I'm trying to figure out the best method for shrimp tank water changes.

[KittenFishMom]

@Aiden Carter There are several way to approach this topic. Here are a few examples:

To a parent: I need something for my fish tank siphon that if finely woven and stretchy like nylon stocking. It also has to be cheap and in a color that contrast with my shrimp. I don't want to be seen buying white knee high stockings. What do you think would work instead?

To a parent: I want to rob a bank in the style of a 1950's movie. I don't want the police to be able to trace the stocking purchased for the face mask back to me. Could you buy some for me so you won't have a convicted felon in the family? If I chicken out on robbing the bank, I could really use them for my fish tank siphon.

To a Parent: I need something I feel uncomfortable buying... (take a deep breath) knee high stockings for my fish tank. (They should be so happily relieved that you didn't say birth control, that they should gladly buy them)

Anyway, if you think about it, I'm sure you can come up with a way of presenting the topic that is fun, or funny. Humor often makes things easier.

[KittenFishMom]

@Patrick_G Canned green beans sound so salty and look like all the nutrition has been cooked out of them.  Would steaming some frozen green beans be OK, or must they be cooked until mushy? Are the shrimp getting the nutrition from the green beans, or the decomposers that are living on the green beans?

(When I took An Sci, I learned that the valuable AI bulls were feed sawdust with minerals added because they really lived of the bacteria that broke down the sawdust. The dairy cow diet was very bad for their health)

[The endler guy]

On 1/3/2023 at 3:04 PM, KittenFishMom said:

@Aiden Carter There are several way to approach this topic. Here are a few examples:

To a parent: I need something for my fish tank siphon that if finely woven and stretchy like nylon stocking. It also has to be cheap and in a color that contrast with my shrimp. I don't want to be seen buying white knee high stockings. What do you think would work instead?

To a parent: I want to rob a bank in the style of a 1950's movie. I don't want the police to be able to trace the stocking purchased for the face mask back to me. Could you buy some for me so you won't have a convicted felon in the family? If I chicken out on robbing the bank, I could really use them for my fish tank siphon.

To a Parent: I need something I feel uncomfortable buying... (take a deep breath) knee high stockings for my fish tank. (They should be so happily relieved that you didn't say birth control, that they should gladly buy them)

Anyway, if you think about it, I'm sure you can come up with a way of presenting the topic that is fun, or funny. Humor often makes things easier.

sadly not sure if im going to need such an approach, as my bolivian rams have thinned my main tanks population pretty far down 😬

I was going in knowing that the shrimp would probably get munched (thats why I let them set up a colony almost a year prior) but I still have some in my betta tank 

On 1/3/2023 at 3:31 PM, KittenFishMom said:

@Patrick_G Canned green beans sound so salty and look like all the nutrition has been cooked out of them.  Would steaming some frozen green beans be OK, or must they be cooked until mushy? Are the shrimp getting the nutrition from the green beans, or the decomposers that are living on the green beans?

(When I took An Sci, I learned that the valuable AI bulls were feed sawdust with minerals added because they really lived of the bacteria that broke down the sawdust. The dairy cow diet was very bad for their health)

at the same time cows naturally eat grass and use their 5 stomachs to process the cellulose (reason munching on grass makes you through up, pretty sure wood is pretty high in it) that being said sawdust does not have enough nutrition, even compared to grass, which is saying a lot

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 1/3/2023 at 1:26 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

but you can just ask easily stuff the siphon with sponge.

Sorry if others recommended this, too. Didn’t read the whole thread, but this is exactly what I do. My DIY siphon has a sponge shoved in the end, and then I refill like I always do. 
 

All my tanks get weekly water changes, and almost every tank has shrimp. I have t seen any ill effects. 

[Bev C]

@KittenFishMom  this is how i do my green beans for snails or shrimp  use can green beans with no salt  ( better then the salt ones )  the extra green beans i blend and i put in rapashy food for snacks  ( see video below ) my fish , shrimp and snails love rapashy  i use the Community plus rapashy flavor 

 fresh green beans open them get the bean part out and boil them in hot water 4-5 minutes then take them out of the hot water put the  in cold ice water for 5minutes  the ice water makes firm a bit  they will sink to bottom of tank and they do not fall apart easy  unless snails and shrimp tear it  my snails love fresh green beans  i sometimes prepare a couple day worth of beans   ahead  and they   store well for a couple  days in the fridge 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Bev C

[KittenFishMom]

@Aiden Carter I was trying to figure out if the shrimp were getting nutrition directly from the green beans, or mainly for the bacteria that was feeding on the green beans.  Green beans are harvested while the bean is still immature. I think of green beans as a good food, but not as nutritious as a mature bean. I would think finely ground dried beans would be a better food than canned green beans, but I never studied the digestion of shrimp, so I don't know how it works. As long as the shrimp have it figured out, I'll be happy.

In dairy cattle, in the USA, the AI bulls get their nutrition from the bacteria, who get their nutrition from the sawdust, urea, and supplements. While the cows get their nutrition from the bacteria feeding on the cellulose, as well as getting nutrition directly from they rations. It was probably not the best comparison to use on a fish forum., it was just the first one that popped into my head. 

[TeeJay]

Yes I have never sucked up a shrimp yet that I have seen. They usually will stay away from it when the see what's going on. As far as the water change part I keep a 3 gallon water jug full of dechlorinated water and cc in it. I do the cc since my kh is basically 0 out of the tap. I do a 30% water change weekly. When I'm done with that water change I refill the jug and let it season with the cc in it for the next week's water change. I don't run a heater in my shrimp tank so the water in the jug is always the same as the tank so it works out well.

