# 5.5gal to small?



## Splak (May 1, 2013)

Hey all, quick question.

Im looking to buy a few blue diamond shrimps and was wondering if a 5.5 gal tank is to small. Im concerned about ph swings. I have clay aquasoil which keeps my 10gal at about 6.7ph. It will have tons of javamoss and duckweed.

Just dont know and dont want to risk some nicer shrimps and lose them to a novice mistake.

Thanks


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## chance (Mar 12, 2013)

I use a 7 gal for my taiwans. Its doing good so far.


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## Shrimp Daddy (Mar 30, 2013)

Splak said:


> Hey all, quick question.
> 
> Im looking to buy a few blue diamond shrimps and was wondering if a 5.5 gal tank is to small. Im concerned about ph swings. I have clay aquasoil which keeps my 10gal at about 6.7ph. It will have tons of javamoss and duckweed.
> 
> ...


Too small.


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*hmm.*

I currently have a a few 5.5 gals running with Blue Pearls, Blue Tigers, and Orange Sakura, and so far so good... This was supposed to be a temporary situation till i got some larger tanks for them, but that project has been on hiatus since the beginning of summer, so the shrimp have had to remain in their refugee tanks longer than I'd have liked.

They're all thriving and breeding, especially the blue pearls, but I will eventually be moving them to more larger more permanent residency as the population is rising fast. The key to controlling the ammonia and nitrates has been lots of floating plants and weekly small water changes.


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## ThyrosineChoi (Apr 6, 2010)

I'm gonna say it's not small. But you should keep in mind that whatever you do will affect the tank significantly..
I have around 30 CRS+WR+PANDA+BKK mix in there and they're doing fine, starting to breed.
But whenever I do 20%+ water change, sometimes 1 small shrimp tend to die, while other big ones are fine. Mind that the water was off the tap. with 1mL CO2 booster.

otherwise, it's totally fine.


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## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

IMO, keeping water parameters safe in a 5.5 gallon is just to hard. I say for shrimp, kept it at 10 gallons minimum. I had crystals and RCS in a 10 gallon and they did ok. I feel as if I could have done better with a 20 gallon but it did work out. I have kept some RCS in a 5 gallon hex and they did survive. They didn't breed as much though


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*15 - 20 g*

I find 15 - 20 gal long is the most ideal... My CRS and CBS are currently in a 15g and I've finally been successful in raising a colony, starting from 15 individuals to now about 50.

If the tank is too small, you're going to have to be more vigilant in maintaining proper water chemistry, as waste affects the smaller quantity of water much faster.

I've tried crystals in larger tanks too such as a 55g, and the advantage was a wider window in between water changes. The drawback though was having to treat a larger quantity of water when doing a water change. So the ideal is something in between.


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

Man I was just at http://www.shrimpfever.com/ today

Thomas was so helpful, man does he ever know his shrimps.. and his prices are ridiculously cheap for


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*Shrimps!*

Yup.. Tommy knows his stuff...

All my crystals and blue tigers came from his store, very reasonably priced, and I don't know if it something I'm doing right or what, but his stock is pretty hardy.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

I have a 3.5 on my nightstand with shrimps and tetras and it does great.


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## mistersprinkles (Nov 4, 2013)

darkangel66n said:


> I have a 3.5 on my nightstand with shrimps and tetras and it does great.


There is no tetra that can live comfortably in a 3.5G
What kind of tetras are they? They should be in a bigger tank. Sorry to poop on your parade, it's just the truth.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

mistersprinkles said:


> There is no tetra that is a dwarc raan live comfortably in a 3.5G
> What kind of tetras are they? They should be in a bigger tank. Sorry to poop on your parade, it's just the truth.


You are correct. Why I wrote tetra I do not know. It is a raspbora I have and not a tetra.


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## Shrimp Daddy (Mar 30, 2013)

jimmyjam said:


> Man I was just at http://www.shrimpfever.com/ today
> 
> Thomas was so helpful, man does he ever know his shrimps.. and his prices are ridiculously cheap for[/QUOTE
> 
> Not bad looking either.


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

I dont know if I'd go that far lol



Shrimp Daddy said:


> jimmyjam said:
> 
> 
> > Man I was just at http://www.shrimpfever.com/ today
> ...


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