Cherry Shrimp Tank

Thought I would post a few pics of my shrimp tank. The wooden skewers were just there to hold veggies down.

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lovely cherries! ^_^ im going to be getting some soon to add to my tiger shrimp tank.

Beautiful shrimps were did you buy them?

I was expecting a lil 5 or 10 gallon... thats a big tank for lil' shrimp... you need allot of em in there!

Looks great though!

@kaosu- Thanks, I love to watch them. How sturdy are your tigers?I'd love to have a cardina species of shrimp but they're so pricey I'm afraid of killing the delicate little things. I wanna prove to myself I can care for the cheaper guys before I move into it more.

@cuashidor3- Thanks, I bought antraxxs colony.

@Sandnuka- Thanks, that tank is only a 15gal. I had them in a 20gal but it was so packed with rocks and wood I couldn't clean the tank well and started getting some die off so they got moved to a less decorated tank. I agree on needing more cherries. The 20gal they were in has been cleared of some of the decorations and I will be getting yellow shrimp next week! And Malawa! We're gonna see how the malawa handle being in my mothers tank, her betta is pretty chill and malawas are a tad more feisty so I think they'll do okay.

I thought I took better pics until they got put them on the computer. Here's some of them in their previous 20gal.

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well mine seem pretty hearty..and they are breeding like bunnies!!

the guy i got them from almost never changed there water (ack) but he went from 20 ish to about 200 in about a year...so I would think they are sturdy little guys.

once i get some more babies witch color ill be selling some cheaper than the pet stores

its funny i never had any luck with the cherries but the tigers are doing great.

I had a few berried females following the births of little shrimplets until the water quality got skunked by all the trumpet snails ravaging on all the sinking food for the shrimp. I'm hoping with a scenery change these guys will make a comeback.

Oh kaosu, was reading online about the blue tigers and it said a good portion of the shrimplets will not retain the blue, they'll just have the normal coloring. I'm very interested in just the normal tigers, although a couple blues thrown into the mix would be nice. I just love the way normal tigers look. So anyways just letting you know when the time comes there's interest for any plain tigers that may be born.

Found another shrimp pic
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beautiful i wish i could find some for sale

Thanks, Sounguru might have some for sale. He hasn't been active on this site for a little while now but it wouldn't hurt to send him a pm. Pretty sure at the time he was selling them for a $1 a shrimp.

I really likke tigers too

They're all pretty cool, I'm so excited to get my new yellows and malawa shrimp.

pbmaxx has both yellows & malawa shrimp. I'm getting some malawa from him soon. I don't have any more room for shrimp or I'd be getting yellows too!

Your tank looks good. I really like shrimp as wet pets - they're such neat little things!

Thanks, he's where I'm getting my yellows/malawas from him too.

Great photos! Looks like an invert paradise. I love shrimp

I hope my critters live up to expectations! VsKitchen should be able to report about that on Saturday.

Thanks! I try and make all my pets happy. With my chronic headaches it's easier for me to have a very understocked tank so that it can manage itself until I get a break from my headaches. I do love having the shrimp. It's nice having a unique critter that isn't hiding all the time.

Shrimp look cool but I would always have the desire to feed them to my other fish...
Poor shrimp just dont stand a chance at my house.

I know what you mean about the hiding part. BOTH of the Cajun Dwarfs in my 29g are out right now. I didn't realize I had 2 in there until last week. Unfortunately they're both male. I'm lucky if I see one of them in any given week it's so densely planted.

DMD123 wrote:Shrimp look cool but I would always have the desire to feed them to my other fish...
Poor shrimp just dont stand a chance at my house.

Ahh come on D, you're hurtin' my shrimps feelings They said give us a chance dude, we're fun, we're cool, we're active, we'll nom nom whatever you feed us, we'll sit on your finger....

@pbmax- yeah how some critters are so reclusive does suck. Like my plecos, awesome fish, very outgoing when young but once they hit maturity the only time you get to see them is when you first turn on the lights right before they dart for cover. Still they're fun to have.

