# Start of a 10g shrimp tank



## voiceofid (Jan 31, 2008)

10g petsmart special
penguin 100
2x 13watt spiral fluorescent

potted plant is a giant hygrophila so saids the label
java fern
and that's 1 stem of moneywort cut into many pieces, not too sure that is gonna work well

standard gravel bed, i can't find plant gravel local for my life! and we have supposly one of the largest aquarium stores on the sw coast of florida, and they didn't have flourite or eco-complete!

the crs should show up wednesday or thursday from stereokills, with a little bit of java moss to start also


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## NoSvOrAx (Nov 11, 2006)

You need a prefilter. A HOB filter will shread anything that goes up that pipe and baby shrimp will fit. I recommend a FILTER-MAX #2, it will prevent any shrimp from getting in the intake and provide additional bio and mech filtration.

http://www.kensfish.com/atipondandprefilters.html

The 1 is to small and has to be cleaned way to often and the 3 has a coarse sponge that won't stop shrimplets.

These pre filters give you the safety of a sponge filter with the power of a hob or canister. I use them in all of my shrimp tanks. You can also link them together like I did for my 29g RCS tank.


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## deepdiver (May 30, 2006)

A sponge filter works great for shrimp tanks. Also lotsa moss=lotsa shrimp.


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

Voice-

Have you asked your store to order some substrate for you? The stores in my area don't typically carry much for FW tanks either (everyone in FL seems addicted to SW!! Go figure???) but CaribSea is the manufacturer of EcoComplete, and SeaChem is the manufacturer of Flourite- most stores carry some of their products, anyways, so might be willing to order some for you with their next shipment?

If you want to go a cheaper route, you could go to Home Depot and pick up some Schultz Aqua Soil- it's made for water gardens and there are several threads on here that explain how to use it (it can be messy, so read how to do it first!). Less than $10 will get you all you need for a 10gal tank.

The tank I'm currently setting up I'm going with layers of EcoComplete and colorquartz. Colorquartz is the generic name for Tahitian Moon sand- your LFS might have some of that? Or you might be able to get the generic colorquartz really cheap at a pool supply company- that's where I'm getting mine.

My next tank I'm going to try Turface with colorquartz. Turface is the stuff they use under baseball and football fields... I bet if you check with your local school or park they might be willing to sell (or give- it's pretty cheap!) you enough for a 10gal tank? Follow the same directions with it as you would the Schultz Aqua Soil.

No matter what you use you will need to learn how to fertizile- and there's a whole forum here just for that!

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

lauraleellbp said:


> The tank I'm currently setting up I'm going with layers of EcoComplete and colorquartz. Colorquartz is the generic name for Tahitian Moon sand- your LFS might have some of that? Or you might be able to get the generic colorquartz really cheap at a pool supply company- that's where I'm getting mine.


Not to be nitpicky but I don't believe 3M's Color Quartz is a generic version of Tahitian Moon Sand. TMS is distributed by Carib Sea while Color Quartz is distributed by 3M for the swimming pool industry. Though I believe the T-grade of color quartz is similar in size to TMS, I don't think they are the same thing. Color quartz also runs about $25 for 50lbs while the TMS is $20 for 20lbs. Again, not trying to be nitpicky 

There really isn't a need for a plant specific substrate, either of the sands mentioned above (or even pool filter sand) will work just fine for your plants. The gravel you have will probably work just fine also but it may be a little difficult to plant in due to the size. The plants in this picture were grown in 3M's T-grade Color Quartz substrate, which is inert


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## voiceofid (Jan 31, 2008)

NoSvOrAx said:


> You need a prefilter. These pre filters give you the safety of a sponge filter with the power of a hob or canister. I use them in all of my shrimp tanks. You can also link them together like I did for my 29g RCS tank.


it looks like it has a round shaped tubing, the penguin is square. what i might do is rubberband some filter floss at the intake to prevent the shrimp from getting sucked in


deepdiver said:


> A sponge filter works great for shrimp tanks. Also lotsa moss=lotsa shrimp.


just picked up some hc at walmart and that's in there potted now, don't really know how to plant it


lauraleellbp said:


> Voice-
> 
> Have you asked your store to order some substrate for you? The stores in my area don't typically carry much for FW tanks either (everyone in FL seems addicted to SW!! Go figure???) but CaribSea is the manufacturer of EcoComplete, and SeaChem is the manufacturer of Flourite- most stores carry some of their products, anyways, so might be willing to order some for you with their next shipment?
> 
> ...


yeah, there are tms at the lfs, i wasn't sure that was a good idea or not because i was under the impression that i need sand that has fert in it, i'll go pick some up later today i think


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

voiceofid said:


> what i might do is rubberband some filter floss at the intake to prevent the shrimp from getting sucked in


Pantyhose would work better until you can get a sponge pre-filter.


