Starting out / Mason Jar Tank

[Not_a_pro]

Hi, I am planning on starting a Super Shrimp jar aquarium type thing. There will be 2 jars, one that holds 6 shrimp, and one that holds 4 shrimp. Each jar is half a gallon. I am gifting one jar to my mom for a belated mothers day. I would like to try to get it to her asap, so within a week or 2 after mothers day. I started the cycling process yesterday. (Some crushed coral substrate in the tank too) Is there anything I could put other than fish food to quicken the process and grow algae quickly? Also, if I use some of the water that comes with the shrimp and macro algae, is it safe? I feel like this could quicken the cycling process. And I could let the shrimp stay in their original container for another week or so. I normally never use the water the marine animals come with to reduce the chance of bringing disease, but considering there is only one species in each tank and very little can live in brackish water, is that a possibility? And finally, I was planning on putting some drift wood and cholla wood and a personalized engraved wooden product. This wooden product, to my knowledge, is pure wood (unspecified type) and I was wondering if anyone think a layer of silicone covering this product is necessary to protect the shrimp. I was also recently told to not put cholla wood or any other dead organic matter into the jars as it will slowly kill them. If this is true, would you guys recommend me dipping the wooden matter in 100% silicone (mildewcide free)?

Thank you very much for listening, have a great day!

(p.s. if anyone has any recommendations of small decorative hardscape and other products that could fit inside a 3 inch opening, please let me know!)
(Also, for the cycling, I used 2.3 ounces of "Instant Ocean Sea Salt" which "Creates the Ideal Marine Aquarium" in an old 1 gallon tank that I'm using for cycling. I reached a specific gravity of 1.020. I understand it is about 0.005 too high and will try to lower it. Just want to make sure this is a safe amount of salt to use.)
(And last question, is there a way to (humanely) prevent the shrimp from reproducing or the eggs from maturing?)

[Varanus]

From what I've heard once they reach a certain population density the shrimp will stop reproducing. However, other than making sure you only have males or only have females, I don't think there is a way to make them not reproduce at all if the shrimp aren't at that density.

Speeding through cycling is not recommended, and especially with such exceptionally small containers of water it will be very easy to mess up even with these hardy shrimp. But others may have more advice to offer, as I started out with a tank that was around six gallons and later moved to twenty. I've also never tried to silicone wood, so no idea how hard it may be.

[Not_a_pro]

From what I've heard once they reach a certain population density the shrimp will stop reproducing. However, other than making sure you only have males or only have females, I don't think there is a way to make them not reproduce at all if the shrimp aren't at that density.

That is understandable, the reason I'm asking is because I am giving the jar with 4 shrimp to my mom for mothers day. So each shrimp is a member of the family. As I'm in college, she can always look inside and at least have a shrimp version of me

Speeding through cycling is not recommended, and especially with such exceptionally small containers of water it will be very easy to mess up even with these hardy shrimp. But others may have more advice to offer, as I started out with a tank that was around six gallons and later moved to twenty. I've also never tried to silicone wood, so no idea how hard it may be.

And that kind of sucks to be honest. I wanted to get her the present within the month. But if it is safer for the shrimp, then I guess so be it. Though would purchasing algae earlier on and let the colony establish itself still be a valid option? Or will the algae die off before the proper cycling technique and time has elapsed? I think the silicone shouldn't be too difficult to put on wood. I ordered 10 ounces and will fill a box of it and just dip the wood in it. It will just look less realistic so I wanted to see if anyone agreed wood is dangerous for the shrimp. Thank you for your help though!

[Dch48]

i don't know if the wood is dangerous or not but I think a half gallon container could house up to 25 shrimp so I'm sure only having 4 will not be the case for too long. They will reproduce if there is enough food.

[Not_a_pro]

i don't know if the wood is dangerous or not but I think a half gallon container could house up to 25 shrimp so I'm sure only having 4 will not be the case for too long. They will reproduce if there is enough food.

Dang ok, I understand. Thank you for letting me know the general density cap.

[Super Jess]

The jar size leaves little room for error, and tiny changes in the water parameters will have enormous effects. Arguably the slow cycle is even more important to provide tank stability in this instance. Definitely don't put wood or cholla in your tank. It will slowly decompose and crash the tank. I would err on the side of caution and leave out the silicone-dipped wood as well. I have no idea if the silicone coating will render it completely inert. Coral skeleton, giant barnacles, and sea urchin skeleton are some things you could use to decorate. Superglue is also safe, so maybe you could get crafty and use it to write on a safe surface, and add some black sand to create a personalized message?

[Not_a_pro]

The jar size leaves little room for error, and tiny changes in the water parameters will have enormous effects. Arguably the slow cycle is even more important to provide tank stability in this instance. Definitely don't put wood or cholla in your tank. It will slowly decompose and crash the tank. I would err on the side of caution and leave out the silicone-dipped wood as well. I have no idea if the silicone coating will render it completely inert.

