shrimp tank Questions about shrimp and tanks

[Just a Pygmy Corydora]

I have a one gallon tank, so I thought, perfect for shrimp. What would I need for a 1 gallon shrimp tank? It is more like a large jar, but I have a hole, either for feeding or something else. Do I need a heater? A filter? What else? How often do I have to change the water? What type of shrimp and how many? Any plants? What about substrate? What type of food?

Also, I am a teen, so my parents said I have the MTS, so my budget is about 30-50 dollars. It would be very helpful to send links to the products of filters, heaters, or substrate on amazon U.S so I can take a look!

Thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions!

Edited May 6, 2021 by Catfish_Lover_Jane

[FrozenFins]

A teenager with MTS, sounds relatable🤣

Cherry shrimp don't need a heater (unless your house is like 60F room temp, but I doubt it is) Cory has mentioned in past live  streams that he has seen cherry shrimp breed under a thin layer of ice.

Filter is techinically a MUST, but it depends on your setup. Personally with the limited space you have with a 1 gallon, I would heavily plant it instead of doing a filter. Plants I would recomend are Hornwort, Moss, Amazon Frogbit. All these plants will grow rapidly and eat nutrients in the water colum. All of these plants you could probably get from a fellow aquarist, look on craigslist, your local fish club auctions, etc. You should get them for a few bucks each.

Food like the Shrimp Cusine or the Shrimp King pellets are all very good for shrimp, would reccemond. (couldnt find any shrimp king pellets in stock at a resonable price on amazon. And couldnt find any on aquariumcoop.com) I would also reccemend to get some Repsashy as a nice snack for the shrimp, you can feed this to your pygmy corys as well. Its a little expensive so maybe don't get it right away but defentley think about it.

For the amount of shrimp I would do maybe two or three of the SAME GENDER of shrimp. So either all males or all females. Females seem to be the more attracted ones, and are bigger with more color usually.

For substrate it wont really matter and isn't a MUST as. all of the plants I suggested will do better floating. You would probably be better off getting some substrate at your LFS, or from a local aquarist (once again would be cheaper, and would have some of the bacteria that you want to start off your nitrogen cycle)

The General Rule of Thumb is once a week waterchanges, it varys with each tank. I've gone three weeks without needing a waterchange before. You only need to do a waterchange when you test for excess amonia or nitrites. Eventually you may never need to waterchange with the plants that you have. @Streetwise doesn't do waterchanges on some of his tanks because of the way his tanks are setup. To learn more about how he sets up his tanks for 0 waterchanges click here. 

 

Edited May 6, 2021 by James Black

[Sun.singh1991]

Sponge filter would be ideal for a shrimp tank. With some moss balls and soil. Shrimp will eat almost any kind of food so just get what you can afford. I would start off with cherry shrimp as they’re super hardy and don’t require as much as crystal shrimp. 

Edited May 6, 2021 by Sun.singh1991

[Streetwise]

I love tiny tanks, and I consider many of my systems as wet houseplants.

The smaller the tank, the longer I wait for it to season.

[tonyjuliano]

Small sponge filter (or none if planted heavily enough).  No heater required, but make sure water hardness is on the high side.

if you plant heavily enough, and make sure lighting is good, you won’t even have to feed often.  Just throw a betta in there, and they will live off its scraps.

[Eric R]

 

10 hours ago, tonyjuliano said:

Small sponge filter (or none if planted heavily enough).  No heater required, but make sure water hardness is on the high side.

if you plant heavily enough, and make sure lighting is good, you won’t even have to feed often.  Just throw a betta in there, and they will live off its scraps.

@tonyjuliano I think the general consensus on this site is that bettas don't belong in such small containers. Aquarium coop recommends at least 5 gallons for a betta, though they can be kept in a properly setup 3 or 4 gallon tank. 1 gallon is too small. Bettas also should have heaters, unless kept in a heated fish room (or really hot climate without AC). I think that @Catfish_Lover_Janeis making a responsible decision considering shrimp instead of fish for a tank this size, and asking advice about how to properly setup such a tank. 

 https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/betta-fish-care-guide

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/betta-tank-setup

Edited May 6, 2021 by ererer

[tonyjuliano]

10 minutes ago, ererer said:

I think that @Catfish_Lover_Janeis making a responsible decision considering shrimp instead of fish for a tank this size, and asking advice about how to properly setup such a tank. 

Agreed, but...

Giving a Betta a home in a 1 gallon aquarium, and caring for it properly is a pretty nice alternative to a short life lived in a cup of water at Petco.

and...

Proper lighting in a vessel that size will surely maintain a temperature of at least 75 degrees (unless you don’t like to heat your home).

