocking shrimp in there. Will it be big enough? Also can you house ghost and cherry together or just one species (I'm assuming for that size just one)?
How many could I get? I don't really want anything bigger for them as I'm strapped for tanks as it is lol.

I have cherry shrimp in a 30 litre nano cube which is perfect so 20 litres should be fine too. If you want a tank which is designed for housing shrimp then take a look at the Fluval Ebi shrimp tanks, its a kit which you can pick up for about £85.
 
Considering getting a small tank (I think it's about 20L but I haven't gotten around to taking a look at it) and stocking shrimp in there. Will it be big enough? Also can you house ghost and cherry together or just one species (I'm assuming for that size just one)?
How many could I get? I don't really want anything bigger for them as I'm strapped for tanks as it is lol.

I have cherry shrimp in a 30 litre nano cube which is perfect so 20 litres should be fine too. If you want a tank which is designed for housing shrimp then take a look at the Fluval Ebi shrimp tanks, its a kit which you can pick up for about £85.

Ghost shrimp and cherry shrimp won't interbreed, but I've read mixed reports about ghost shrimp being too aggressive to keep with smaller shrimp. I can't say for sure how it would work out because I have never tried it. I DO, however, have an amano shrimp and orange sunkist shrimp in with my yellows (which are the same as cherries but a different colour). The amano is at least 4 times the size of the yellows, and the oranges are quickly getting up there in size themselves. However, they are not aggressive and are a great way to add some more colour into your tank.

That's a long way of saying that I'd recommend keeping something like orange sunkist shrimp together with cherries, rather than ghosts with cherries. Ghosts are also a lot more plain, so if you're happy with a see-through shrimp then I'd recommend amanos instead and then at least they will eat your algae.

ALSO, I bought a Fluval Ebi and, while I thought the tank itself was quite nice (and my shrimp loved climbing around the 3D background), I found that the Fluval Statrum substrate was very, very messy; I rinsed it carefully but throughly, as per the instructions on the bag, but it still took days for it to settle and my water to be clear, even with my filter full of polywool. Later on, any aquascaping that I did also resulted in large brown clouds and you can't syphon it like gravel. The dust from the substrate would land all over my plants. I also don't like that the filter is internal and gets messy very fast (probably because of the substrate). I ended up switching all of my inhabitants over to my 20 gallon with normal gravel and a better filter. The tank was seeded with my old fluval filter and all of the good bacteria from things like the driftwood, plants, and moss balls, so I didn't have any noticeable cycle and was able to move everyone over very quickly. I now plan on taking out the stratum, replacing it with gravel, and getting a small sponge filter or external filter and just putting a betta fish in it. I think you could get a similar shaped, nice looking tank, with better equipment, for cheaper.

ETA: I think that a 20litre tank is big enough for a decent colony of shrimp, but I might just stick to the cherries at that size. You want to have lots of them so you can see them interact normally. If you had a heavily planted 20L, I think you could have quite a few cherries in it. If you went a bit bigger, I'd still recommend adding some orange sunkist or something like that.
 
I too am looking at getting a little Nano tank :) Love the idea, Of getting a little one with some shrimps & A small group of Cardinals. They look so beautiful :)
 
I have to stick to cherrys or ghost as the selection in Australia is limited as far as I know (I have to order online as LFS don't stock shrimp). Okay so 20L would be okay? Can I go smaller or is that pushing it? Any particular setup I should have concerning hidy holes? And what tank mates can I put in with them (not essential as I was planning a shrimp only tank).
 
I have to stick to cherrys or ghost as the selection in Australia is limited as far as I know (I have to order online as LFS don't stock shrimp). Okay so 20L would be okay? Can I go smaller or is that pushing it? Any particular setup I should have concerning hidy holes? And what tank mates can I put in with them (not essential as I was planning a shrimp only tank).

You can't go wrong with cherries. Regarding places to hide, i'd recommend coconut caves with java moss attached. I made one myself but you can find them in a lot of aquatics stores already made. Tank mates, i have mine in with neon tetra and they completely ignore the shrimp. I've seen small shrimp swim straight through the middle of the neon shoal bold as brass, they don't bother one another
 
I currently keep a mix of compatible shrimps in a 20 gallon with kuhli loaches. They don't bother any of the shrimp I have, but I'm not 100% sure yet that they wouldn't eat newly-born little baby shrimps if they stumbled upon them. I'm pretty sure that the little guys could get away. I've had one green shrimp with eggs and now she doesn't have them anymore, so I don't know if they made it or not - just playing the waiting game. I am hoping to introduce a shoal of celestial pearl danios as soon as I can find some good ones. I think they are small enough that they shouldn't be an issue with shrimp. That all being said, there are a few good tank mates for shrimp but I don't think that any are going to be suitable for a 20 litre tank. I think you'll find that, especially once they get breeding, having a nice colony of cherries in a small tank will provide plenty of interest by themselves. Shrimp really are quite neat!

In my tank I have 3 large pieces of wood and one small piece. I moved some gravel out from underneath them myself when I was scaping, so they provide great cover for my loaches and good places for the shrimp to look for food. I've got some java moss growing on one of them, but I'm hoping to get a lot more of the stuff. It's good because it requires little effort to grow, looks natural, provides cover for shrimplets, and holds on to little particles so the shrimp can rifle through it for food. I also have several anubias plants, but the shrimp really prefer the four "moss" balls that I have. "Moss" balls (which are really algae) are great for the same reasons as java moss- although I find that they need more lighting so they don't get brown patches.
 
There are a couple of videos on the internet of full grown ghost shrimp munching on yellows, however, I believe predation is prettly low if there are plenty of places to hide, and they are well fed.

I'd like to know how cherry shrimp cope with flow? and is a sponge sleve absolutely necessary on filter intakes?
 
There are a couple of videos on the internet of full grown ghost shrimp munching on yellows, however, I believe predation is prettly low if there are plenty of places to hide, and they are well fed.

I'd like to know how cherry shrimp cope with flow? and is a sponge sleve absolutely necessary on filter intakes?

They are fine with a good current. You need a sponge sleeve or the shrimplets get sucked in. Although, the filter I have(marina) allows them to ride the waterfall back out, wheeeeee!!!! lol
 
Cheers!!

I have 2 eheim, liberties so might be the same> ;P

Actually I'm going to pick up the sleaves to prevent bits of moss getting in (still tempted to join the two pipes into one inlet ;P
 

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