Sea shell in aquarium

[Ghostshrimp55]

Hello again, everyone. I'm in the process of cycling my tank...finally got the ammonia up to 5ppm. My KH is 4 degrees, my GH is 5 degrees, my pH is ~7.5. I'm just wondering, what can I expect to see if I add a sea shell or two to my tank. I'm asking because I plan on putting ghost shrimp and snails in there and they need a calcium source to stay happy and reproduce...right?

Thanks again!

Yeah, I know ghost shrimp most likely won't be able to successfully reproduce...but the snails might.

 

[Blinky]

Rather than adding a shell to the tank (your pH isn't low enough to dissolve it, thereby making it a useful source of Ca for the inhabitants AFAIK), you could feed your shrimp and snails a food designed for crabs/shrimp. I use Hikari 'Crab Cuisine', which is designed to give shrimp and crabs the iodide and calcium they require to moult and grow properly. Some people also keep a cuttle bone (you'll find them in the bird department at pet stores) in their tank for the critters to snack on - I'm not sure if this works well or not, never tried it myself.

 

[wataugachicken]

putting in cuttlebone would be the same as adding a seashell.

 

[telecubby]

shrimps eat plain old worms, even the ghost shrimps get worms b4 aquatic from will.& eat very large pieces by comparison to body size

 

[telecubby]

we have birds so im considerring useing a small piece of cuttle bone in 1 of the compartments in
my refugium

 

[telecubby]

so your saying shrimp will eat cuttle bone? I heard of that for puffers teeth but also heard they will nibble on lava rock to taim their teeth