I am planning to, when the algae is growing, to just check all the water parameters in the tank. Once it is good to go to just pour it in. I don't think I will be doing anything with the water to change the water parameters. And I looked it up online, pure 100% silicone without the mildewcide becomes 100% inert, so I just have to make sure every little bit is covered. (If I even decide to put wood in it anymore)

Coral skeleton, giant barnacles, and sea urchin skeleton are some things you could use to decorate. Superglue is also safe, so maybe you could get crafty and use it to write on a safe surface, and add some black sand to create a personalized message?

And that is honestly an AMAZING idea, I might do that with the superglue and the sand. Put something on the inside of the jar. And I will look into the other decorations you mentioned. Thank you for letting me know! Appreciate your input

[SuperProofer]

I wouldn't risk it with the wood. I have small jar tanks as well (0.25 gal) and while I've mostly been able to keep things stable, there is little room for error and not a lot of recourse should something go wrong. I started with 11 shrimp in the tank about 3 years ago and, even though there have been a couple births along the way, I'm down to about 7 shrimp (that I can count) and the babies don't seem to make it. I think I've only got 2 of them left.

At one point, the water became fouled, I believe, by contaminants in the air due to house construction and I lost several shrimp. But after that stabilized, I lost a couple more and I thought it was due to low algae growth. So I fed them just about 3 times over a couple of months. After that, I noticed that my substrate got extremely "dirty". So I bought some snails to try to clean it up, but that's not working. So, yes, these small tanks are very sensitive.

For decorations, I kept it to shells, lava rock, some colored glass pebbles, and a sea fan (which I'm starting to wonder if it's breaking down causing my substrate problems). But, of course, they had to be small enough to fit through the opening. You could also use corral. To get my sea fan into the jar, I soaked it in water for a couple days to make it flexible. Then I just folded it up and popped it in.

But all this is just to say, don't take any chances with these small tanks.

[Not_a_pro]

@superproofer Thank you very much for your input. I would love to hear about your experience with such low water. If all goes well, I wanted to give pre made jars of these guys as presents. I was thinking making some with jars that have .25 of a gallon of water. Of course it was more back of my mind as I want to make sure I can keep the ones in a half gallon alive, but it is definitely a thought. But yes, if you have any tips you learned through trial and error I would love to hear about it, even if I don't follow through with such minimal water, I'm sure some information could help with my 1/2 gallon jar.

By the way, regarding the dirty substrate, personal experience with freshwater shrimp has taught me to use a turkey baster and suck in any substrate, washing it, and putting it back with the turkey baster leaves comparatively little disturbance to the rest of the aquarium. Granted you have a very small set up so you'd have to be more careful. Maybe use airline tubing instead which is more likely to suck the actual 'dirt' if it is not stuck to the substrate. Or a very long dropper which I think I have seen online.

[SuperProofer]

That's another issue with small tanks. I've thought of ways to clean the substrate but there's just no room to move about. I can't risk trying to remove any of the decor to make space like the lava rock because if it gets hung up on the opening of the jar and I drop it, it will almost certainly crush some shrimp or snails. And I'm limited on what I can and can't reach due to the angle that any tubing, tweezers, etc., go into the tank through the small mouth opening. If you get a small jar and, before putting any water in it, play around with trying to decorate and add and remove stuff, you'll see what I mean. Two times that shell that is propped against the lava rock was knocked off by the snails and I was worried about shrimp being trapped underneath. I had a heck off a time just trying to get my tweezers on it tightly enough to move it. It took quite a bit of wrangling. So even if if got some substrate out, it would muss up the decor and I wouldn't be able to get the sand back in and fix it all up.

[SuperProofer]

But, I do love my little tank. Everything was going great until the construction when the water got fouled somehow. I wonder if I would be in this predicament had that not happened. I don't really have any advice on keeping water quality since I literally don't do anything except top it off with distilled water when it gets low (and I didn't do a 50 percent water change when they were dying en masse).

My next tank I'm going to start will be 2.5 gal, but I wouldn't mind starting another mini tank just to see if it would fair better now that the construction is over and the environment in my house has settled down. I had thought about giving them as gifts as well and had bought more jars to do so. Just not sure yet, I'd have to see if I can get this one back on track first.

[Not_a_pro]

But, I do love my little tank. Everything was going great until the construction when the water got fouled somehow. I wonder if I would be in this predicament had that not happened. I don't really have any advice on keeping water quality since I literally don't do anything except top it off with distilled water when it gets low (and I didn't do a 50 percent water change when they were dying en masse).

My next tank I'm going to start will be 2.5 gal, but I wouldn't mind starting another mini tank just to see if it would fair better now that the construction is over and the environment in my house has settled down. I had thought about giving them as gifts as well and had bought more jars to do so. Just not sure yet, I'd have to see if I can get this one back on track first.

Thank you for the tips. Sorry, I was dealing with finals and haven't checked the forum. And for sure, I wish you luck on trying again. I definitely would try again if I was in your position. Every animal that has died on my watch hasn't gone in vain. As much as it pains me to say it, keeping these guys are always trial and error, and while one (or thousands in regards to my previous attempts at keeping brine shrimp) may pass, many more are given a greater life. That thought process is legitimately the only reason why I haven't just dropped the hobby all together. My wallet definitely things I should. Anyways I wish you and your shrimp well, thank you for the advice!