Trying to set up a very small shrimp tank. [Archive]

cairocks

4th Apr 2005, 09:48 AM

Hi all,
This is my first post in this site. Always wanted to rear some shrimps but my main tank has anglefish which will view shrimps as dinner, but as I have this small tank lying around in the house, thinking of setting it up as a shrimp tank.

The dimensions are 14"X7"X9" which you all can see it's a very small tank. Had the tank setup over the weekend with 2" JBJ gravel, some small rocks, a bit of christmas moss, a piece of java fern on wood and a ocean free mini hang on filter. Added in 10 small dwarf 3-spot rasbora to cycle the tank yesterday. 1 was just found dead. Planning to add in CRS after tank has been cycled. The tank is placed in my room where aircon will be on most nights. Lowest tank temp recorded so far is 24.5C, today is a cool day and it had climbed to 28C. Hopefully such a small tank is ok for rearing shrimps. My main worry is the small size of the tank which can have big temp changes. Also wondering how many shrimps can such a small tank support if at all.

That's all for now. Wish me luck. :wink:

Walter

4th Apr 2005, 10:57 AM

"today is a cool day and it had climbed to 28C"

think this is a typo? u meant lower than 24c i guess... anyway 24 or lower temp should be alright for most shrimps :)

how big was the temp changes anyway? if only about 2c shld be ok.

and hmm amount of shrimps... just a very rough estimation from me... maybe 40?

happy shrimp keeping and welcome! :D

One more thing to add on: your hang on filter's inlet maybe suck in shrimplets or shrimps, so do cover it up with a sponge or something :wink:

cairocks

4th Apr 2005, 11:48 AM

"today is a cool day and it had climbed to 28C"

think this is a typo? u meant lower than 24c i guess... anyway 24 or lower temp should be alright for most shrimps :)

how big was the temp changes anyway? if only about 2c shld be ok.

One more thing to add on: your hang on filter's inlet maybe suck in shrimplets or shrimps, so do cover it up with a sponge or something :wink:

Er..it's 28C in the day without aircon, got a digital thermometer and it registered the max temp today as 28C and that's a 3.5C difference within a day. Might need to install a PC fan to it. I got 3 PC fans installed to my 2ft tank plus a CPU heatsink/fan stuck to my PL light :p and it is able to keep the water temp between 26-27C regardless of hot or cool day. Figured that on a rainy day like today, air is already full of moisture, so little evaporation and temp remains at 26C instead of going lower.

Regarding the filter, yeap, I am going to wrap a piece of sponge over the inlet.

Thanks for the reply. Cheers. :D

Walter

4th Apr 2005, 11:56 AM

28c u definitely need a fan :)

its better to have temp of 26-27C or lower..

if u want to keep bees or tigers need to go even lower than that..

get ur shrimps soon! :D

cairocks

11th Apr 2005, 01:57 PM

An update of how the shrimp tank is doing.

After one week, no more resboras died, so left with 8 resboras. I had expected more casualities. Will keep them for at least 4 weeks, not sure what to do with the survivors later. Can't put them into the main tank as the angles will see them as dinner. :cry: But if leave them in this nano tank, feel that they are adding too much bioload. :(

Modified the hang on filter with some extra pipes so that the intake is on the other side from the outlet so that the tank circulation is better. Also covered the inlet with a sponge to prevent shrimplets being suck in and also increase the bio-filtration area.

Installed a PC fan to control temperature. Think tank is in the nitrite spike now as test kit shows 1.0mg/l!!! So doing 30% water change every evening.
On Chan's recommendation, added in 1 bee shrimp & 1 tiger shrimp yesterday to test water and they survived through the first 24hours. If they make it by next weekend, may put in some cherries.

That's all for now. Cheers :joking:

ah_siao

11th Apr 2005, 02:47 PM

pictures of ur tank?

silane

11th Apr 2005, 02:52 PM

It will be nice to post some pic on the tank. :)

cairocks

11th Apr 2005, 03:03 PM

kalyhead

12th Apr 2005, 04:32 AM

Mine is 18cmX14cmX15cm only.

There's 1 tiger, 8 cherry inside..hehe
:rolleyes:

Walter

12th Apr 2005, 08:38 AM

nice set up... but no fan? how is the temperature? are they shrimps doing well?

kalyhead

12th Apr 2005, 09:08 AM

I don't use a fan and don't monitor the temperature.

