Hello all,
I have been keeping around 40+ (at least from when I last counted) Opae Ulas for nearly 2 years now in a 2.5 gallon that has a small sponge filter. The tank has a decent amount of algae developed (I do throw in a small piece of Omega One Veggie Rounds or Micro Pellets every few weeks) and has a layer of darker gravel, lava rock, and a fake plant. It also receives indirect sunlight from my window so I do not supply any artificial lighting. None of them have bred yet and from general consensus on the forum, it seems that having no filter is the way to go? The small sponge filter right now has very little flow, just a few small bubbles. However, I am worried that if I remove the sponge filter it will cause the tank to crash since I will be removing beneficial bacteria. Can anyone give me any input?
Supershrimp Tank Advice
Moderator: Mustafa
Re: Supershrimp Tank Advice
It won't crash.
Since you have an established tank, there will be beneficial bacteria in your water as well. You should be safe removing the sponge filter. The bacteria in the sponge will have adapted to the bioload from the shrimp. (There's not a lot of bioload from the shrimp, so not a lot of bacteria.) There are also bacteria on the surfaces of the tank and in the gravel. Definitely, in the gravel.
You don't say what your air supply is, but when my sponge filters (in my fish tanks) get clogged they dwindle to a very small trickle of bubbles. That also means there's not a lot of water flow and very few bacteria in the sponge.
When you remove the sponge, some water and bacteria will fall out and settle in the gravel.
As far as, reproduction goes... I'm no expert, but my guess is that you're overfeeding. If you have algae in the tank, you shouldn't need to feed them. Let them eat the algae then feed them once every month or two after it's gone.
Since you have an established tank, there will be beneficial bacteria in your water as well. You should be safe removing the sponge filter. The bacteria in the sponge will have adapted to the bioload from the shrimp. (There's not a lot of bioload from the shrimp, so not a lot of bacteria.) There are also bacteria on the surfaces of the tank and in the gravel. Definitely, in the gravel.
You don't say what your air supply is, but when my sponge filters (in my fish tanks) get clogged they dwindle to a very small trickle of bubbles. That also means there's not a lot of water flow and very few bacteria in the sponge.
When you remove the sponge, some water and bacteria will fall out and settle in the gravel.
As far as, reproduction goes... I'm no expert, but my guess is that you're overfeeding. If you have algae in the tank, you shouldn't need to feed them. Let them eat the algae then feed them once every month or two after it's gone.
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StudentFishKeeper
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Re: Supershrimp Tank Advice
Thank you for the response! My sponge filter is run by an air pump as well. I'm thinking of unplugging the filter first and then leaving the filter in there for a few days before taking it out. Do you think that would be better?
Re: Supershrimp Tank Advice
I don't think it matters, but if you're worried about it yeah unplug it and let it sit for a few days. It won't hurt anything. There may be some bacteria on the surface of the sponge that the shrimp will eat.
Re: Supershrimp Tank Advice
You can just directly remove the sponge filter. Like Mike.d said...nothing will crash. And soon you'll probably see reproduction partly because of it. 
Re: Supershrimp Tank Advice
Hi StudentFishKeeper, how's your tank doing without the filter?StudentFishKeeper wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:02 am it seems that having no filter is the way to go?