2.5 gallon shrimp set up

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Callmeconfused

The sad effect of sleep deprivation
Jul 25, 2010
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Gainesville, Florida
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Kimi
While in the process of adding new plants and cleaning house, so to speak, my last shrimp tank took a nose dive:cry:. Thankfully the 2 shrimp I still currently had were in another tank. I'm setting up another 2.5 gallon home for them and figured I'd share my experience this time.

Please, good or bad, feel free to comment!

I got some tahitian moon sand (love this stuff). After cleaning all of it:thud:I put a good bit of it in a filter media bag and hung in in my established tank to marinate for about a month.

I also got a new azoo palm filter, time to replace the other one anyways. I let that one run on the same tank I let the sand soak in for the about 2 weeks.

Finally got the TANK yesterday! :dance: Here's what I got so far!

Kinda anticlimatic, but I figured I'd show my pretty, little tank first, all naked and whatnot.

Taihitian moon sand in!

I tried to use some glass beads to look like a little river, not sure how it's working though. Also added some water from another tank, didn't fill it up though. I'm still churning it a bit here and there to help clear the last reminants of sand crud. (Thought I cleaned it well enough:shakehead:)

Better shot of the "river".

These were from last night, I'll go take a pic of the water now.
 

ODPILOT

AC Members
Nov 5, 2009
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Here's the problem. Small tanks are very unstable when it comes to the build up of poison chemicals, such as ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Frequent water changes will help, but change too much water at one time and your fish can go into shock and die. Small deviations in the way you care for these tiny tanks can cause dramatic increases of the above toxins. Bigger tanks handle the BIO load better due to the higher volume of water and nitrifying bacteria. So, bottom line, with only a 2.5 gallon tank - it will only be a matter of time before the chemistry crashes and you have dead fish -- which is already what's happened. Even a 10 gallon would be MUCH better. My 2 cents !!
 

bradlgt21

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May 9, 2009
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You wil be fine doing a shrimp only setup. I had a 3 gallon that was planted with shrimp. They bred like crazy and I did 50% water changes every week. Just some advice though shrimp need a very established tank before they can go in it. So I wouldn't move them in for at least 3 months. When I moved my shrimp into a brand new tank I went from about 30 to 6. It's fine now but it took a good 3 months.
 

fishycat

needs more wiggle.
Dec 9, 2009
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Not necessarily, there are tons of successful 2.5g nano tanks... I've got the same setup for my betta w/weekly 50% water changes, planted moderately. There may be more maintenance required, but doesn't mean a crash is inevitable.

Looks good, btw! You may want to mis some opaque glass beads, otherwise can't see the river! What kind if plants are you going to be including? I've got dwarf hairgrass, marsilea minuta, hemianthus micranthemoides, java moss & anubias nana in mine! Soon to add duckweed and/or salvinia to help make sure water quality stays good.
 

Callmeconfused

The sad effect of sleep deprivation
Jul 25, 2010
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Gainesville, Florida
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Kimi
Well the first one crashing wasn't due to water, it was due to glass hitting the floor. After I found my niece "fishing," which resulted in me only having 2 of my RCS left....poor things, she was feeding them to the cats :( , I took the other two out and decided to rearrange the entire thing with some new plants I had picked up. However, I ended up with my little helper about half way through, when my brother decided he needed to drop her off, and she tried to push it over on the table.
 

Callmeconfused

The sad effect of sleep deprivation
Jul 25, 2010
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Gainesville, Florida
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Fishycat, I think you're right on the glass. I kinda wanted to get some more marimo balls, don't want them squishing my little guys when they float/sink though. lol. I also wanted to try a christmas moss wall in the back this time. Not sure what else though. Any thoughts?

Bradlgt21, thanks for the vote of confidence. :) I don't plan on moving my guys back for a bit. Lots still to do with the tank before it's ready.
 

blue2fyre

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Oct 7, 2008
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I love nano tanks! Of course they are a little more difficult but "inevitable crashing" is non sense. I have a 5 gallon invert tank that has done really well for the past 2 years. I do 50% water changes weekly and my shrimp and snails do fine. I've considered going smaller, I just love those little 2.5 gallon tanks!

I think once the lights are on it the glass stones will show up a lot better.
 

fishycat

needs more wiggle.
Dec 9, 2009
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A moss wall would be cool, as it grows it may take up precious real estate - but I guess it depends what else you want to plant. Shrimp LOVE marimo balls, I wouldn't worry about any squishing...

I've got wood & slate covered w/moss, took about 2-3 months to really get full growth. I encourage you to look into dwarf hairgrass... Looks great in a 2.5, would be neat with your river. You could also use river gravel to make a "river". The DHG would only need a root fert tab once every 3 months, altho I haven't added any yet since my tank seems to have enough established mulm for them. This 2.5 has been running for over 5 months.
 

Callmeconfused

The sad effect of sleep deprivation
Jul 25, 2010
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Gainesville, Florida
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Great idea, I think I still have some of those tiny polished pebbles that might work!

I will be doing this in my 5 gallon though as there was an incident with my betta. The snails I got earlier today she decided to pick on and attacked their tentacles. She never messed with any of the ramshorns or pond snails that have been in there. I put them in one of my other tanks for now, but I'm going to do some rearranging.

The 5 gallon was my "reject tank". Two chubby neons (the remnants of a school of 10), two silvertip tetras who think they're neons (they were the only two in their tank at the LFS and I felt bad), and Pip my betta girl because she was the only female out of about 25 I could find alive when I went to petsmart to get gravel one day.

Now I'm gonna put the shrimp in the 5 gallon and Ms. Attitude in the 2.5 gallon. Any suggestions on plants for the now betta tank? I don't want to transfer the temples or pennywort I have in the 5 gallon as she likes to pull at them.
 

Callmeconfused

The sad effect of sleep deprivation
Jul 25, 2010
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Gainesville, Florida
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Kimi
Also, is there a way to change the name of this thread?

Hey fishy, what do you think about the moss wall in a 5 gallon?
 
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