I've been (obsessively) researching how to set up a 5-gallon cherry shrimp tank and would appreciate input on what I've come up with after endless YouTube videos, articles, AI chats, and weeks of reading forums (including this one). I have successfully kept tiger barbs and beta fish before, but this will be my first planted tank. To keep it simple, I plan on using a crushed lava rock substrate and epiphyte plants paired with liquid fertilizer.

You'll see my plan has three stages: a dry start to propagate a phoenix moss carpet, a flood stage to season the aquarium, and then a populate and maintain stage. I'm patient and don't mind the three- to five-month period needed for the first two. Side bonus, I don't have to buy everything at once.

I have four questions to start with:

1. I am considering making a tree from spiderwood and Anubias Mini Coin or Pangolino and screening it from the light with red root floaters. Am I asking for trouble?

2. In one of his videos, Cory suggests adding a calcium block to the tank. Will this affect the water parameters?

3. In a different video, Cory suggests adding a snail to a seasoning tank two weeks after flooding. Is this too soon? It's early based on other things I've read.

4. Do I need a lid for the tank?

The build plan is below. Please share your wisdom :-)

Thanks!

Max

5-Gallon Nano Shrimp Tank Build List

PHASE 1: THE DRY START (6 WEEKS)

Goal: Anchor moss naturally and establish aesthetics.

Hardware & Layout

• Tank: Up Aqua Nano - 5.31 Gallon 14.2″ x 8.7″ x 10.2″ and opaque background

• Lighting: Twinstar B-Line LED 30B v2 with Twinstar Manual Inline Dimmer/Timer

• Substrate: 5 lb Crushed Black Lava Rock

• Filtration: Aquarium Co-Op Nano Sponge Filter (Place for layout and then remove until phase 2; position right rear corner, slightly away from walls)
  

Hardscape:

• "Hero" Dragonstone Rock (Position Left-Center).

• Tree-shaped Spider Wood on a weighted base. May need to glue several pieces together to create the shape. (Place for layout and then remove until phase 2; position right-center)

• Smaller accent rocks
  

Chemicals & Nutrients

• Adhesive: Gorilla Super Glue Gel (Green Cap) for hardscape stability

• Mist Bottle: Filled with Distilled Water (to prevent mineral crusting).

• Water: Distilled
  

Flora

• Phoenix Moss - Finely chop into a paste with distilled water and apply to the lava rock substrate.
  

Phase 1 Protocol 

• Cover with plastic wrap

• Light: 10–12 hours daily at 30–40% intensity via dimmer.

• Maintenance: Daily 5-minute ventilation (lid off) and light misting with distilled water to maintain high humidity without pooling.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PHASE 2: SEASONING & CYCLING (4–6 WEEKS)

Goal: Establish a robust biofilter and biofilm.

Hardware & Maintenance Tools

• Air Pump: Eheim Air 100 (Use dial to reduce flow; comes with hose and check valve).

• Floater Management: Airline tubing corral anchored with clear suction cups (Positioned over the anubias tree)

• Tools: Aquascaping tweezers, scissors, turkey baster, and siphon

Chemicals and Nutrients

• Fertilizer: Aquarium Co-op Liquid Fertilizer (One drop every other day)

• Testing: NT Labs Aquarium Lab Multi-Test Kit (pH, GH, KH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate)

• Cycle Starter: Fritz Zyme7 (Nitrifying Bacteria)

• Ammonia: Brightwell MicroBacter QuikCycl Ammonia Nutrient (Dose to one PPM)

• Water Conditioner: Aquarium Co-Op Water Conditioner

Livestock:

• Horned Nerite Snails (1–2)- Add when plants and algae start to grow (~2 weeks)

Flora:

• Philippine Java Fern Mini (Attach to rocks and place along the back wall, leaving a 1” to 2” gap before the sponge filter).

• Anubias Mini Coin/Pangolino: attach to spider wood to make a tree. (Place under red root floaters for shade).

• Bucephalandra (Dark Purple): (Shade with hero rock).

• Red Root Floaters: (Inside surface corral)

Phase 2 Protocol:

• See Tank Seasoning Schedule below

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PHASE 3: POPULATE & MAINTAIN

Goal: Long-term colony health and stability.

Livestock

• Shrimp: 10–20 Red Cherry Shrimp (Fire or Red Fire grade best)

Food and supplies: 

• Indian Almond Leaves (for tannins and grazing surface)

• Maple leaves

• Hikari Shrimp Cuisine

• Calcium block (needed? Will it affect the water?)

• GlasGarten Bacter AE (to promote biofilm for shrimplets; use sparingly)

• First Aid: Aquarium salt (for therapeutic dips only)

—-----------------------------------------------------------------

Tank Seasoning Schedule (60 Days)

The Hands-Off Phase Days 1–30

• Do zero water changes. Your nitrifying bacteria are actively multiplying and need the ammonia and nitrites in the water to feed on. Removing water now removes their fuel and prolongs the cycle.

• Only top off evaporated water with clean, dechlorinated water.

