3 gallon shrimp tank

[Odd Duck]

A while back I bought a used 3 gallon all in one tank with the express intention of putting it on the bathroom counter to use as a night light.  I planned to put only shrimp in it with a few plants.  I didn’t take as many pics as I should have.  I’ve been meaning to post some pics and realize it’s come a long ways since I set it up, but my shrimp aren’t doing as well as I’d hoped.  The red ramshorns are doing better than I hoped since I let them get a bit too mature before I plucked out the big ones.  Now I have too many small ones.  😆 

I have a couple Anubias nana ‘Petite’ in here on rocks, plus a couple quite small Mopani wood pieces (each a little bigger than half the size of my palm) with needle leaf Java ferns.  I had very a small ball of susswassertang (maybe goofball size) in here that I moved around a bit then decided on lower right to cover the wood base.

I just recently pulled out the bulk of the susswassertang and sold it at my LFS, it was about 2 cups worth.  Apparently I failed to get any pics of it before I pulled it out.  🤦🏻‍♀️  There’s a smidgen left of the susswassertang but it was growing too fast for this tiny tank.  If the smidge grows back, I’ll just harvest as needed.

I’m actually thinking about removing one of the Java fern covered pieces since it’s going gangbusters and getting a bit out of control now.  Here’s pics at startup on March 8, pics from March 27 after I settled the Suss on the right front corner, and pics from this last Sunday, the 4th, around 1:00 am (why was I up at that hour when I had to get up at 5:00 am and why did I take a pic of the tank at that hour?).

It wasn’t until the other day when I looked back and compared pics that I realized just how fast the Java fern had grown.  I knew it was happy and after the Suss was pulled out I started to realize how full the needle leaf was looking.  The Suss was overgrown fast but I didn’t realize how fast the Java had grown.  I’m going to have to tame it a bit because I want to see the contrast with the Anubias leaf shape.  I’ve been thinking I might need to put some Anubias nana ‘Petite Golden’ in here for more color contrast.  And I need to add more bloody marys because I think the only female I got has passed away.  I haven’t seen her in a bit and I won’t get any more if there’s no girls!

 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Odd Duck
Typo

[Guppysnail]

That is adorable.  I love the way needle leaf Java looks in your tank. 

[DaveO]

I love your little tank. Needle Leaf is my favorite Java fern. I'll  buy all you don't want.

Also, I don't want to know why you were in there taking pictures at that ungodly hour.

[Odd Duck]

On 6/7/2023 at 7:57 AM, DaveO said:

I love your little tank. Needle Leaf is my favorite Java fern. I'll  buy all you don't want.

Also, I don't want to know why you were in there taking pictures at that ungodly hour.

Thank you, I’m really liking it , too.

I work very long shifts, and Sunday shifts are particularly intense and often run over.  When I work a Sunday shift I’m scheduled for 12 hours but last Sunday turned into 17.25 hours.  They’re not usually that bad, but it’s rare to leave on time on a Sunday.  When I work swings, it’s usually noon to 10 pm, but often runs 1-2 hours over so getting home at midnight is a very common, normal thing for me.  The hardest thing is convincing my brain to fall asleep early before my Sunday shifts.  And I’m pretty sure that’s why I was up at 1:00 am Sunday morning when I needed to get up at 5:00 am to get ready for work.  😂 

I really do like how this little shrimp tank has turned out.  But no needle leaf Java fern will be leaving the house yet.  😆  I’m probably going to transfer one of the 2 clumps into one of my 6 G cubes and see how well it does there.  I need to get some taller stuff growing in that cube.  I’m trying to get some Everglades Pygmy sunfish Elassoma evergladei to breed in there.  They have lots of crevices for them to hide and plenty of moss to hide fry, but I need more tall stuff for them to swim amongst.  I just added some Anubias nana ‘Petite’ on rocks to that tank, an Anubias nana, and a small piece of Anubias barteri, all on rocks.  The barteri has some recovery to do - I may have overdone the RR on it then left it in a bucket without light or ferts for a few days too long. 😬 🤦🏻‍♀️ I refer you to the crazy schedule noted above.  The barteri will, hopefully, eventually outgrow that tank but it’s going to take many months to get to that point assuming it does well in there.  I’ll probably post up some new pics of both those cubes in the near future once I’ve had a chance to rework them a bit.

