Shrimpitat. What Can I Have?

[sammy86]

Hello there
I am planning in the near future to downsize (due to room) to a little Shrimp Tank

i want to have a little hoard of Shrimps but id like to have a mix of species.

i have these questions:

What shrimp species can i keep together? i want to stay quite small with my shrimp

Alot of sites say they need a well planted tank. i did want to have rocks the ones with all the little holes) and sand, but if they need plants then ill add them -do they have to me real? or can fake do.

or are shrimp ok with no plants if they are the only species and have special food?

- aslo what size tank do i need? while i want to keep as small as possible id idealy like to house about 7-10 shrimp.
and i dont want to cramp them!

- does dimentions matter with shrimp tanks? ie. more wider than taller etc?

thanks!

 

[Tommo]

most shrimp are very peacefull to each other, you could mix bumblebees, amano shrimp, crystal reds and fan shrimps together with no problems. The one family to steer clear of are the long armed shrimps as these are aggressive. Due the shrimp tank being small fan shrimps may also be unsuitable as many grow large.

height is unimportant in shrimp tanks as they rarely venture upwards, preferring to graze on algea.

the tank also doesn't have to be large for 7-10 shrimp, especially if you stick to small species lie the bumblebee shrimp.
They will prefer live plants, and i would hugely recommend some, but they are not crucial.

It is however important that the tank is well etablished and has plenty of algea growing in it.

Have fun with the critters!

 

[sammy86]

most shrimp are very peacefull to each other, you could mix bumblebees, amano shrimp, crystal reds and fan shrimps together with no problems. The one family to steer clear of are the long armed shrimps as these are aggressive. Due the shrimp tank being small fan shrimps may also be unsuitable as many grow large.

height is unimportant in shrimp tanks as they rarely venture upwards, preferring to graze on algea.

the tank also doesn't have to be large for 7-10 shrimp, especially if you stick to small species lie the bumblebee shrimp.
They will prefer live plants, and i would hugely recommend some, but they are not crucial.

It is however important that the tank is well etablished and has plenty of algea growing in it.

Have fun with the critters!

thankyou thats very helpful the tank would be cloned from my current one which *sigh* has more than enough algae going about , would a cloned tank be ok? (1 year old) or would you reccomend i simply have a tank sitting about until its all agaed up and what not.

 

[dizzied]

You might want to check the genus/species of each shrimp, as you probably won't want any crossbreeding.

They don't really need a planted tank, I think a lot of shrimp come from habitats that aren't really that flora-heavy. They're usually kept in planted tanks to fight algae.

 

[sammy86]

ok well i was planning to have a big 'rock mountain' in the middle, as i saw this in a shrimp tank at the zoo and it looked fantastic, the shrimp were very active in it.

i am now concidering having a grassy bottom. around the rocks themselves, would this be enough plantage for the shrimp to enjoy? ^^

 

[Tommo]

that would be plenty of plant, like dizzied said they dont need plants as such but they will prefer some. i think using water from an old tank is fine, its what i do when im setting up a new tank. but you may not want to use 100%

 

[crazie.eddie]

I believe bumble bee and CRS (Crystal Red shrimp) are the same species so they could interbreed. Most common and easy shrimp to keep together are RCS (Red Cherry shrimp), any filter shrimp (bamboo or vampire), and amano shrimp.

You can have any type of aquascaping, which includes rocks. Most people, including myself, like to have shrimp in planted tanks, since shrimps can eat the mulm and most algae that grow on them.

 

[sammy86]

ok thanks for the info ^^

i am a bit wary about live plants as i used to have a planted tank and it went to stodge after a few months. but i can probably look after a smaller tank of plants

 

[n3ont3tra]

If wou want 'grasslike' plants, Dwarf Hairgrass is probably the best thing to use. It does, however, need high light, about 4 watts per gallon, as well as CO2. Many people think it's too tough, or expensive to start up a planted tank, but it isn't, especially a small one. For about 10 shrimp, I've been told a 5g is perfect. And for lighting, a normal desk lamp with a bulb of approximately 25 watts should do fine. For CO2, the Nutrafin Natural Plant system is one of the best, it's cheap, and easy to use. You can find it under $25 in most places.

 

[~T~]

Alright mate heres my shrimpitat although keeping them is proving harder than I thought.At the moment I have 10 rainbow shrimps, 1 red/yellownose shrimp and 2 cherry shrimps.I have hairgrass,pygmy chain sword,new zealand grass, riccia and java moss.

Some of the shrimps.

 

[RESGuy]

Awesome set-up and shrimp!!

 

[fishboy619]

wow, excellent setup, you done yourself proud, hope it all goes well,