• Use the cycle starter per the package directions.

• Begin a 1-drop fertilizer routine every other day.

• Test your water daily. Only add more ammonia (bringing it back to 1 ppm) when your test kit shows that both ammonia and nitrite have dropped to zero. Exception: If nitrites spike completely off the charts (5+ ppm), do a 25% water change to prevent the cycle from stalling.

The Maturation Phase Days 31–59

By week five, your biological filter should easily process 1 ppm of ammonia into nitrate within 24 hours. Because your epiphytes are slow eaters, those nitrates will begin to stockpile in the water column.

• Frequency: Once a week

• Amount: 20% (1 gallon)

Why: Exporting 1 gallon of water a week prevents nitrates from climbing high enough to trigger hair algae, while leaving the microscopic biofilm maturing on your lava rock completely undisturbed. Continue ghost-feeding your bacteria with a small dose of ammonia every few days.

The Pre-Stocking Reset Day 60

Perform a large 50% water change (2.5 gallons). This is your final reset to flush out any lingering nitrates and bring the water parameters in line with your tap water's natural baseline. Stop dosing ammonia entirely. The tank is now fully seasoned, chemically stable, and ready for livestock.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Water Protocols:

• 60-Second Flush: Always run tap water for 60 seconds before collecting to clear copper from older pipes.

• Evaporation: Top off only with Distilled Water to prevent TDS creep and molting issues.

I ordered a dozen (10+2) Sakura red shrimp to start things off. I have a 5.5 gallon with a plain Flourite substrate and some lava rock, Duck Weed and Java Moss. All my small tanks have Hyggar powered sponge filters, which I am loving. They are inexpensive, dead-silent and low maintenance. I may add some of my not-so-dwarf Sagittaria. This is actually my only non-Walstad tank. It presently has a lonely glass shrimp collected from the Everglades, and has been up and running for a couple of months, fully cycled with some algae growing on the bottom and sides. The tank is on a rack, sharing a shelf with a couple other 5.5 tanks, part of my growing collection. Should be another good learning experience.

I'm a moderatly experienced fishkeeper. I decided to take on the challenge of caridina shrimpt to see how it goes.

I set up a 5 gallon planted tank with Controsoil, Lava rock, water whisteria, pealweed, some little crypts, moss (Christmas, Java?), salvia floaters, and a nice blob of subwassertang. Distilled water remineralized with Salty Shrimp Bee Shimp GH+

I let it perk for about 5 weeks, and seeded it with a bit of Bacter AE. I replaced some of the wisteria with the pearlweed about a week before the shrimp arrived.

18 days ago I got some very attracive OE Royal Blue Tieger shirmp from Buce plant and they arrived very frisky. I Drip acclimated for 3. hours, let them depend on the micro fauna for a few days, put in a miniscule amout of Shrimp Dinner, suctioned it out after a few. hours, and have done sparing feedings of Bacter AE every few days, not leaving uneaten food in. You can see the foods I have on hand.

Water parameters have been rock solid for weeks.

Todays readings:

Temp: 71.1F

pH: 6.6

TDS 117

Ammonina, nitrites and nitrates: 0

GH: 5

KH:

I see no more than two or three a day, mostly grazing in the floaters. Should I be worried that I'm not seeing more yet?

(The larger tank at the end, a Hillstream WCMMs, amanos, and newly added cherry shrimp (my tank raised), who have been active and visiible since day one)

Last photo is my handy dandy Le Creusat acclimation vessel

https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/55747-16-gallon-reboot/

I'm looking for some advice for my 6.6Gal freshwater tank which I added my first cherry shrimp to last Thursday (5/7).

For reference, this tank had a dark start which concluded around 4/16; plants were added on 4/22/2026, including a bunch of java moss, a java fern, sword plant, some cryps, anubius, and some dwarf sagi. I confirmed my tank could handle at least 2ppm of ammonia before adding the cherries--the tank measured at 0ppm ammonia and nitrite 24 hours after adding the ammonia supplement.

I added 10x cherries and a mystery snail to produce ammonia on 5/7.

Ammonia and Nitrites have been fine (nitrite consistently at 0ppm, ammonia never higher than 0.25ppm on a bad day) since I've added the cherries but nitrates have been on the higher end--closer to 30-40ppm. They spiked to 80ppm on 5/3, so I did a water change of 1.25gal to reduce them back to 30-40ppm. pH has been stable around 7.4 to 7.6; I have crushed coral in the filter which has helped keep the acidity stable. 6.5 dKH and 8.4 dGH for my tapwater (which is what I use, de-chlorinated, for the tank). Things are at a stable 72.5f room temp.

I moved the filter the same day to another side of the tank to improve water flow--also picked up an airstone the same day due to the shrimp behavior: most of them have been hanging out at the java moss attached to the hardscape on the higher end of the tank. They've only really grazed around the substrate a little bit--usually I have maybe 3 or so grazers and the rest hang out near or at the top. They did come down after the last water change.

