Tips/Guides/Advice needed to start my first shrimp tank!

[RagingBoy]

Hey guys! Previously, my bro and I used this site as guide to start our first fish tank. Thanks to the advices given, the insights from various experts on the forum as well as all the other tips and tricks gained through experiences, our fish tank gamble went well, and we even upgraded our tank!

So now, I've been an avid fan of shrimps. I wanted to throw in a few shrimps like cherries etc into our fish tank, but apparently was told that fish and shrimp don't really mix well, moreover with the different PH and stuff.

Hence, I would like to start a new mini shrimp tank.

I would be delighted if you guys could teach/advise me
1) What type of soil is good for the shrimp (as in what brand and where can I buy it in SG),
2) What is the ideal set up for shrimps? (E.g. PH, temp, any other factors? Sorry, am newbie :/. My bro was the main caretaker of our fish tank)
3) What type of plants are good and/or required for the shrimp?
4) What type of shrimp can I NOT mix with?
5) Apart from filters, what other equipment is neccessary and/or enhance the shrimp survival rate?
6) Great place to buy shrimps in Singapore?
7) How to cycle a mini shrimp tank and how long would be prefered?
Any other tips that you think could help me!!

Thank you guys so much! I would love to join you guys in creating a little haven for the shrimps, but I'm a total beginner. Meanwhile, will try to read up more!

[Jianyuan]

Welcome to this hobby, firstly it might not be advisable to start off with a mini tank due to parameter controls. Alot of seasoned shrimp keepers around suggested a minimum of 2 feet tank.

1) there are various brands around, you might want to look at those with ph buffeing properties. Examples of the most frequent recommended brands are ADA, Benibachi and Bornenowild soil.
2) Ive been keeping my crystal red shrimps and fire reds in pH 6.1, gH 5 temperature 24-25 tank. Ammonia and nitrite must be 0. To attain that you have to properly cycle your tank.
3) Moss and fissidens are plants most of us keep in our shrimp tanks. There are various others. I'll leave it the other bros to talk about it as im not pretty sure which plants will be easily maintained in shrimp tank. Also, frogbit, mini lettuce, hornworts will be a couple of plants we use to help keep nitrate in check.
4) shrimps of the same family are not recommended to be kept together unless you do not mind them breeding among themselves.
5) depending on what sort of shrimps, crystal red shrimps need cooler temperature as compared to cherries. Either have a fan or chiller.
6) you can try clementi block 328 , green chapter, petmart or CRSHaven

[Ecalyte]

Ok, first thing's first. I'm a wee bit tired so this post will be very brief and the information I give here will have to be googled for a more thorough read..

The first thing you need to decide on is what type of shrimps you want to keep. This will affect what you need to get. So take a few days to research.. then when you're finalized with your decision, tell us in this thread again. Below are the most commonly found shrimps in our hobby. There are variants of each of the different species and some are harder to find.

- Tiger shrimps (Caridina Cantonensis sp. Tiger, many variants)
- Cherry shrimps (Neocaridina Heteropoda var 'red', Fire reds are high grade cherries so same species)
- Crystal Red shrimps (Caridina sp., many mutations and mostly the same parameters)
- Sulawesi shrimps (Caridina sp., many variants from 2 different lakes each with slightly different parameters)

For a beginner, please pick just one type of shrimp and keep a species tank. This way you can have all the fun in learning about their character, behaviour and habits once you get the water parameter right. Since you're starting a nano tank and will most probably not invest in a chiller, I highly recommend Cherry shrimps as they are a lot hardier than the rest and can be kept at Singapore ambient temperature; no higher than 30deg though.

Once you've decided, and before you start to buy your items.. please google "Nitrogen Cycle". Your question on how long you should cycle indicate that you do not thoroughly understand what a Nitrogen Cycle is, but fear not.. it's quite heavy reading for a complete beginner. But please make an effort to try and understand it, if you've read and still don't understand you can contact me directly and I'll give you an in-depth explanation. But I'll only do so if I feel that you've at least done some reading. The duration of a cycle is not time dependent.. only the water can tell you when you've finished cycling. The only way to find out is through constant testing with your test kits.

Armed with your preferred species and the knowledge of the Nitrogen Cycle, you can then decide what items to purchase.

- Size of the tank: If you feel that 3-4 months down the line, you'll upgrade the size of your tank (provided you are met with very little problems) then I suggest you start off with that size tank instead of a nano. You can expand to having CRS as they can be mixed with Cherries with no risk of inter-breeding. This way, when you do expand to CRS your tank will be big enough for a chiller purchase to make sense. Also, you don't need the hassle of having to decommission and re-cycle the new tank.
- Substrate choice: Some shrimp keepers (myself included) came from a different start to the hobby.. be it planted or cichlids. But for some of us, we can't stand having a bare tank with just shrimps and driftwoods. We need plants. Bearing that in mind, my personal recommendation for soil will be the ADA New Amazonia. They're the best soil available locally for plants, and conveniently provide premium conditions for shrimps that require low pH soft water. Since they're mass produced, they also have the benefit of being very cheap Between $34-38 for a 9L pack.
- Filter choice: Any filtration is fine. Be it an IOS (Internal Overflow System that most nano tank packages come with), Sponge filter, Hang on filter, Overhead Hang on filter.. or a Canister filter. However, your choice in filtration will completely determine the level of life stock you're able to keep. Basically.. the bigger the media volume, the more shrimps you can keep.

I'll stop here for now and let you digest what I've just typed out. Once you've fully digested it, continue to ask any other questions you may have.. But please don't ask additional questions before you've fully understood the current advices that the bros are giving here, unless that question pertains to the understanding of said-advice. It's not useful trying to jump the gun, you just end up confusing yourself.. hehe. Be patient and diligent in your research, and we'll help you through every step of this hobby..