scratch tank setup

akgoldrush · Post by **akgoldrush** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 1:03 pm

I recently acquired a 20gal long tank that I'm considering raising freshwater shrimp in. It's a completely new setup so I'm looking for some recommendations as to what would be ideal for small shrimp (ie Amanos or Red Cherries). It will definitely be heavily planted with small granular substrate. I had ~6 red cherries in another tank that has some rainbowfish in it that became ravenous shrimp devourers despite living peacefully with several very juvenile rummy nose. The new tank will have small algae eaters or no fish at all. Thanks for any help!

-tom

theshrimp_123 · Post by **theshrimp_123** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 1:58 pm

Lots of plants, a sponge filter, sand or gravel, dont feed to much. Change water when necessary.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:08 pm

Amanos are a lot easier to deal with than cherries. You don't need to worry about babies unless you are a waco like me. Amanos are big enough to actually see when they are fully grown and survive through standard aquarium problems.

Cycle your tanks for about 3 weeks with a bunch of snails. Get some pond snails, MTS and apple snails. Feed them some cooked collard greens. The stuff is magic. Shrimp love collards too.

Amanos like climb on plants. Give then lots of stuff to hang off of and climb on. Cherries are cool, but Amanos are the best. Sort of like a rock star vs. your tue love. The rock star is beautifull, but there is someone tired of putting up with her B**S**T. Your true love is there through thick & thin.

Post by **Mustafa** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 7:18 am

In my opinion Red Cherries are actually "better" first shrimp than Amanos for several reasons. One of which is obviously that they can reproduce and keep their population going so you don't have to go buy new shrimp every once in a while. Plus, they are nice and red just look better. Also, by buying captive bred Red Cherries, you would not be contributing to the depletion of the wild populations. In contrast to that all Amano shrimp are wild caught.

You would be surprised at how large actually Red Cherries can get if they have a chance to fully grow. 2.5-3.5 centimeters is actually quite large for a shrimp.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 6:30 pm

I'll give you that they are a prettier shrimp, at least the females are. I just find that the cherries are harder to keep alive. Any little tank upset and their are dead cherries while the amanos hang in there. Amanos seem to be much more active too.

I think we need to work on captive breeding of amanos. I think it can be done because it has been done and other shrimp are raised commercially in a very similar manner. I have my saltwater tank ready and cycled. I have marine green water going and my marine rotifer culture is starting to grow. I have 2 amano females with eggs showing down their backs, so I'll see if it can be done. The same should be true for the Bamboos and I'll give that a go too. I have 3 females and a male bamboo shrimp.

I'm finding bamboos don't need a huge volume of water, they just need lots of flow. If you stick an elite mini filter on the side of the tank and direct the flow towards their roosting rock, they are very content. They are very happy with green water, monia, and finely ground algae flakes. These guys can be appreciated with the naked eye. Everybody loves those fans!

Kenshin · Post by **Kenshin** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 8:31 pm

I prefer RCS also, since they can breed in the same freshwater tank you set up for them in the beginning. Amano shrimps are hardier and more interesting to observe (you are right badflash) since I used to keep them. But if you do not have separate tanks or accesories to accomodate the breeding conditions of Amano, then you will end up buying more Amano shrimps in the future. Again, that is just my opinion. Hope this helps.

akgoldrush · Post by **akgoldrush** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:16 am

Thanks for all the replies. I'm adding plants to the tank this week and will be cycling it for a while before adding the shrimp. As an update to my first post, apparently RCS are extremely adept at camouflage despite the bright red coloring... at least one was spotted yesterday while I did a water change. I assume she's been hiding in the wood. I haven't seen any shells from the others, I assume the rainbow got them.

akgoldrush · Post by **akgoldrush** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:56 am

By the way, is anyone out there from the Colorado Springs area besides me? I'm on Springs Utilities water and I get some strange readings for hardness and pH. From the tap both kH and gH are nearly zero (~10ppm CaCo3) but the pH is around 7.8. I have to add baking soda and CO2 just to get the kH up and the pH down to an acceptable level. Anyone in the area have the same problem?

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 9:25 am

Could it be that your kh and gh test kits are bad? A ph of 7.8 and a kh of 0 seem almost impossible to me unless I missed something in my chemistry lessons.

fishgeek · Post by **fishgeek** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 9:58 am

ph is notoriously hard to accurately measure in water that has little alkalinity
even with electronic meter's

a low kH would just make your pH reading unreliable

i get r/o water that reads nil on EC readings (obviously not the same as kH) and has no reading for kH on esha test strips
the pH meter reads this as high pH close to 8 generally

akgoldrush · Post by **akgoldrush** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:27 am

I've tried two different test kits with the same results (Hagen kH/gH, Hagen low range pH, Hagen high range pH, and TetraTest kH/gH). I know that carbonate hardness isn't necessarily the only thing that will affect my alkalinity since there are other buffers, though their contribution to alkalinity should be much less. I don't have test kits for phosphate, sulfides, silicates, etc. I'm currently trying to pry this information from my utilities company. Hopefully it's just bad readings due to the very soft water as fishgeek suggested. I'll try mixing baking soda in some tap water to get the kH ~4-5deg and see if the pH readings are more accurate.

akgoldrush · Post by **akgoldrush** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 11:22 am

So the other day, I decided to take a few tests of the water params in the new tank and notice something moving. Upon a closer look I noticed two very small fry swimming about the tank. Apparently a few eggs hitched a ride on the plants or driftwood that I aged in my 29gal planted tank. It's been about two weeks and they're both still there and about double their ~.5cm when first seen. I'm feeding them ground tropical fish flake and they seem to be eating it. Appropriate foods? Anyone here have a good idea how to determine species of very young fish? They're too small for me to be sure right now, but I suspect they're rummy nose tetras (Hemigrammus rhodostomus) since they breed in soft water like mine and are mid tank feeders. The other species in the planted 29 are Melanotaenia sp., Otocinclus affinis, and Crossocheilus siamensis. Hopefully they won't mind sharing their new home with dwarf shrimp

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