# 375g chocolate themed shrimp tank!



## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

i had an idea the other day, i was eating my some ferrero rocher and decided i wanted to try to turn the box into a shrimp tank. not sure how many gallons it is, all i know is that it can fit 375 grams of chocolate in it! 

next problem was box is way too small for any filter i could find at the store. after brainstorming some ideas i decided i will make a small canister filter, something more proportioned to the size of my tank. so to keep with my chocolate theme, i decided to use a kinder surprise egg. 

will post more pics soon. i hope this all works out! i'm pretty new to fish keeping and never tried keeping a tank this small so i'm sure i'll be learning a lot along the way!


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Boo. I was thinking 375 GALLON shrimp tank. Now that would be something to see! lol

You might have a lot of difficulty with a really small canister filter and a really small container. I would be remiss to run anything smaller than 2 liters permanently. If you want to run a filter, I'd suggest using a real "big" canister filter and just really choking off the flow. It would really help you in that it would increase your water volume considerably and add a lot of stability to a tiny tank.

Good luck!


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

forgot the pics!


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## snaggle (Feb 19, 2010)

ameekplec. said:


> Boo. I was thinking 375 GALLON shrimp tank. Now that would be something to see! lol


Wouldn't that be a little over the 40 Gallon system volume rule lol.

Good luck, cant wait to see houw that works will be neet to see.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

snaggle said:


> Wouldn't that be a little over the 40 Gallon system volume rule lol.
> 
> Good luck, cant wait to see houw that works will be neet to see.


I would be willing to look the other way, possibly.


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## rrobbiiee (Dec 4, 2010)

Lol exactly what I was thinking as well...This will be equally cool though!


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

i wanna try to keep as much of it DIY as possible, if my whole diy canister filter idea horribly fails then yeah i'll probably end up buying one and using it. hopefully.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

jeff1727 said:


> i wanna try to keep as much of it DIY as possible, if my whole diy canister filter idea horribly fails then yeah i'll probably end up buying one and using it. hopefully.


You don't really need a filter for a "tank" this small. I once kept a shrimp and 2 guppy fries in a 2 liter vase for a month.

The key is emergent plants and frequent water changes. I had salvinia covering the entire top of the vase, and did water changes every 1 to 2 days.

I use emergent plants because emergent plants don't need artificial light and CO2: the air and natural sunlight will be just fine. Frequent water changes are needed because the volume is so small. I just use water from my real tanks for water changes.

For your chocolate box, I would recommend using Lucky Bamboos. They are low light plants and they can grow a massive system of roots, which act as a natural filter. The problem with floating plants like salvinia and duckweed is that you wouldn't be able to see your shrimps from above. Although having some of them would still be nice.

Oh, also make sure you place the box in a place with constant, warm temperature, as you can't put a heater in there and such a small volume of water will fluctuate a lot in temperature.


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

so i worked on making my filter and tested it. i poked holes in my kinder egg and stuck my tubes, filled it with some filter media, then connected it to a pump. had some leaks at first so i patched it up with some putty. hope it all holds!


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## 4rdguy (Nov 27, 2010)

thats awesome. i wish i came up with ideas like this.


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

solarz said:


> You don't really need a filter for a "tank" this small. I once kept a shrimp and 2 guppy fries in a 2 liter vase for a month.
> 
> The key is emergent plants and frequent water changes. I had salvinia covering the entire top of the vase, and did water changes every 1 to 2 days.


That's called innovation!



Keep up the good work jeff!


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

thanks! i just hope it all works out!


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## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

You win in my books. The idea alone is VIP!


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## explor3r (Mar 14, 2010)

Wow thats a good challenge and i hope u win if u pull this out, if u need help eating the chocolates i can help with that


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

can anyone suggest plants i can use for this? the chocolate box is very shallow so i cant use plants that are tall. i was thinking of using dwarf hair grass but im not sure how tall that gets. also theres this other plant i've seen people use as carpet in there tanks, i think its called hc...does that require a lot of light?


