BiOrb 4 Gallon Shrimp Tank?

[Kelli]

Someone just gave me a 4 gallon BiOrb tank kit. Does anyone know if this tank could be used to house shrimp? I do not know much at all about keeping shrimp but it has caught my attention a few times on the box. It does not have a heater. It has rocks on the bottom and some kind of sponge filter and a few plastic plants. I have other tanks already set up I could use to start the bacteria growth. What else would I need to do to make it safe for shrimp if I can use it?

[AhKwaB]

Red Cherry shrimp, they can survive pretty much anything!

[mistahoo]

There's nothing really to make the tanks safe than what you've already had. Just make sure the tank is cycled for a bit as shrimps mainly eat the biofilm and detritus that comes with an aged tank. Heater shouldn't matter depending on the type of shrimp, but red cherry shrimp are very resilient and breed like roaches.

[mnemenoi]

There is an article I wrote that is a sticky in the freshwater invertabrate section that details many aspects of shrimp care and housing. We have kept cherry shrimp in much smaller containers (1/2 gallon vase, no filtration on a kitchen sink) and had them breeding. Most prefer cooler temps and no heater. The NeoCaradina species are far tougher and a better species to try out initially. I would suggest setting up the tank, adding some wood or raocks and some Java moss. Allow it to mature for a month or two and add some Cherry/Yellow/Painted Fire/Sakura shrimp and enjoy. Minimal water changes are required (10-20% weekly or even less frequent) based upon your water parameters. Shrimp are very finicky when it comes to any water contaminant (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Copper), but they add very little bioload. Keeping any fish in a tank that small, I would discourage due to the capacity of the tank and the shyness that would affect the shrimp.

[Kelli]

What do you guys do with the baby shrimp if you cannot sell them? I do not want a tank full. Are there any hardy shrimp that will not breed much? Do shrimp need live plants? If I buy java moss from a pet store, what do I need to watch out for or do before I introduce it to the new tank? I've never had live plants before. What do you feed the shrimp? Can I keep a snail or two with the shrimp? Mnemenoi: I read your article before I posted this! Thank you for taking the time to do this. I just assumed that shrimp were finicky and hard to keep that required specialty care. By these posts, it sounds like they are fairly easy as long as the tank is cycled for a while. Do I need to put a tetra in there to feed the bacteria alive for a few months while the film grows?

[mnemenoi]

We usually give away the offspring and surplus (there is never a shortage of folks wanting to give them a try) or feeding them to your other fish is always a treat. The shrimp will hit a certain point and they seem to slow down. Certain tougher species do breed less, but keeping them alive and happy is harder so I would recommend an easier species at first. They prefer live plants and java moss grows easily. It is a good start for keeping live plants (I have them in all my tanks, even tanganyikan tanks) they provide great grazing areas and use the nitrates as fertilizers so they actually do filter the water and provide surface areas for microfauna the shrimp love to eat. Shrimp prefer vegatabkle diet, but can eat only algae that grows on your plants. There are a variety of different dwarf shrimp cuisines and specialty foods available. Spirulina flake works well though. Snails do great with shrimp, especially some of the slower reproducing Tylomelania species that are a bit more colorful. I keep all my shrimp with snails usually (except the soft water species). Just a simple hard cycly with small amounts of fish food and water changes should cycly the tank just fine. Try adding some mulm (filter gunk) from your tang tank and it should cycle in no time at all. Remember shrimp have a trivial bioload, so 20-40 adults in a 4 gallon is really not a huge bioload. Just watch your numbers. Shrimp are very great at letting you know when they are unhappy. They can be easy, but are very finicky with parameters and actually teach you (I have learned so much I have used on larger fish tanks) about small things and water consistency. They are a challenge, but are very rewarding and really go weeks with little to no attention. They seem to thrive in algae covered tanks that almost appear neglected. Clean water is their only requirement and they'll breed and grow terrifically. Once the tank is set up just whistle at us and we'd be happy to get you a starter colony for nothing. It is our way of helping out the hobby and our tanks always need pruning so the plants are covered as well. Just start cycling the tank and let us know when all your numbers are good and swing over, we love talking shrimp, plants, and snails.