Regarding plecos - when I drop in algae wafers or zukes, they usually come on out and stay out for a while.

Regarding shrimp, all I have are the red cherries and I just let them do their thing in a 2.5g tank loaded with guppy grass and light. They are really cool little animals.

When your shrimp were put into mine they were probably like, look guys we've been released into the wild...

This thread has me thinking that, as I'm restructuring my aquarium racks with different tanks, I will probably set up a 20g with as a shrimp tank.

Weird how a little discussion with like-minded individuals can send one off in a different direction. A couple weeks ago I was going to get rid of all my shrimp. Now I'm going to redo a tank just for them and add some compatible species.

Thanks Chelsea... And Alex W., if you're reading this, get ready for me to pop by some day with a bunch of questions!!!!!.
Ron

Nice looking setup. I need to do something like that for mine. Right now they are in a bare bottom pleco growout tank and they are reproducing like crazy. I don't know what to do with them all.

Apparently my shrimp are the rebels and don't reproduce... We'll see what happens when they get some calcium enriched veggie sticks. Thanks for the comments Ron and Betty.

im so tired of looking for some and that sucks yours dont breed ive heard of the multiplying frequently

Mine bred a couple times in their old 20gal before they had to be moved due to water quality issues(long story) So I really haven't given it enough time since they've been in their new tank to make any judgments at this time. When I first got the shrimp it took months before they started breeding so only time will tell. There's someone on CL that sell them 10 for $20, which is double what I paid but if you're desperate to get some...

Sometimes it's just about waiting for a good deal.

My cherry population is bouncing back now after being totally out-competed and nearly wiped out by malawa shrimp in their 10g tank a couple years back. I have them in 4 tanks now - the 3g Picotope where I put them after I got a fresh batch off of ebay last year, one half of a divided 10g, a 20g walstad, and a 1g walstad. They're breeding pretty well in the 3g (I have at least 3 or 4 berried females) and they're starting to breed in the 10g (1 berried), but nothing yet in the 20g or the 1g, though I do have saddled females in both of those.

My yellows have stalled out multiple times in the years I've kept them. I had a 2 - 3 month break in any breeding at all only a few months after I got them - they bred like mad when I first put them in my tanks. Now they breed pretty steadily and I rarely look for berried females anymore (too hard to find them anyways!).

I wish I knew what makes shrimp stop / start breeding. There are a million opinions on this out there, but in the end I imagine the reasons are as different as the people keeping them.

I hope they start breeding soon for you!

Do the saddles mean they're in breeding condition? I've got so many with saddles but no eggs. I remember when I stopped looking for berried females it's when I noticed my first baby during a water change. Maybe they're just waiting for some privacy lol. I'm so excited about the Malawa shrimp. I'm getting what was supposed to be the divided 20gal up but my make shift divider is not working according to plan. I'll figure something out. I could move my jewel and pleco out of their 20gal long into the high and then my divider would work in the 20gal long

Saddles are eggs sitting in the ovaries. Once a full contingent of eggs develops, the female gets into the mood and the males go nutty, swimming aimlessly all over the tank looking for her. I believe she molts after the deed (could be before...) and then lays the eggs, attaches them to her pelopods, and then they hang out there for about 3 weeks until they hatch, then they drop off and go about their teeny-weeny shrimp business.

I've had the same problem on occasion - saddles with no berries. My standard approach is to throw more floating and fast-growing stem plants (like guppy grass) into the tank to gobble up more nutrients. And the PH should be kept a bit above 7 (my snowballs / blue pearls have stopped breeding alltogether because the tank where I keep them with panda corys was over-crowded and the PH nose-dived). They won't be truly happy in a new tank, so it might just take a number of months for the bio film to develop to a point where they're comfortable?

I better setup a malawa shrimp eligibility questionnaire (for the shrimp themselves)! Lots of applicants, but not so many slots available.

