Shrimp Tank Stock

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Qsilver7850

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Jun 2, 2010
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I'm in the process of setting up a shrimp tank, a planted twenty gallon long. I have a 29 gal community with some red cherry shrimp, and they're already breeding fairly quickly. My plan is to cycle the 20 with some tetras or something, then introduce some shrimp and see how they do a while.

I'm aware certain shrimp interbreed and this is undesirable because they lose their color, and I'm aware of which ones to not keep together. But I'm wondering if anyone can give me advice on which would look nice together, or any tips that would help me out with my first shrimp tank. So basically opinions. My tank is 20L as stated with two pieces of driftwood, some lava rock, black tahitian moon sand, and a black background just to give an idea of what the tank will look like, and what might look good in it.

And in fact, since I have RCS in my 29, I could start with snowball or yellow shrimp instead for some variety. But RCS would be easiest to get because I have a supply in my own home. One thing to keep in mind is price: I'm not looking to spend tons of money on shrimp, and I'll have to special order any kind of specialty (ie not ghost shrimp or RCS) shrimp from my lfs.

At the moment I'm thinking bee shrimp, green shrimp, amano shrimp, and crystal red shrimp all seem like good picks! I know the bees and crystal reds would interbreed but this is still very much in the planning stages, just trying to iron out a game plan.

Sorry if I'm rambling, it's just exciting! I'd love to hear about other people's setups as well.
 

jpappy789

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Feb 18, 2007
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I'm in the process of setting up a shrimp tank, a planted twenty gallon long. I have a 29 gal community with some red cherry shrimp, and they're already breeding fairly quickly. My plan is to cycle the 20 with some tetras or something, then introduce some shrimp and see how they do a while.
It would be more efficient to just transfer some media from the 29 to the 20L..."instant" cycle.
 

blue2fyre

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Oct 7, 2008
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I would order shrimp off the forum. All of my shrimp have some from here and it has saved me a lot :) Your water parameters will give you an idea of what to keep. I have super hard water so I have tried cherry shrimp, green shrimp and malawa shrimp. The malawa shrimp have been very successful.
 

bradlgt21

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May 9, 2009
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I agree my Malawa shrimp have done well in hard water. so have cherry's, amano, and green lace.

Just a bit of warning with shrimp and setting up a new tank. A lot of there diet is the slime on the gravel and plants and stuff. I got a new tank for my shrimp and even though I used media from a other tank and it cycled fully before I added the shrimp I had a massive die off. I had a thread in here and all the experts to me the bio film slime they feed on takes months to build up. It took about 2 months before the shrimp were healthy again and not dying and 3-4 months before they started breeding again.
So if you can transfer as much stuff into the shrimp tank as possible. Think rocks, plants, decorations, pretty much anything you can that has been in the 29 for a long time.
 

blue2fyre

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Oct 7, 2008
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^Good point!
My tank was set up pretty much new with used media. The cycle was instant but I waited on the shrimp. I used some snails in my tank for a couple months to keep the cycle and give the tank a chance to mature. After a couple months I added shrimp without a problem.
 

Qsilver7850

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Jun 2, 2010
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I'm definitely not in a rush to get shrimp, so letting the tank mature isn't a problem. I'm actually upgrading the canister filter on my 29, so the one that's currently on there is going on the twenty long. I'm also trimming some plants from my 29 and putting them in the 20. I'll probably do a water change and add that water to the 20L as well. I'll wait a little while and then add a few fish and leave them for a month or two to get it ready.

Will there be a problem with algae in the shrimp tank? With RCS and Amanos I wouldn't think so, but if there is, what would be the recommended algae eater? Snails?
 

bradlgt21

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May 9, 2009
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My shrimp tank hasn't had a spot of algae yet. I actually use them as cleaners. Like when I get new plants in and they have algae on them I drop them in and let them float a couple days, when the shrimp are done its like a whole new plant, not to mention they eat dead leaves and stuff. Your only problem might be eventually you can get spots on the glass if it's not very heavily planted. So nerites can clean that a little but you might still have to clean it anyway. My tank has Nerites too, the shrimp keep the nerites shells clean too. It's pretty funny watching the shrimp hitch rides and clean the shell.
 
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