Cherry shrimp...gravel?

[barthur33]

I've got over 100 cherry shrimp in my 29 gallon. The tank was used for ACF's until I moved them to my 55. Totally cycled, everybody's doing fine, but I would loooove to get rid of the gravel(hard to see them!)and replace with a dark colored sand. Is there "the best" way to do this with the fewest deaths(I've got a gazillion tiny ones, almost impossible to see against the gravel!)or do I just want to wait a little bit to build up my stock a little more and realize I'm going to slaughter a bunch of tiny ones when I do this? Or do I just say the heck with how it looks and keep the gravel?

 

[toddnbecka]

Your best bet would be to add a layer of darker, smaller-size gravel on top of the existing gravel. Don't use larger gravel, or it will simply get buried when you siphon the tank..

 

[Mgamer20o0]

its going to be very hard to switch the gravel. maybe if you did a little bit at a time. i have black sand i got at petsmart. it looks very nice i think.

 

[barthur33]

Black sand is what I'd looove to switch out too, I just see no way without losing lots of little ones. I've got them in every shape and size, and theres way too many to count! I'm sure, as usual, I'm gonna just have to make do instead of having what I'd like, but hey, it's my fault, I should have thought of it FIRST, not last! LOL!

 

[Mgamer20o0]

you can try to get as many out as you can and put them in a qt or some other tub for the short time as you move them out. if you did it a small section at a time you could scare them all away in hopes of not killing them.