Nano Shrimp tank

[Cougra]

Alright, I'm still bent on getting some of the less expensive shrimp in my house somehow or other! I've decided not to have any camel shrimp in my main tank. Now I'm thinking that I want to set up a nano tank for either camel shrimp or a Coral banded shrimp.

Would I be able to set up either a 5 (more readily available) to 10 Gal tank for the shrimp? How many shrimp could I put in each tank?

How much rock would I need? What about a substrate? I highly dislike the looks of a BB tank.

What would I use for water circulation? Would a HOB filter without media and a small PH be enough?

I don't want any corals in the tank with the shrimp nor do I really want a fish unless I can find a small yellow-clown gobie (but that's not likely to happen) Since I'm not going to keep any corals would I be able to just use regular NO lighting for the tank? Would I be able to keep a couple feather dusters in the tank?

Anything else I need to know?

One last thing, I do go out of town for up to 12 days at a time, would there need to be any extra precautions to take to keep the nano running during this time without problems?

[nivek]

I've read somewhere that in the wild, coral banded shrimps occupy cleaning stations which roughly cover a 55gal area per station. I suppose this would translate to having only 1 shrimp in your 10gal tank.

My coral banded (lone shrimp) has been in my tank (55gal) for the last 9 months and has grown almost double in size since the first day I got him. He eats everything I throw into the tank

Hope the info helped a bit.

[SZHTTM]

I'm no expert, but I have heard that multiple shrimps of the same kind could cause them to fight unless they are a mated pair. Maybe someone else could share some more insight on this.

Good Luck;

[mick77]

I would use CC in the small tanks, I have'nt had luck with sand in small tanks. NO lighting would be fine as long as there is no photosynthetic organisms in there I would think. As for a filter, how about a biowheel 330 with no wheels or carbon? A timer for your lights, and a food timer would solve your out of town problems. Why not just stick with one shrimp, like a mantis? You wouldn't have to worry about compatibility issues then!

[mnreefman]

i have a cbs... he is by far the COOLEST invert ive ever had... he did go on a killing spree one night taking out almost all my other shrimp... but i love him, hes a bad ass... there great shimp imo

[Willmsbrg]

I have a 5 gallon tank set-up at home..
I can at least tell you how Mine is set-up...

As to shrimp I would not be sure how many or what kind would work in that.. At present I only have a few corals....

5 1/2 gallon AGA
50Watt Heater.
minijet 404
AquaClear Mini Hob. Filter.. no media..

approx. 8lbs live rock
and about 1 to 1/12 inches of southdown sand.

I use a small PC light with 2/9W bulbs..

I have to top off on a daily basis..if you are away for days at a time I would definetly get an auto-top off of some kind..

Not sure I was much help..

My tank has been running for about 2 months.. I do a water change of about 2 gallons a week..

[Dingo]

The HOB and small powerhead, no media is good. Do not use a biowheel as it really adds no benefit and adds the risk of extra nitrates. I have aragonite on my bottom, you can use sand if you like, but you won't wwant it blowing around. I would avoid CC because it eventually turns into a detrius trap. 1 to 1.5 lbs live rock/gallon for filtration is all you need.

You can use NO lighting if you like, but you will be happier with the color of a small PC setup. Also, Coralline will grow better under PC if you like the look.

For shrimp, I would highly recommend a group or three or more sexy shrimp. They hang together, have interesting behavior, and are small, so crowding is not an issue. Hunt down Caja, she's got some and loves them.

CBS are pretty tough characters, and will probably kill most anything else you put in the tank.

If you are going away for long periods of time, I would either have the tank covered to minimize evaporation, or have an autotopoff system. Autotopoffs are, IMO, the single best thing to put on a nano, because topping off every day is a PITA.

[caja]

a little late on the scene but here I is!!

sexy shrimp are by far the coolest little shrimp. I bought four of them for the first time about 4 months ago and put them in my 7.5 tank. I purchased mine from www.liveaquaria.com and with shipping they ended up being close to $20 each, but they aren't sold locally so I really had no choice. the size when they arrived was about 1/4"...very tiny. they've grown to about 1/2" or so now.

typical behavior of my four is they have one particular area in the 7.5 that they stay in, on the left hand side of the tank on one specific piece of LR and the small area of sand bed in front. they never stray from this area. they generally stay together as a group but occasionally they will pair up and wander to different parts of the rock. they do need to be kept in groups of three or more. In a 10 gal tank you could easily keep 6 or 8 of them since they stay so small.

I'm setting up a 2.5 gallon specifically for mine because when I transfer the contents of my 2 nanos into the 30 cube I just bought I'd rather not make $80 worth of shrimp a quick snack for my six line wrasse.

[Cougra]

Cool Caja, it's never too late to give advice! I can get them here for about $10 each when they are around and I figure since I don't need to spend alot of money on lighting it should be a fairly inexpensive tank to set up for them. What do you feed them? and how often?

The autotopoff will be a little harder to get together but I'll find something!

[caja]

Mine are great little scavengers and hustle to grab whatever is left over from feeding the tank. I feed the tank every other day, but once I have them in their own tank I'll probably feed every two to three days.

[jks1]

Michelle- I was going to recomend sexy shrimp too- or you could go with a shrimp / goby pair- I think that would be a great species tank- good luck

[caja]

two of my four sexy's

[TDEVIL]

i love the look of those sexy shrimps, and i like the fact that they stay small

Robz also has 1,here is the link to a thread the tg started with a pic of his and his white spot anemone shrimp

let us know what you get, and post some pics


TD

[Cougra]

TDevil Those are some nice shrimp he has there! At the moment I'm lacking a powerhead to have a complete dedicated nano shrimp tank setup.

I'm curing some rock in a 5 Gal tank with a thin layer of southdown sand (1/2 inch). For lighting I'm just using a regular NO light for the tank. The current method for water movement is a HOB aquaclear filter without any media.

I still haven't decided on the inhabitants as of yet, camel shrimp and coral banded shrimp are the most readily available here still.

[TDEVIL]

are those the choices that you have narrowed it down to or the only choices you have right now

which ever way you go keep us posted

TD