shamedic Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 Hello all im new to the fourms and shrimp ill start by saying I have been keeping cichlid for about 5 years and ready to move on to something new here is a list of my equipment 240 gallon tank 70x30x25 FX6 x2 I know they don’t like a lot of flow right now they are plumed into my overflows and I was thinking if I drop the water lvl 2 inch and reverse the flow it will make it like waterfalls over the overflowbox so it wont be blowing them all over 300w heaters x3 Marine land bouble bright 48 inch x2 BTW this is going to be a Shrimp only tank Here is a list of things I would like to know 1 can i use norm aquarium gravel? 2 are live plants a most or can i use plastic plants? 3 what type of wood can i put in there with them. 4 will the wood mess with the water to much i would like alot of it and will it change the water color if i boil the crap out of it. 5 my tap water Ph is at or around 7.4-7.6 will this be fine for them to breed 6 do i still need to use PRIME when i do water changes. I'm sure i do but just want to make sure 7 What live plants can I grow with the lights I have I do plan on putting moss balls in it 8 i realy like painted fire red cherry shrimp do they need different water lvls then norm RCS thank you for any and all help shamedic Johnnydok, Edwardnah and KlimparOn 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elo500 Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 That's a big tank! Red cherry shrimp / Sakura/ fire / painted are all the same just different degrees of redness. Ph is fine. Yes need prime. Don't need heaters. Gravel is fine. Better put something over canister inlet to keep from sucking up shrimp, either foam or SS steal mesh. Live plants are always better. Didn't say what kind of lights but you can grow moss, buce, with low cheap light. Drift wood, manzanita, cholla are great. Avoid grape wood and soft wood. Boil/ soak wood to get out tannins abd help sink. All colors of cherry shrimp I interbreed and will result in wild coloration. Pick one color. Good luck. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamedic Posted May 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 wow that was fast ty my lights are LED about SS steel mesh you can put that in the tank? i read they cant have copper so i was thinking all metals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glasshalffull Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 As long as it's stainless steel it's good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glasshalffull Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 And the Marineland will grow low light plants Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamedic Posted May 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 so with my size tank how may do you think i can safely hold in the tank 100 or so? and can i put chunks of tumbled glass in there as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr0p Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 With a 240 Gal tank, you could literally hold thousands of them... I probably have almost 100 in an 8gal tank, and you can hardly tell they are there unless it's feeding time. Tumbled glass shouldn't hurt at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 Holy crap that is a big tank... Are you sure you want to put shrimp in it? I dont even know if you will see them until you have hundreds. I dont even want to think of the nightmare of trying to catch them all if you get bored with RCS and want to change what kind of shrimp you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 That would be an awesome breeding tank and yes you could hold about 5-10 thousand shrimp in that tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 Another option is to do larger macro shrimp like Red Claw Shrimp. They get ~3" big and can be very nice colors. Maybe even even some prawns if you are just doing this for you or a display tank. Ie. Macrobrachium rosenbergii Here's a good link to a site that sell for aquarium hobbyists as well as commercial. Supposed to be good eating, as well. http://www.aquacultureoftexas.com/index.htm Crayfish/small lobsters would work too in a set up that large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamedic Posted May 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 Wow rly 5-10k now that's what im talking about are there any othe dwarf shrimp that have different colors that can go in with them and they won't kill each other or breed I seen some blue with yellow eyes that would look rly nice any help I would love u have me very pumped about that number I know it will not happen over night but when it does OMG look out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 I thin you may be talking about OEBT (pic from google) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamedic Posted May 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 That is it can they be with rcs and not cross breed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiumanfu Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 You can keep one colour variety of RCS and one colour variety of Tigers together. Orange Eye Blue Tiger, Black Tiger Orange Eye, Red Tiger, Royal Blue, etc. They generally prefer close to the same water parameters as RCS and they won't interbreed. You technically can keep any crystal shrimp together with RCS if you want but the preferred water parameters are not the same and one group will suffer. My suggestion to you is to research as much as you can. Your tank is huge and if you want to make changes down the road, it can get very expensive. I'm scared to think how much it will cost if you want to add an active substrate. Even just the amount of GH+ to bring your TDS up will be insane. