# Shrimps in a 10G tank



## george (Apr 11, 2009)

I have received permission to have a 10G tank in the office. Since it is too small for a SW, I have decided to make it FW. Too small for fishes (at least for the ones I intend to put in ) so I was thinking to try shrimps.

I have Netlea and a bunch of DW that I can play with. Lighting will be 2x13W CFL.

Keeping in mind that it must be low maintenance, I was thinking of using some moss, some nice anubias and crypts (wendtii mainly). What other plants would be suitable for this tank?

Since I only kept cherry some 5 years ago and seen that more types of shrimps appeared on the market, what are the hardy easy to keep shrimps?


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## woopderson (Feb 12, 2014)

Any of the Neocaridinas are hearty. I am just starting up my tank and am looking into some Orange Rilis, but any in the Neo family will do well.


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## woopderson (Feb 12, 2014)

ShrimpFever is a great store to buy from, as they have a huge variety. The physical store is closed as they are moving (which means their selection has lessened), but they reopen early May. They should have some pretty cool stock once they open up again.


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## Splak (May 1, 2013)

If cycled properly, I would got for crystal red/black shrimps. Very easy to keep once the tank is cycled, I have a 10gal with 9 CBS, I only do 10% water changed every 2 weeks, shrimps are healthy and no loses.


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## cape (Jun 18, 2010)

As have been mentioned, any type of neo are pretty hardy. 

One thing I want to mention, netlea soil buffers PH down to around 6-6.5, whereas neos prefer to be in harder water with higher PH. Many have no problems keeping neos in with buffering substrates but it's not optimal and is a waste of money IMO. 

As the above poster mentioned, if you want to go with CRS/CBS, the netlea soil will work perfect. Only thing is, cardina species are generally a little more sensitive than neos.

As for plants, anything low light and slow growing will work. In some tanks I have dwarf sags, mosses, floaters, anubias, buces, etc. One thing of note, there's a myth about cutting anubias and crypts that releases some type of chemical that is harmful to shrimps. I am not sure if there is any truth to this but wanted to mention it anyway.


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## Splak (May 1, 2013)

cape said:


> As the above poster mentioned, if you want to go with CRS/CBS, the netlea soil will work perfect. Only thing is, cardina species are generally a little more sensitive than neos.
> .


Yes, I forgot to mention they are more sensitive. But if it is a properly cycled tank, should be no problem!

Also, if you are going to use the Netlea I would for sure go with a Cardina species so you don't waste your money like mentioned, or any other shrimp that requires a buffered PH.


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*shrimps*

Definitely Neos... Or Tiger shrimp expect for the high end blacks.. Go with Rilis.. They come in many colours now and are very prolific.


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

The tank will be started this Friday. 

For shrimp I will go with Fire Red and all I need are the plants.

So if you have a nice package for low light low maintenance plants near 427 or 401, hit me up with PM. Not looking to spend more than 20.


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## flanneryc (Jul 25, 2009)

Good luck with the shrimp tank!! Torontoplantman has a 20$ Low light plant package up for sale right now.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Plant-wise, try slow grower as you don't want to do frequent maintenance in the office. Netlea will buffer your PH too low for neos, it should work but I never had good result keeping neos in sub 6 PH.


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

Netlea brough my PH from 8.3 to about 6.5-6.7. 

As for moss, I am looking for xmas and flame and my DW is kinda like a plank and the flame will look really good.

I will go with anubias, dwarf sagittaria, pearl grass, some round pelia.


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

Ok I quickly made a nice scaping but may change it depending on what plants i will get.

















Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk


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## creature55 (Apr 3, 2014)

I recently tried keeping a neo species (blue diamonds) with active soil (ph was around 6.4) and they didn't fare very well at all. Ended up completely swapping out the substrate (pain in the you-know-what!) for something neutral and they seem to be happier now. Although the general consensus is that crystals are more sensitive, I haven't had a single problem since I started my crystal tank a few months back. No deaths and lots of babies on the way! pH 6.7 might be a little kinder to the neos than my pH 4 was though. Good luck


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

Unfortunately, I was unable to continue this project until now.

I am torn on the filtration subject. Considering that it is a 10G tank, would it be best to use a HOB with a prefilter or a sponge? Please keep in mind that I prefer to keep the noise to a minimum but at the same time to not affect the filtration.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Hobs with double sponge prefilter work well for me, most of my tanks have it. By result, they work better than canisters in my shrimproom.

[email protected]


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## Splak (May 1, 2013)

My smaller tanks use a small sponge filter in the back corner, all I need is an air pump (10$) at petsmart and the only maintance is rinsing the sponge once every month or two.


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

Randy, what brand of HOB are you using? AC 20?


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

george said:


> Randy, what brand of HOB are you using? AC 20?


I try to use AC 70 on tank 10G or above, I'll use at least a AC 50 on a 10G. AC 30/50/70 share the same motor, so it's the same amount electricity used. If it's too strong you can always turn it down a bit. With a double sponge as prefilter, the flow will be reduced over time as the sponge clogged up. So a bigger size would work better over time.


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

Could you post an image of your HOB with the prefilter or the prefilter alone?


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

The double sponge filter looks like this when working by itself.


And it looks like this in my setup (connected to a AC 70)


And here you can see how it's connected. You can use a piece of filter floss or sponge to fill the gap.


Hope this answers your questions.


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## Shrimp Daddy (Mar 30, 2013)

woopderson said:


> ShrimpFever is a great store to buy from, as they have a huge variety. The physical store is closed as they are moving (which means their selection has lessened), but they reopen early May. They should have some pretty cool stock once they open up again.


Agreed and Toomy is a good guy and not bad looking either. He'll set you up good with shrimps.


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

I agree with you guys but at the same time I am trying to put money in hobbyist pocket unless Tommy has something that I cannot find on the market.


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## zzz (Sep 18, 2013)

Buying from places like ShrimpFever actually helps hobbyists. It isn't a huge multinational corporation which doesn't care about anything else except profit. SF is something what I would call "hobbyist who went pro". 
By investing money at SF we keep the store open and we can enjoy there the choice of shrimp variety, which an amateur shrimp keeper cannot offer.


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

The other reason I cannot visit Tommy too often is that is store is in Scarberia and I live in Acton, which is quite a drive


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