Hello everybody,
Need some help to get my shrimps going. I got a new small fish tank with 10 shrimps. Got it from seletar farmway (nanyang aquarium), and day 1 seems pretty good.
2days later 1 to 2 died. And it stopped and shrimps are going real good with overhead filter, heater that is set to 24.5 in my office. And yes it is planted. The shrimps i got was white head bee (not sure what is the difference between crystal black) and they started mating after a month.
Then suddenly, 6 of the shrimps died and i am left with 2. Just happened so, 1 male and 1 female are left. Need some help over herei do water change weekly around 20% each time.
Thanks in advance
Some additional details would help...
1. What are the dimensions of the tank?
2. What substrate are you using?
3. Any buffers, additives or chemicals dosed in the tank?
4. How long has the tank been running for and is the tank fully cycled?
5. What are the current water parameters? pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, gH, TDS etc?
6. What type of plants and density of plants do you have in the tank?
A photo of the tank will really help alot too.
Fish tank L22 x W15 x H17
Black ertilised soil. I got it from the open backet sold at the place where i got the shrimp. So im not sure what soil is that.
Nothing is placed near the tank and the tank is fully cycled for 2 weeks together with water milfoil and java fern (roots are hanging all over the leaf by the end of 1st week) before introducing the shrimps on the 3rd week.
Water parameters have yet to get the kit to check. And i got a over head led lamp which will be on over weekend 24hr and weeday 8hrs.
Thankd
Okay, without knowing what type of soil substrate and with unknown water parameters, i can only suggest the most likely scenario why your shrimps died, based on your existing tank details.
Your tank's dimensions indicate only an approx. 5 liters of water volume, that is very small and although shrimps have relatively low bio-loads, small tank water volumes are highly susceptible to large and sudden changes in water parameters. Most shrimps, especially those bee shrimps you got, are sensitive creatures and very intolerant to sudden fluctuations in water conditions.
Just leaving the tank to run for 2 weeks does not mean it is cycled... it often takes much longer for a tank to achieve a stable cycle (up to 6-8 weeks, sometimes longer). Only when the water parameters are tested and stable, then you can confirm its cycled.
What most likely happened is when you added in the shrimps in the 3rd week, the weaker ones died quickly due to the uncycled tank conditions and fluctuating parameters, the rest managed to survive for a while more, but as the tank is still cycling, it is going though a series of toxic ammonia and nitrite spikes. Due to the small volume of water, the toxic levels eventually accumulated too high in a short period of time and the shrimps got killed.
The remaining 2 shrimps are most probably the most hardy ones in the group, so hopefully they can still survive until the tank is fully cycled. Don't add anymore shrimps, give the tank more time to cycle, test the water to make sure its stable, then can resume adding in a few more shrimps (but don't overload the tank with too much livestock as the water volume is still very small).
As for your lights, no need to leave them on for 24 hours during the weekends, too much light just increases the chances of algae issues. If you currently have to manually switch the lights on and off everyday... then just can get a cheap socket timer to schedule the lights to automatically switch on and off on a daily basis.
Thank you so much. Didn't know the water cycle for small tank are so different from the bigger 1.
I will test the water parameters before adding in new stock. Once again, thank you
Yeah, small tanks tend to be much more difficult to achieve and sustain a cycle compared to larger tanks... its all about water volume and dilution.Originally Posted by genki89
It takes very little ammonia to quickly hit toxic levels in a small tank, whereas the same amount of ammonia barely even registers in a large tank.
Hahaha i had a 4 feet tank, probably 30 litre housing angel and is breeding perfectly fine.
I was thinking it will work out fine with shrimp but didn't know so much diff between big tank vs small tank, fish vs shrimp
guess its a combination of factors.... small tank - toxicity builds up quickly. from your description, your tank is new and was not cycled with "livestock", only plants, thus, with the introduction of shrimps, the filter cycling physically began....
This is how it looks like. Is the plant correct or suitable for the shrimp?
I'm using the right side, the shrimps love it and plant outgrow easily.. require frequent trimming
Bean + Kurt
I does that too and i realise that when water condition turned bad, so does the plants.
