How many Ghost shrimp in 2 gallon? Help

Used · Post by **Used** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:13 pm

Hi I am a newbie at shrimp keeping and was thinking of setting up a 2 gallon shrimp only tank. I have some questions if you guys don't mind?

1.) How many Ghost shrimp can go in a 2 gallon tank?
2.) Is a under gravel filter okay or should I get a small penn-plex filter that is used for small tanks and would this be enough filtration?
3.) Do i need a heater if so what temp for Ghost shrimp?
4.) What type of substrate I would like to use fine gravel.
5.) Can I feed the ghosties flake food and is there any treat for them?
6.) How long would I have to cycle my tank before I can get shrimp if I use bottled water?
7.) If there is anything else I need Please do say.
8.) Could I put a live plant in the tank to like a Java Fern or Anubias?
Sorry for so many questions. I just want to make sure my shrimp have a happy and long lived life.

cro117 · Post by **cro117** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:37 pm

it would be advisable to get a larger tank. i wouldn't recomend a heater for that small of a tank as long as you can keep room temperature steady. as for the food, ghost are scavengers and will eat almost anything. flakes work well though you should give them variety. a treat might be live, or frozen, blood worms(black worms). also, you should defenetly use live plants for a tank that size, plus the shrimp will enjoy them.

unfortunatly i don't think that this setup will work. if you get the shrimp at a local fish store, especialy walmart, they will most likely die in a week anyway. however even with healthy shrimp i think your small setup will encounter too many extremes.

Used · Post by **Used** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 11:13 pm

I thought you could keep ghost shrimp in a 2 gallon because they produce a small bio-load.

chlorophyll · Post by **chlorophyll** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 12:33 am

I don't know what is proper stocking density for ghost shrimp with regard to bioload.

But there's an interesting dynamic in keeping benthic creatures like shrimp. Because as far as just space goes it can be less dependent on actual gallonage and more dependent on crawling area. So for example if you were to have a stacked arrangement of rocks (especially cycled or algae-housing rocks) up and down the back and sides of a tank, small shrimp will have many many more places to crawl (they will also appreciate increased opportunities to escape light when they want). So it in effect may have greatly increased the habitat 'size' ... even though ironically, in actuality you've decreased true volume of water in the tank because the rocks take up space.

It's kind of like biological filtration.... the bacteria don't necessarily need more volume, but more ridges, cracks, and dimples for extra surfaces to grow on. Of course with shrimp it's definitely not to that extreme, and bioload is a concern. And the effect will vary with species.

Sorry if this was all just common ideas to you. But I think it's kind of neat to think about different habitats that could be set up for some shrimp

theshrimp_123 · Post by **theshrimp_123** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:47 pm

Maybe 20

Used · Post by **Used** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 7:52 pm

Are you serious? even I think that is a high number.

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 7:20 pm

Used wrote:Are you serious? even I think that is a high number.

20 is way too much for 2 gallon. If you put 2 in there that's perfect...maybe 3 tops.

Mustafa

torch · Post by **torch** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 12:48 pm

What I do is let algae grow out some, Then add a few at a time until they keep it under control (with shrimp pellet feedings of coarse). Just what I do