the journey of my tank..

[lifeofalez]

so i have been wanting one of those small tiny shrimp ecosystems forever. my wife was against it at first because when she first met me i had an african clawed frog from one of those grow a frog kits and he would have his love song call a lot of nights and ever since then its turned her off aquatic animals. i had my frog for over 10 years but sadly had to find him a new bigger home that could give him all the room he needed. i finally got her to say maybe on the shrimp ecosystem but after doing more research i came across this site and realized how bad those are for the shrimp. back to the drawing board i went to try and find a way to convince my wife to let me get a small tank. i went through all the posts i could on here for the past few weeks and told her last night about them and she still said maybe so this is huge! i noticed some here have big tanks and some in gallon size or a bit smaller glass jars. she seemed to be game for a 2.5 gallon sized Anchor Hocking jar with 2 gallons of water in it. i would love to learn others opinions and possibly see pictures of your tanks. plus was wondering if its smart to keep the lid on or off? or possibly drill holes in it? i have a cat so it wouldnt be a good idea to keep the lid off all the time unless i want wet paw prints all over the place lol. i plan on starting it fingers crossed before next month and have the shrimp in it before the end of the summer so looking for like an august time frame for ordering the shrimp. I would love to start with 10 shrimp and 10 snails and both the Supershrimp Mossball and Supershrimp Macroalgae all i would buy from this website. Does that seem like too much for 2 gal? i know they shrimp and snails would be good for that size but what about the mossball and macroalgea? And are any aquarium decorations okay to put in as well? would love to put some kind of fake wood looking thing to have them swim in and out of or would you recommend lava rocks only?

any tips would be amazing i am hoping to show her tons of pictures of how pretty they are and letting her pick the jar. any ideas on how i could convince her so i can get this set up sooner? would love to see your tanks as well so please feel free to post pics of your tanks so i can show her!

i plan on updating this thread and spamming my instagram all throughout the journey of set up and stages of the tank. really excited to finally be able to have these kind of shrimp!!

[Gut Funk]

Grats on getting the ok! I had to get a work tank to prove that the shrimp were pretty much self sustaining and easy to care for before I was allowed to have a small tank at home.

Here's an image of it after a year+ of having shrimp and algae (no snails)



Thats a 1 gallon Hex. Make sure you do include air holes in the top because air exchange is important, make sure there are enough for proper air exchange. My aquarium has a 1 inch X 1 inch square hole in the top for airflow.

I started with 15 shrimp in the 1 gallon, and in December 4 females had clutches of eggs that all hatched. Now there's 15 shrimp + 10 or so smaller offspring from the December egg laying. I consider it a pretty successful set up! I've fed them 1 fish flake maybe 5 times since I got them last year, and they are thriving just fine. 10 shrimp for a 2 gallon is perfect, and if they are content they will happily make more for the tank.

As for extras added to the tank, I just bought a small decoration from the pet store that they could hide in if they wanted, and a few (clean) seashells.

The hardest part is waiting the month it takes to cycle the aquarium. But having a cycled aquarium is worth the wait!

[lifeofalez]

Grats on getting the ok! I had to get a work tank to prove that the shrimp were pretty much self sustaining and easy to care for before I was allowed to have a small tank at home.

thank you!! haha i am surprised my wife didnt go that route with me!

Here's an image of it after a year+ of having shrimp and algae (no snails)

curious as to your opinion on snails, like why no snails for you? i love the shape of your tank its wicked cool!

thank you for the tips!!

The hardest part is waiting the month it takes to cycle the aquarium. But having a cycled aquarium is worth the wait!

yes thats the one part i am worried about most but i will tell myself the best things are worth the wait!

[Gut Funk]

I was just being cheap on the snail part when I set this up. I bought snails for my home tank though, so i might transfer a couple over to the work tank later. My work tank has lots of algae growing on the walls of the tank and its probably because I don't have snails to help keep it down. I don't really feel like I need snails, because I could just use some algae tank cleaners to clean the walls, the snails would probably just get it done without scaring the shrimp.

[lifeofalez]

ah got ya lol. i am a bit nervous about doing snails just for fear they will over take the tank but reading all i have in this forum it took away some of my worry. i just dont want to have a few shrimp and tons of snails lol. i would like it the other way around tons of shrimp and a few snails.

[sliphorn]