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

MatPat said:


> Not to be nitpicky but I don't believe 3M's Color Quartz is a generic version of Tahitian Moon Sand. TMS is distributed by Carib Sea while Color Quartz is distributed by 3M for the swimming pool industry. Though I believe the T-grade of color quartz is similar in size to TMS, I don't think they are the same thing. Color quartz also runs about $25 for 50lbs while the TMS is $20 for 20lbs. Again, not trying to be nitpicky


It's all good! :hippie: (i have no idea what that was for just looked cute...)


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## voiceofid (Jan 31, 2008)

picked up flourish excel and the other flourishes available and a 50 watt heater from big al's


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## doubleatraining (Feb 11, 2008)

To make your shrimp more comfortable you are going to want a lot more plants or hiding places.

I find mine LOVE the java moss and dwarf sag. I have to be careful when I sell my floating plants.....I have been known to accidently include shrimp! They LOVE hanging upside down in that stuff!!


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

It looks like you've planted the java fern rhizome in the gravel. It really needs to be above the surface of the gravel or tied to driftwood or rock to avoid having the rhizome rot. 

There is a thread about planting HC and glosso. It involves separating the potted mass into individual plants (or as near as possible, you want a good root with each plant) and planting each with a tweezers. If I recall correctly, you plant them at an angle and plant them quite deeply so just the top leaves are above the substrate. Start at one side of the planting area and work your way across. It's a very tedious, time consuming process and I've never been tempted to try it myself. The benefit is the HC is supposed to fill in quicker than it would if you plant it in larger bunches.


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## voiceofid (Jan 31, 2008)

cs_gardener said:


> It looks like you've planted the java fern rhizome in the gravel. It really needs to be above the surface of the gravel or tied to driftwood or rock to avoid having the rhizome rot.
> 
> There is a thread about planting HC and glosso. It involves separating the potted mass into individual plants (or as near as possible, you want a good root with each plant) and planting each with a tweezers. If I recall correctly, you plant them at an angle and plant them quite deeply so just the top leaves are above the substrate. Start at one side of the planting area and work your way across. It's a very tedious, time consuming process and I've never been tempted to try it myself. The benefit is the HC is supposed to fill in quicker than it would if you plant it in larger bunches.


i went ahead and planted them in larger bunches in my 30g instead, i left a little bit in the pot, need to do a diy co2 for the 10g, i also pulled the java's rhizome out of the grave, it's hanging on for dear life on those few gravels in its roots


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## voiceofid (Jan 31, 2008)

they showed up today!

as soon as the bag opened up, they ran for the hills and went into hiding into the driftwood crevices

a few are roaming about looking around and cleaning the gravel, looks like they'll be okay 

and how long before they start breeding?


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## Afyounie (Aug 10, 2007)

Once the shrimp are full grown, the females will develop the "saddle" of eggs. It shouldn't be too long after that till they start carrying eggs under their tail. My snowball shrimp bred as soon as they reached adulthood.

Question:
Did you acclimate your shrimp before you put them in the tank? If not you might lose a few, but hopefully everything turns out ok.


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## voiceofid (Jan 31, 2008)

Afyounie said:


> Once the shrimp are full grown, the females will develop the "saddle" of eggs. It shouldn't be too long after that till they start carrying eggs under their tail. My snowball shrimp bred as soon as they reached adulthood.
> 
> Question:
> Did you acclimate your shrimp before you put them in the tank? If not you might lose a few, but hopefully everything turns out ok.


i didn't, the temp of the tank is about the same as the kordon bag that showed up

within 30 minutes they turned clear to red

i'll keep an eye out on the saddles


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## DarrylR (Dec 5, 2007)

Are these CRS- Crystal Red Shrimp? I heard they are more fragile than RCS- Red Cherry Shrimp.


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## voiceofid (Jan 31, 2008)

DarrylR said:


> Are these CRS- Crystal Red Shrimp? I heard they are more fragile than RCS- Red Cherry Shrimp.


i believe these are rcs

i did a water change in the tank last night and this morning, they are moving out and about as well


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## StereoKills (Sep 15, 2007)

They are RCS 



Afyounie said:


> Once the shrimp are full grown, the females will develop the "saddle" of eggs. It shouldn't be too long after that till they start carrying eggs under their tail.


Afyounie's got it right. This happened to me within a month-month and a half after getting mine. They breed like rabbits too.


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