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumo82 Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 I think you can hold more than 10k in there. That's a huge tank. Get driftwood and you can utilize more mid and top space for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamedic Posted May 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 So I went to the family owned pet store today just to get some pieces and WOW 7.99 for one low grade rcs I almosted pooed my self so I will not be using them for the shrimp but they have a lot of big driftwood pieces for about 20-30 each as for the glass it's about 2.99 a lbs they are nice size softball size and different colors now it's time to look into the different shrimp an a place with good repor to buy them from Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 Dont buy shrimp from the LFS you will get ripped off no matter what. Im sure there are forum members that can sell low gradecherries for $1 each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumo82 Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 Don't buy anything from the Lfs. Online on everything is cheaper. Unless you like your shop and want to support locally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 Ditto what everyone says about buying shrimp from the local fish store. Nothing against them but they have to sell them for huge amounts because they are only getting in a few per week. noone in the shrimp world buys from the LFS unless its just a couple here or there that they like the look of then they buy in bulk online. RCS are super inexpensive online. As someone said about a dollar per shrimp. Can I just give one word of advice? The RCS come from the Neo family and there are all kinds of colors and varieties and grades. RCS is the cheapest and lowest of all the dwarf shrimp. While a small tank of them is nice.... it feels like such a waste to do a 240 gallon tank of them At least go with the higher grade painted fire red shrimp. But look up all the colors and see what really catches your eye because once they start breeding in that huge tank, to try to change what you are breeding will be almost impossible. The Tigers are a great companion for whatever neos you choose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiumanfu Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 Don't forget to check the classified websites too. Craigslist always has a bunch of RCS and CRS listings here but check the website that is popular in your local area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamedic Posted May 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 As of right now the plan is start off with about 20 painted fire reds and if I can find a deal on the ones in that pic I would like to get about the same right now the tank has about 60 mbuna cichlids in it so next week I'll go back and look at the Driftwood and get 2-3 pieces that are like stumps so really good size as for live plants still not sure what I'm going to do might just with plastic and get about 25 moss balls from ebay the shrimp will be the last thing to go in it after I sale off the cichlids So I'm looking at 2-3 weeks I I did get about 100 lbs of black gravel today Johnnydok and Edwardnah 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumo82 Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 Buy moss instead of moss balls. And some floating plants like frog-bit. Tie the moss to your stumps and let it grow out. Will look much nicer than plastic plants. Or just toss the moss in like me. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 + 1 to real moss and tie it to your wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamedic Posted May 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 What's a good moss that won't take over the tank and I wont have to add any fertilizer I would like a low maintenance tank like I have now some thing I can do my water chages vac the gravel call it good I'm wanting to know what a good price on painted fire reds is I found them for as low as 2.75 each And would like to know the same about OEBT looking for 20 each Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 your tank is 240 gallons, it would take a long time to overtake it. LOL But having said that, all moss will need to be trimmed periodically. The nice thing though is you can sell it or give it away to forum members in RAOKs (random acts of kindness) If you look in the marketplace and sellers sections you will see how big the RAOK responses are and how appreciative the members are to receive their gift. My go to moss is Christmas moss. It is beautiful Dark green , easy to maintain and reasonably priced but I am a fan of all the mosses. I am not a cherry shrimp expert but 2.75 sounds like a good price for the fire reds. The OEBTs I have seen for $5 a piece for culls to 10 dollars for the nice blues. The interesting thing about the OEBTs is that if money is an issue you can start your colony with some culls and some regular ones. The culls are blond and can throw the blues. Then as you start getting more blues on your own, you can start culling out the blonds. I say this all the time. Shrimp are famous in new tanks for dying out so you might want to just start with the fire reds, wait 2 months and make sure they are going to thrive and then add the more expensive tigers. It all depends on your wallet. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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