[Flumpweesel]

I just dig the vac into the substrate to vac. I don't let it suck before it's under the gravel. I only do this every few months so it's not a weekly disruption. I just top off on the Inbetween weeks.

[KittenFishMom]

@Flumpweesel This is a great idea. Unfortunately, I put organic potting soil under the black sand in my tank. Vacuuming the sand and potting soil would be a bigger problem than I am prepared to handle. One of these days, something will distract me, and I am sure I will do it by accident. I am more than willing to wait for that to happen.

[Flumpweesel]

On 1/3/2023 at 11:02 PM, KittenFishMom said:

@Flumpweesel This is a great idea. Unfortunately, I put organic potting soil under the black sand in my tank. Vacuuming the sand and potting soil would be a bigger problem than I am prepared to handle. One of these days, something will distract me, and I am sure I will do it by accident. I am more than willing to wait for that to happen.

In which case I would probably just top off and trust in the planting to deal with the bio waste or mulch that is building up.

We vac to control an environment and between that and filtration we can exceed what the physical capacity can support on its own if you leave your tank to itself  (top off still maybe required) it should find it's population balance between nutrients, waste and space.

DM me if you want me to put that in better words. (I've been out explanations might not be great)

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 1/3/2023 at 7:05 PM, Aiden Carter said:

not Chinese spy ware also more commonly known as ticktock

Ha! I’ll probably be beaten up if I write that in my next school presentation 😂

[Mr Gumby]

I have a little 5 gallon with RCS and some Cory fry that I'm growing out.

The easiest way I've found for water changes is to wedge some airline into the uplift tube on the sponge filter. the water drains to the top of the sponge filter which is roughly a 60% water change.

As the water is being drawn through the sponge filter it virtually impossible to suck up any shrimplets.

Not the fastest way to syphon water but you can walk away and leave it as long as the bucket you use for the waste water is big enough

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 1/3/2023 at 2:06 PM, Aiden Carter said:

Remove duckweed you have peaked my interest

I tried to grow duckweed once but the snails used it as little parachutes to float to the bottom, and that was the end of it. LOL

If you have a lot of duckweed, and you have snails, go to YouTube and look up Duckweed Snello.  It's a recipe for snail food that is literally made out of duckweed, and apparently snails love it.  

On 1/4/2023 at 9:18 AM, Mr Gumby said:

I have a little 5 gallon with RCS and some Cory fry that I'm growing out.

The easiest way I've found for water changes is to wedge some airline into the uplift tube on the sponge filter. the water drains to the top of the sponge filter which is roughly a 60% water change.

As the water is being drawn through the sponge filter it virtually impossible to suck up any shrimplets.

Not the fastest way to syphon water but you can walk away and leave it as long as the bucket you use for the waste water is big enough

Clever! 😍

On 1/3/2023 at 6:02 PM, KittenFishMom said:

@Flumpweesel This is a great idea. Unfortunately, I put organic potting soil under the black sand in my tank. Vacuuming the sand and potting soil would be a bigger problem than I am prepared to handle. One of these days, something will distract me, and I am sure I will do it by accident. I am more than willing to wait for that to happen.

You can kind of swirl the siphon above the sand and it will stir up and pick up the mulm.  You'd still want to siphon into a white bucket so you can inspect the water that was removed for shrimplets.  Unless you have the end of the siphon covered with the pantyhose, cheesecloth, etc.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 1/3/2023 at 4:56 PM, TeeJay said:

As far as the water change part I keep a 3 gallon water jug full of dechlorinated water and cc in it. I do the cc since my kh is basically 0 out of the tap. I do a 30% water change weekly. When I'm done with that water change I refill the jug and let it season with the cc in it for the next week's water change.

What does cc mean in this context?

[KittenFishMom]

@Rube_Goldfish My guess was "crushed coral" because the calcium would have time to leach out into the water.

[KittenFishMom]

On 1/3/2023 at 11:53 AM, Patrick_G said:

A great food, maybe the best, is blanched or canned green beans.

@Patrick_G Ok I have 30 blue neo shrimp in a roughly 10 gallon tank and a can of no-salt green beans.

How many pieces of green beans do you think I should start with?

Do I need to cut them up of shred them or smush them or just drop them in?

@Remi de Groot I bought a shrimp feeding tube with a dish at the bottom that hangs from the top rim of the tank. Is this of any use at all? Or is it made to sell, not buy and use?

[Remi de Groot]

I never owned one of them, but got feeding corners. The idea is the same though. The one you bought is probably even easier, because I'm always having a hard time aiming to get the food in the corner instead of just next to it.

One of the things that happens a lot of time is overfeeding. Shrimps just don't eat that much food that we provide for them because most of the time they find enough food in the tank itself.

By using the feeding dish it's easier to remove the food that's left over after a few hours. Making sure it won't be rotting in the water. Especially in the smaller shrimp tanks this rotting food can have an impact in the water quality pretty fast.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Remi de Groot
My phone is adding unnecessary space in between alinea's and at the end of the post... Edited the post to reove them.

[KittenFishMom]

@Remi de Groot Great! Thanks. I thought I bought something silly because I didn't know much about shrimp. I have 3 peppered corys in the tank, so I don't think much shrimp food will go uneaten. Those corys like to eat frequently. They spawned for 2 days. 

@everyone Thanks for all your help on this. I did a water change tonight with the Salty Shrimp GH/KH+ and no one in the tank complained at all. The cory eggs are still on the wall of the tank.