Upcoming shrimp tank

[Chris.d514]

Going to be starting a shrimp tank in the next month or so. It's going to be in a 30g breeder with aquasoil as the substrate and I'm thinking a double sponge filter. I'd like to get some high grade blue rili or some Oebt to keep in the tank with some cardinals. Any input thoughts, advice, etc?

[sunkenmetal]

Let the tank cycle and age before putting expensive shrimp in the tank.

[mnemenoi]

Aquasoil will lower the Ph of the water, which is preferred by OEBT's. Cardinal Shrimp prefer a higher Ph and Rili's, if I am correct, are another variant of neocardina and have similar water requirements to cherry shrimp (basically our local water is great). There are a very large number of different shrimp in the hobby and many are simply line bred variants. When choosing shrimp try and avoid anything too closely related as some will breed freely and their offspring can revert back to their original form.

I would recommend a single species or 'type' and start there. Read a ton about shrimp online via the various different sites. Pay attention to breeding charts, they are not always perfect, but are a very good guide. Decide between soft and hard water shrimp. Set up your tank and allow it to season for at least a couple months before adding anything into it, it allows the biofilm to accumulate and is their preffered food source. Talk with some of the local folks who keep the type you are interested in and see what works and has not. Cover filtering, water, feeding, lighting, hardscape, substrate, maintenance, and whatever else you can think of. Shrimp can certainly be easy, but are very different then fish and can be tougher. Many try their hand at a neocardina species and once they have managed to breed and keep them alive for months will branch out. They can be roaches, but they will teach you a lot and are far more forgiving. If cherries are hard any others would have died in half the time.

[Chris.d514]

I have some cherries from when I first got the 14. I my daughters 10 I have crs, rcs, snowballs, and ghost shrimp. From my reading if you have one type of each family you are ok like one type of neo and one regular cardina. I have some boraras brigette that I may add to the shrimp tank as well I think a small bio load will be good. I was wondering too how pea puffers do with shrimp. Holly has been wanting one since seeing Sasha's.

[Kiko]

i have red rili shrimp and they're for sale... pm me if you want them... 10+ adults and at least 3 is buried and a crap load of babies... lmk

[Chris.d514]

I have no room for them right now will be a few months before I get the tank ready for shrimp.

[sunkenmetal]

I haven't seen my pea puffers attacking my shrimp but there are a ton of snails in the tank for them to eat...

[mnemenoi]

I have seen a few folks keep different families successfully, and I have tried. My issues were that I could keep them alive, but breeding stopped on one and eventually they all died off. Some like Amanos and fan shrimp can work, but they never breed and can be controlled by the aquarist. Specialty shrimp are just much more delicate and single species tanks give them the best chance for success. I have cardinals in their own tank with some tylomelania and no fish to chance them eating any offspring. Cherries have done superbly in another few tanks and with enough foliage manage to overpopulate the tank, even with the fish that I'm sure eat quite a few.


Pea Puffers are a gamble. Our first female was large and had been housed with cherries for quite some time, she never looks or is interested in them and they were reproducing in the tank. We acquired a smaller female (half the firsts size) and she devours them steadily. She ignores bloodworms that our first devours and only chooses to eat Mysis shrimp occasionally. The population has lowered steadily and the new female is the only culprit. They are great fish and in a large enough tank with enough foliage a steady breeder should do well, but I would always worry about adding a puffer into any tank holding anything valuable.

Micro rasbora are certainly a great choice and one I would recommend in a soft water tank, but as all fish they could eat small shrimplets. They are very tiny and if any fish can eat brine shrimp then they can eat them as well and live food is very tempting. Some surface fish would be the only thing I imagine to be fairly shrimp safe as the shrimp rarely venture up that far. I have also noticed that any fish in the tank will cause the shrimp to become more hidden and reclusive. With Cardinals being so hidden already it only compounds the idea of keeping very expensive shrimp you never see.

[Chris.d514]

Well she may have to wait on the puffer then. She did just get 4 angels so that should keep her happy for awhile. For lighting I'm debating building a fluorescent hood or getting a LED array. I'm still trying to figure out if and LED will be sufficient for plants.

[mnemenoi]

I have never tried LED's, I'm certain many others have and could offer their opinions. I saw a few arrays recently that I liked, but I am wanting a low light/dimly lit tank... They do have some great deals on Ebay...

[Chris.d514]

Ok just read on planted tank that LEDs are good to go for plants. So I'm thinking a double bright LED setup. Debating on dwarf baby tears for the carpet but have heard its pretty difficult so may go with dwarf hair grass. I got some crypts, swords, and anubias at the auction that will go in the tank. Went to FG yesterday and saw some awesome plants there so I'm thinking I'll be buying more there.

[myjohnson]

DHG over HC.

Low light + weak co2 = punk HC growth

[eklikewhoa]

Idunno if those doublebrights are gonna get the HC or the DHG spreading properly.

[myjohnson]

Why do people talk about LEDs like they all the same?

[eklikewhoa]

Uneducated and some people have a hard time differentiating slow death vs. sustaining life with poor lighting.