# Knuggs 10 G Shrimp Tank



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

10 G w/ Incandescent hood with 2 Flouresant 15 watt bulbs
DIY CO2
Eco-complete
HOB Filter

Flora:

Cardinal
Coffeefoila
Micro sword
Liverwort
Riccia
Corkscrew Val
Lace and Java Fern
Some kind of crypt
Some kind of stem plant

Inhabitants:
RCS and Ghost Shrimp


Pregnant RCS


Pregnant Ghosts


Front View 


Left Side


Right Side


Hangin’ out


----------



## milalic (Aug 25, 2005)

Nice pics...

CRS are crystal red shrimp
RCS are red cherry shrimp

Cheers,


----------



## yoink (Apr 21, 2005)

Nice tank and shrimp. Good luck with the ghost babies, you don't need luck for the cherries.


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Thks Milalic,edited. A killifish egg hatched from the ricca and now resides there. There's a 3 more waiting to hatch. How long does it take the RCS to hatch?


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Updated pics..


----------



## foolish1 (Apr 11, 2007)

your RCS are sooo red. what are you feeding them?


----------



## budd (Mar 31, 2007)

not to get off topic but do u have to do anything special to hatch the ghost eggs?


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Foolish1- I am not sure what I am feeding my shrimp. They are eating some pellets I got from yoink. I also feed them spectra tera small pellets .5mm for protein.

Budd- The ghost shrimp are harder to breed then the rcs. They take about a month to hatch. When the eggs do hatch the are in a larvae state, so most of them get suck up the filter. I have only had two come out of the first batch. I am not sure what the feed on, it could be the bacteria or misc. crap in the water. I would try putting them in an air filtered tank. That way they have a chance to grow out of their larval state.


----------



## vibes_jedi99 (Jun 20, 2007)

nice tank man!


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

thks vibes


----------



## starrystarstarr (Sep 6, 2006)

very pretty


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Thanks starrystarstarr

Foolish1- I found out that the pellets from yoink are from kenfish.com, they are the catfish pellets.


----------



## foolish1 (Apr 11, 2007)

thanx mann, i'll look for some


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Updated pics





Ghost shrimp

The Posse (juvenile golden wonder killifish, selling them this week)

My Red Cherry Shrimp

Snail Infestation ([email protected]#$)

Green Only Pic


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Is the striped one a female or male? What does this mean?


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

In my experience (which is limited compared to many others here), these stripes are sometimes found on females. i don't think it "means" anything. i think it's just another color variation/characteristic that sometimes occurs. HTH


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

I've got a handful of these. I wonder if it is from older age?


----------



## Madfish (Sep 9, 2007)

WOW the color on them is outstanding. I love how red they are great job and keep it up I love seeing pictures like that.


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Thxs Madfish.


----------



## leoslizards (Feb 2, 2007)

Those are some nice colored cherry shrimp! Keep up the good work! 
The color might be because of the spectra pellets. The site says it "Contains 4 all natural color enhancing ingredients!".
Witch of these do you feed them? 
http://kensfish.com/newlifespectrum.html


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Thanks this is the one I use.

SPECTRUM THERA A SMALL FISH FORMULA: 

This is a non medicated Anti-Parasitic sinking pellet that is .5mm in size. It is excellent for fresh or salt water fish. Contains 4 all natural color enhancing ingredients!

MAIN INGREDIENTS: Krill Meal, Fish Meal, Wheat Flour, Allicin Complex Amino Acids, Algae Meal, Soybean Meal, Fish Oil, Beta Carotene, Spirulina, Vitamin A Acetate, D-Activated Animal- Sterol (D3), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin, Folic Acid, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine, Biotin.

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS: Protein 40% Min., Fat 5% Min., Fiber 5% Max., Ash 9% Max., Moisture 10% Max.