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## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

HC requires significant light but your tank-thing is shalow various mosses could be trimmed and look attractive,


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

put my fluval substrate in and filled it with water. wanted to start getting my tank cycling. i've decided, i'm going to try to put a moss ball carpet in here. this light is temporary, still trying to find a more size appropriate light!


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

thats pimp man.. I like that mok filter idea.. perhapsyou can just run the thing through a sealed sandwitch tupper wear.. that would get you much more filtration. If thats too big then try a small pickle jar.... oh boy, now your getting me thinking =P


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

if your also really into mini tanks.. check out some stuff on wabi kusa


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

ran my tank over night and woke up to a leaking filter! nothing a little more putty cant fix!


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

how about some sylicone .. grab some ge brand for under 5 bucks at rona


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

yeah i think i gotta make a ver2.0 of my filter. right now it works but doesnt look pretty. i gotta try to make it neater, i think that silicone is a good idea! thanks!


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

You should keep those magnets farther away from your computer monitor and tower. They can damage them.


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

...just don't take it across the border....


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

just did a water change and starting to play around with some aquascaping ideas. i kinda have a few ideas on what to do. here's my temporary aquascape with my temporary tenant in my chocolate box tank. suggestions are welcome! i'm thinking of putting some dwarf hair grass, also considering some wabi kusa ideas that jimmyjam suggested...might be beyond my skill level though seeing that i'm new to this whole fish keeping thing!


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

oops forgot the pics!


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

one more pic! i put a shrimp in there to see how she does tonight! shrimp i'm putting in is brown like chocolate!


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## rrobbiiee (Dec 4, 2010)

This tank is mint!

Everything is so well proportioned it's hard to believe there is less then a water bottle's worth of fluids in there.


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## dspin02 (Oct 6, 2010)

This 'tank' is awesome, very creative. I can't wait to see where this goes.

-Andrew


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

need suggestions, i'm going to be gone for a week in feb, there's no way this tank will last a week without a water change! any suggestions?


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

put it in a tub with a dripping faucet.


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

put the lid on, and take it with you?


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## Windowlicka (Mar 5, 2008)

Pop it into a filled 375G tank for safe keeping? (remember where you place it though - I'd hate for it to get lost!  )

PS: Have been silently following this thread the last coupla days - lovin' the creativity at work here! Huge kudos!

...And sorry that the above was as useful as a <erm> chocolate teapot?!?


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

picked up some dwarf hairgrass today so did a little re-scaping of my tank! trying to find a nice small piece of drift wood!


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## explor3r (Mar 14, 2010)

Amazing build it looks great, i guess thats going to be a lot of work for water changes


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

yup, been doing water changes everyday...i have two shrimps in there so far and they seem okay.


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## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

Been following your thread, this is such an interesting idea!


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

sorry, havent had time to update and post pics on this thread. just wanted to share, i noticed today that 1 of the 2 shrimps i have in my chocolate box tank is berried!!! planning on borrowing a camera soon, will post pics!


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## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

Awww baby chocolate chips congrats!!


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

still no camera so i'm sorry for the crappy phone pics. i put in my drift wood today and i this is going to be my final setup! couldnt find a small enough piece of drift wood i liked so i had to cut one, took me almost an hour with an old hacksaw!


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

Very cool .


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## Lexingtonmax (Jan 26, 2011)

wow, very impressive! it gives me hope for my own nano tank.


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

Thank! i just wish i had a better camera!


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

i found my berried shrimp dead this morning. i did a water change last night and moved my tank, i guess it was too stressfull for her.


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## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

Oh no that's sad. Can you retrive the eggs off her understide and put it in a petri dish with....methal blue I think it is?


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

finally got a good camera for pictures!


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

more pics, my shrimp chillin on his dwood


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

dude this is pretty awesome. But you do know shrimp can climb out of the tank right?  
Be a little cautious


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

how is this going? is it still in the contest?


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## jeff1727 (Nov 7, 2010)

i got too busy with work and school and forgot to send in my FTS for march so i'm pretty sure i'm out of it now...still have the tank tho and my shrimp is still in there swimming around! probably gonna take down this tank this week and move my shrimp into a new home.


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