Newbie in new tank setup

[jowy_ham]

Hi bros/sis,

Need some advice on how to setup a shrimp tank. :bs_help:

Currently have a 1ft tank with 5 pebbles, 20 Yamato shrimps, 1 air stone, 2 artificial house ( for the shrimps to hide ), 4 water hy-sin ( dunno how to spell :redface: ) and some wool for them to crawl abt.

This is a brand new setup so the tank isn't cycled.

1. Can I bring a sponge filter from 1 of my cycled goldfish tank and re-use it ?
2. What is the pH required by Yamato and Cherry shrimps ?
3. Do the shrimps need plants to survived ?
4. Is sand required ? I have some very fine white sand leftover from my previous planted tank, can I re-use ?
5. How much to feed daily ?
6. Does water hy-sin need lots of sunlight to grow ?
7. How many shrimps ( MAX ) can I keep in such a small tank ?
8. Is a fish ( betta/terta/guppy ) needed ?
9. Are water hy-sin, duckweek, riccia, frogbit consider low maintenance plants, besides nana ?
10. Amount of light ( Hrs and Watt ) needed for each of the abv mentioned plants.

Sorry for the long list of Qs. :p

Appreciate all the advise that I can get.


Thanks in advance.

[damnit]

1. Yes since that is a matured sponge filter it will do. However still give it a few days for the water to be stable before introducing any shrimps.

2. I've kept yamato and cherry from ph of 6.6 to 7.6. However, they seemed to prefer slightly acidic water. Main thing is that the ph has to be stable.

3. Plants are the best when kept with shrimps. In fact, lots of moss are highly recommended.

4. No problem with using sand.

5. I feed once a day with algae wafer. Cos I have hundreds of them :)

6. Not very sure on this :p :p

7. 1ft can keep quite a handful. My 1x1x1ft tank is keeping 100-200 although I dun recommend so many :D

8. If you intend to breed, I suggest no fish. Else you can keep small fish which do not have mouths as big as shrimps :wink:

9. Check out our article on what plants to keep with shrimps.

10. Typically most people keep shrimps in low maintenance tanks. Hence the plants are usually slow growers and do no require high lights. For a 1ft, somewhere from 9-13W should suffice.

Hope all these helps :D :D

[Robert]

Hi and welcome!
Oh these are a lot of questions, let me try to answer at least some of them. At first, are the yamatos now in the 1ft tank? These are definitely too much shrimps for such a small tank. Yamatos reach a size of 2inches and need lots of food, so a filterless tank like yours will collapse easily because of the bioload and the ammonia, nitrite etc. which is the result of it.

Let me start with the 7th question. In the first weeks, keep no shrimps at all in the tank if you can. Let the tank cycle at first. Use the sponge filter of your gold fish tank and then wait. Beneficial bacteria need time to get used to a new environment, albeit if there should be quite a lot of them in the sponge filter.

I would recommend to keep no yamatos in this tank, it's too small for such big shrimps. If you want to keep them, keep only 5 or 6 of them. Their bioload is much bigger than the one of other smaller shrimp species like cherries because they are several times bigger (bigger animal make much more waste than smaller ones). Yamatos also prefer algae and other vegetalbe food, so you would have to feed them a lot which means a lot of bioload (the more bioload the more poisonous chemicals like ammonia etc.). I wouldn't keep the yamatos together with cherry shrimps. The yamatos have a too dominant behavior and can be aggressive.

If you decide to keep only cherry shrimps, I recommend only adult 10-15 shrimps. They reproduce easily and so the population will increase by itself.

A 1 ft tank is pretty small, so I would strongly recommend a filtration to avoid fast fluctuations of the water parameters and to keep the level of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate etc. as low as possible (these chemicals are poisonous to shrimps and can kill them).
A sponge filter does the job well. Use plants if you can. All kind of aquatic mosses and liverworts like riccia or "pellia" (Monoselenium tenerum) are useful for such a tank. Take a look here: Plants for a low maintance shrimp tank (http://www.shrimpnow.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&id=17) to find more suitable and easy to grow plants. These plants need cool water but if you want to keep shrimps like cherry shrimps, you also need at least 28°C. A small pc fan does the job well if you install it in an angle of 45° to the water surface.

