Getting A Shrimp Tank Soon - Newbie Advice!

[CezzaXV]

As the title says, I'm getting a shrimp tank soon! My bf is getting me one for Valentine's Day.

I've done some reading around on general shrimp care but not really found much on dedicated shrimp tanks (most guides assume you're going to put them in an already established fish tank). My plan is to go filterless as I'm not going to be keeping fish in with them (was told this was okay), but may have a heater depending on what kind of shrimp I'm going to keep. I also have an air pump I might set to come on for a little while every day to keep the water aerated and will do water changes as often as necessary.

I know when I set up my fish tank there were several things I would have done differently had I known then what I know now, so I'm hoping to avoid that this time around by asking here and getting advice from experienced shrimp tank people!

1. I'm planning on having a dark substrate - does it need to be anything specific or can I just go with what will look nice?
2. The tank isn't going to be properly lit for X hours a day, I'm just going to put it on when I'm home for my enjoyment. Therefore, I'm going with very low light, low maintenance plants. Possibly anubias, moss, java fern, that kind of thing. Open to suggestions on that though.
3. I forget the exact volume of the tank I chose now, but it's in the region of 20-25 litres. Yay?
4. Is there any particular species of shrimp I should go for/avoid? Is it okay to keep different species of shrimp together? I've heard good things about the seller kesgrave tropicals on eBay and they have a good selection so this is what I have to choose from.
5. How many shrimp should I be looking to start off with? I know many of them breed like wildfire.
6. How often and how large should water changes be?
7. Are snails okay to keep in with them? Again, any species I should go for/avoid?
8. Anything else you can think of that I probably haven't?

 

[Iiriva]

1. I'd go with sand.
2. Shrimps love java moss, since it's a good hiding place!
3. Could do.
4. Some are more difficult go keep alive, like blue tiger shrimps. Start with easy ones, like red cherrys.
5. Start with 5-10 max, they may breed and then you need to give them away anyway.
6. Without a filter, in a tank that small, I would say at leats twice week, 30% at a time.
7. Apple snails are okay, but you can have only two of them in a tank that small.
8. Both shrimps and snails need hard water to keep their citin parts in good condition. If you can't get you water hard, remember to feed them calcium.

 

[Aqua Marine]

1. I would suggest you go with some dark substrate like small stones etc. Sand in my opinion would be a bad choice because it shows all the muck in the tank pretty quickly and also due to its light colour it would not bring out the best variants of colours in the shrimp. I currently have a red cherry shrimp tank and mine are dark red, really great colours due to the substrate!

2.Your suggestion of plants sound great but remember that shrimp like smaller plants to hide in and also would readily accept some form of moss which they could manicure and eat off.

3. Yay. LOL

4. There are no particularly bad species of shrimp but maybe don't start with mantis shrimp

5. I personally would start off with around 8-12 shrimp but depending upon price this may be expensive if considering such shrimp as bee shrimp.

6. I generally do a weekly water change for my nano shrimp tank which also has a inbuilt filter. However when had fish in with the shrimp I had to do a water change twice a week due to the excess bodily fluids etc.

7. Snails are absolutely fine, I have a couple of assasin snails atm in mine and they don't bother the shrimp at all.

8. If you have any further questions feel free to PM me and I will happily help as best I can!

Yours Faithfully,

Krib

 

[CezzaXV]

Thanks for the advice! And thanks for anyone who still posts.

My LFS sells some kind of black substrate, but I'm not sure what it is. It looks like tiny shards of black glass though I'm sure it can't be. No idea where to start with aquascaping!

Got my eye on maybe 4 species of shrimp, though I'm probably going to have to get it down to 2-3. I'm thinking if I went for three, I could start off with 4 of each one.

 

[Aqua Marine]

Sounds good, personally I would advise sticking to one, maybe two species to begin with before spending loads on different sorts. If u tank is ready etc and all shrimp bought are happily homed after a week or so I would then consider increasing the numbers or types. Best to trial the types before spending lots on weak/poor breeds!

Krib

 

[Juggler75]

Google shrimp compatibility chart, the results will show which shrimp are recommended to be kept apart to avoid cross breeding (which apparently will lead to reversion to the natural colours rather than the colour strains you buy)

Also why not use the air pump to power a small sponge filter? Would help the shrimp and mine love grazing on the filter.

 

[CezzaXV]

I was considering getting a small sponge filter though as I said I wouldnt want the pump on all the time - just enough to keep the water oxygenated. Probably wouldn't be on for long enough each day to maintain any bacterial life and I'm not sure I could justify the electricity for something I'm told doesn't strictly need it.

Suppose it couldnt hurt to attach it to a sponge filter though as opposed to a bog standard airstone.

 

[Symo420]

4. There are no particularly bad species of shrimp but maybe don't start with mantis shrimp