Shrimp In A 5 Gal Tank

[pascados]

hey i've got a 5 gal tank and I was wondering what sort of shrimp I could put in it

its got a pice of drift wood, some angle hair grass and 2 bristle nose catfish in it


(havn't put the bristle noses in yet but there are too may in my 13 gal)

 

[Bloo]

The shrimp is not a problem, but you just cannot have bristlenoses in a 5 gallon at all
As you know, they are really heavy waste producers and your water chemistry will soon be a mess.
Perhaps you should rather rehome them if you have too many in your 13 gallon (I would only have 1 in a 13 gallon - max 2).

As for shrimp, you can have some Caridina Japonica (Amano Shrimp) - they are small and do an excellent algae cleaning job

 

[MoreCoffee]

I'd agree with Bloo about the BN, not a good choice for that tank !

....... Do you actually need fish in there ?

A 5 Gal tank would be ideal for a 'shrimp only' tank. Shrimp are not big waste producers so you should have a good sized group in there and get less problems with water quality.

Get a few plants and some moss covered wood in there and the shrimp will love it.

Depending on what shrimp are available to you. You could go for a Cherry Shrimp or Crystal Red Shrimp breeding tank, they will happily breed and the young survive in freshwater (if you have fish in there, the larvae will get eaten ! ) and they are great fun to watch !

Amano shrimp are also fine for that sized tank, but if they start to breed the larvae need to be moved to saltwater if they are to survive.

 

[pascados]

ok thanks well I just need to find a new home for my bristle nose catfish now

 

[pascados]

well could I put prawns in my 5 gallon tank?

 

[Bloo]

prawns ?

 

[three-fingers]

I dont think you can buy freshwater prawns from anywhere...if they exist .

 

[pascados]

I dont think you can buy freshwater prawns from anywhere...if they exist .

well they had prawns at my lfs and they were in the fresh water section but I gess theyre not freshwater

 

[dizzied]

Maybe the LFS mislabelled it?

You could put any dwarf shrimps into a 5 gal, I think.

 

[three-fingers]

From wikipedia:

according to the 1911 Encyclopedia, the word "prawn" usually indicates a freshwater shrimp or prawn.

So your lfs is either VERY old fashioned or as you say they just have a saltwater tank in the freshwater section.
Either way you would need to know what type of prawn(which im unsure you can even buy for marine aquaria) or freshwater shrimp they are before you can ask if they are ok in your tank. Ask at the lfs or take a picture and post here .

 

[pascados]

could I put a golden apple snail in with my shrimp?

 

[kniesh]

Hi, I was about to post but this semms to cover what i wanted so....

I have a similar sized tank I am now going to fill with shrimp. When I went to my LFS they had what seemed to be very large shrimp labelled as prawns. I figured this was just a mislabelled shrimp of some sort but it was about 4" from pincers (which were also quite large) to tail. Does anyone know what these could be, they also had a tint of blue in them. They definately weren't crayfish and the pincers were slim but long.

I would definately have gotten these but I wasnt too sure about putting them in with the woos shrimp i currently have for the tank, or any other shrimp for that matter.

On a side note, is it ok to mix shrimp? Like wood shrimp, general glass shrimp an others such as cherry etc...

 

[BiffMalawi]

If your tank is 5g then you may have to be careful how many shrimp you put in as wood shrimp can grow to around 4". Any shrimp with pincers is going to be a threeat to anything else in the tank. I think your wood shrimps would suffer.

 

[dwarfgourami]

For shrimps with pincers, check out the I-have-evil-shrimp thread on this forum. Could be those, have to admit I'd never heard of them before.

 

[mikster]

yeah sounds like some kind of long armed shrimp, i think pets at home sometimes sell them, they are optimistic predators though and should only be kept with there own kind.