Our Petshrimp Project

[happy]

I started this project with my 5 year old son. Hoping he could learn and take these shrimps to college with him someday
I purchased all my supplies from petshrimp.com except for the jars were from Amazon. We have cycled the water for 4 weeks now and still no sign of any algae. Should we wait another week or so before purchasing the shrimps?

[Varanus]

How much water do the jars hold? How tightly sealed are the tops? Having the tops off for a while may help in algae spores colonizing the water.

[happy]

Its the anchor hocking montana jar 1.5 gallon. There's a small hole at the top of the lid. I have 1 gallon of water in there. But it looks like there's something weird floating at the top of the water.

[Dch48]

I would fill the jar more. You could fill to about an inch from the lid.

[happy]

Thanks. I just added more distilled water.

[sliphorn]

Its the anchor hocking montana jar 1.5 gallon. There's a small hole at the top of the lid. I have 1 gallon of water in there. But it looks like there's something weird floating at the top of the water.

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That is bio film. The shrimp and snails eat it. Not to worry.
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[sliphorn]

Thanks. I just added more distilled water.

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You want to add more brackish water to raise the level, not distilled. Adding distilled will lower the salinity. Distilled is used for topping off from evaporation loss.
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[Dch48]

Yes it needs to be distilled water with a good ocean salt added. I can say that if you use Instant Ocean, the amount of salt needed is 2 ounces or 4 level tablespoons to a gallon of distilled water. That makes brackish water that is half the salinity of sea water.

[happy]

I forgot to mention when I started the tank, I believe I've added salt for a 2 gallon tank but it is only a 1.5 gallon. I didn't have enough distill water at the time. Yesterday, I was able to purchase distill water and then added more to the tank. I hope this will work!

Thank you for all!

[Mustafa]

Hi happy,

Your tank should be more than ready by now for shrimp. I say, go ahead and get your shrimp. Since you bought your substate, calcium carbonate, and decoration from here, there should not be any issues with anything leaching in the the water either.

[happy]

Your shrimps and snails have arrived. They are happily swimming in their new home. I fed them a tiny amount of fish flake food and now the water is a bit cloudy. Should I change the water? What food should I feed them and how often?

Indeed this is a fun project for us and my son is looking forward to seeing some berried shrimps soon!

[JDillon]

I wouldn’t change the water it will clear up on its own. Also water can get cloudy after you add new shrimp, snails and water from other tanks. It will usually go away after a week or two. The fish flakes are not the best food. Use spiralina powder. A tiny amount about 1/3 of a grain of rice. Once every week or two until you get a good amount of algae / bio film established. Then a once a month feeding is good. Others choose not to at all. They are hardy but an occasional feeding seems to help them.

[happy]

Thank you for your advice! I will buy spiralina powder.

[happy]

I fed the shrimps a a quarter portion of the algae sinking tablet and tiny bit of spirulina powder yesterday. This morning my shrimp color changed from bright red to pale white. I'm not sure what is going on. I hope I didn't over feed them and the tank water is cloudy.

[JDillon]

I wouldn’t use the algae tablet as it probably has a bunch of stuff in it that will produce excess waste. I’d stick to just the spiralina powder. The water should clear up after a bit.