so i have been wanting one of those small tiny shrimp ecosystems forever. my wife was against it at first because when she first met me i had an african clawed frog from one of those grow a frog kits and he would have his love song call a lot of nights and ever since then its turned her off aquatic animals. i had my frog for over 10 years but sadly had to find him a new bigger home that could give him all the room he needed. i finally got her to say maybe on the shrimp ecosystem but after doing more research i came across this site and realized how bad those are for the shrimp. back to the drawing board i went to try and find a way to convince my wife to let me get a small tank. i went through all the posts i could on here for the past few weeks and told her last night about them and she still said maybe so this is huge! i noticed some here have big tanks and some in gallon size or a bit smaller glass jars. she seemed to be game for a 2.5 gallon sized Anchor Hocking jar with 2 gallons of water in it. i would love to learn others opinions and possibly see pictures of your tanks. plus was wondering if its smart to keep the lid on or off? or possibly drill holes in it? i have a cat so it wouldnt be a good idea to keep the lid off all the time unless i want wet paw prints all over the place lol. i plan on starting it fingers crossed before next month and have the shrimp in it before the end of the summer so looking for like an august time frame for ordering the shrimp. I would love to start with 10 shrimp and 10 snails and both the Supershrimp Mossball and Supershrimp Macroalgae all i would buy from this website. Does that seem like too much for 2 gal? i know they shrimp and snails would be good for that size but what about the mossball and macroalgea? And are any aquarium decorations okay to put in as well? would love to put some kind of fake wood looking thing to have them swim in and out of or would you recommend lava rocks only?

any tips would be amazing i am hoping to show her tons of pictures of how pretty they are and letting her pick the jar. any ideas on how i could convince her so i can get this set up sooner? would love to see your tanks as well so please feel free to post pics of your tanks so i can show her!

i plan on updating this thread and spamming my instagram all throughout the journey of set up and stages of the tank. really excited to finally be able to have these kind of shrimp!!

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The 2 gal Anchor Hocking Heritage Jar with the glass lid works perfect. You can add three adhesive silicone door bumpers to the under side of the lid which raises it a bit to allow for air exchange. That's what I've done to mine and it works a charm. The 2.5 gal Anchor Hocking Montana Jar has a metal lid and sits over the jar, so you'd have to drill holes in it for air exchange, and the metal lid will not let any light in either, so I'd go with their Heritage jar with the glass lid. Either way, you want a lid of some kind to reduce evaporation and keep out debris and cats. Just follow the step by step instructions from this website and you'll be good to go.

After the tank has cycled, typically 3 to 5 weeks sometimes more, adding 10 shrimp, 10 snails, supershrimp mossball, and supershrimp macroalgae will be perfect! Do it, you'll love it, and so will she.

As for decorations, I use aragonite for the substrate and a small pile of lava rock from the local home improvement center. It looks great and the shrimp are active, breeding, and happy.

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[lifeofalez]

The 2 gal Anchor Hocking Heritage Jar with the glass lid works perfect. You can add three adhesive silicone door bumpers to the under side of the lid which raises it a bit to allow for air exchange. That's what I've done to mine and it works a charm. The 2.5 gal Anchor Hocking Montana Jar has a metal lid and sits over the jar, so you'd have to drill holes in it for air exchange, and the metal lid will not let any light in either, so I'd go with their Heritage jar with the glass lid. Either way, you want a lid of some kind to reduce evaporation and keep out debris and cats. Just follow the step by step instructions from this website and you'll be good to go.

oh thats an awesome idea with the door bumper things! sounds like i am going to be doing a target run in the near future!

After the tank has cycled, typically 3 to 5 weeks sometimes more, adding 10 shrimp, 10 snails, supershrimp mossball, and supershrimp macroalgae will be perfect! Do it, you'll love it, and so will she.

how long after set up of the water and everything would you recommend i wait and put in the snails, supershrimp mossball and macroalgea?

As for decorations, I use aragonite for the substrate and a small pile of lava rock from the local home improvement center. It looks great and the shrimp are active, breeding, and happy.

i am a bit worried with the lava rock situation just because i have seen where some have things in them and it harms the tank. any recommendations on brand/company of lava rock bought from a home improvement store like you mentioned that i wouldnt have to worry about that kind of thing with?

[Gut Funk]

I was also a bit hesitant to add lava rock just because theres no source listed from the rocks I saw at the store when I was shopping for my home tank. To me the ones i saw looked artificially made and had no indication they were natural.

Also just fyi, I found a picture of my tank a few days before I added shrimp so you can see just how much growth the aquarium gets over time




Edit: the mossball was removed and replaced with algae purchased from the supershrimp store once it arrived.

[sliphorn]

The 2 gal Anchor Hocking Heritage Jar with the glass lid works perfect. You can add three adhesive silicone door bumpers to the under side of the lid which raises it a bit to allow for air exchange. That's what I've done to mine and it works a charm. The 2.5 gal Anchor Hocking Montana Jar has a metal lid and sits over the jar, so you'd have to drill holes in it for air exchange, and the metal lid will not let any light in either, so I'd go with their Heritage jar with the glass lid. Either way, you want a lid of some kind to reduce evaporation and keep out debris and cats. Just follow the step by step instructions from this website and you'll be good to go.

oh thats an awesome idea with the door bumper things! sounds like i am going to be doing a target run in the near future!

After the tank has cycled, typically 3 to 5 weeks sometimes more, adding 10 shrimp, 10 snails, supershrimp mossball, and supershrimp macroalgae will be perfect! Do it, you'll love it, and so will she.

how long after set up of the water and everything would you recommend i wait and put in the snails, supershrimp mossball and macroalgea?

