Starting new shrimp tank

[Sultrysamurai]

Hello, I recently moved and had a heck of a life change. I’m ready to start a shrimp tank again. I feel a little a little rusty and was looking for advice. 
I have fluval stratum ( first time using this) and 2 plants in a tank that has been cycling for about a month and a half. I tested the water. 0 ammonia 0 nitrite PH is lower than I’m used to PH is 6.7ish and 5.0 nitrate. KH is low at about 2ppm and TDS is 240. Tank is  3 gallon rimless.

Thoughts on these parameters for cherry shrimp? Thoughts on increasing PH and or KH. Has my tank been cycling long enough to sustain shrimp only?
thanks a bunch!

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I’ve never used Stratum, and I’ve checked pH like 5 times in the 3+ years I’ve had all my tanks, so I’ll let the Stratum/pH and neocaridina/Caridina experts chime in on that specific piece. 
 

But, what I’ve always done for my shrimp tanks, is to let them get “well seasoned” with plenty of algae, seed shrimp, and other fun stuff before adding shrimp. The last shrimp tank I had set up with plants, moss, and floating plants for at least 8 weeks before I added any shrimp. They want to graze all day long, so if they have stuff to graze on (and a “well seasoned” tank gives them that) your chances for success are much higher. 

[_Eric_]

Should be good for cherry shrimp.  I had a tank of that size with cherries for a while about a year ago.  Worked great.  

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/7/2023 at 2:29 PM, Sultrysamurai said:

I tested the water. 0 ammonia 0 nitrite PH is lower than I’m used to PH is 6.7ish and 5.0 nitrate. KH is low at about 2ppm and TDS is 240. Tank is  3 gallon rimless.

so the main thing you want to do is compare the KH and GH to your tap water.  You'll need to do a lot of water changes to replenish minerals and let the soil absorb nutrients.  It's a very common method and something where you will have the parameters you need (hopefully the tap is good) and then you can have a very nice, planted, beautiful shrimp tank.  Once you hit 50 posts the buy/sell section opens up on the forum and there's some really awesome shrimp keepers with a few colors available.  🙂

On 9/7/2023 at 2:29 PM, Sultrysamurai said:

Thoughts on these parameters for cherry shrimp? Thoughts on increasing PH and or KH. Has my tank been cycling long enough to sustain shrimp only?

I can gather parameters for you, but KH you want about 4 or so.  GH you want ~8 or so from my research.  If things go a little lower or higher you'll be in the right zone.  For planted tanks, you generally want KH = 1/2 of what your GH is, if you can.

 

[Lennie]

In my experience neocaridinas do well basically in a lot of setups. I have 7 neocaridina tanks and none of them matches the exact ranges given online yet they all do just good. I have mine anywhere from low ph softwater to 8.0 ph harder water with 20kh. Anywhere between room temp up to 28C.

the only negative thing Ive observed until this day is, higher temperature cuts from their lifespan

I used to have molting issues in an old 29g of mine which is taken down at the stsrt of this year due to being a very old tank. I dont have any molting issues in any of my tanks but I use montmorillonite clay now, I didnt before. So it was just a mineral thingy I believe no matter what my gh kh ph or temp is

Edited September 8, 2023 by Lennie

[Sultrysamurai]

Thank you everyone, I forgot to add a photo as reference. I have a plant in there that’s got some food algae on it. I will test my tap water and see what I’m working with. Hopefully the stratum was a good choice. 

[JettsPapa]

Here is a link to some information I put together for new shrimp keepers a couple of years ago that you might like to review.  In any case, I'd encourage you to add more live plants, and give the tank more time to build up biofilm before adding shrimp.