NEED HELP TO SET UP SHRIMP TANK

[PopPopsfish]

HI ALL,

I would like to set up a shrimp tank to raise freshwater shrimp, I would like to be able to house 100-200 shrimp at a time.I have access to tanks from 10 gal. to 55gal .

What type of shrimp are best for someone with little knowldge?

I want to also raise ghost for my Angel tanks, I have a lot of places for them to hide but my fish are pretty good hunters.

I love the cherries, yellows etc. wouldnt want to use them a food.

Can anyone reccomend a tank size, filter ,lighting, substrate for a beginer. Price is not an object. I want one tank for show and one to breed ghost.

Please Teach Me,

Old Head/Pa.

 

[PopPopsfish]

please excuse my spelling and grammar ( sorry I was in a rush)

 

[msjinkzd]

20L's are a nice size for shrimp. I would use a sponge filter, or cover your filter intake wiht a sponge. I keep my shrimp tanks at about 74. Cherries are by the far the easiest to get to breed. All they need is good water quality and some food for the most part. For the neocaridina species, 10 shrimp/gal is a good rule of thumb. Therefore in a 20L you could easily house what you are looking to house. Also, they breed so readily that if you did want to use them as the occasional feeder, it would not put a dent in your population. Cherry, yellow, snowball, blue pearl can all interbreed. You can house cherries with caridina species (crystals, tigers, amanos, bees, etc). They do like a planted tank as the will graze on the microorganisms.

As far as lighting, etc, that depends on what else you decide to do with it. I just use shop lights to get my wpg at about 2 for most of my invert tanks. I can have a broad range of low light plants in the tanks that way. Filtration, depends on the size tank. For 10-20g tanks I would just use a sponge filter.
I feed my shrimp a varied diet of sinking wafers, algae wafers, the occasional blanched veggie, some homemade foods, and occasionally flake. The are omnivorous and opportunistic.

They can be housed with peaceful small fish (like cories, small tetras, and snails). They are really a joy to have. Glad you are interested in keeping them!

 

[PopPopsfish]

Thank you MSJINKZD,

I will set up a tank on Sat. it will take 2-3 days to cycle, then I will PM you with a shrimp and plant order.

Old Head/Pa.

 

[ct-death]

Good info jinkz - Here is another great resource: http://www.petshrimp.com/

 

[thebullit]

would like to add, but jinkz has covered every thing you need to know.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

prob take longer to cycle. i would just go with a sponge filter leave it in another tank for a week or two then move it over. keep up the water changes and feeding them with plants in the tank it wont be to bad.

 

[Fishy_Fun]

have fun with the shrimp tank

 

[davcheng]

stick a few ghost shrimp in the tank and if they don't die after a few days you're good to go to put in cherry shrimp. 10-20 shrimp to start out with won't dirty the tank up enough to kill them from bad water if you don't over feed.

 

[Yadokari]

Not sure how you'll manage to cycle that tank within 2-3 days, even with biospira. Make sure to check your water before adding shrimp! Cherries are pretty darn hardy for a shrimp (more so than ghosties in my experience). However, that should not be an excuse to just dump them into a poisonous tank because some will surely die off. I would suggest getting the same amount as the poster above stated, 10-20. Mmm... maybe 20 if you're impatient like me and don't feel like waiting for them to breed for more cherries, then 20 will be perfect!