Dwayne Brown Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 Hi all, one of my friends had a 3.7 gallon bowfront tank that their betta used to live in. They were throwing it away when I stopped them and asked if I could have it. I decided that I want to turn it into a shrimp aquarium however I have several problems. 1. I have soft water out of the tap but a higher ph can i just ad crushed coral to the tank or will the swings during water changes be to much. W. Will this tank be to small? 3. Cherry shrimp are kind of expensive can I realistically expect them to breed in this envirement. Any thoughts or suggestions are helpfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 I’ve been keeping them in a three gallon with soft tap water. I added some wonder shell to increase GH and after some deaths I settled on no water changes, just top offs. I finally got some to breed and haven’t had any recent deaths. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marnol D Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 I dont do water changes in shrimp tanks just top offs aswell. Water stability is almost the #1 priority in a shrimp tank, so aslong as your parameters stay the same or change slowly they should be fine. As @Patrick_G stated you could always add wondershells, or equilibirum, or another form of shrimp mineral to the water and just use a tds meter during top off to determine if you need to add more. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwayne Brown Posted April 2, 2021 Author Share Posted April 2, 2021 @Patrick_G @Marnol D Thanks for the info I was wondering about the swings in water parameters. I think i might ask my lfs what parameters they keep their shrimp in and try to roughly replicate that. I will definitaly add some kind of crushed coral to raise water hardness. I think i also will ad calcium to the water. What do shrimp eat. I will let algea grow but what should I feed them? Also should I clean my sponge filter or should I just leave it alone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingFishKeeper Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 (edited) Hi, in terms of diet shrimp just need biofilm and algae, with a bit of calcium. Irene from Girl Talks Fish did a great video with her and her shrimp's favorite foods. I just feed Hikari Crab Cuisine every Friday (Best part of the week, watching a bunch of shrimp swarm around a pellet or two) and let them scavenge around the tank for various decaying matter, algae etc. Occasionally I'll give some Xtreme Krill Flakes for a bit of extra protein (since my betta randomly doesn't like them lol). Edited April 2, 2021 by FlyingFishKeeper 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 I feed the same as @FlyingFishKeeper, but I feed Crab Cuisine more often just so I can watch the action. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marnol D Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 i feed xtreme shrimp formula, hikari crab cuisine, biofilm from IALs. Blood worms for more protien and then kale and broccoli for calcium 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 54 minutes ago, Dwayne Brown said: Thanks for the info I was wondering about the swings in water parameters. I think i might ask my lfs what parameters they keep their shrimp in and try to roughly replicate that. I will definitaly add some kind of crushed coral to raise water hardness. I think i also will ad calcium to the water. I have shrimp in soft water, and LOW pH. I added crushed coral, and the went up a little, and stabilized at 7-ish. I just feed a mineral supplement and they do really well for me. I would expect what @Patrick_G says to be true, you will have a few losses at first and subsequent generations will do well for you. If you can get locally bred shrimp you will be wildly more successful, they are very much worth looking for. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marnol D Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Also gen 1 is always the worst gen. Gen 2 and onwards are healthier and better equipped to survive in your tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samanthabea Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 My shrimp just eat the leftover tropical fish flake and I give them algae wafers once in a while but the mollies tend to steal them simple diet but they are happy with it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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