Hello,

Whoa, it's been a long time since I've seen this forum because I got a new job 4 months ago. My Fluval Edge tank is doing okay...but I'm disappointed. Ever since I've tested my tank with shrimp I've absolutely *loved* watching them. However for whatever reason I cannot house shrimp in my Fluval 7 gallon tank. Every time they die off after several weeks. I think part of it are the neighbors they had....3 Tetras and 2 (only one now :( ) glofish. The fish kept picking the babies off and I think the tank conditions such as shelter and fertilizers wasn't helping.

All this leads up to my new project which is a shrimp and plant only tank. I've been doing hours of research on the tanks available on the market and I have my eyes on the Marineland 5 gal. Hex. Basically I have a 14ish X 11ish inch table surface to put a tank so a long tank is out of the question but a semi tall tank will work. To make things clear and easy let me outline some questions I have.

Background:
-Marineland 5 gal. Hex
-Will stock with 30ish cherry shrimp
-Will use live plants

Questions:
1) What is a good substrate for plants and shrimp?

2) Any opinions or thoughts about the Marineland Hex and using it with shrimp? My idea is to take some netting and tack it to the sides/back and grow some moss on it for a background.

3) I want this to be successful with the shrimp this time around since I will be spending considerable money on this project. Any ideas how to best ensure success?

4) Where do people get their plants? My local petstore carries hardly any plants and the next closest shop (Petco) is a great place but they don't have too many ground cover plants.

5) Besides eBay is there a better place to get Cherry Shrimp for a good price?

6)...I've said A LOT but is there anything else that can be added?

Thanks in advance!

I would get eco complete for substrate, it will help your plants and won't have to dose much.

Moss wall would look okay if you use something like tiawan moss or xmas moss as it will hang better than java moss.

The marineland tank isn't bad, but I would rather change the filter over to a sponge filter and don't know if you can do that.

Plants and shrimp check aquabid and on here. Better prices and good quality

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I am starting the same thing. My 20g is cycling now and it will only have plants and shrimp.

I plan to have mostly smaller plants and at least two types of mosses, but I know that I will probably have a few stem plants also. If you stick with low light plants and mosses, no need for special light.

I plan to track water parameters very closely and keep the gh and nitrate levels way down. I plan to do this by using around 75% RODI water, but I am starting off with well water that is very hard and has a high gh. I will probably need to dose a little calcium on occasion. I just bought 50 cherry shrimp for my 75g off one of the other planted tank forums for $45, including shipping. I assumed it was a good price. Never looked at Aquabid, but I am sure there are plenty there as well.

Good luck.

May I ask where you bought them at? On eBay they are going to about a dollar per shrimp plus shipping....gets very spendy. Im still on the fence about doing this project....

Nothing wrong with starting with 30 shrimp but less would work fine. They breed pretty quick, and it's only a 5 gallon tank. When I bought Red Cherry shrimp I wasn't sure how they were going to work with my fish I just chose two nice fat red females from the LFS and a month later I had about 40 shrimp. Of course it makes the gene pool a bit small but I recon I can always add in some new blood later. I thought chances are shrimp that come from the same place are all brothers and sisters anyway.

You can find shrimp for sale by tank entusiasts just like you on aquaticplantcentral.com or plantedtank.net. Go to their for sale forums.

Thanks for the info so far.

How does the gen pool work with shrimp? Do you have to add new shrimp all the time?

I don't think most people do, perhaps is a good idea once in a while though.

Nice thread, I've been thinking of setting up a small shrimp breeding tank someday. How many would be a healthy population in a 5 gallon tank?

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Lead me not to temptation...I can make it there myself just fine, thank you

Good question. An inch of fish per gallon of water....what about shrimp?

Shrimp have a very small bioload. I've seen 10 per gallon recommended. You could probably have 150 in a 10 gallon tank, if the water quality is kept up and you don't overfeed. A five gallon is trickier to keep the water good in so you might not want to stock so heavily but you could have quite a few. They breed like rabbits so if you start with 10 you will have 100+ in a couple of months and will have to start removing some sooner or later.