Edited June 8, 2023 by Odd Duck

[Odd Duck]

I decided I was going to have to reduce the plant density in this tank so I removed the larger wood piece with the denser plants and this is what’s left in there.  As you can see, it’s still plenty of plants and will fill back in just fine.  If I didn’t have the comparison pic above and only compared to the beginning pic, I would think this was completely normal growth.  I moved the other piece with some stray bits of fernlets newly glued on, into the 6G volcano tank but only took a pic of the plant, not the whole tank since the rest of it is a bit of a mess and I won’t be getting to the cleanup today.  I do have some decent pics of the biggest, prettiest, male Pygmy sunfish in that tank, though.  He has decided to keep an eye on me now when I’m feeding and looking at the “Low Row”tanks.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by Odd Duck

[Lennie]

On 6/15/2023 at 1:10 AM, Odd Duck said:

I decided I was going to have to reduce the plant density in this tank so I removed the larger wood piece with the denser plants and this is what’s left in there.  As you can see, it’s still plenty of plants and will fill back in just fine.  If I didn’t have the comparison pic above and only compared to the beginning pic, I would think this was completely normal growth.  I moved the other piece with some stray bits of fernlets newly glued on, into the 6G volcano tank but only took a pic of the plant, not the whole tank since the rest of it is a bit of a mess and I won’t be getting to the cleanup today.  I do have some decent pics of the biggest, prettiest, male Pygmy sunfish in that tank, though.  He has decided to keep an eye on me now when I’m feeding and looking at the “Low Row”tanks.

 

 

@beastie look at the sunfish!! 

@pcc you can easily see why I suggested using dark colored substrate for your future tank here. Look how the color red pops on a dark substrate. Shrimp show their color much better between dark substrate/background and plants.

 

[Odd Duck]

On 6/14/2023 at 5:19 PM, Lennie said:

Shrimp show their color much better between dark substrate/background and plants.

I think it somewhat depends on the color of the shrimp.  I know raising blue dreams on dark substrate can make them darken even more to the point of going almost black.  They often throw very dark anyway from many of the blue dream lines.  I don’t have an issue with that from the blue sapphires I got, they seem to have a more “clean” blue and haven’t gone green or black for me.  Greens will also go very, very dark on dark substrate but they will often go too light on light substrate - greens are fairly problematic with keeping good color.  I haven’t had tried orange or yellow since I very first tried shrimp and I wasn’t very successful.  I’m really only figuring out how to do better with shrimp but I did read up quite a lot at the beginning.  How accurately I remember it by now is anybody’s guess.  😆 🤷🏻‍♀️ 😉 

[Lennie]

On 6/16/2023 at 1:13 AM, Odd Duck said:

I think it somewhat depends on the color of the shrimp.  I know raising blue dreams on dark substrate can make them darken even more to the point of going almost black.  They often throw very dark anyway from many of the blue dream lines.  I don’t have an issue with that from the blue sapphires I got, they seem to have a more “clean” blue and haven’t gone green or black for me.  Greens will also go very, very dark on dark substrate but they will often go too light on light substrate - greens are fairly problematic with keeping good color.  I haven’t had tried orange or yellow since I very first tried shrimp and I wasn’t very successful.  I’m really only figuring out how to do better with shrimp but I did read up quite a lot at the beginning.  How accurately I remember it by now is anybody’s guess.  😆 🤷🏻‍♀️ 😉 

I agree with greens. Problematic.

I have green jellys, blues, black roses, bloodymaries, orange sakuras and yellow fires 😄  

 

I still think darker is better even for black roses 😄 

[Odd Duck]

Well when you want the shrimp to be as black as possible, yes.  😝 😉 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Odd Duck
Typo

[Lennie]

On 6/16/2023 at 1:39 AM, Odd Duck said:

Well when you want the shrimp to,be as black as possible, yes.  😝 😉 

Works perfect in betta tanks for me 😄

 

[Jennifer V]

Love, love, love this tank! Makes me want to buy one but I promised myself I'd never get a nano tank again because my 5g has been such a pain. You may have changed my mind! I need a quarantine tank anyway. Now what to put in it? 

[JettsPapa]

On 6/15/2023 at 5:13 PM, Odd Duck said:

. . .  I haven’t had tried orange or yellow since I very first tried shrimp and I wasn’t very successful.  I’m really only figuring out how to do better with shrimp but I did read up quite a lot at the beginning.  How accurately I remember it by now is anybody’s guess.  😆 🤷🏻‍♀️ 😉 

I haven't kept orange ones either, but I haven't found yellow ones to be any more problematic than red or blue (and they need less culling).

[Odd Duck]

On 6/16/2023 at 6:30 AM, Jennifer V said:

Love, love, love this tank! Makes me want to buy one but I promised myself I'd never get a nano tank again because my 5g has been such a pain. You may have changed my mind! I need a quarantine tank anyway. Now what to put in it? 

I would never have gotten this tank if it wasn’t so cheap but it has been very easy to care for.  It has this neon color silicone on the corners that is definitely not my preference (different color at each corner 🤦🏻‍♀️ ) but you might be able to get something similar without the neon.  It really is very handy for water changes but I have to keep the water level lower than I prefer to get any surface skimming action from the filter.  If you look at the top right of each pic you can see the top of the overflow water return slots in the first pic, but I figured out it needs some surface skimming so the water level is lower in the other pics.

To water change, I just lift up the lever at the back left which shuts off the water flow.  I turn it 180 then drop it back down to pump water into a handy container and dump it right into the sink or into my Daphnia/Ceriodaphnia culture tank.  Then refill from a 5 gallon jug of pre-mixed RO water that’s been remineralized for the shrimp.  The bioload is so low I usually don’t even bother to check my sponge blocks in the filter.  I look at the filter cartridge but I may or may not rinse it.  I haven’t even checked into getting a new cartridge because I don’t need or want new activated charcoal running on the tank.  I probably should remove what little is in the cartridge since it came with the tank. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

It is definitely a fun, easy little tank.

