Can shrimp survive in an event of a power failure ?

thgng · Post by **thgng** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:17 am

Every 2 to 3 weeks, i will have a power failure at home.
There is a fault somewhere in my home electrical system which I'm unable to rectify.

This mean that all the following will NOT work:
- Air pump
- Powerhead
- External filter
- Light

I would like to know if shrimps can survive hours or even days before the power can be restored.
Previously, a population of 20 shrimps manage to survive without air supply for about 5 hour in a (12" x 8" x 10") tank.

But as population grows , will such an event wipe out my entire stock ?
How does anyone prevent such a castatrophic event from happening ?
Do we really have to buy ourselves a UPS (Uninterrupted power supply) for the air pump ?

If the shrimps do manage to survive, does that mean that i can breed them in a tank without any air supply ?
Does anyone manage to do that ?

I have managed to breed guppy fish in a tank near the balcony without air supply, just some floating plants and sunlight.
Photosynthesis will take place naturally and algae will grow and feed the fish.

But doing so to a shrimp will probably kill it !

HG

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 6:59 pm

Shrimp will not survive without a biological filter and air supply. If you have *tons* of plants in the tank, then the plants provide both functions, so shrimp can usually survive in those tanks.

The only problem with putting the tank right next to the window is that the water (and the shrimp) in there can boil when the sun is hitting it directly.

Mustafa

thgng · Post by **thgng** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 2:51 am

Hi Mustafa,

in your experience, what should we do ?
Do you have any sort of power backup ?

I remembered there was a blackout in New York a while back, how many of your shrimps manage to survive ?

Thanks.

HG

51Cornell · Post by **51Cornell** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 1:32 pm

I'm basically new to this forum and have been keeping a small population of fw shrimp since early summer and they are thriving and producing eggs/young. We've had a few "rolling blackouts" around here, the last one lasted 12 hours and we lost a tank of newborn fish. Since then, we've bought some Azoo battery-operated air pumps so at least the sponge filters can continue to be powers. Of course, as the batteries wear down they need to be replaced but that's better than not having any air going at all. I think Hagen (and probably some other outfits) also have similar products. You might want to consider that. You can always feed your shrimp something other than naturally growing algae to make sure they are staying feed. If you have a place in a room that gets bright light during the day but no direct sunlight, that'll probably keep your plants happy without having the tank heat up in direct sunlight. Someone said he keeps his aquarium electrics hooked to a UPS but I heard somewhere else that you should not do that (and I can't remember why) but it might be worth a try--although don't UPS only run for a limited amount of time also before they need to be recharged? Someone else suggested perhaps using an automobile battery as backup but I haven't clue how to hook that up and make sure it doesn't blow the heater/pump/lights mechanics.

Bradimus · Post by **Bradimus** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 2:20 pm

I have a UPS for some of my equipment. A small air pump will run for hours and hours on a decient UPS. Don't connect your lights or heater to the UPS -- they will drain it very quickly

Monkanater · Post by **Monkanater** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 6:08 pm

in a pile of old fish stuff my dad had i found a battery run air pump it works very well and takes two d batterys and it lasts about 5 days i had a air filter once and i used it when we had a big power falier due to some idoits fireing a paint ball gun at the power lines and makeing it go down or u could start blowing air in the tubes for a while.....

51Cornell · Post by **51Cornell** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 8:18 pm

or get a few hamsters that run around those little wheels, rig it so their wheels power the pump, when one wheel stops revolving (hamster got tired) the next moving wheel kicks in....

thgng · Post by **thgng** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:20 am

I think I will settle for the near-to-windows approach.

Out of curiosity, I did an experiment:

I put the following in a small goldfish tank (the size of a bowling ball) for 2 days:
- 2 red cherry shrimps
- 3 snails
- some coral chips and gravel
- some christmas moss

Except from the foul smell coming from the uneaten food in the water.
The shrimps survived but their colour look fade.

I saw an Ecosphere in the Science Centre a few years back. It consists of the following:
- shrimps
- a small branch
- snail

The sphere was put under a light and the ecosystem thrive for years !
Can someone help me identify the species or shrimps, plants and snail ?
Perhaps, we should start a thread for this ?

No Technology but just nature... An Ecosphere shrimp tank !

gnatster · Post by **gnatster** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:18 am

There was some discussion on the Ecosphere I think on thie board. In a nutshell it's a cruel way to keep a shrimp as they tend to get smaller and smaller cause they get no real nutrition.

Post by **Mustafa** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 1:51 pm

Yes, those spheres are pure torture. Don't buy into that that. It's a big fat lie.

I wrote more about it here:

http://www.petshrimp.com/hawaiianredshrimp.html

Mustafa

thgng · Post by **thgng** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 10:52 pm

Mustafa,

It's so sad to hear that.
I always thought that the ecosystem in the sphere is so well balance.

In your opinion, is it feasible to start a shrimp tank naturally with just gravel and Java mosses and keep the Cherry red shrimp happy ?

I would like to keep it simple without lights, electric airpump nor filter.
of course, i will do a water change weekly.

Hopefully with lights from a windows, enough oxygen is generated.
And this mini open-top ecosystem might just work.

Post by **Mustafa** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 8:18 am

If you have the whole ground of your tank covered with Java Moss, or plant the tank heavily with some other plants, it will work for limited numbers of animals.

However, let me tell you that there is nothing "natural" about it. The rivers and streams these animals live in are so much bigger than the amount of water you can provide in a tiny tank. The filter is usually a big part of providing some of the balance that is missing in an unnatural setup like that.

Mustafa

Bradimus · Post by **Bradimus** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 10:32 am

Unfortunately, I can now say that 60 hours without power is too long for some shrimp.

filishy · Post by **filishy** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 9:23 am

Bradimus,

I Just went through the same thing as you, as I live in Kissimmee and we got hit really hard by Charley. From previous experiences, I learned to keep as many battery operated air pumps as I have tanks (right now I have 4 tanks, 3 with fish and 1 with 10 cherries...).

Last week before the hurricane I had my pumps ready and they were able to support my shrimp population without a problem for a period of about 50 hours. After that time I was able to move the small 5g emergency tank where I had placed the shrimps to my hotel room and the danger passed.

I would really suggest you get these pumps. If nothing else, they would at least provide oxygen for at least a couple of days.

Mary.

51Cornell · Post by **51Cornell** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 12:05 am

Bradimus, what size (can't remember how they're measured) is your UPS?