uh,oh baby shrimp at risk!

[Monkanater]

i have a power filter that can suck up my shrimp. the older ones are fine the female is going to have babys some and iam worried that they will be suckup into the filter and never to be seen again. any suggetsins on how to handle this problem?

[Bradimus]

Switch to a sponge filter.

[51Cornell]

cut up a fine-meshed net (or buy some fine-meshed netting at the fabric store) and put it over the intake valve (like a sock, you might want to do a little sewing to tailor it more snugly against the valve) or put a a filter sponge over the intake valve. Or some filter floss and wrap it around the valve, secure it with a rubber band or string (or sew it on). Just make sure you keep an eye on whatever you use so when it begins to get clogged, you can rinse it off (or put a new one on).

[TKD]

Hi,

I have a very easy solution.
I use a half a sponge that that are normally used for Aquaclear.
I make and X with some scissors cutting half way down the sponge.
Then just shove it over the filet intake.

I have found that this works very well for baby livebearers.
The only thing is that you need to squeeze it clean every so often.

TKD

PS I have tried the fine-meshed net/panty hose and they clog up to fast.

[51Cornell]

Using a sponge over the intake valve would probably also act as an additional biofilter (whereas the netting wouldn't), which is a good thing. It would give the shrimp somewhere else to look for food particles too. People use this method in baby fish tanks too--I think there is an actual power filter that has a sponge thing at the end of it's intake valve (can't remember what the make it, I see it sometimes in the fish catalogs) just for this purpose.

[Monkanater]

o.k. thanks ill try that.

[Betta]

I do the exact same as TKD does.

The Aquaclear sponge also stops little bits of plants from being sucked into the filter too.