Need tons of help starting up a tank!

[tpd]

I was at a small local petshop here in Mpls, MN and just fell in love with these little creatures. The pet shop ower only has 10 red shrimp which are not for sale so I plan on ordering from here, however I can't find any info on how to start up a tank...so I am hoping somebody out there can help me out, please!! The questions I have are:

1.How many shrimp can go into a 10 gal tank?
2.What should the temp be?
3.What is all this talk about testing water for stuff?
4.What do shrimp eat?
5.What kind of plants should I put in the tank?
6.How long should I let the water stand until I put shrimp in it?

Any help will do as I am totally clueless right now!


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[demented_lullaby]

If you could cover the floor of the aquarium(minus decoration spots)with Java moss that would look really nice and be good for the shrimp. Other than that there aren't really specific plants, just whatever you like and can grown in your tank. They will eat algea growning but also supplement with algea based flake food.

You don't only want to let the water stand, you also want to properly cycle your aquarium. Basically this is a process of gathering bacteria that eat fish waste. You can either add a hardy fish to the tank or add ammonia directly. It takes between 2 weeks to 2 months for an aquarium to be fully cycled. You need a test kit for nitrites, ammonia, ph, kh/gh, and nitrate. When there is no more prescence of ammonia or nitrites its safe to add the shrimp. Shrimp are also very sensitive to copper so make sure the tank and water is copper free.

Aquatic life produces ammonia(very deadly), bacteria eat ammonia convert to nitrites(a little less deadly), this then converts to nitrates(much less deadly) which your plants will eat.

Temp and number of shrimp will depend on species you want to keep.

Any more questions, I'd be happy to answer.

[TKD]

tpd,

Using the search button would be good for starters.

Here is a link:
http://www.petshrimp.com/redcherryshrimp.html

TKD