Shrimp Tank Questions

[Ken]

Wallyworld special. Clean the glass with alcohol. It will take more than one coat to stop shrinking and cracking. It really shouldn't work at all but so far so good.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I use the window tint they have at Lowe’s. One roll lasts for several tanks and easy to get off and on. Also used plastidip works great. 

With neos honestly you don’t need a gh/kh test. Caridina you absolutely do but I’m not convinced unless you’re having trouble with molts that you’ll need it. The key with shrimp like fish is stability - no big swings in nitrate or sudden ammonia spikes. Don’t chase parameters. I like the inert substrate consider darker colors to set them off. I’ve always gone with dark substrates but I think a lighter pool filter sand can work. If you’re worried about kh some crushed coral is great for a constant source of kh a pound can go a long way but it takes time to leach so give it 1-2 months.

[Bunnywinkles]

On 9/19/2021 at 12:05 AM, Tihshho said:

I use the aerosol black plastidip, but others like to use Krylon Fusion.

I should have some black Krylon, will give that a shot, thanks! I use it for miniatures and it works well.

[Del]

On 9/19/2021 at 5:32 AM, Bunnywinkles said:

Do you guys use backgrounds? I really just want a black background, but not sure what to use. AC and Flip didn't sell anything that I saw.

 

I used black ‘chalkboard’ paint. It was advices somewhere on the internet. It needed 2 or 3 coatings, and then it was perfect. If I once decide to want to take it off, it should go really easy with a razorblade. 

[laritheloud]

Everyone else already covered what I was going to say, but I'm going to add I have a Blue Dream Neocaridina Shrimp colony going strong in my 10 gallon tank with male endlers. I've heard it's best to have shrimp colonies without fish, but to be frank, there's still so many shrimp all over the place that it doesn't feel like it's making a measurable difference in behavior or population size. I started with 10 from my LFS, two died early on. I decided to purchase 12 more from AquaBid, absolutely no losses and breeding exploded about a week or two after that addition. There's no way a tank divider will work. I put prefilter sponges on my gentle HOB and still find babies swimming around with the filter media every week. I make sure to rescue then and put them back in the tank before wringing it all out!

I also don't shy away from small weekly water changes and, again, haven't noticed a dent in the population.

My tank has a ton of floating plants, a few rooted plants, and plenty of green hair algae. I don't bother to battle the green hair algae, it's mostly plaguing the floaters and making a huge green clump in the center that isn't all that terrible to look at. Besides, all the babies like to hang out in the algae, super good for hiding when there's endlers around.

It's really fun and rewarding to see your shrimp colony explode, so just make sure the tank is good and seasoned and enjoy.

[Del]

On 9/19/2021 at 3:50 PM, laritheloud said:

I've heard it's best to have shrimp colonies without fish, but to be frank, there's still so many shrimp all over the place that it doesn't feel like it's making a measurable difference in behavior or population size.

Yes I can confirm this. I started my colony 3 years ago, always with fish (30 gallon Heavily planted tank).  I started with small fish (chinese danio gold) and mooved up to bigger fish. Now they in there with an African dwarf frog, 2 chocolate gouramis (used to be 6), 3 blue dwarf gouramis, 2 peacock gudgeons and a bunch of endlers. Offcourse a lot of the baby’s get eaten by the gourami (You can see them hunting in the plants), but still enough make it to keep the colony going. Before the dwarf gourami’s, I could even sell 50 or so every 2 months. A year ago I even stopped target feeding my dwarf frog, so my best guess is he is surviving on baby shrimps he accidentally puts in his mouth 😅

My tank: 

Edited September 19, 2021 by Del

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

On the topic of fish & shrimp - The most successful shrimp and fish tank I have right now is my blue dreams, 3 platinum rice fish babies and my blue Hawaiian Moscow guppies. There is a ton of cover, guppy grass, hornwort, moss, hard scape and they all get on beautifully. Is my shrimp yield as high as it could be? Nope. Is it enjoyable to see everyone thriving? Yes. Some of the weaker shrimps get picked off. Hardcore shrimp people advocate for shrimp only setups. If you’re trying to breed for profits then fish + shrimp is not the way to go. If you’re looking to breed, cull and improve your line then it’s not the way I’d go. If you’re looking at it from a hobbyist perspective it is doable and enjoyable.