As for decorations, I use aragonite for the substrate and a small pile of lava rock from the local home improvement center. It looks great and the shrimp are active, breeding, and happy.

i am a bit worried with the lava rock situation just because i have seen where some have things in them and it harms the tank. any recommendations on brand/company of lava rock bought from a home improvement store like you mentioned that i wouldnt have to worry about that kind of thing with?

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Wait until you see algae growing on the glass or rocks or substrate, and you'll be good to go. It can take a while and be sure to not put it in a window that gets direct sunlight because that is too much light and the algae can go bonkers, and it can really heat up the tank to unsafe temps. A north facing window is great or if it's not near a window use a light of some kind on a 12/12 cycle with a simple timer.

I got a .5 cu foot of red lava rock at the home improvement center for low bucks and it is real lava rock. The brand is called Kolor Scape, but there are others. A .5 cu foot is enough for multiple tanks. I rinsed the rocks thoroughly in scalding hot water and I've never had a problem of any kind in multiple tanks. You could boil them if you'd like to make sure everything is super sanitary.

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[lifeofalez]

Wait until you see algae growing on the glass or rocks or substrate, and you'll be good to go. It can take a while and be sure to not put it in a window that gets direct sunlight because that is too much light and the algae can go bonkers, and it can really heat up the tank to unsafe temps. A north facing window is great or if it's not near a window use a light of some kind on a 12/12 cycle with a simple timer.

yeah i know to wait for the shrimp but wondering about the snails, mossball and macroalgea i do not want to put them in too early especially the snails as they are all living things and do not want to do anything to harm them.

[lifeofalez]

Also just fyi, I found a picture of my tank a few days before I added shrimp so you can see just how much growth the aquarium gets over time

that is sooo cool!!! ahhh i am so excited for this journey lol.

[sliphorn]

Wait until you see algae growing on the glass or rocks or substrate, and you'll be good to go. It can take a while and be sure to not put it in a window that gets direct sunlight because that is too much light and the algae can go bonkers, and it can really heat up the tank to unsafe temps. A north facing window is great or if it's not near a window use a light of some kind on a 12/12 cycle with a simple timer.

yeah i know to wait for the shrimp but wondering about the snails, mossball and macroalgea i do not want to put them in too early especially the snails as they are all living things and do not want to do anything to harm them.

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After the tank has cycled you can put shrimp, snails, moss, and macroalgae in. The bioload of 10 shrimp and 10 small snails will not overwhelm a 2 gallon cycled tank. Do Not Feed....That is key. Typically, there will be enough algae and biofilm in the tank to sustain the creatures. It's all about balance.

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[lifeofalez]

After the tank has cycled you can put shrimp, snails, moss, and macroalgae in. The bioload of 10 shrimp and 10 small snails will not overwhelm a 2 gallon cycled tank. Do Not Feed....That is key. Typically, there will be enough algae and biofilm in the tank to sustain the creatures. It's all about balance.

okay so you would recommend waiting to put everything living in it till after it cycled? I thought I read somewhere that you can put the moss, macroalgae and snails in before it cycled?

[sliphorn]

After the tank has cycled you can put shrimp, snails, moss, and macroalgae in. The bioload of 10 shrimp and 10 small snails will not overwhelm a 2 gallon cycled tank. Do Not Feed....That is key. Typically, there will be enough algae and biofilm in the tank to sustain the creatures. It's all about balance.

okay so you would recommend waiting to put everything living in it till after it cycled? I thought I read somewhere that you can put the moss, macroalgae and snails in before it cycled?

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You can put moss and macroalgae in before the cycle is complete and doing so "might" speed up the cycle because of the bacterial organisms attached to them. But why pay for two shipping charges if you don't have to. If you add the shrimp, snails, moss and algae to a well cycled tank you'll be fine because, again, the bioload is small. I think it is important to wait for the appearance of algae and biofilm to provide a food source for the snails and shrimp. Do it however you want, I just know that waiting for several weeks before adding anything is a perfectly good way to go. I've done it with several tanks and have had no problems. The waiting is difficult because we all like to see creatures or greenery in the tanks asap. Perhaps I'm overly cautious, but all I know is that the way I do it works, though there certainly is more than one way to skin a cat! Have at it!

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[lifeofalez]

You can put moss and macroalgae in before the cycle is complete and doing so "might" speed up the cycle because of the bacterial organisms attached to them. But why pay for two shipping charges if you don't have to. If you add the shrimp, snails, moss and algae to a well cycled tank you'll be fine because, again, the bioload is small. I think it is important to wait for the appearance of algae and biofilm to provide a food source for the snails and shrimp. Do it however you want, I just know that waiting for several weeks before adding anything is a perfectly good way to go. I've done it with several tanks and have had no problems. The waiting is difficult because we all like to see creatures or greenery in the tanks asap. Perhaps I'm overly cautious, but all I know is that the way I do it works, though there certainly is more than one way to skin a cat! Have at it!

Ah yes I get you! I no matter what have to do two orders from this site so was going to do the salt from here with the snails, moss and algea and then once it was ready get the shrimp so now I will just do the salt, the moss and algea and then when its finally ready order the snails and shrimp together! Thank you!!