Mature tanks... how mature?

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naturestee

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Nov 6, 2003
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I'm thinking of setting my 10 gallon tank back up, possibly for a Cherry Shrimp colony. I've never had them before and they look like fun. I've read some articles that say shrimp should only be put in mature tanks so they have biofilm and such to eat. How mature is mature? Should I cycle the tank, then move a few of my platies in for a month or three?

Another thought was Cherry Shrimp + Cherry Barbs. Would the barbs cause any issues for the shrimp? I expect they'd eat some of the babies but I wouldn't be hugely concerned as long as the adults are left alone. They're supposed to be really peaceful but I've never had them before either.

Also, how many shrimp should I get to start a breeding colony? Could I start with 10 or would I need more?

Thanks!
 
I'm not sure if I'd want a ton of breeding because none of the local stores carry them. So I don't know if they'd take them at all. Maybe my Krib in my other tank would like to eat some little ones.

I'm just considering my options. I haven't even dug the tank out of my basement storage yet.
 
It helps to take water and filter residue from a healthy established freshwater setup and use it to jumpstart a new tank.

As for fish, I would not use any species of fish as a shrimp birth control measure. You can control the size of your shrimp colony through feeding alone. You will find that, with care, your shrimp colony will establish an optimal population density.

On a tangent, shrimp need a surprisingly small amount of food. I had a Neocaridina colony, that only had presoaked oak leaves for a substrate, that went without supplemental feeding. I established the colony, after reading accounts of others, who had done so. I found that my colony successfully reproduced, and the population grew, from the starting population of ~25 adult shrimp, to ~100 adults, after about four months.

I personally don't recommend doing this. I noticed that the adult shrimp were slightly smaller than my other Neocaridina (RCS) colony; they likely were undernourished. I stopped the experiment, as I had answered my question, it is possible to maintain a colony of RCS with plenty of oak leaf matter (for microbes to feed on), and no other outside food source.

I do highly recommend starting a shrimp colony, of any species. They are intriguing creatures.
 
Thanks very much guys! If I decide to do shrimp (very much leaning that way), I'll wait 60 days or so before getting any. I was planning on cycling with filter media from my existing tank so the cycle should go fast, just don't want to run any risks.
 
naturestee said:
Thanks very much guys! If I decide to do shrimp (very much leaning that way), I'll wait 60 days or so before getting any. I was planning on cycling with filter media from my existing tank so the cycle should go fast, just don't want to run any risks.
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Don't wait to long, or the setup could die (beneficial bacteria could die off). The way I keep 'idle' tanks cycled is by putting snails (MTS) in the tank, and setting the light timer to 10-12 hours or so. That way I don't have to worry about adding food, or checking water parameters (I only check before using the tank to house anything else).
 
If you're using regular substrate that does not cause any initial parameter imbalances, like aquasoil and its ammonia, then you can instantly add shrimp the moment you seed the tank.
I have done it plenty of times. I set up tanks for neocaridina sp. with 3M colorquartz (black), throw in some plants from an old tank, get some old filter media into the tank and I'm set. I threw in the shrimp an hour after I set-up the tank. I waited an hour just to make sure the tank was perfect to my liking. I have not lost a single shrimp from doing this. Note: My tanks were from 5G-20G. I added 20-25 shrimp into the 5G one. 12 into the 10G and 24 in a 20G.

ZERO casualties.

Point is?
You can add shrimp once you seed the tank. Their bioload is incredibly small so waiting is unnecessary, time consuming if you decide to "feed" the bacteria with your own ammonia and/or wasteful because if you don't feed the bacteria, they die.
 
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