Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Hi everyone!

I'm a newbie to shrimp but have been keeping tropical fish for about 18 months now. My shrimp tank is about 6 weeks old and has 1 Yellow Sakura, 2 Red Sakura and 3 Blue Velvet Dreams. I did start with three of each colour plus three Chocolate Sakura but have had some losses, due, I believe to failed moults and me overfeeding.

My red female had her first batch of babies on Saturday (rather fitting for easter I thought!) and today I have seen them for the first time. I've only counted two, possibly three but they are so cute!

One of my blue females is due to have her babies any day now.

My question is this. My gravel is looking rather dirty and ideally I would like to siphon it but I am worried about the babies and about upsetting expectant mum. What is the best way to maintain your tank cleaning regieme with babies in the tank?

Incidentally, my tank is 21 litres, heated to 78*F (26*C) is running a sponge filter (250l/hour) and has coarse gravel as substrate, java fern, egeria densa, slate caves and moss balls as decor.

The tank is (obviously) cycled as it was set up using filter media, water and decor from my main fish tank.

Any tips or help would be appreciated!

FC76

Hey there, and welcome!

The answer is really easy. You simply don't siphon the gravel. There is really no way to siphon the gravel and prevent shrimp babies from getting sucked up given that the babies are about as big as what you're attempting to siphon. Plus, "gunk" in a shrimp tank is not a bad thing. Shrimp actually eat it (or what grows on it). I've been keeping shrimp since 2003 and fish since I was 8 years old and never siphoned any tank. It's simply not necessary.

Thanks for that!

Presumably, doing weekly water changes is fine as I can do these without disturbing the gravel?

FC76

Did my water change today and although I avoided the gravel, still sucked up 5 babies!!

Took some pics while I could see them! They are four days old.

Thanks for the pics! I don't recommend weekly water changes for small populations of shrimp. And if you do...put a small sponge (used for sponge filters) on the intake of your hose or whatever you're using and still try to avoid the shrimp. Replacing twice the evaporated water once in a while is good enough.