Want to Create a 10 Gallon Shrimp Tank: Where do I Begin?

[SilverArowanaBoi]

Hey y’all! As some of you probably know, I have a 10 gallon quarantine tank with my Blue Diamond Discus pair in it. I’m soon getting rid of them (probably this weekend or the next) and would like to turn the 10 gal into a display tank. I’m fully aware that I’ve made threads on stocking for this tank before, but I wanted to create a shrimp thread for people who are in a similar situation as me.

I’ve kept different species of shrimp before, successfully…until the wrong tank mates ate them lol. ANYWAYS…I want to start making a shrimp home. Preferably aquascaped with plants and rocks. Probably dragon stone…not 100% certain about that yet.

Basically what I need help with is how to go about setting up a low tech planted tank for shrimp. I want the simplest setup I can do as I‘ve never don’t a true planted tank before. I know I need soil, but I don’t know what kind would be best. So if y’all could help me with some recommendations that would be great!

Thank you in advance.

 

[jjohnwm]

I'll get this outta the way first: you have a QT. Excellent! I'd keep it as a QT; everyone should have one.

Having said that...in my experience, shrimp are very easy to keep, but I sure wouldn't set up a brand new tank and expect them to do well in it. IMHO they need a well-established tank with a good plant and algae growth, and preferably some driftwood and dead leaf litter. The more densely planted, the better.

You absolutely don't "need" soil, although it's helpful for some rooted plants....but then so is CO2, special lighting, special fertilizers, blah, blah, blah. If you want to play with all that stuff, great. But I had terrific success with shrimp in tanks decorated solely with Java Moss growing strictly attached to driftrwood and rocks. In fact, you'll probably never see better Java Moss, as the shrimp act like little "gardeners" as they gently comb and clean the moss while feeding. I used no fertilizer, no CO2, and illumination came from a shoplite on a timer.

They'll do better at 70F than at 80F. They don't need and don't want much water movement. And, contrary to "accepted wisdom", my shrimp tanks had the same water change schedule as all my other tanks, i.e. 80% or more weekly. Doing frequent and large water changes ensures that the old water going out has not had a chance to diverge too far from the new water coming in, so there is none of the "shock" that we are constantly warned about.

They require a bit of patience; it takes awhile for the population to build, but when they get going you will have tiny juveniles all over the tank. If you add some floating plants...I am fond of Hornwort and Najas (Guppy Grass), it will grow like wildfire, act as a nitrate export mechanism when you remove some, and will also shade the lower levels of the tank which Java Moss seems to appreciate. A tank with a heavy growth of moss on the decor and a good "cloud" of Guppy Grass in the upper levels will have shrimp visible 24/7 at all levels of the tank, including right up at the surface. If you add a new piece of wood or a new handful of oak leaves, they will descend upon it immediately and start nibbling.

When you change water or remove green material, you must be cautious not to accidentally remove baby shrimp with it.

Shrimp are like the animal version of duckweed. Once they get going...watch out! And...Bonus!...unlike duckweed, there will always be a ready market for the excess you produce.

Someone will be along shortly to inform you of all the expensive specialized food, additives, supplements, water treatments, substrates, etc. that have proliferated due to the popularity of shrimp. I'll bet some of them even work! But, rest assured: you don't need any of it.

Shrimp are cool. Enjoy!

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

I'll get this outta the way first: you have a QT. Excellent! I'd keep it as a QT; everyone should have one.

Having said that...in my experience, shrimp are very easy to keep, but I sure wouldn't set up a brand new tank and expect them to do well in it. IMHO they need a well-established tank with a good plant and algae growth, and preferably some driftwood and dead leaf litter. The more densely planted, the better.

You absolutely don't "need" soil, although it's helpful for some rooted plants....but then so is CO2, special lighting, special fertilizers, blah, blah, blah. If you want to play with all that stuff, great. But I had terrific success with shrimp in tanks decorated solely with Java Moss growing strictly attached to driftrwood and rocks. In fact, you'll probably never see better Java Moss, as the shrimp act like little "gardeners" as they gently comb and clean the moss while feeding. I used no fertilizer, no CO2, and illumination came from a shoplite on a timer.

They'll do better at 70F than at 80F. They don't need and don't want much water movement. And, contrary to "accepted wisdom", my shrimp tanks had the same water change schedule as all my other tanks, i.e. 80% or more weekly. Doing frequent and large water changes ensures that the old water going out has not had a chance to diverge too far from the new water coming in, so there is none of the "shock" that we are constantly warned about.

They require a bit of patience; it takes awhile for the population to build, but when they get going you will have tiny juveniles all over the tank. If you add some floating plants...I am fond of Hornwort and Najas (Guppy Grass), it will grow like wildfire, act as a nitrate export mechanism when you remove some, and will also shade the lower levels of the tank which Java Moss seems to appreciate. A tank with a heavy growth of moss on the decor and a good "cloud" of Guppy Grass in the upper levels will have shrimp visible 24/7 at all levels of the tank, including right up at the surface. If you add a new piece of wood or a new handful of oak leaves, they will descend upon it immediately and start nibbling.

When you change water or remove green material, you must be cautious not to accidentally remove baby shrimp with it.

