A lot of Shrimply Questions

Gabriev · Post by **Gabriev** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 1:17 pm

Hey yall. n_n I'm a long time aquarium keeper that has kept a lot of shrimp as a clean up crew but I'm starting to get interested in breeding them and displaying them as well, after I saw a knockout display of cherry shrimp in a completly planted aquarium. I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask, you guys answered most of them already on this forum but I still had a few left.

1. The cuttlebone thing. Seems like a good idea to add for the calcium for the growing shrimps shells to be stronger but...I like to display my tanks and the thought of a cuttlebone bobbing merrily in the current kinda detracts from the visual appeal. Would freshwater clam shells work? Properly steralized of course and put on the bottom of the tank? Shells seem so much more prettier then cuttlebone.

2. Cleaning. How in the world do you guys keep your tanks of shrimp clean? Fishes move out of the way of a cleaning siphon, but shrimps...the small species and babies....would get sucked up I'm sure. In the community tanks I have the shrimps are few enough in number for me to avoid them, but in a tank filled with the little guys I'd be terrified I'd slurp one up.

3.Filters. Well planted tanks can oxegenate themselves without a filter but would a normal "box" air stone filter be alright? I'm not worried about the adult shrimps, but could babies survive from being sucked up?

4. Compatability. I know that fish eat baby shrimp. So no fish. But I was wondering if anyone had success raising cherry shrimps and ghost shrimps in the same tank. I know they live peacefully together as they have been in my community tanks, but will they eat each other's larvae?

I think that's it. n______n I know how to keep the little crustations alive, but these would help me a lot in breeding them. Thanx.

bluebettalady · Post by **bluebettalady** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 8:07 pm

I keep my cuttlebone in the bottom of my corner filter. I have found that keeping fish and shrimp isnt good especially if you want to breed them. You cant see the cuttlebone that way.

As for cleaning...I have sand in the bottom of mine and tons of plants. The only thing in my tank is cherry reds and trumpet snails. I really just change the water and nothing ever goes out of wack. Maybe I've been lucky but I really don't find alot of dead plant matter or anything else in the tank to warrant cleaning the sand. Side's that I don't have alot on the bottom.

I use 2 corner filters. Bought em at petsmart and they came with a pump too. Cost me about 11 bucks each. I have one in each corner of the tank. I know kensfish sells them too. They are cheaper there I think I just needed one quick so I grabbed them at Petsmart.

I dont keep anything in their tank but them and the trumpets so I cant help yea with the ghost shrimp question..But somewhere in posts I remember seeing that they'd be ok together....

edinjapan · Post by **edinjapan** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 8:54 pm

bluebettalady wrote:I keep my cuttlebone in the bottom of my corner filter. I have found that keeping fish and shrimp isnt good especially if you want to breed them. You cant see the cuttlebone that way.

As for cleaning...I have sand in the bottom of mine and tons of plants. The only thing in my tank is cherry reds and trumpet snails. I really just change the water and nothing ever goes out of wack. Maybe I've been lucky but I really don't find alot of dead plant matter or anything else in the tank to warrant cleaning the sand. Side's that I don't have alot on the bottom.

I use 2 corner filters. Bought em at petsmart and they came with a pump too. Cost me about 11 bucks each. I have one in each corner of the tank. I know kensfish sells them too. They are cheaper there I think I just needed one quick so I grabbed them at Petsmart.

I dont keep anything in their tank but them and the trumpets so I cant help yea with the ghost shrimp question..But somewhere in posts I remember seeing that they'd be ok together....

Sponge filters are best for keeping shrimp only tanks IMO The babies get a bonus in the surface of the sponge becomes a good food source for them.

I use coral bits n' pieces in my gravel to add hardness to the water this works well and you can't see them as the bottom is carpeted with Monoseleium.

i do keep fish with my shrimp mostly small species but I do have some Minami Numa Shrimp in a tank full of Dumerilli angelfish and the fish don't bother the shrimp or their babies.

On the other habd I cannot keep RCS or CRS in the same tank or there will be mayhem with both species predating on the other's fry.

I hope this helps.

Gabriev · Post by **Gabriev** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 8:11 am

Ahh thanks you two. I was thinking that with all shrimp and plants that the gravel could be clean enough to never clean as shrimp are pretty clean little animals. Alright then...the ghost shrimp can stay in the main tank, as it is theirs by being there first. n_n The red cherries are going to go in their own seperate little aquarium filled with algae so they can raise their babies in peace.

bluebettalady · Post by **bluebettalady** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:46 am

I really dont think there is a right or wrong way, I think it's a matter of trial and error.

edmund1138 · Post by **edmund1138** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:05 am

I keep my RCS in a 20 xtra high with an Eclipse hood. I replaced the strainer on the filter intake pipe with a sponge and it seems to work great. When I notice the return flow of the filter getting slow I know it's time to rinse the sponge.
The tank is fairly heavily planted, has no fish, with five bamboo shrimp that totally ignore the RCS.
BTW, I noticed my first baby RCS in the tank this morning, with four more females carrying eggs!