# Looking for Sulawesi tank tips!



## Splak (May 1, 2013)

Decided on turning a 40 breeder into one of my first Sulawesi shrimp tanks!

After a ton of research online, I think I might be able to do it. I am just looking for tips from people who have had these guys.

My set-up so far will be:

40G breeder
1-2" of ecocomplete mixxed with moon sand (have a 5g bucket laying around from an old tank).
2 HOB 30G rated filters and 2 5" Poret sponge filters
an air stone in the middle of the tank
a few low tech plants, maybe some crypts and dwarf sag.


Rocks, here is where I struggle, I never really used any stones in any of my tanks, not too sure what to look for, I am thinking I might go to Big Als and ask what they recommend that is 100% inert.... any suggestions?

My water parameters from my tap seem pretty good for these guys.

PH 7.6-7.8
GH 8-9
KH 2-3
TDS 220


I plan to feed Bacter AE and repashy bottom feeder mix.


Hows this sound to everyone? Am i missing important stuff?


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## Dis (Apr 16, 2010)

A few years ago I got some petrified wood from a landscape/gardening centre. They looked really neat.

I would check out some garden centres, or landscaping places. Much cheaper than big als.

Here is a place in stoney creek I went once:

https://www.grandriverstone.com/contact-us/stoney-creek/

Goodluck

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Are you looking at getting the red cardinal Sulawesi, because if so you need to have a different type of tank for these.

I kept and bred them for 18 months and they can be very difficult to keep alive. Here is what I had for my setup.

10 Gallon tank with light and heater. 
Sulawesi shrimps come for a very warm water lake so they do best in heated water of 80-86F. Otherwise you will lose them.

Substrate Crushed Coral...they need a calcium based substate as that is what is in the lake they live in.

Rocks. Any flat rock that can be built into a cave system. You can use Lava rock with a piece of flate slate across the top to make a bridge and build it up
so you have a little cave section of about 3 layers. 

Plants....none. They don't have any plants in the Sulawesi Lake other than a specific cherry moss which we cannot get here. 

Snails. Yellow Rabbit snails...yes these snails have a symbiotic relationship with the Sulawesi Cardinal shrimp...It is believed that the Shrimp eat the Rabbit snail's poop...eeek. You will find most successful Sulawesi Breeders will keep a few of these in their tanks.

Filtration. I had a hang on the back Aquaclear filter so that the water could just run into the tank...no sponge filter.

These shrimps are very delicate and any water changes MUST be accurate to the right temp of your tank water. Water conditioner I used Kordon products and had that already in the bucket for water changes...keep it to a very slow addition of water to the tank....no hoses. These shrimps are highly susceptible to any changes within the tank and don't do well with them.

Feeding not sure what everyone is feeding them now I believe there is a shrimp product made for Sulawesi. I did feed algae wafers for the snails and found the shrimps snacking on them too. These shrimps are mostly nocturnal and will come out more when the lights are off...so maybe some type of night light bulb in your fixture will let you see them better.

I made a mistake once by putting in a piece of moss from my other shrimp tank, and found a baby yellow neo in the Sulawesi tank. Now the temp in this tank was 86F and here was this one baby shrimp sitting on the rock. I knew I couldn't go digging him out or it would disturb the other shrimps, so I just left him in there, figured he wouldn't make it and the snails would take care of the rest.

WELL not only did he survive the temp/ph of 8.4 but he was sitting on the algae wafer having a great time, and low and behold the Cardinals all started coming out and joining him. They seemed to think if he was out in the open then there weren't any predators around and it was safe to come out during the day. I got to see a lot more of them after that and added a few more neos and they all lived and bred in the tank for 18 months till I shut it down.

Neos are very adaptable apparently  Of course I wouldn't suggest you do this with your tank best to keep it pristine for the Cardinals. It was neat to see them hang upside down from the rock ledges (why you need this type of system) as that is what they do in the wild.

So hope this helps. Keeping Sulawesi is different from all other shrimps, different setup and parameters. They need high temp and high PH to survive and breed.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Sulawesi shrimp are also very sensitive, needing very specific water parameters.