Shrimp are like the animal version of duckweed. Once they get going...watch out! And...Bonus!...unlike duckweed, there will always be a ready market for the excess you produce.

Someone will be along shortly to inform you of all the expensive specialized food, additives, supplements, water treatments, substrates, etc. that have proliferated due to the popularity of shrimp. I'll bet some of them even work! But, rest assured: you don't need any of it.

Shrimp are cool. Enjoy!

Thank you for the detailed info! I don’t intend to do CO2 and all of that fun stuff, I want to just keep it simple. Also in regards to the quarentine, it will soon be empty, I don’t want to just have a non-display tank tank randomly chilling in the corner as I already have a minuscule room and it takes up a huge chunk of valuable space, what I mean is, I‘d rather have a functioning tank then just an empty filtered box sitting there. Plus I have a tub I can use for quarantine.

 

[jjohnwm]

Thank you for the detailed info! I don’t intend to do CO2 and all of that fun stuff, I want to just keep it simple. Also in regards to the quarentine, it will soon be empty, I don’t want to just have a non-display tank tank randomly chilling in the corner as I already have a minuscule room and it takes up a huge chunk of valuable space, what I mean is, I‘d rather have a functioning tank then just an empty filtered box sitting there. Plus I have a tub I can use for quarantine.

I get it, an empty tank just sitting there practically screams out for something to be bought to live in it; the temptation is real. As for "it will soon be empty", I'm pretty sure I saw in one of your threads recently that you had bought a couple fish of a couple species...and then a couple more of a couple more species just a few days later? Apologies if I have that wrong, but I get the impression that you buy a lot of fish (by my standards) and also seem to have a few for sale now and then. Every single time you buy a fish, you run the risk of introducing an infection of some type to your tank. Two fish, from two different tanks...twice the risk. So how often would your quarantine tank actually be empty? And if you don't quarantine every new purchase...how long do you think you can keep beating the odds before you have a problem, possibly resulting in the loss of many or all of the fish in your main tank? It doesn't really matter how many times you spin the wheel and win; when...not if...you finally lose a spin...you can lose big time.

You do get that if you are planning on a quarantine period of, for example, three weeks (not excessive at all, in fact I would consider it inadequate), but then you buy some more fish on day 20 and put them into that quarantine tank...the clock starts again from zero.

You could have your quarantine tank set-up permanently, or you could easily keep a sponge filter in your main tank and simply use it to set up the quarantine tank when you need it, giving you an instantly cycled tank in the time it takes to fill it with pretreated water and dropping in the sponge. Yes, you can do this with a tub or other container, but they're not ideal as they don't allow you to easily and carefully observe the fish throughout their quarantine, looking for signs of a problem.

 

[jjohnwm]

Not trying to talk you out of shrimp, incidentally; just suggesting a different perspective.

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

Not trying to talk you out of shrimp, incidentally; just suggesting a different perspective.

I hear what you are saying and I don't disagree, but I still wish to move forward with my plan. I've been wanting to redo or set up the 10 gallon for legit months (honestly since I got it, which was at least 8 months ago if not longer) and I'm finally close to it. I have been eyeing shrimp for a long time, and I've also wanted to try a planted tank without converting my main tank, which would be a huge money waste. I do truly appreciate the advice though.

Also, in regards to my buying and selling of fish; I intend to stop doing that with my main tank soon (and I don't intend to do it with my 10 gallon).

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

Alrighty y'all...I'm making this my official thread for the progress of my 10 gallon tank! Cheers!

I mentioned in my thread "Final Tank Setup" that I have a grow out in the 10 gallon. I know I said I wanted to make a shrimp tank, but I will put that on hold for a short while to tend to the newbie. My plan is is once I get the growout into the main tank with everybody else, I will finish decorating/setting up the 10 gal and add shrimp. I'm not 100% certain what kind of shrimp I want in the tank, but I'm not going to do a whole bunch of different kinds. I know I want blue shrimp and maybe another color; I will choose later, I have plenty of time to think about it.

Also, I'm already half way done with the decor, which is great. Today I bought some sand and some Maple Leaf stone. I also got some Anacharis to give my growout some cover since he/she stays at the top. I will post pictures soon, the tanks a little dirty from the new stuff added to it, but its already clearing up nicely. Probably tomorrow I will post pics.

I won't reveal the identity of the growout yet until I post pictures.

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

Welp, todays the day. I shall reveal the growout in the 10 gal and let you see what the tank looks like. Here is the tank:

Front View:

Side View:


And the grow-out:



He is a Golden Marble Archerfish and his name is Spitfire He will be the final addition to the main tank.

He eats bloodworms like a champ and is very interactive (comes up to the tank when I come up).

 

[dmyersWv]

Stick to 1 color of shrimp as they will breed and you will end up with natural color shrimp (grey) and also various color morphs.

 

[Kayden]

Welp, todays the day. I shall reveal the growout in the 10 gal and let you see what the tank looks like. Here is the tank:

Front View:
View attachment 1539655
Side View:
View attachment 1539656

And the grow-out:

View attachment 1539657View attachment 1539658

He is a Golden Marble Archerfish and his name is Spitfire He will be the final addition to the main tank.

He eats bloodworms like a champ and is very interactive (comes up to the tank when I come up).

A single archer for a fifty five gallon with discus.

now I’ve seen everything