Shrimp starter, need help

[Jorge_]

Hello, I am new to the shrimp world and have a few questions. I have a 10 gallon tank, with a bubble wand in the very back. In front of the wand, is driftwood planted with java fern, java moss, and anubias. I also have a moss ball in a corner. I have a top fin power filter 10, which I plan to cover the bottom opening (where the water enters) with a sponge filter cover? Would that work? My water seems ok, the only concern I have is the PH which is at roughly 7.8. I dont have anything in there yet, because I am going on vacation for two weeks. When I return, I will buy some cherry shrimp. I had the tank for about a month now, and used to have guppies, along with three loaches. The guppies died within days, and the loaches remained alive until I decided to return them. Two weeks later, I am here with an empty tank. I have a few questions:

 

1. Can I put neon tetras in the tank? I was planning to put five, but if they stress the shrimp and eat them all I wont do that.

 

2. What do shrimp eat? I was planning to feed them banana leaves, guava leaves, and algae pellets? Any specialized shrimp food you recommend is great.

 

3. Is my setup fine? Will the shrimp be happy and healthy? 

 

4. Any changes I should do to my tank? I cant change the flooring, which is gravel.

 

Thanks for any responses, any other tips you have for me will be great! I think thats about it, but one last thing. Heres a photo to the tank - https://i.gyazo.com/8ee6541b38de3ce482e77d30545a5bff.jpg

 

[Jynn]

Neons will eat baby shrimp, they are also a very active fish and should be in a larger tank so they have room to swim.     If you wanted a schooling fish (and don't care if your babies get eaten)    Chili rasboras, axelrodis, celestial pearl danios, or ember tetras would be OK in a 10g.

 

Is the tank fully cycled?  

Do you know your KH/GH?   The PH is a bit higher than recommended.  Maybe adding some peat pellets to your filter would help bring it down.

[Jorge_]

Thank you for the help, I do not know if my tank is fully cycled :/

I know, its the most important thing but I didn't think I needed to because I "used" to listen to petsmart. So when they said that if we buy the bacteria, they said we could put the fish in right then and there. I have had the tank for about a month, and will be gone for two weeks. If I need to "start" a cycle or mini cycle please inform me! Sadly, my water test kit doesnt have a test for KH/GH... I will try and find some peat pellets to buy.

[zodiac]

a small school of neons can be in a 10g.

i have 7 in mine.

i just have one shrimp in it.

 

for you cycle:

throw in some fish food.

if you have time,in 3 days test for ammonia.do water change if ammonia is higher then 3 ppm.

if you don't have time,throw in the food and test ammonia and nitrite when you get back.

 

buy the api gh/kh online.

[Jorge_]

Everything but PH was good, should I still put in some fish food? The nitrate was the only other thing which was at 5.0. I will buy a kit for GH and KH when I get back

How many neons would be alright? Maybe 8? I want to make sure the shrimp arent scared and hiding all the time. If I can only keep like 10 shrimp, ill just remove the tetras

[ibebian]

I would second the chili rasboras. They are beautiful and their smaller size not just length but girth as well lets you get more for dramatic effect. And smaller mouths, so harder to eat shrimp, though I find them to be very peaceful.