Sorry new to this hobby so kind of killed some shrimps during this expedition... the plants can be use to replant and it will also grow well too
For the Java Fern, you should take it out of the soil. If you leave the rhizome of the plant in the soil, it will eventually suffocate and die off. For plants such as Java Fern, they feed directly off the water column so you should expose the roots.
Cheers,
JJ
If you are looking for a pure shrimp tank, you could do with more plants
Maybe some moss or Marimo balls. Shrimp will love them.
And I second what UA said. You should get a timer for the tank. It will be beneficial for the tank in the long run. Especially for the plants
Cheers,
JJ
Thanks all for the guidance.
The java fern that are rooted, are actually rootless. I presume the roots grew at the end of the leaf that are hanging freely. I just bundle the end of the leafs with a cable tie as weight to prevent them from floating around.
As recommended by UA, i will get the timer together with the moss ball on my mext trip to a nearby aquarium shop.
Btw, does the moss ball grow over time, or die or just plainly get consumed?
The roots growing from the java fern leaves are actually the baby plantlets (thats one of the ways they propagate). The main plant's own roots do grow out from the rhizome too (the LFS plant supplier usually just trim them off for neatness). The main plant's roots will naturally grasp around objects and dig into soil, but the rhizome itself cannot be buried, or else it may start to rot.
Marimo moss balls are actually a form of cladophora algae, but its a non-invasive algae variety so relatively okay to add to tanks. They grow super slowly... like only a few millimeters a year. So if you see particularly large ones, they have probably been around for a very long time.
My java fern actually do not have any roots when it comes with it. Maybe 2 to 3 leaf are bond together with roots. In such case, will my java fern that does not have roots survive like the water milfoil? Or will the roots start to grow over time?The roots growing from the java fern leaves are actually the baby plantlets (thats one of the ways they propagate). The main plant's own roots do grow out from the rhizome too (the LFS plant supplier usually just trim them off for neatness). The main plant's roots will naturally grasp around objects and dig into soil, but the rhizome itself cannot be buried, or else it may start to rot.
Marimo moss balls are actually a form of cladophora algae, but its a non-invasive algae variety so relatively okay to add to tanks. They grow super slowly... like only a few millimeters a year. So if you see particularly large ones, they have probably been around for a very long time.
Sorry, abit nooby with water plants and small tank set up.
For Java ferns, their leaves are attached to the rhizomes, if you are referring to the horizontal green "stem/runner" that the leaves grow from, those are the rhizomes, not the roots.My java fern actually do not have any roots when it comes with it. Maybe 2 to 3 leaf are bond together with roots. In such case, will my java fern that does not have roots survive like the water milfoil? Or will the roots start to grow over time?
Sorry, abit nooby with water plants and small tank set up.
Here is a photo with label for reference:
Photo Source: http://www.disky-design.dk/fish/plan...-pteropus.html (more photos in the link)
The roots themselves will grow from the rhizome and are usually dark brown/black in color.
Java Ferns are actually quite a hardy plant so I am quite sure they will survive as long as they are kept under relatively decent conditions with their rhizomes above the substrate.My java fern actually do not have any roots when it comes with it. Maybe 2 to 3 leaf are bond together with roots. In such case, will my java fern that does not have roots survive like the water milfoil? Or will the roots start to grow over time?
Sorry, abit nooby with water plants and small tank set up.
They might do better if tied or attached to a piece of driftwood (like how they come when purchased at LFS) or some rocks.
Cheers,
JJ
Hello all, sad to say, all my shrimps died before i can get the test kit.
I noticed that there are a layer of oil after i added ocean free 8000 bacteria. It should be bateria bloom as i can see the plants are greener, bubbles everywhere.
But this layer of oil doesn't seem to go away after 1 month of water change weekly...
In fact, i even increase the water change from 20 to 50 percent (week by week 10% extra). Need help on how to remove this layer of oil... 😯
The layer of oil is surface film. It's an organic layer excreted by plants and decomposing organic matter. Usually quite common in planted tanks.
You can use a surface skimmer to get rid of the film.
Cheers,
JJ
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