[Kelli]

Thank you so much for all your help! I would love to stop by once my tank is cycled and pick up some starter shrimp and plants. I also love talking aquatics so I'm sure we will all be in good company! :) What do the shrimp do if they are not happy with the water conditions? Do you think java moss would grow in my frontosa tank also? I always thought they would eat it or dig it up. I tried some tylos in my front tank and I have one chocolate that I know is still alive and the rest never move so I'm assuming they didn't make it. Nerites are doing very well in the tank though. 20-40 shrimp sound like a lot but I've also never seen the dwarf shrimp in real life. They are probably smaller than i am thinking. How many should I start with? Can I start with 2 different kinds or should I just stick with one?

[mistahoo]

They can do anything from change color, jump out of the water, etc when they're unhappy. You'll be able to spot it right on when they display unhappy behavior. Java moss would grow in any tank as long as you've got a decent light on it. Frontosa are carnivorous/piscivorous fish which wouldn't bother java moss much other than moving it around. A good number to start with is about 6-10. If we're talkin Red cherry shrimp, you'll have about 20-40 in a matter of months. They are very small! 1" at most for almost all of the higher order dwarf shrimp. You can most definitely start with two types. The thing is, if you've got two types of neos, they will interbreed and most likely give you a brown/muddy color like natural wild caught neos. I would start with one type just to get familiar with keeping them. I recently started with red cherry shrimp that I've gotten from mnemenoi and I'm still learning a whole lot about them. Although they're quite hardy and resilient, they will be the first to show any signs of something being wrong with the water. Plus, they reproduce fast, so if you happen to make a mistake and wipe out a few, they'll bring up their numbers in no time.

[mnemenoi]

I use Anubias and corkscrew Val in my Tang tank, though getting java moss to grow in it would be easy. Mistahoo is correct in 2 types of neo's crossbreeding and result in a more wild type offspring. There are other options and I can help cover that whn you come over and see the tanks. Moulting, die offs, jumping out, and strange behavior are all signs of deteriorating water quality. Once you are familiar with them it is noticable. I usually start folks off with a dozen or so adults and juveniles. Most are breeding in no time and watching their cycle is very rewarding.

[Xerobull]

Hey there- I have some feedback for you.

I currently keep Crystal Red and Crystal Black in an 8 gallon biorb, and they seem to be pretty happy and healthy.

A few notes on my setup:

I originally set it up with java moss bound to about 20 lava rocks with fishing line. I figured the porous surface would be good for both the java moss and bacteria to grow on. It took a good wile but the java moss 'rooted' after about four months. After I snipped the fishing line, it started to grow straight up, like tiny vines. At one point it was even pearling.

I also have some java fern and a crypt set up in the same way. They've grown but since the java moss took over they've slowed down for lack of light. I'm probably going to move the plants on the next cleaning (possibly to the four gallon biorb I have in my garage).


I replaced the stock halogen light with an led I found on amazon. It consumes less power and is cooler. It's also 6000k in color temperature. link. NOTE- this will not fit the baby biorb.

I had a heater in there at one point but it kind of took away from the ascetics of it all and dwarf shrimp don't really need a heat source as long as you keep your house above 68.

So far one of these guys has berried once that I've seen but I have yet to see the offspring as the java moss is a literal jungle of inverted vines. I never feed the little guys as they're happy munching on whatever bio they find in the orb. I've dropped tiny chunks of algae wafers in but they haven't touched it. I'll try to get some pics up soon. Hope this helps!

[Kelli]

Thank you so much for your comment! It was very helpful! Do you find java moss to be easy to deal with?

[mistahoo]

Re: BiOrb 4 Gallon Shrimp Tank?

Java moss is probably one of the easiest low light plant to grow and maintain. I had a clump that was in a tank under my 5g and I haven't had a light on it for a little over a month and the thing is more alive than it'll ever be.

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

[Xerobull]

Thank you so much for your comment! It was very helpful! Do you find java moss to be easy to deal with?

Insanely easy....there's really nothing to it. Java moss and Java ferns are pretty much impossible to kill and will grow anywhere.