WATER PARAMETERS
Parameters should be almost exactly as follows: 
PH of 8.0-8.2
GH 1-2
KH 4-6
Temp of about 82
The best way to achieve these parameters is to use water with the correct GH, the PH and KH of the source water not being important as the crushed coral will take care of that. The substrate should be crushed coral. Many people mix the coral with sand because it looks a lot better that way. You also need to use water with the correct parameters for water changes, so you will need some kind of bucket with crushed coral, a heater and an air stone in it. These shrimp are so sensitive it is not recommended to do any more than 10 percent water change at a time. This should be plenty however as you shouldn't be keeping these with any fish.

More specific water paramaters by lake
Water Parameters Towuti Lake - Harlequins, Redlines, Red Orchids, Yellow cheeks and many others are from here

Temperature average: 30 C
pH: 8.3 
gH: 6
kH: 5-6
Conductivity: 181
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 2
Iron, Copper: 0

Water Parameters Mantano Lake - Where Cardinals are from
Temperature: 29.5 C
pH: 8.6 
gH: 7
kH: 5
Conductivity: 227
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Iron, Copper: 0
Phosphate: 1

TANK SETUP
But having correct water parameters alone will not suffice to keep these shrimp. They even more sensitive than other types of shrimp known for being tough to keep such as blue tigers, black tigers, and SSS crystal red shrimp.
The tank should not be heavily planted, these shrimp like to climb around on rocks.

Lava rock works best. You want your rocks to be stacked so that the shrimp can be in nooks and cranny around the rock work, and also hang out upside down. They seem to like this. Some moss is good, but not covering all the rock. Driftwood is present in the lakes as well, it looks a lot like manzanita (sp?!) which is sold on this forum in the SnS, just do a search.

TANK MATURITY
You still need more than a good layout and good parameters to keep these shrimp though. A freshly cycled tank is doomed for failure. The tank should be well established with lots of bio-film. A good way to do this would be to use the tank for fish for a few months then switch it into a shrimp tank. These shrimp will also appreciate Indian almond leaves, but don't use too many at once or it could reduce the PH. This is unlikely however unless the entire bottom is covered in them. One or two at a time is fine.

FEEDING
These shrimp eat the same stuff as other shrimp. Just remember not to overfeed or feed too much protein. Both these mistakes kill shrimp. 
Try fresh veggies, algae wafers, shrimp pellets, and specialty shrimp foods like mosura and shirakura(sp??)


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## Fisheye (Jan 13, 2015)

Hi Splak,

Love them but haven't kept them.

In the event that you didn't come across the following links, I thought these might be of interest.

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/cardinal-shrimp-sulawesi-biotope.29391/

https://skfaquatics.com/forum/topic/10305-pictures-of-sulawesi-biotope/

Hope you'll post pics once they're in!!

Jackie


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## Splak (May 1, 2013)

Thank you all for the replies!  

Tons of useful info!

My tank is currently running and I started off with 6 Sulawesi from a local breeder who keeps them in tap water. The tank also has yellow neo's in it which I am slowly removing.

Last night I saw 4 at once all hanging out on a piece of dragonstone, grazing happily. So I hope the other two are still alive!

They have been in this tank for just over a month now and growing at a decent rate.

I'm going to keep them in here as they seem to be doing well and I don't want to risk messing it up!

If I end up losing them I will probably start up another 10-20gal differently for the next batch!

Thanks everyone


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## Fisheye (Jan 13, 2015)

I just now noticed the date on your original posting!

Glad to hear that you got your shrimp and that they are doing well.

They are so beautiful. I love their white "gloves".

Jackie


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## shrimplife (Jul 16, 2016)

They are not all that hard to keep as people say. However they do require some specifics.

To make it short and sweet-
Ro water, remineralized with salty shrimp sulawesi, high ph, heater, very mature tank (2-4 months) rabbit snails, lava rock, sand is fine for substrate. 

The most important factor of all the above will be maturing the tank. The other things are neccessary but aren't time consuming as the maturation of the tank. 

I have mine currently cycling.


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

I have a big super fancy rock that is Brown Limestone that is honeycombed which may be a great buffer. Had it in a cichlid tank years ago until the dug under it and almost toppled it through the side of the tank, Let me know if your interested John.


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## Splak (May 1, 2013)

Bwhiskered said:


> I have a big super fancy rock that is Brown Limestone that is honeycombed which may be a great buffer. Had it in a cichlid tank years ago until the dug under it and almost toppled it through the side of the tank, Let me know if your interested John.


Hi Charlie! Thank you for the offer but we have a huge surplus of stones laying around from over the years! haha!


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

This is not just a stone but one of natures masterpieces.


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