[Jennifer V]

On 6/16/2023 at 9:03 AM, Odd Duck said:

I would never have gotten this tank if it wasn’t so cheap but it has been very easy to care for.  It has this neon color silicone on the corners that is definitely not my preference (different color at each corner 🤦🏻‍♀️ ) but you might be able to get something similar without the neon.  It really is very handy for water changes but I have to keep the water level lower than I prefer to get any surface skimming action from the filter.  If you look at the top right of each pic you can see the top of the overflow water return slots in the first pic, but I figured out it needs some surface skimming so the water level is lower in the other pics.

To water change, I just lift up the lever at the back left which shuts off the water flow.  I turn it 180 then drop it back down to pump water into a handy container and dump it right into the sink or into my Daphnia/Ceriodaphnia culture tank.  Then refill from a 5 gallon jug of pre-mixed RO water that’s been remineralized for the shrimp.  The bioload is so low I usually don’t even bother to check my sponge blocks in the filter.  I look at the filter cartridge but I may or may not rinse it.  I haven’t even checked into getting a new cartridge because I don’t need or want new activated charcoal running on the tank.  I probably should remove what little is in the cartridge since it came with the tank. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

It is definitely a fun, easy little tank.

Well that sounds doable! I already have a shrimp/snail tank so what should I put in it? Is it too small to be a quarantine tank? If I do use it as a quarantine tank, should I just keep it to maybe a cool mystery snail? I've always wanted one! 

[Odd Duck]

On 6/16/2023 at 10:45 AM, Jennifer V said:

Well that sounds doable! I already have a shrimp/snail tank so what should I put in it? Is it too small to be a quarantine tank? If I do use it as a quarantine tank, should I just keep it to maybe a cool mystery snail? I've always wanted one! 

It really is very small.  Actual filled water volume is probably more like 2.25 G max and maybe a bit less since I run it dropped almost 1.5” from the top of the tank so it surface skims.  I have about 1.5” of sand substrate (right up to the bottom of the bottom slots).  The tank is a smidge under 13” long to the outside of the glass, 6.5” deep and 9” tall from below the countertop.  Inside the glass about 12.75” x 6.25” x 6.25” actual filled height allowing for some water in the sand.

If I was going to start over or redesign it, I would use my rotary tool and raise the tops of the slots at the top (it has slots at both top and bottom) and maybe partially block the slots at the bottom so it pulls more water off the top for optimal skimming and the water level could also be higher.  I would put more lights in the lid (I’ve got a waterproof light added).  I would not completely block off the slots at the bottom because they let you drain the tank down farther if you want to do a big water change or empty it.  There’s room for a very small heater in the back if you want but not needed for shrimp at my house.  All in all, a decent little all in one.

[JettsPapa]

On 6/16/2023 at 10:45 AM, Jennifer V said:

Well that sounds doable! I already have a shrimp/snail tank so what should I put in it? Is it too small to be a quarantine tank? If I do use it as a quarantine tank, should I just keep it to maybe a cool mystery snail? I've always wanted one! 

Another color of shrimp?  I have four different kinds.

[Jennifer V]

On 6/16/2023 at 10:58 AM, Odd Duck said:

It really is very small.  Actual filled water volume is probably more like 2.25 G max and maybe a bit less since I run it dropped almost 1.5” from the top of the tank so it surface skims.  I have about 1.5” of sand substrate (right up to the bottom of the bottom slots).  The tank is a smidge under 13” long to the outside of the glass, 6.5” deep and 9” tall from below the countertop.  Inside the glass about 12.75” x 6.25” x 6.25” actual filled height allowing for some water in the sand.

If I was going to start over or redesign it, I would use my rotary tool and raise the tops of the slots at the top (it has slots at both top and bottom) and maybe partially block the slots at the bottom so it pulls more water off the top for optimal skimming and the water level could also be higher.  I would put more lights in the lid (I’ve got a waterproof light added).  I would not completely block off the slots at the bottom because they let you drain the tank down farther if you want to do a big water change or empty it.  There’s room for a very small heater in the back if you want but not needed for shrimp at my house.  All in all, a decent little all in one.

Oh yeah that's very small but could satisfy the itch I have to get a new one until I dive into setting up my 20 long. 

On 6/16/2023 at 11:52 AM, JettsPapa said:

Another color of shrimp?  I have four different kinds.

I was thinking that! The shrimp I have in the other tank were skittle culls so now most of them are brown or clear with a few strange colors here and there. It would be nice to have maybe a whole tank of one vibrant color. 

[JettsPapa]

On 6/16/2023 at 2:31 PM, Jennifer V said:

I was thinking that! The shrimp I have in the other tank were skittle culls so now most of them are brown or clear with a few strange colors here and there. It would be nice to have maybe a whole tank of one vibrant color. 

I know someone who has some for sale.

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by JettsPapa