Drew's 10 Gallon Shrimp Experiment

Hey everyone!

So I guess I am going to start putting some of my tank journals over here as well so you guys can see what I'm up to (and what I've been up to) The first one that I am going to get posted is my 10g conversion tank (went from having no idea/direction to I know what I'm doing with it now )

So I will organize this first post by date and what I did:

November First:

So I have had this tank up and running now for ~5 months and to be honest I haven't been doing anything with it at all. I threw some java moss in there, a java fern, a Buddah and some cheap feeder guppies. Later on I decided that I would put in a moss wall (or attempt) and that's half going half not...

Here is the Before:







I decided that it was in need of some re-vamping, so I got to work tonight and started removing, trimming, moving, etc.....

Here is the After:



I took much of the moss on the wood and re-wrapped most of it to the driftwood, I know I want a really mossed out piece and filled in some empty spots.



When I trimmed the wall, I had enough left that I thought was worth salvaging to start a moss rock, I plan on having some more rocks to create small hiding places soon.



Moss Wall after the trim, I may need to re-work/plan if I want to keep a wall in here.



Tank Specs
10 Gallon
Whisper HOB 15 Gallon rated filter (with SS mesh for inlet)
15W T8 Bulb
Air Stone (more than likely coming out)
Using API Co2 booster until I can work out a CO2 setup (gotta save some pennies)

Plants Currently in Tank
Java Moss
Java Fern

Animals currently in tank
~20 feeder guppies (they will be coming out soon)
~10 ghost shrimp

Future Plans
Re-scaping
DIY or Paintball CO2
Working on Moss Wall to get it to fill in
Removal of guppies

I think this will be my first foray into shrimp once I get the guppies out, I will start with ghosties (since they are so cheap) and if I can get a colony of them going (yes I know the confines are small) it will help me figure out my plans for my next tank which I am in the planning stages and would love to do planted/shrimp in.

Let me know what you think, I will be reserving the next few posts to help keep things organized I do like adding pictures

Incoming phase two and three photos:

Phase Two:

November 7 2012

So I decided to get a bit of work done tonight since I had some time (which I should of been spending working on a webpage for class ) Anyway I got a few things in that I wanted to get to work on since I had been soaking for ph test for quite a while now


Things Added
Added some Natural Rocks
Continuing usage of API CO2 Booster, however I think from this bottle on in this tank I will be using excel
New Media (whew those guppies did a number on this tank)
They aren't added yet but one or two bristle noses will be coming to this tank, they have a nice cave home ready for them

Things Removed
Guppies - YUP Tank is happily cycled showing good levels and is ready to move on! No more guppies in here (well except maybe 2 or 3 babies that eluded capture, boy they swim fast even in an empty tank)
Completed a substrate vaccum - Getting ready to swap substrate to a darker substrate for shrimp at some point soon

And now for the Money Shot --well if you can call it that



Here come's phase three

Onward to Phase Three:

Well it's been a busy day and with shrimp on the way I had to up my game and get things done quick!

Things Removed:
White Substrate
Moss Wall Attempt (this is where I was getting some Spikes, the inside was all brown and soupy UGH)
~10 Ghost Shrimp (xfered to my 55 gallon)
4 Baby Guppies (xfered to my 55 gallon only 3 made it one jumped out of the cup onto the carpet and after spending 5 minutes looking for it may he/she RIP

Things Added:
EcoComplete Substrate
Corkscrew Vals
Black Background

Things On the Way:
PFR Shrimps
Cholla Wood

During the substrate change I saved approx 50% of the old water and the filter media hoping with the ecocomplete that it will adjust to normal quickly since all I did was swap substrate

So here's todays picture updates:

Changing the Substrate:



Waiting for the cloudyness to disappear:




Here's hoping it takes off and does well I'm excited for where this tank is going!

