# 55 gal. shrimp tank in progress



## jag428 (Mar 8, 2007)

Hi everyone,

I am in the process of setting up my very first shrimp tank. 

I am thinking of going with cherry shrimp, guppies, MTS, and maybe an Otto or two.

It is a 55 gallon tank.

It has an awesome DIY background made out of concrete mixed with crushed oyster shells shaped into various shapes and silicone together so that it will give a lot of hiding places for the baby shrimp and baby guppies.
Before I get hammered about using concrete in an aquarium, I have used it in several other tanks over the years with great success, and it is cured to the point that it is not spiking the ph. Also it is a great buffer and source of calcium. As well as being a great place for nitrifying bacteria to grow.
The only issue with it is that it keeps the water on the hard side but from what I have read cherries like moderately hard water. Am I right about that?

Substrata will be a layer of topsoil mixed with laterite then a layer of sand over that.
Any suggestions or comments here?

I am thinking about growing moss of some kind all over the background for looks as well as extra places for the shrimp to hide. My question on this is which moss is best or should I get a mixture of them? Also what would be some good foreground plants that would look good with the moss?

I will be injecting co2 and have about 2.5 wpg of light.
Not sure about dosing as most of what I have read seems to make my shy away from it in a shrimp tank. Am I right here? Any suggestions on what if any dosing would be required for moss or the foreground plants? (I have 0 experiences with moss)

Filtration is a 20 gallon DIY sump pump not sure of the flow rate but it is not that fast. The overflow box and the output will have prefilter material on them to prevent the baby shrimp from getting trapped in the filter.

Sorry about the long post I think I covered every thing the only part that is set in stone is the 55 gal tank (already bought it) and probably the background as it is already made.
Every thing else is up for discussion. In tips of ideas would be appreciated.


----------



## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

dosing should be fine for cherry shrimp tanks. I have done it and they still reproduce, although I dont know if they would have reproduced faster if I didn't use ferts.


----------



## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

Pretty much any moss will work great with shrimp. I'd pick out which one(s) you like the best and use that. Here's a great link with names and pictures of several varieties that are available, although some are still a bit hard to get ahold of.


----------



## jag428 (Mar 8, 2007)

Thanks for the info.
That is a good site thanks for telling me about it.
I can't decide which moss i like best so i think im going to get several and put in diferent places and see how it looks after a while.


----------



## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

I like weeping moss since it grows compact and doesn't get as messy as Java moss. A good low techy type foreground would be Marsila since it stays low, and doesn't require too much in terms of ferts. Other plants to consider are Java ferns, anubias, and crypts.









_Marsilia hirsuta_

Cherry shrimp will do fine in pretty much any water, hard, soft, doesn't quite matter. So I think your okay with your water parameters. I would keep your plant selection to slow growing plants that don't require much trimming or heavy tank cleaning, but provide enough cover for the shrimp to hide from your guppies. You want to keep the water parameters as constant as possible.

-John N.


----------