You know the males have just been swimming around aimlessly non stop for at least a few days now, maybe they're getting ready for some shrimp sex... one can only hope for + =

As you saw from the pics the tank is drastically understocked, which is the way I like it so water params should be steady. Have your assassin snails produced offspring yet? I've had mine for quite some time and a couple would die every time they got moved to a new tank and now there's only two I think. Would you want mine if I decide to get rid of the couple that I have? They're not reproducing so there's no excitement and they're becoming a hassle for me because I can't keep other species of snails in the tank or critters that will eat snails. They're awesome snails but at this point their cons are out weighting their pros for me.

That's a good sign!

Yes. In fact, I now have assassins in my 29g that apparently rode in on some plants I moved in from the assassin / endler tank. A few weeks ago I first spotted a baby assassin cruising across the glass. Every time I think all of mine have died I'll see one or more meandering around their tank. They were breeding extremely well for me a couple of years ago, but now it's pretty sporadic I think. I'll certainly take any you don't want. I feed them my red rams

EEEEEEEEEEGGGGGGGSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think you're my good luck charm. I am so ecstatic. I would never had expected it from this shrimp because she's so small and colorless. Poor girl is carrying so many eggs her bum is dragging. How do you do water changes on your shrimp tank? I usually use a very small gravel vacuum so that there isn't so much suction to protect the shrimp.

Congrats!!!

I cut up a brine shrimp net and I use that rubber-banded over the business end of my aqueon water changer.

I'm "processing" plants for you and VsKitchen over lunch today - Ludwigia Repens, HM Baby Tears, and Sagittaria Subulata so far.

You're the best thanks!

my shrimp tank was really not productive untill i added cuddle fish bone to the filter and now it seems like my shrimp are thriving

Cuttlefish bone or any source of calcium will help. I also prefered cuttlefish bone because is the natural way to increase the GH and K of Seattle area soft water(cuttlefish bone is 98% CaCO3). It's a good idea to buy a KH and Gh tester to make sure you don't go overboard.
For me the first cause of shrimp death were the water changes. They don't like larger water changes. I do maximum 10% WC. I don't vacuum the gravel, but from time to time I use a turkey baster to remove debris and poo from the gravel.

flo77 wrote:...
For me the first cause of shrimp death were the water changes. They don't like larger water changes. ...

That's weird -- I do large water changes -- from 50% to 75% or more because it's a growout tank for plecos.

Well Betty maybe you are lucky or very good in maintain the water chemistry the same during a large water change. I've lost my yellow colony except 7 shrimp after a water change. That was when I've decided to do small WC(10%, every 1-2 weeks). Since then my colony is very productive. It is a 10gallon, heavy planted tank, 1 sponge filter and a small canister filter(Tom Rapids C-80)

Lucky for sure and the water chemistry probably doesn't change much since I do those large water changes about three times a week.

I do probably 40% every other week or sometimes sooner if there's a lot of evaporation. No shrimp deaths from the water changes but I did get a lot of deaths when I couldn't get the water clean enough because of all the decor in the tank.

I've done up to 90% water changes in my yellow shrimp tank without any issues. I typically do 50% water changes every other week on all of my tanks and none of my critters seem to mind. Granted, I am on pretty soft well water with nothing added to it.

My yellows and malawa both even survive in my canister filters. I pulled an adult yellow out of my XP1 the last time I changed the filter; I have no idea how it got past the brine shrimp net over the intake... and there was only the one, very pale shrimp. My cascade 1000 on my 29g is always teeming with malawa shrimp. I use toule over that one instead of brine shrimp netting.

So, I got my malawa shrimp from pbmaxx on Saturday - thanks again! And they are settling in very nicely. Active, active - just cruising around the tank. Nice looking, healthy shrimp. Ratlova - I'm sure the malawa & yellows will do well for you. Share a pic when you can! I've tried taking a pic of the malawa, but have yet to get a good one. I'll keep trying though

I'm glad they're doing well for you.