My question is is this normal new-tank behavior or should I be more aggressive with my water changes to keep nitrates low? I was planning to get some RRF or frogbit to mitigate the nitrates. I've attached my eventual plan for the tank layout once I get some floating plants.

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated! I'm hesitant to do too many water changes--I know shrimp prefer stable parameters.

TIA!

I have this colony for 1,5 years and until now the red whas continuing over the entire body, with the saddle being a different shade of red. This is an old one so the colour is less vibrant, but i have others with the same issue that otherwise look fine.

Should i be worried?

I drip acclimated them to the new tank over several hours. Since adding them, I have had them die off 1 or 2 every few days since. I am down to less than half the original number.

I have them in a sand substrate, planted tank with root tabs - dwarf sag, pogostemon octopus, java fern, subwassetang, water lettuce. There is cholla wood, catappa leaves, seriu stone and mopani wood hardscape. Other inhabitants are bladder snails and a rabbit snail.

My parameters are: 75deg, 7.6ph, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 10ppm nitrates, 3KH, 12GH. I use Chicago tap water and dechlorinator. I know my GH is high, but I am trying not to "chase" parameters. I have topped the water up twice from evaporation, but have not done a water change to date.

I feed Fluval Shrimp bites every other day, a small portion of a hikari algae wafer one day, and powdered Magic Fish Feed + a rotation of blanched carrot, spinach, green bean or zucchini one day per week.

I have been trying to allow this colony time to balance and settle in without trying to overcorrect the losses and kill everyone. However, this tank sits near my kitchen table and my partner is dismayed with the tiny deaths. Today my partner noticed and took upon himself to research this white fuzz on a few shrimp. (Images below) I'm not sure if this is vorticella or the parasitic gill worms? It seems to be on the rostrum or filter hands of some of the remaining shrimp.

I keep a community tank thriving, but the transition to shrimp has been a little disheartening. I thought I had done enough research to get started but now it's time to ask for help.

General advice on how to get my colony thriving (hopefully without RO) and an ID on the strange fluff would be helpful.

I’ve seen red, orange, red and white, greenish, black and of course clear and natural coloration.

There used to be a couple yellow ones but I haven’t seen them in a while. There may have been blue but I haven’t seen any.

I’m guessing most are neos.

They live in my pea puffer tank and help keep the ammonia from getting out of hand.

My first three batches of shrimps died due to my rookie mistake (tank not seasoned, not paying attention to KH).

I thought I figured it out, and I have a stable tank, GH/KH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate are perfect. I added three shrimps on Saturday. Store TDS was 390, quite high. I drip acclimated for three hours. My tank TDS has been stable between 230-250.

The shrimps were quite happy, and for the last few days, I saw only two hanging out among the plants. I was hoping one is molting and hiding.

I found one dead shrimp this afternoon, and one is nearby. I am afraid I am down to one.

I have two Amano shrimps that are happy, a horned nerite snail, that is active. None show any sign of stress.

What did I do wrong now?

Also, dish feeding. What do you use to siphon out uneaten food, and how long do you leave it for before you do?

Thanks!

We have a 17 gallon, low tech planted tank that is about 3 years old. In that time we’ve been pretty successful with fish, but complete failures with crustaceans and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. Hoping that some of the brilliance from this community can help us out.

In the past five months we’ve lost four amanos (lasted about 3-5 months but never seemed to thrive), 10 blue jelly neocaradina (only lasted about 1-4 weeks), and most recently, 4 Pom Pom crabs (lasted 3-6 weeks). It’s been really depressing and rough on the kids; my instinct is to keep it crustacean free but we all love having them in the tank and I’d love to learn from this.

Current tank residents are chile rasboras, Pygmy corys, pseudomagil gertrudae, CPDs, green neons, a reticulated hillstream loach, an otto, a bristlenose plecco, and some blueberry and nerite snails.

Parameters are: pH 7.6, GH 120, KH 80, NO3 25-50, PO4 .50, NH4 0, NO2 0.

If there are other details that would be helpful I’m happy to provide them. Thanks to everyone for their help!

I have a 5 gallon tank, and I have two amano shrimps, one horned nerite snail, and I am planning to have neocaridina shrimps soon. I am hoping to add one species of fish.

I am getting blue neocaridina shrimps soon, later I am thinking to get a group of chili rasboras to give my tank a little bit of contrast. After reading about rasboras, I learned that they prefer softer water and more acidic water than shrimps and snail.

Will that work? or I should get different fish?

I'm getting hair algae: mostly on the Java Moss, but also on the Crypt Spiralis I have in the tank. It's going to be a Neocardinia tank. Tank was started 4/10/26. Hygger LEDs are running. Lights have been on 8 hours / day. Hair algae has only come on for the last few weeks. I turned the lights down to 6 hours starting today. I do weekly water changes.

On 5/11, I added Salvinia Minima to help lighten the load - no help yet, really. I've had 1 Nerite Snail in the tank since the beginning. Parameters are consistently:

0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 10-25 Nitrates. Ph 6.8-7.6. Kh 80 Gh 150.

Advice on how to get rid of this?