[Eric R]

.

Edited May 6, 2021 by ererer

[tonyjuliano]

Just now, ererer said:

I would suggest that you not make assumptions before making recommendations to people,

I made no assumptions.

I'd suggest you be more tolerant of others whose opinions you don't share.  If you don't agree, that's your prerogative (same goes for anyone), but don't try to lecture me about what kind of "advice" I should be giving out, or to whom, especially when you are not the one asking the question.

"fish police"...  sheesh.

[Arcite]

19 hours ago, Catfish_Lover_Jane said:

I have a one gallon tank, so I thought, perfect for shrimp. What would I need for a 1 gallon shrimp tank? It is more like a large jar, but I have a hole, either for feeding or something else. Do I need a heater? A filter? What else? How often do I have to change the water? What type of shrimp and how many? Any plants? What about substrate? What type of food?

Also, I am a teen, so my parents said I have the MTS, so my budget is about 30-50 dollars. It would be very helpful to send links to the products of filters, heaters, or substrate on amazon U.S so I can take a look!

Thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions!

If all you're doing is shrimp, you shouldn't need a heater unless your house is cooler than 68ish degrees Fahrenheit. The following comes to $50.72 with shipping included. If you can spend a little more, I also recommend the shrimp cave. Just make sure the tank has enough light since an aquarium light and substrate are outside your budget.

• Sponge filter
• Air stone
• Airline Tubing
• Nano Air Pump
• Check Valve
• Java Moss
• Food

 

 

[Just a Pygmy Corydora]

Can you also post some substrate and aquarium light and some plants for me? My budget increased to $70

[Patrick_G]

Filter: I normally say go for an Aquarium coop filter but this one will fit better in your little setup. I have one, it’s about 1/2 the size of the Aquarium Coop nano. 

Aquatop Aquatic Supplies Classic Aqua Flow Sponge Aquarium Filter Up To 10 Gal CAF-10 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HYEO8H6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_S7P49YTKRZ02CRVSEJCH
 

 

[FriendlyLoach]

Hey, I am young too! 🙂 It depends on what shrimp u are keeping. I know for sure cherry shrimp are able to be in freezing temperatures. I would recommend cherry shrimp. They are very hardy and cool. Any sort of good shrimp food is good, and I would say u should add a 1/4 tums to the tank because it contains calcium... if your water has none already. Ok, my main recommendation is to find a bigger tank, maybe on offerup or craigslist. If you have never keeped shrimp it would be good to start out 5 gallons but preferably  10 gallons, because even cherry shrimp are very sensitive to changes in the water. For plants I would recommend some easy plants to keep things simple like java fern, java moss, and anubias. With those plants u can just put a simple led desk lamp over them and they will grow.  

[Eric R]

Anubias nana petite look great in small containers, if you can find a small stone to glue them to. Pygmy chain sword is another easy plant that will give your container some height. I'll second and third both java fern (which also should be secured to something instead of planted in the substrate) and java moss. 

[Patrick_G]

$70! Oh, that’s a good budget for a little tank. 
 

Take a look at these combo packages. With the first one you’ll have money left for some plants and the shrimp. I like guppy grass, shrimp love guppy grass and it grows fast! It’s cheap too. I’d go for some of that. 

Tetra LED Cube Shaped 3 Gallon Aquarium with Pedestal Base https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008CA7W7E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_A2RCJKJKJ6THH7M9VES4
 

Marineland Portrait Glass LED aquarium Kit, 5 Gallons, Hidden Filtration https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O8SZTKQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_QBEYVN6HM4G0ZF7PHK1Z

 

Edited May 6, 2021 by Patrick_G

[Just a Pygmy Corydora]

What about plants?

[Anita]

FWIW, I feel as though a sponge filter, no matter how small, takes up a lot of space in a 1 gal tank. On the other hand, if the tank opening is less than 30% the surface area of the water, I would be concerned about gas exchange. I.e., Getting CO₂ out, and getting O₂ in. I guess if it were me, I would opt for lots of plants, but no sponge filter. I like @James Black recommendation of hornwort and java moss because they prefer cooler (subtropical) temperatures, so they would do well in an unheated tank. I do not think I would go for floating plants (frogbit) that cover the surface, because they could interfere with gas exchange. 

Below is a quart jar with Hyalella scuds, bladder snails, seed shrimp, copepods, assorted zooplankton, anacharis, and 3 Neocaridina shrimp. No filter, no airstone, no water changes. I pulled the Neos as culls when they were a few mm long. As you can see, they are thriving and growing in their picotank. 

Edited May 7, 2021 by Anita