Questions about starting/converting a shrimp tank

[abugguy]

Hello all,

First, thanks for this very informative website and forum. I've read through many posts already and have learned a lot. I work at an insect zoo/butterfly house and I plan on taking one of our existing water insect tanks and converting it to a shrimp display. At my last job I maintained over 2000 gallons of reef and freshwater tanks, and I have a lot of experience with saltwater shrimp but basically no experience with freshwater shrimp.

The tank/vivarium is large, roughly 200g in my estimation but only about half is water, the other half a planted terrestrial environment above 'sea level'. It has been running continuously for years and up until recently when I took over has not been cleaned much so algae is well established. There are not currently any plants growing in the water and the current lighting is not great, but I want to add some Anubis, Marimo moss balls, and some other low light requirement plants. I also plan on aquascaping with some driftwood coming up out of the water, petrified rock, etc.

The current substrate is deep, and consists of pea sized gravel. If you were building the exhibit, what would be your ideal subtrate? There is a cave/overhang that slopes around the back of the tank in a semi circle that is built up fake rock so there are dark areas of the tank with a lot of texture for algae to form and the shrimp to hang onto.

We currently have water striders in the exhibit and thus have pretty slow turn over of water so they aren't sucked down the drain. Water has to past through a gravel 'wall' before going down the drain. All filtration then takes place in the sump. Do you think this would be ok for a shrimp setup? The water is about one foot deep, then 4-5 inches of gravel. (Pretty deep sand bed, I didn't set it up, I may remove some of the gravel)

I'm currently thinking of adding 4 types of shrimp- Cherrys, Orange Eyed Blue Tigers, Tangerine Tigers, and Malawa Cardinia shrimp. Do you forsee any issues with keeping these 4 species together, either due to agression or cross breeding risks?

I want to add enough that they are easily seen by our guests but not so much that they are overcrowded. Also, how fast can I expect them to breed? I don't want to spent a lot of money on livestock only to have them become overcrowded soon after from breeding.

I've seen some people mention keeping fancy guppies with them in the tank, but also read that they are prone to picking off the juvenile shrimp. How bad an idea is it to have the guppies with them as well? It isn't a deal breaker, but I'd love to have some other fish in the tank with them if possible.

I know this is a ton of questions, especially for a first post, but if you can help me out I'd really appreciate it. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity of using the shrimp to teach our visitors about freshwater ecosystems and I think they'll be a big hit.

Cheers!
-BugGuy

[Mustafa]

Hello BugGuy! You've definitely come to the right place with your questions. It seems like the tank conditions and the way the filter prevents little animals from being sucked in would work just fine for shrimp. Substrate is not that important..you can leave the gravel. You would really need a few hundred shrimp in a large setup like that for the visitors to even notice them. As for the shrimp you plan on getting, both types of "tigers" can interbreed. The rest are fine. Depending on your conditions, you could have young within 3-4 weeks if you have already well-fed adults. Otherwise, it may take 2-3 months or longer. If the conditions are not to their liking they won't breed...and probably just die slowly. If a shrimp is happy, it breeds.

As far as guppies go...it all depends on how your guppies were brought up. I have a 10 gallon tank here with literally over 100 "Gendlers" (really beautiful looking Endler's-guppy hybrids) which live with several hundred red cherry shrimp. Both species are reproducing. The bottom has a moss carpet that covers three quarters of the tank. That's where the shrimp hang out in addition to the surface of the sponge filter and some rock hiding areas. The fish grew up with their young in the same tank, so they don't chase small things, including shrimp. Still, you only see about 20-30 shrimp out of the several hundred during the day and you never see the babies (the babies hide all day). I see the young after dark when I shine a flashlight into their tank. So, just throwing random guppies in there could be risky as they may chase down and harass even adult shrimp. Fish from a colony that already lives with a breeding group of shrimp is your best option if you want colorful fish in there.

Hope this helps. And please keep us updated on your project. Pictures would be great!

[abugguy]

Thank you for your input Mustafa!

If they can interbreed would you suggest not getting both Tiger species/varieties? Would the offspring look undesirable if they did cross?

I don't think I mentioned it before but I'm also looking at some of the Sulawesi shrimp as well. I'll try and take some pictures and keep a picture trail of my progress.

Cheers,
BugGuy

[Mustafa]

They would not necessarily look undesirable. Some actually may end up looking quite attractive. As long as you keep track of the hybrid heritage of the offspring so they are not distributed to hobbyists as actual species, I don't see any problems with that. As for Sulawesi shrimp...I'd stay away from them for now, unless you can get captive-bred animals...and only after you have gathered more experience with other shrimp. Pretty much all available Sulawesi shrimp in stores are from the wild, and almost all of them die in the end. As do most other wild-caught shrimp.