# Do you need to cycle a planted tank for a few shrimps?



## BigMek (Dec 6, 2016)

For shrimp, a tank being cycled is almost irrelevant. What you really want is an -aged- tank, one that has biofilm and algae and other tiny things for the shrimp to eat. Otherwise you risk starving them to death. 

Are you testing your water? That's really the only way to know if the tank is cycled or not. It's also the only way to know if the ammonia levels in your tank are safe for the livestock. On the plus side it will also give you feedback on your water change schedule.

I would highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the Nitrogen Cycle if you haven't already. Understanding it is one of the keys to a successful start in the aquarium hobby. A good resource:


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

A little patience and doing stuff correctly now will save money and headaches later.


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## VRaverna (Jan 11, 2018)

Thanks. So instead of worry about cycling, I need to make sure there are enough food growing for shrimps?

Keep the two molly in the new tank while adding more plants and maybe add more light so that there'll be more algae. Then couple months later, move the molly and do 90% water change then add shrimps?


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## NueoK (Oct 24, 2017)

One thing I learned from this hobby is patients... But I know its very tempting to get things rolling fast as possible.

If you insist on putting fish in a new tank, I would highly recommend using Seachem Stability and follow their directions. I had good success using that bacteria to cycle a tank fast for a quarantine setup.

But that will only help the issue with ammonia. Supplying the shrimps food... thats an area im still learning myself


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

VRaverna said:


> Thanks. So instead of worry about cycling, I need to make sure there are enough food growing for shrimps?
> 
> Keep the two molly in the new tank while adding more plants and maybe add more light so that there'll be more algae. Then couple months later, move the molly and do 90% water change then add shrimps?


No...cycling the tank is important and the best way to make sure there is plenty of food for the shrimp. They feed on bio-film which develops during the cycling process. A cycled tank is as important as a tank that can supply food. Ammonia kills shrimp. Uncycled tanks end up having ammonia spikes. Unless it's heavily planted it needs to be cycled.


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## VRaverna (Jan 11, 2018)

Thanks. I have been doing 30% water change daily with the two molly since two weeks ago. I plan to continue do that then maybe do a testing to make sure the cycling is complete then do a big water change and change the two molly with shrimp.

I assume that in two months, the tank is likely to be cycled or at least cycled enough for 10 shrimps since bioload of 10 shrimps are much lower than 2 molly. Is that correct assumption? I'll verify by doing water testing before adding the shrimp but right now I can't afford to get the water test kit. So I have been doing fish in cycling blindly.


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## JusticeBeaver (Oct 28, 2017)

VRaverna said:


> Thanks. I have been doing 30% water change daily with the two molly since two weeks ago. I plan to continue do that then maybe do a testing to make sure the cycling is complete then do a big water change and change the two molly with shrimp.
> 
> I assume that in two months, the tank is likely to be cycled or at least cycled enough for 10 shrimps since bioload of 10 shrimps are much lower than 2 molly. Is that correct assumption? I'll verify by doing water testing before adding the shrimp but right now I can't afford to get the water test kit. So I have been doing fish in cycling blindly.


You don't need to do daily water changes while you're cycling a tank unless your ammonia, nitrite or nitrate levels are out of wack (above 4,4,10 ppm respectively; although 10 ppm nitrates is a good point to aim for a planted shrimp tank). I wouldn't assume that a tank is properly cycled without actually testing water conditions. You can always take your water to a LFS and have them test the water for you, which is completely free unless your LFS sucks.


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

VRaverna said:


> Thanks. I have been doing 30% water change daily with the two molly since two weeks ago. I plan to continue do that then maybe do a testing to make sure the cycling is complete then do a big water change and change the two molly with shrimp.
> 
> I assume that in two months, the tank is likely to be cycled or at least cycled enough for 10 shrimps since bioload of 10 shrimps are much lower than 2 molly. Is that correct assumption? I'll verify by doing water testing before adding the shrimp but right now I can't afford to get the water test kit. So I have been doing fish in cycling blindly.


That's true. Shrimp have a really small bioload so the biofilter made by two fish (using fish to cycle is not cool by the way. Hurts the fish even if they survive) is probably enough to handle 10 shrimp. Just keep a close eye on parameters when you do the swap.



JusticeBeaver said:


> You don't need to do daily water changes while you're cycling a tank unless your ammonia, nitrite or nitrate levels are out of wack (above 4,4,10 ppm respectively; although 10 ppm nitrates is a good point to aim for a planted shrimp tank). I wouldn't assume that a tank is properly cycled without actually testing water conditions. You can always take your water to a LFS and have them test the water for you, which is completely free unless your LFS sucks.


In this case he/she does need to do WC because there is already fish in the tank.


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## Matuva (Jun 8, 2015)

Cycling or not cycling, that is the question... a big debate, same as weekly water changes

Most of the time, I do.

Though - and that happened several times - I had to do emergency relocation of some of my Neo shrimps colonies a while ago.
As I had no spare tank, I had to catch all the surviving shrimps and put them in a side container, completely clean the tank with bleach solution, redo the all setup, including new substrate and cleaned plants and boiled driftwoods.

I then add tap water with Seachem prime (to dechlorine), and Bio Nitrivec (live bacterias) and filter sponge seeded with bacterias coming from a cycled tank.
I then reintroduced the shrimps in their revamped tank 3 hours later.
each time I had success in saving the colonies like that.

As for the water changes, usually 15~20% every month or month and 1/2. Just topping with rain water or RO when available in the interval, if not, dechlorinated tap water. Water changes according to water parameters,if they are within specs, or if TDS is too high.

This is my vision of stability in tanks.

my .02


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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

Cycling of the tank is the easy part to be honest. Easy to get already cycled media and have the tank nearly instantly cycled. However as already mentioned its more than just cycling of the tank that is important for shrimp tanks more so than fish/planted tanks. Shrimp absolutely thrive on a well established tank that has tons of bacteria/micro organisms for them to feed on. This is especially important for babies/young that almost completely depend on it. Now there is no better way for this to happen by having a well aged tank however this just may not always be possible. 

There are ways to speed this up and in fact take a look at this article by discobee. I am not even on day 10 and already have a very good layer of bio-film on the tank that would of otherwise taken months to get. This cycle method has been done by many and works great, this is my first time doing it this way and am really liking the results. https://www.discobee.com/blogs/news/18442297-cycling-a-dwarf-shrimp-tank-the-easy-sl-aqua-way

I have learned since being in the shrimp hobby that it is very important to do things right the first time, if not then deaths will happen almost for sure. I suggest take your time and ensure that your tank has been aged at least 30 days if not more.


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