# Breeder box for shrimp... Suggestions?



## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

I got one from Petsmart that worked well keeping my yellow neos separate from my RCS for a month. It easily held 10+ shrimp and some moss. Can't say it looks great but if it's temporary and functional, looks should be secondary. Here is the one I have....


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

+1 ^^


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

Eh... I'm aesthetically picky and stupid about that kind of stuff... I might just wait, I don't know. I'm just excited


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

I am too usually but sometimes function > form.


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

Maybe the HOB Marina breeder box will work for you.


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

jeffvmd said:


> Maybe the HOB Marina breeder box will work for you.


Rimless tank with lid... I'd like to, but I don't want stuff to jump out. One night I left my lid off, lost like $20 in CRS


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## Kannachan13 (Nov 19, 2011)

I bought this one at my LFS the other day and love it so far, though I can already tell it's probably going to be a pain in the rump to clean out. 

http://www.kensfish.com/product2914.html

He carries some nice clear ones, too, which you may find look better in your tank.


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

I'm thinking I'm just going to wait. I've waited this long I can continue


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

Yeah I would wait, I have a couple of the external breeder box's and really, you have to do a water change on the box itself if you plan to keep it up and running for weeks at a time, as an air pump does not give enough flow in them to really exchange the water. I put some substrate in a large breeder box and ran it for a few weeks with some golden bee's, after about 3 weeks I lost a couple, but all the ones in the main tank were totally fine. I emptied it out and took it off the tank and got a quick wiff of the substrate in the breeder box and it smelled straight rotten, like death in a box. Just an FYI.


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## Fishly (Jan 8, 2010)

If you want something in the tank to hold the shrimp, it's not going to be pretty unless you make it yourself out of plexiglass and no-see-um netting.


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## gowfan05 (Feb 16, 2010)

How ironic, I was contemplating about buying a breeder box as well... I like the advices mentioned here.


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## ElBoltonero (Jan 18, 2012)

You could also fashion one on your own with a heat gun and black plastic craft mesh, and something attached to it to attach it to the side of the tank (like silicone a couple pieces of a metal clotheshanger to it). Still probably won't be the prettiest thing, but wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb either. Maybe attach some moss to it to help it blend in a little at least? The most difficult part would be making sure your seams are tight throughout so nothing shrimp-sized can get in or out...maybe silicone the joints after they're melted together?


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

I have the hang off the tank one, but I wouldn't bother using it for long term storage of shrimp. The only thing I plan on using mine for is if someone is coming locally to buy some shrimp, I'll get them scooped up and put in the box for easy transfer into a bag once they show up, as we all know selling stuff locally online ends up in no-shows.


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

I believe a powerhead hooked to the intake of the breeder box would alleviate that water quality in the box itself, but I haven't tried it myself.. Also don't know what kind of powerhead to use, but I've read that it works better than the standard air driven intake.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

HolyAngel said:


> I believe a powerhead hooked to the intake of the breeder box would alleviate that water quality in the box itself, but I haven't tried it myself.. Also don't know what kind of powerhead to use, but I've read that it works better than the standard air driven intake.


That's what Liam does. I think he said a Rio powerhead fits on there perfectly. I have a few internal filters that look like they would fit, I may try it eventually just to keep the water fresh and try and force some higher grade breeding.


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

I was thinking about converting an old AC HOB into a circulating breeder. Should be very easy to do.


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## EKLiu (Jan 14, 2010)

I think if one plans on keeping shrimp in a HOB type breeder box that it might be better to just leave the bottom bare instead of putting in some type of substrate. That way all the waste could be easily rinsed out from time to time. If you have substrate in there it will just accumulate at the bottom.

The water flow through one of these breeder boxes is actually pretty decent when driven with an air pump. Its a continuous stream of water and enough to fill an empty medium sized BB in under 2 minutes. That means the water inside the box is being changed hundreds of times in a day.


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

The other catch is the outflow grates aren't really good enough to hold in shrimp, they either climb under or over them and slide right into the main tank. I fastened some mesh from a net to put over it which helped, but still had some get through by climbing out of the water and right over the grate/mesh. I had in tank dividers that were sticking 1-2" inches out of the water and caught a video of the shrimp climbing the divider, going out of the water to the top of the divider, and jumping right into the other side.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

HolyAngel said:


> The other catch is the outflow grates aren't really good enough to hold in shrimp, they either climb under or over them and slide right into the main tank. I fastened some mesh from a net to put over it which helped, but still had some get through by climbing out of the water and right over the grate/mesh. I had in tank dividers that were sticking 1-2" inches out of the water and caught a video of the shrimp climbing the divider, going out of the water to the top of the divider, and jumping right into the other side.


lol. Ya, when I used mine I ended up with more shrimp inside the box than I had put in there. They climbed the downspout, over the grate and into the breeder box.


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

I did have better luck with the satellite breeder boxes over the other brands, the grate was a little better designed for dwarf shrimp, but was still netting shrimp out of the main tank almost every morning.


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

GeToChKn said:


> lol. Ya, when I used mine I ended up with more shrimp inside the box than I had put in there. They climbed the downspout, over the grate and into the breeder box.


Lol ya, that happened to me too!


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## bsk (Aug 18, 2010)

yeah I would be careful with the external breeder boxes I just lost 1 of 6 bkk I placed in mines trying to seperate them from my crs. it was a sad day =(


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## EKLiu (Jan 14, 2010)

bsk said:


> yeah I would be careful with the external breeder boxes I just lost 1 of 6 bkk I placed in mines trying to seperate them from my crs. it was a sad day =(


Sorry to hear that. How long did you keep the shrimp in the breeder box?


6 seems like a lot to me, even for the large size box.


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