----------



## Korzak (Mar 3, 2008)

Those are beautiful shrimp and a great tank! I just got my first cherries yesterday. I was wondering, are they supposed to swim around a lot? Every pic I see on the forums, the cherry shrimp are chilling out on the bottom. Mine spend as much time aswimming through the water as they do walking along the bottom.


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Thanks. Mine swim around all the time. I would say it is normal. They could just be checking things out.


----------



## phanizzle (Jun 28, 2007)

Nice tank and pictures!


----------



## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

Your tank is excellent for breeding purposes. Lost of places to hide. Very nice. Love the shrimp too.


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Thanks guys. They breed like crazy in there. The tank is very low maintenance. It has been running for over a year now without co2, ferts, and very few water changes (I usually just top it off). I wish I had some recent pics of it. I tied the coffefolia to a rock along with some firemoss on a rock. I also tied some anubias barteri (nana and petite) with firemoss on a long piece of fossilizied wood. The pieses fill in the background very nicely. I took the vals out and made the foreground microsword.


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)




----------



## Thepeak12 (Dec 4, 2011)

Nice tank! One question though, do your ghost shrimps eat any baby cherries by any chance?


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

I didnt notice them trying to eat any personally prolly because there were so many but it is possible. Ghost shrimp have also been known to eat small fish as well. I ended up taking mine out.


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Striped to House Aura Blues. Taking a total gamble here. Now has RO and pressurized CO2.


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Er... if your main goal is to raise Aura Blue shrimp I definitely would not use the CO2. Nikki showed CO2 will definitely affect shrimp, whether it be breeding or otherwise.


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Yeah I have heard that before but I have had no problem with my RCS, even though they are indestructible. The reason I have it set up like that is to lower my ph. Didnt really want to spend for new substrate. I have peat moss but when I do my test it doesnt seem to affect it. The co2 isnt running real fast. Nikki is where I am getting the shrimp from btw.


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Hm, OK. If you really need CO2 just make sure to shut it off before you introduce the shrimp!


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Jus curious, why should I shut it off? I just bought some Sera Super Peat, hopefully that will help.


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

If you don't shut it off, even if you slowly acclimate the shrimp they will slowly die off. So you need to shut it off, let the CO2 gas out, then introduce the shrimp. Afterwards you'll have to slowly ramp the CO2 back up.


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

So, I can have consistant CO2 running after they have been in there awhile without it then ramp it up and be able to keep it consistent?


----------



## Ebichua (May 13, 2008)

diwu13 said:


> Er... if your main goal is to raise Aura Blue shrimp I definitely would not use the CO2. Nikki showed CO2 will definitely affect shrimp, whether it be breeding or otherwise.


Source? 
I have kept co2 in my shrimp tanks before without any problems. Granted I run them pretty low, just enough for healthy moss/liverwort growth and nothing more. 

co2 dosage is fine, you just need to be smart about it and not overdo it.


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Yea, after you introduce them with the CO2 off, you can slowly increase the CO2 back up to any level you feel appropriate. However, if you were to reintroduce more shrimp down the line, now you have to ramp it back down. If you just suddenly stop that stress might also kill them.


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Ebichua said:


> Source?


There's quite a few. You can do a search "CO2 shrimp" in this forum. Or here's a few

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/shrimp-other-invertebrates/147016-co2-shrimp.html
Liam


> Definitely effects breeding, as Tom said, the more co2, the less babies. I'm not sure whether it is from carbonic acid eating their shell or just making it hard for their blood to expel co2, but it definitely effects the amount of babies that survive.


Tom


> It reduced the no# of brood produce I'm fairly certain.
> I've had them in both non cO2 and CO2 enriched tanks. They will breed like flies in either tank, but you will get higher production without CO2. This was even more the case with CRS.


And the main source: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/shrimp-other-invertebrates/133773-co2-shrimp.html from Nikki


> It is a common fact amongst shrimp keepers, that co2 slows down the breeding of shrimp. It has been stated over and over again.
> 
> For instance in my 23G Rimless. I run all the same things in my 33, however, I do not use co2 in this. I have 10 times more RCS in the 23G tank, versus the 33 gallon tank. The 23G was set up 4 months after the 33 gallon, with only 5 RCS, whereas the 33 had about 30+ rcs to start.
> 
> ...





