Consolidation of 4 tanks into 1!

[Sierra40]

I have a number of shrimp tanks but the one that always looks like it's flourishing the most is a 2.5 gallon tank that is away from sunlight and has a good quality LED source. I almost always have berried shrimp. I don't see visible algae so I feed some tiny shrimp ball pellets once a month. I figure that the fact that there are always babies in the thank mean that it's a good setup. Likewise, my Mustafa snails are thriving in there. I think they died off in all of the smaller tanks. There's maybe 50 shrimp in that tank. (An aside question is whether the shrimp will stop reproducing if the resources aren't adequate? Just want to make sure it's not overpopulated!).

2.5 Gallon tank

I then had 4 tanks, ranging from .5 gallons to maybe .75 gallons. They were getting real sunlight not controlled artificial light and the Macroalgae I bought from Mustafa always died and I just got the feeling these smaller tanks just weren't doing as well. So, I bought a 4 gallon Biolife 15 L rectangular tanks and took the leap of the big shrimp consolidation yesterday! I used the lava rocks, water and coral from the existing tanks and only needed to add 1 gallon of new brackish water to fill it. Since I wasn't planning on using the filter, I took out the large central "bubble tube" and just filled the bottom of it with a combination of sand and crushed coral substrate. It was a bit stressful trying to get all of the shrimp out of the smaller containers. I removed about 2/3rds to 3/4ths of the water and used a tiny net. I was able to pour some shrimp out but had to get the rest by the net, which I got good at. I immediately put the netted shrimp into a big open bowl so that I was able to pour all of them in at the same time when I was done transferring the other water into the new tanks. I ordered some moss balls and snails for the new 4 gallon/15 L tank. I'm happy with it and hope the shrimp are too!

4 Gallon new tank

4 Gallon new tank

[ShrimpyShrimpShrimp]

I like the tank you chose. I have the 4 gallon Biorb tank shaped like a globe. I filled mine to the brim and then noticed water got in the light, but it still works. I cut the plastic cylinder down a few inches to accommodate centering the looking glass ball i have featured in the tank. The backflow preventer didn't work 100% for me so I had to raise the air hose line above tank level. I wish there was a way to really plug it up at the bottom of the tank outside but when I put mine together it didn't look to be an easy solution.

The weird thing about my tank is that the shape distorts your view/the size of objects in the tank. So I can be 10' away from it and look and see what appears to be a 2" long shrimp swimming but it's just the affect of the globe shape.

How do you like yours so far?

[Sierra40]

Thank you! I had a hard time choosing between the 4 gallon orb and the 4 gallon rectangular. I went with the rectangular in the end as my other 2.5 tank is a glass sphere

(meant to be for terrariums). Yes, you do get quite a magnification from the sphere shaped tank. I like that about them. My rectangular one also came with a central cylinder meant to push the air through for the bubbler/filter I do believe. I just took it off, filled the bottom filter with my combo of sand and crushed coral and didn't plug in the filter. Viola. Shrimp safe. I saw the water conditioner in the box but decided not to use it per Mustafa's advice to only use R/O or distilled water. Because I was combining so many tanks, I was able to use all of that nicely cycled water (they were all over a year old) and I only had to make about 1 gallon of new brackish water. I think these Biorb tanks, while on the pricey side, have a nice clean, modern feel and the 4 gallons are a perfect size for a larger group of shrimp without having to move to a traditional 10 gallon glass tank. How are your guys doing after the die-off...do wonder about the water conditioner and double glad I didn't put it in!

[ShrimpyShrimpShrimp]

My Shrimp are doing fine now thanks for asking. In my original order of shrimp i asked for and received some older ones i.e. bigger. Those were the ones that survived in general. The second order of shrimp were all really small. So I have a group of large red shrimps and then about 3 times as many really small whitish to light red shrimp. They all seem happy and are keeping the tank clean now. I think it was a mistake to treat the tank like a night light in my bedroom, leaving the light on all the time. Now that they are in my office I notice that they are a lot more active with a light cycle. When I forget to turn the light off overnight they kind of hide all day. When the light has been off over night they are super active first thing in the morning and throughout the day.

[Dch48]

Yes they need the light/dark cycle to be really comfortable.