You water hyacinths need a lot of light and to grow well also lots of fertilizer. They can become quite large and I wouldn't use them in such a small tank. A single plant of this species becomes bigger than the whole tank if it gets the right conditions. I recommend frogbite as floating plants. They grow easily, do not need that much light, fit the tank size well and can be removed easily.

All these plants are not directly necessary for the shrimps but the they help to filter the water, provide some food because of the algae growing on them and the microorganisms which develop inbetween them and they help to let the shrimps feel more secure in their new home.

Shrimps will leave a not suitable tank if they can, so plants are useful for them.

You do not need gravel or sand if you use plants like Anubias barteri var. nana, java fern or mosses. The shrimps seem to need no gravel in my opnion. But mulm is quite useful. Here you can read more about its effects: Basic Shrimp breeding (http://www.shrimpnow.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&id=12) .

For more information about yamato shrimps look here: Caridina japonica (Yamato/Amano Shrimp) (http://www.shrimpnow.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&id=6) and information about cherry shrimp can you find here: Neocaridina denticulata sinensis (Cherry shrimp) (http://www.shrimpnow.com/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&id=4) .

Shrmp do not need much food. A quarter of a tablet each day would be neough for about 20 cherry shrimps. There are lots of other foods which you can find here for example: List of Feeds for your shrimps (http://www.shrimpnow.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8)

No fish is necessary and I wouldn't keep any fish with them. Your tank is too small for most fishes. If you keep a single betta male for example, it will increase the bioload a lot because of the necessary food for the betta and the shrimps and there is also the risk that the betta will eat the shrimps or will try to eat them. That means stress for the shrimps and stress kills them. Tetras are little carnivorous schooling fishes. But your tank is too small for a group of at least six tetra, so I wold not use them. Guppies are also fishes which live in small groups and your tank is a bit small for them. I would recommend to make it a shrimp only tank, so you will have less problems because of the bioload and more fun with the shrimps.

best regards

Robert

[jowy_ham]

Thanks for all the kind advise.

Will have to read thru them slowly and digest them :p

[Lemonz]

Seems like shrimp keeping isn't that fuss free like I thought??
Or is the tough part on the breeding?

I am tempted to start a 1x1x1ft shrimp tank!!!

will a hang-on filter do? a small one!!

I always thought the small shrimps are maintainence free... occasionally feeding them will do?? Like those they are now selling hot in taiwan?

Thanks for the advice!

[Walter]

those shrimps in bio-sphere are red hawain shrimp.. thsoe are the hardiest shrimps... nicknamed super shrimp (and please do not buy them, those shrimps are suffering under those conditions)

and true shrimp keeping is not fuss free :) it takes very good water conditions and care.. they are delicate creatures..

[jowy_ham]

If I decide not to keep any real plants with my shrimps maybe artifical plants + driftwood and plastic deco for the shrimps to hide )

How often do I have to change water ( to remove nitrate ) ? and change how much per time ?

Will the shrimps be able to withstand constant water change ?

Consider I have 18~20 Yamatos in abv mentioned tank and feeding is about once per day ( 1/2 a algae wafer )

[Walter]

yamatoes are one of the more hardier types :)

hmm weekly 5% is more than enough... some forummers with matured filter and tanks didnt even changed water for months already :p

i suggest u change water 5% every fortnight would be ok... because yamatoes are larger, more waste :)

[silane]

If I decide not to keep any real plants with my shrimps maybe artifical plants + driftwood and plastic deco for the shrimps to hide )

How often do I have to change water ( to remove nitrate ) ? and change how much per time ?

Will the shrimps be able to withstand constant water change ?

Consider I have 18~20 Yamatos in abv mentioned tank and feeding is about once per day ( 1/2 a algae wafer )


Use Java moss on driftwood, it is almost as maintenance free as plastic plant, and your shrimp can graze on them when they are hungry.

Healthy shrimps can take regular water changes, provided the water parameters of the old water and new water are close.

[Walter]

yup, thats why i suggested 5% WC as well.. so the parameters are close to the old one :)