And that is where we sit as of 7pm tonight here's hoping this tank takes off

I used to have that budha in my tank but now he sits on my book shelf

xwesx1978 wrote:

I used to have that budha in my tank but now he sits on my book shelf

Nice mine's in the closet right now with the rest of the misc stuff from aquariums I'm trying to figure out a moss plan with him in my next tank I think it would make an interesting piece completely covered in moss with maybe the head sticking out...IDK I'm not sure though, thats for a tank that's months out though

what is the stocking going to be ? just shrimp ?


im thinking of doing a shrimp tank in a 8 gallon aquoen evolve , cant decide if its gonna be fresh or salt though , I wanted a banded coral shrimp bad lol

I've got a friend in TX who is sending me some Juvie Painted Fire Red Shrimp

There are also 3 Albino Bristlenoses in the tank to keep the algae at bay and part of the rock setup that you see is to encourage breeding (unless of course I end up with 3 males in that tank I can't tell atm because they are so young)

I've always wanted to dabble in Salt Water but my wallet says no for now....

If I can get this tank to take off and get the PFR to go to town I will be setting up another tank for some Crystal Red Shrimp but those guys are pricey and I want to make sure I can handle them first before buying $50-100 in shrimp and having them die LOL

If you are going to be setting up a shrimp tank let me know I will do my best to help you, shrimp have some special requirements (such as filter intakes, food, PH, etc) at least on the freshwater side, while I'm no expert I've done a TON of research

I just lost my three albino long fin bushy noses , I think they starved to death , they cleaned the tank bare of algae then I was giving them wafers but my cories loved them as well and BNP just wouldnt compete for them

Great set-up, Drew!

I considered doing a freshwater shrimp tank, but I've got my plate full right now. I'll have to live vicariously through yours!

xwesx1978 wrote:

I just lost my three albino long fin bushy noses , I think they starved to death , they cleaned the tank bare of algae then I was giving them wafers but my cories loved them as well and BNP just wouldnt compete for them

If you blanch some zucchini they love that

Sam_G wrote:

Great set-up, Drew!

I considered doing a freshwater shrimp tank, but I've got my plate full right now. I'll have to live vicariously through yours!

Thanks!!! yea I think I'm through the worst, now it's time for it to grow in and just maintain

It's lo tech so I'm not sure how fast it's gonna grow

This will be cool to see. I've been digging the shrimp scene, my Red cherrys have taken over my tank, I hope they have plenty to eat to maintain them all. The red crystal shrimp are very cool looking too

Farfromfiji wrote:

This will be cool to see. I've been digging the shrimp scene, my Red cherrys have taken over my tank, I hope they have plenty to eat to maintain them all. The red crystal shrimp are very cool looking too

Yea I didn't really get into it until I started getting into various message boards and then it was all over! I've been wanting a shrimp tank for a good while and I can't even begin to tell you how stoked I am right now!

Are your RCS or are they PFR? Are you selectively breeding them for color (taking light color out and putting them into another tank)?

No, I'm just letting them go. Most of mine are pinkish, the momma is the only really blood red one. I don't mind though. Not sure what the difference between RCS and PFR is.

Farfromfiji wrote:

No, I'm just letting them go. Most of mine are pinkish, the momma is the only really blood red one. I don't mind though. Not sure what the difference between RCS and PFR is.

Here is a typical Red Cherry:



And here is a typical Painted Fire Red:



The PFR is usually a more solid and deep red

If you ever get too many of them in your tank I know that Marine Warehouse on Hillsborough will take them I was in there the other day and the guy said a kid comes in about once a week with about 8 or 10 of them and gets store credit

Sweet, will keep that in mind. My momma shrimp looks like PFR, the others are colored more like red cherry, the youngest are more light colored than that even.

I have a few pics of them in my Showcase thread

Have any of the juvies gotten to adult size yet ? The mom looks very close to PFR but it's kind of hard to tell any closer pics ?

None are adults yet. This all just happened over the last few weeks. I will work on getting better pictures of them soon though. Especially for the invert potm.

What are you feeding them? Your substrate looks dark enough. They do get darker through progressive molting cycles.

So I'm happy my shrimps will be here tomorrow....sad that I have to be at work though

Dgolden wrote:

What are you feeding them? Your substrate looks dark enough. They do get darker through progressive molting cycles.

Honestly, I'm not feeding them anything; they have been doing ok just cleaning the tank and eating leftover frozen brine from my puffer.

Yea they do a great job at cleaning, I love watching the ghost shrimp tool about my 55 gallon picking up what's left behind

EDIT:

They are also pretty awesome at keeping moss and bushy delicate plants clean as well

YAY my shrimp came yesterday!



They seem to be making friends already



EDIT: wow that iphone camera does pretty well

That's awesome!

Nice congrats ! So PFR Babies look similar to RCS?