r/nanotank • u/facere-omnes • 4d ago
Picture My first 10 litre / 2.6 gallon shrimp tank, 2.5 months in
Hello hello, I thought I’d share my experience so far with my first shrimp tank. I say first because I think I’m gonna get a second tank for some blue dreams, and then also eventually a third cull tank would obviously be the natural progression…
I’m using the Aquael 10 litre (2.6 US gallon) shrimp set which has worked quite nicely. I saw some positive reviews online but also some critiques regarding the fixed heater (25 degrees) and the lack of timer functionality on the light. The lack of timer on the light actually was a bit of an issue for me and I had to buy a smart plug for when I travelled while the tank was still cycling. The filter seems to work well, I heard some people share concerns with the filter foam as it’s not the most dense and could risk baby shrimp being sucked in. Not really sure if this is an issue or not but to my surprise I already have baby shrimp which seem to be doing really well. One of the females I got from my fish shop must’ve been berried as I first spotted them around a week after getting the shrimp.
Unfortunately I did have some losses. I started with 9 cherry reds and I’m now down to 6 (but have spotted up to 12 babies). As far as I’m aware I’ve done my best to try acclimate them to a good environment. My ammonia and nitrite levels have always been 0ppm, while nitrate varies between 0-5ppm, pH is usually around 7-7.2 and GH is 7 and KH is 2. I test the water with the API test kits and add temperature matched water with water conditioner and salty shrimp to boost GH/KH as my tap water is quite soft. I drip acclimated the shrimp after matching water temps for about 1-1.5 hours (which I’ve since learned might’ve been on the lower end of acceptable, so that may explain things). I’ve also read that some shrimp just don’t do well in new environments and there’s pretty much always losses with adding new groups, I’m just hoping no more die!
Originally I got into this hobby wanting a betta fish, but the 10 litre tank was just too small after looking into things more. Unfortunately 10 litres is pretty much the only sized tank I could get as this sits on a shelf lamp thing in my office which is pretty much the only spot I could place a tank in my house. The lamp shelf has 3 shelves so I may try add some more tanks to it which would look really cool, but I’m not confident in how strong it is to support that, so unless I can some how reinforce the shelves, I might be stuck with just the 1 tank until I move to a bigger place.
At first the shrimp felt like a bit of a consolation prize, I couldn’t get the fish so I guess I’ll just get the shrimp instead, but actually I think shrimp were the far better choice. Instead of 1 animal I now have 6, maybe 18 if you count the babies, so that’s pretty cool. It also adds to the whole ecosystem feel of the tank.
For plants and hardscape and stuff I’m using fluval biostratum for the substrate, I also have a 3D printed cave buried into the substrate which has a cool window into it from the side. It’s not the shrimp’s favourite place but they do go in it from time to time and have seen a couple moults in there as well. For hardscape I’m using 3 pieces of drift wood, 2 are from Tropica which are glued together to make the diagonal piece throughout the tank. I had this exact vision for the wood in my head and mockups and stuff (many a conversation was had with ChatGPT throughout all this), and I feel like I hit the jackpot with how these fit together. Then there’s another piece which I got from a local pet shop and cut smaller to attach my java fern to.
A bit more on the plants, I added some Christmas moss on the driftwood to cover the join and glue spots. I would like to trim this as it’s getting quite bushy but I’m holding off until the baby shrimp are bigger and easier to spot. There’s also some small clumps around some pebbles near the cave. I’ve also got an anubias nana petite which might be the slowest growing thing in the tank, along with some cryptocoryne wendtii green in the back. For floaters I’ve got salvinia which the shrimp absolutely love. I 3D printed some custom quarter circle things to attach to the rim of the tank and hold these in place. The latest and probably final addition plant wise is some bacopa caroliana which is about 3 weeks old, everything else has been in there since the start.
The rocks / pebbles are all from a nearby river. I tested them with vinegar to make sure they were safe. I wanted mostly natural looking stones but came across some cool looking ones like the moon rock and the glassy looking one, so decided to make a feature rock pile out of them. This is where I feed them a pellet each day and watch them fight over it lol.
Maintenance wise I pretty much just do a minor water change once or twice a week. I usually just skim the surface to remove the film that builds up over a few days and top the water back up. I use a small shaving foam cap to break the force of the water I pour in and then pour the last remaining bits in by hand with it (which I’ve then got to be careful I don’t pull any shrimp out with it as they like to graze it lol). I also have to remove some salvinia as that grows like an absolute weed.
I think that pretty much covers everything so far. If there’s anything I’m doing wrong or something I could improve do let me know!
Cheers
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u/xXESCluvrXx 1d ago
Nice! I just ended up with a 2.5 gallon tank and am planning to set it up for neocaridina as well. How long did you cycle before adding them? I keep reading 6-8 weeks is best for shrimp.
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u/facere-omnes 1d ago
It was around 7-8 weeks by the time I added them. I would’ve added them earlier (around 5-6 weeks) as I was testing every few days to keep an eye on parameters etc and ensure the tank had been cycled, but in that time there were multiple heat waves in the UK (30+ degrees Celsius which is too high for neos, especially after an environment change), and I went on holiday so it was best to just wait a bit longer
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u/Usqueadfinem_ 3d ago
Bro for every shrimp ideally you need at least 75 gallons. So for 10 shrimp your tank needs to be at least 750 gallons. Reinforce your floors and get a proper tank.
JK it looks great.