History: 4 tiger shrimps, within 4 days later left 1
Currently, there are 8 Cherry shrimps and has no casualty since last friday. :)

Walter

12th Apr 2005, 12:01 PM

but bro, CRS need very optimum shrimp-friendly conditions as well... I'm afraid your CRS wont last long... shrimps need cool waters definitely.. u need to get a fan fast...

nevada

12th Apr 2005, 01:53 PM

cairocks,

try to provide more plants (moss is better) as shrimp like play around with plants. another advantage is when your shrimp starts to breed, the plants provide hiding place for your baby shrimplets. :)
gd luck!

cairocks

12th Apr 2005, 04:26 PM

Yeap, thanks for the suggestion. Thinking of creating a moss floor. Right now, the 2 shrimps spent most of the time hiding in the java fern. Somehow feels the java fern is out of place but won't remove it as teh shrimps prefer it. Have to spend 5 to 10 minutes looking for them each time to see if the are ok. :p Spotted 2 snails since yesterday, will they be a problem?

kalyhead

13th Apr 2005, 12:12 AM

but bro, CRS need very optimum shrimp-friendly conditions as well... I'm afraid your CRS wont last long... shrimps need cool waters definitely.. u need to get a fan fast...

hi, the shrimps are doing rather well, in fact, there is one thats with eggs now. Maybe some of the more experienced folks here can answer this: when eggs are seen in the shrimp, are those fertilised or not?

PS: Got warned for the 2nd time for the use of singlish/shortcut words, hope i don't get the 3rd and get banned..

nevada

13th Apr 2005, 12:48 AM

simcb

13th Apr 2005, 03:02 AM

At last, got the pictures up.

Image of tank 2 days old
http://www.shrimpnow.com/mygallery/files/1/5/6/p1010015.jpg

Image of tank after 1 week
http://www.shrimpnow.com/mygallery/files/1/5/6/P1010037a.jpg

I cant help noticing the ammonia indicator you paste on the tank walls......does it work? Pardon me, Some feedbacks is that these indicators has a life span.

I am currently looking for a easy ammonia tester....like the one you are using. Care to share if that seachem ammonia indicator is working good/accurate how long will it last until it expires?

silane

13th Apr 2005, 03:16 AM

I cant help noticing the ammonia indicator you paste on the tank walls......does it work? Pardon me, Some feedbacks is that these indicators has a life span.

I am currently looking for a easy ammonia tester....like the one you are using. Care to share if that seachem ammonia indicator is working good/accurate how long will it last until it expires?

The indicator detects free ammonia ion or ammonium. In PH less than 7 and at lower temperature, the portion of ammonium in total ammonia is very low, and hence it may not even detect any ammonium, but in fact, the tank can have high level of ammonia.

jowy_ham

13th Apr 2005, 03:17 AM

I cant help noticing the ammonia indicator you paste on the tank walls......does it work? Pardon me, Some feedbacks is that these indicators has a life span.

I am currently looking for a easy ammonia tester....like the one you are using. Care to share if that seachem ammonia indicator is working good/accurate how long will it last until it expires?

It has a lifespan of abt a yr.

I always change mine after 1 yr. :p

By the way, for your information there are 2 types of that, 1 is the one shown in the pics ( with 4 color codes, indicating Ammonia level ) , the other one has only 3 color codes and the 3 color codes one is slightly cheaper.

I think the 3 color coded one is fine cos it is only missing the "Toxic" color code and we wont want our shrimps/fishes to live in water that register "Toxic" on the ammonia alert.

cairocks

13th Apr 2005, 04:14 AM

I cant help noticing the ammonia indicator you paste on the tank walls......does it work? Pardon me, Some feedbacks is that these indicators has a life span.

I am currently looking for a easy ammonia tester....like the one you are using. Care to share if that seachem ammonia indicator is working good/accurate how long will it last until it expires?

I am also trying out the tester. Got it about the same time I started this tank. so far seems fairly accurate. I had some leftover aquamedi ammonia test kit solution for about 2 years. The test result seems more or less tally. Test kit shows about 0.2mg/l ammonia present.
I would appeciate if there is a similar tester for nitrite. Ammonia spike seems to get over pretty quickly. But nitrite level had been high for a week already.

simcb

13th Apr 2005, 04:26 AM

cairocks

13th Apr 2005, 04:46 AM

Nice setup cairocks.
I think adding fan in the future will be better....cause the hot weather is approaching soon....its not going to rain everyday(high temp tends to stress Shrimps).

