20g Least Shrimptopia

[Widgets]

As I mentioned in my Community Therapy journal, I was talking to a friend about his RCS. I stated that it would be neat if I could have some shrimp in my community tank. First version of this community tank was all wild caught and the Ghost Shrimp did not last long with my murderous gang of Mosquito Fish. He thought that they would be fine and gave me one to test the waters.

I carefully did the drip accumulation, then netted the shrimp and placed him directly into the plants in the front corner of the tank. You can see the shrimp in the lower left.

The shrimp stayed in that spot for a few hours, then it was gone. I searched and searched it was nowhere to be found. I kept looking for the shrimp every time I walked past the tank. Nothing. Just as I had feared, the shrimp did not survive.

Then on the third day, there it was crawling around on the substrate in the open. It did survive, and now felt fairly safe in the tank. I still can go for a few days at a time without seeing it, but then it is there. I have only seen a Zebra Danio bother the shrimp once, and that was to steal a bit of food that the shrimp had scavenged off the bottom during the morning feeding.

That shrimp has been so much fun to watch. I want more, but I am still unsure of trying to establish a shrimp colony in the community tank. I fear that too many of the baby shrimp would not survive without a good carpet for protection. My attempts at a carpet have been slow in my deep tank.

I decided that it would be fun to set up a shrimp tank, then later I move the culls to the community tank. I decided on a 20 long. Of course I used an airstone driven UGF and the last of my stash of gravel from my original 55g. I also had a large and nano sponge filter that I had threw in the community tank when I decided to get a shrimp tank. Then I found a wonderful piece of driftwood that I just had to get. I also received my order of Java Moss and Micro Sword from ACO.

27 Feb

3 March

I received my order of Dwarf Hairgrass and Dwarf Chain Sword from ACO. No photo of the new planting.

08 Mar

Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates between 10 and 20. Could it be cycled already?  I'm feeling lucky, so I head off to the LFS. I wasn't so lucky. They didn't have any shrimp, so I picked up two Zebra Danios to have something in the tank. I wanted more for the community tank, so I will transfer them once I get the shrimp. 

09 Mar

I catch 4 female and 1 male Least Killifish from the canal in my backyard. I think they will be small enough to leave the baby shrimp alone, and I have have never been successful keeping them with other fish. I transferred the sponge filters from the shrimp tank to a new bare 10g QT.

10 Mar

The LFS got some RCS from a local breeder, so I picked up 10. They gave me 12, plus a stowaway green Neocaridina Shrimp and a guppy fry.

The Zebra Danios and the green shrimp go into the Community Therapy tank. The red shrimp and the guppy fry into the shrimp tank. I'll figure out what to do with the guppy later.

11 Mar

I wake up to see fry swimming around in the tank. Where did they come from?

23 Mar

The shrimp are doing fine. The Least Killifish are done with the quarantine meds and could go into the shrimp tank, but I need to figure out what to do with the Mystery fry first.

My guess is that the Zebra Danio spawned in the shrimp tank in the 2 days they were there. It is possible that I went from a new tank to supporting Zebra Danio spawning in 10 days? There is all kinds of life going on in this tank, as you can see in the videos below. I think the plants brought various microorganisms with them to seed the tank.

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Widgets
Stupid typos

[Guppysnail]

How fun. When I moved my panda Cory to their own tank they spawned day 1. Changing water conditions alert many fish to spawn as a seasonal change thing. A lot of fish spawn when put in QT as well. Or maybe you looked at them funny and they spawned. Fish love to spawn almost as much as they love to eat. It’s a fish thing 🤣. Looking forward to following your shrimp colony adventure. 

[Widgets]

On 3/24/2022 at 7:23 AM, Guppysnail said:

A lot of fish spawn when put in QT as well. Or maybe you looked at them funny and they spawned. Fish love to spawn almost as much as they love to It’s a fish thing.

I didn't mention it, but the Least Killifish that I caught for the shrimp tank, the "Least" part of "Least Shrimptopia", dropped a few fry in QT. They are live bearers, so not a spawn, but more fry nonetheless.

[Widgets]

I did my weekend WC yesterday. I see the cast off shell from a molt this morning. It is the first one that I have seen out in the open. I hope this is a sign that might see shrimplets in the near future. 

[Widgets]

I saw the berried female out and about this morning. 

[Widgets]

A quick picture of Least Shrimptopia this morning.

The Least Killifish and their fry (12 at last count) are in the holding tank hanging on the front.

The Zebra Danio fry are getting bigger and are now recognizable as Zebra Danio, but there are still tiny fry in the tank. I don't think the Zebra Danio are still hatching out a month later, so I have more mystery fry. See my Mystery Fry Stowaway thread for more infos.