newbie with a few questions

[babydragons]

Hey everyone! I'm new to the forum as well as the world of shrimps. I just love how cute these little guys are. I currently have an established 15 gal tank. I only have 2 fish in there right now. For some reason the others keep dying off. I think however that my flagfish is being a bit of a bully.

Ok enough about the fish. I'm thinking about starting up this tank as a shrimp tank. I just started researching about these little guys so i have A LOT to learn but I first want to start with the one question I can't find my answer to. Is it possible to convert this tank to a shrimp tank withot taking the fish out. I have the flag fish and a pleco. I also have an anubus (sorry if that's not how you spell it) and some random green thing that the fish store threw in as a freebe after I asked what it was.

I realize I might need different substrate as well. Could I put shrimp on gravel or do I need something else? I have looked at many different types. Some ppl use vex soil while others use Ada. I've also seen some use potting soil.

Sorry i know that alot of info and questions. Like I said still researching and learning. Any advice is greatly appriciated

[paladin]

Hi, i don't really know what fish you keeping but beware as the fishes might eat up your shrimps. And since it is quite essential to have soil for the shrimps, you would have to reset your tank and put in the soil and let it cycle. You mentioned to convert the tank into a shrimp tank without taking the fish out. This is not possible when you're using soil cos you don't simply pour the soil into the tank with lifestocks.

What i can advise with my limited knowledge is, don't keep the fishes with the shrimps.
Secondly, decide what kind of shrimps you want to keep and look at their water parameter requirements. This should help you decide on what soil or substrate to buy. Something that can maintain the parameters and does not alter it. (Eg. PH)

For a start, you can try some hardy shrimps like Cherry, Sakura, Sunkist, Rili etc. Once you get the hang of it, you can try more expensive ones.

Last but not least, welcome to be "poisoned" by shrimps! Hehe...