# Sad Day on the Shrimp Farm



## Dryn (Sep 6, 2007)

I though that I would put this out there as a cautionary tale... I've had a small shrimp farm with red cherry shrimp in my bedroom for two years. It is heavily planted and contained around ten adult shrimp and thirty juveniles (ten or so were less than a week old). Zero ammonia. Zero nitrite. 5ppm Nitrate. I harvest once every few months and sell them to a LFS for $2 each. Not bad. I have four other aquariums and two vivariums for poison dart frogs that I've been working on. From these projects I was left with a $50 canister filter and decided to put it on the shrimp tank in place of the walmart special $10 power filter. I put the media from the power filter in the canister to "jump-start" the nitrogen cycle, which I've done many, many times. I did a 50% water change that day and every day over the next week. Even so, the ammonia rose up to 5-6 ppm while I was at work, and I most of the juvenile shrimp died during the first day, and some of the adults died over the next few days. Today, only six shrimp have survived. (I believe they are all male as well). Sometimes, it is best to leave well enough alone.


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

Dang. That sucks. I must say though that you are lucky they were cherry shrimp and not something more expensive. You can get a colony jump started in no time.


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## Danielle (Jan 26, 2008)

Hmmmm.... I'm about to swap to a canister filter on my tank.... I was going to do the same... jump start the canister with the media from the power filter.

What if I left the power filter in place and running and ran them both together until the canister had it's own bacterial colony good and going? Say a month?


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## punky (Feb 10, 2007)

I always run filters in parallel for 2 weeks before swapping. That way I make sure bacteria has grown.


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## longhornxtreme (Feb 20, 2007)

Danielle,

That's how I moved from a HOB to a canister... put 'some' of the HOB media in the canister, as well as a few pieces of subtrate gravel in the canister... but leave the HOB running for awhile. I think I kept mine going 2 weeks.


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## DMHdispute (Oct 23, 2007)

Im glad I read this because i will eventually change to a canister filter also. Now I know to leave the hob in for a while.


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## Dryn (Sep 6, 2007)

Hindsight is a bear. If this thread helped one person, I dont' feel so bad. Better than the shrimp at any rate.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Did you have any plants in the tank? I'm suprised the ammonia levels would get so high in a planted tank.


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## JustOneMore21 (Mar 19, 2007)

Sorry for your losses.  I know how bad it feels to lose shrimp. I killed quite a few of mine when my co2 got too high in the tank. Now I know to check it every day. Eventually I plan on stopping the co2. 

I hope your remaining ones reproduce fast for you.


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

something else had to happen, heavily planted tank, Ammonia spiked that fast WITH a transplant of media...

a fish die?
A spill that resulted in a TON of ammonia at once?
overfed/rotting food?
filter clogged?


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

^^^^ agreed, something weird is going on.. You just have shrimps in the tank? 

I just have a powerhead in my shrimp tank... No filter to speak of.


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## Kets (Feb 20, 2008)

At least the ones that are left are all male. Just get an RCS at a store and youll have a colony in no time


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## praxis5624 (Apr 22, 2006)

Sorry for your losses but I must say you should not attempt to speed up the biological process. Patience is vurtue.


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## Dryn (Sep 6, 2007)

Hmm. Yes patience. Well, I've done this before without ill effect... I think the problem was the small volume of water and mass dye-off of the young shrimp that started the ammonia level rising, that led to the larger shrimp dying. I'm positive that I was not able to locate all of the dead shrimp amongst the vegitation.

The tank is a 5.5 gallon nano tank with Eco-Complete substrate, Lacerock and bogwood, One mature Anubias barteri var. nana, and a dense carpet of pygmy chain-sword, hairgrass, dwarf sword, and a few unknown miniature crypts. I have a good power compact light and small heater in the tank. No CO2, No ferts. (aside from the occasional substrate tab).


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## Dryn (Sep 6, 2007)

At this time, the tank has been stable for a couple of weeks, and the surviving shrimp are hale and hearty. The ramshorn snail population has quadrupled and the plants have overtaken each other (aside from the meticulous removal of plants around the crypts). The filter is mature and running smoothly. The only current aggrivation is that the evaporation rate has doubled despite the spraybar being deep underwater to prevent Co2 drive-off. Soon, I will get a dozen new shrimp and continue on. Lesson Learned. Patience, hmmph.


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