Thanks for the advise guys.
Any good and accurate brand you can recommend for the dropper test kit?

I've got a fan attached already. It is a DIY PC fan clipped onto the PL table lamp about 6 inch above (height adjustable :p ). Here's a pic of it.
http://www.shrimpnow.com/mygallery/files/1/5/6/P1010038a.jpg

Walter

13th Apr 2005, 05:11 AM

cool.. now you got a fan, everything should go just fine.. hope the eggs hatch soon :D

cairocks

13th Apr 2005, 10:09 AM

One thing I can say about setting up new tank is patience training. :D
Everytime wanted so badly to add in the fish/shrimps but got to wait. Must keep reminding myself I am going to keep them as pets, not to kill them. :p
Must control the urge..... :wreck:

kalyhead

13th Apr 2005, 10:37 AM

that's true, 3 of my tigers died because i was too impatient...at least my 8 cherries seems to be doing well without a fan now

cairocks

18th Apr 2005, 06:57 AM

Another week had passed. Added in 5 cherries and 1 erect moss attached drift wood over the weekend. Yesterday had switched on the light for too long, think 12 hours cuz went out with lights on :p . Just noticed 3 strains of hair algae this morning. Think will have to stick to 5 hours of light per day. Hoping that the shrimps will eat up the algae, will they? Now will also reduce food for the next 3 days :)

cairocks

22nd Apr 2005, 04:15 PM

Almost 3 weeks of setting up the shrimp tank. The bee and tiger shrimps, suppose to be more sensitive shrimps, are still alive and kicking. The 5 cherries are doig well too. So I decided to add in my first 2 CRS in yesterday. Below are pictures of the 2 most expensive shrimps in my tank. :D Also a picture of the first spotted pregnant cherry.
Also a pic of my tank now, with unknown 'moss' at forground. Some ppl says it is not a real moss but a 'club' moss.

http://www.shrimpnow.com/mygallery/files/1/5/6/P1010075a.jpg

http://www.shrimpnow.com/mygallery/files/1/5/6/P1010073a.jpg

http://www.shrimpnow.com/mygallery/files/1/5/6/P1010074a.jpg

http://www.shrimpnow.com/mygallery/files/1/5/6/P1010072a.jpg

kalyhead

25th Apr 2005, 12:45 AM

Nice pictures you have there. I realise that cherries can have eggs that are either yellow or black, any difference?

jojoecute

25th Apr 2005, 01:21 AM

So far i know cherries shrimp eggs are yellowish color...
May be you saw the brown & black is CRS carrying eggs...

As for moss, i think you start a new thread with picture. Many bro can help on moss info...

Nice pictures you have there. I realise that cherries can have eggs that are either yellow or black, any difference?

With regards to moss, i brought some "mini moss" from NA, anyone know more information about this kind of moss?

ah_siao

25th Apr 2005, 03:14 AM

how do you fasten the fan to your tank. can take more pictures?

Walter

25th Apr 2005, 04:45 AM

Great looking CRS! :D tempting.. lol

I don't think cherries carry black eggs? never heard of it. Although there is a thread on green eggs though which is actually close to yellow. But black, hmmm...

As for fan maybe I will share how I place mine, i balanced the 2 sides of my fan on the light and the edge of the tank. lol so my fan is facing directly parrallel to my water surface in the tank ;) But I am afraid someone might push it over :shocked:

cairocks

25th Apr 2005, 10:39 AM

how do you fasten the fan to your tank. can take more pictures?

I diy the clip for the fan with a crocodile clip, screw, nut and washer found at home.
Below is a close up picture of the clip.
http://www.shrimpnow.com/mygallery/files/1/5/6/P1010077a.jpg

This is another pic of light, fan and tank to give a better picture of how they are placed relative to each other.
http://www.shrimpnow.com/mygallery/files/1/5/6/P1010078a.jpg

Fan is kept on 24/7, found that I need to topup 3 small paper cups of water each day due to evaporation. But manage to keep temp below 28C.