Ebichua said:


> I have kept co2 in my shrimp tanks before without any problems. Granted I run them pretty low, just enough for healthy moss/liverwort growth and nothing more.
> 
> co2 dosage is fine, you just need to be smart about it and not overdo it.


I'm not saying don't use CO2. I'm saying if it's mainly a shrimp tank don't use CO2 as it will cut back breeding.


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Hmm good to know, thanks diwu! Just shut off the co2 and added the super peat and did a water change. Have you ever tried aura blues? Feels like a total gamble right now but keeping the faith.


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

I can't keep anything picky LOL. Still attending grad school and I live in an apartment so I don't really wanna invest in an RO unit... yet. My tap is quite soft though, ~150TDS which I hear is pretty darn good. My tap has quite high kh and gh as well. But I don't use buffering substrate either. So it's safest to just go with neocaridina or other non-picky shrimp like regular tigers.

Wish you best of luck with Aura Blues. Have you kept any other pickier shrimp before?


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Wish I had tap water like that! Yeah Im gettin my RO water from the lfs for the meantime. Not so bad since its only a 10g. 

This is my first time with picky shrimp. I only bought 2 just in case. I almost bought a whole dozen on a impulse buy but luckily came to my senses in time. So Im gettin some super tigers, pumpkins, and yellow shrimp as well. Which I already have yellows, just wanted to thicken the gene pool.


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

My tap water is ~20 tds, 6 pH and 0 gh 0 kh. Nothing like having RO from the tap


----------



## Ebichua (May 13, 2008)

Not to derail this thread, but thank you Diwu13. 
Makes me wonder how high or low their co2 injections were now as I haven't seen any adverse effects on my end. But again, my injections are incredibly low as I run low light set-ups for em. 

Definitely something to ponder about now with future set-ups. I may test this theory :-D

Thanks!


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

mordalphus said:


> My tap water is ~20 tds, 6 pH and 0 gh 0 kh. Nothing like having RO from the tap


Nice, Im a lil envious 



Ebichua said:


> Not to derail this thread, but thank you Diwu13.
> Makes me wonder how high or low their co2 injections were now as I haven't seen any adverse effects on my end. But again, my injections are incredibly low as I run low light set-ups for em.
> 
> Definitely something to ponder about now with future set-ups. I may test this theory :-D
> ...


If the Tom is Tom Barr I would believe it, plus Im sure Nikki would would know as well. But always fun to experiment yourself. You never know. Definitely some useful information.


I wouldnt mind hearing from anyone who has kept Aura Blues or tried and what their experience was like?


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

knuggs said:


> This is my first time with picky shrimp. I only bought 2 just in case. I almost bought a whole dozen on a impulse buy but luckily came to my senses in time. So Im gettin some super tigers, pumpkins, and yellow shrimp as well. Which I already have yellows, just wanted to thicken the gene pool.


Hope you don't end up with all females  Or your tigers might end up breeding with the aura blues, might be interesting to see what comes out of it. Where are you going to house the pumpkins? Or are you going to let them mix with the yellows?



mordalphus said:


> My tap water is ~20 tds, 6 pH and 0 gh 0 kh. Nothing like having RO from the tap


Wow... I thought mine was good. Your tap is like perfect. Do you still use an RO unit Liam?



Ebichua said:


> Not to derail this thread, but thank you Diwu13.
> Makes me wonder how high or low their co2 injections were now as I haven't seen any adverse effects on my end. But again, my injections are incredibly low as I run low light set-ups for em.
> 
> Definitely something to ponder about now with future set-ups. I may test this theory :-D
> ...


No problem! I'm sure your shrimp are breeding fine. But in this case Knuggs has really really expensive and picky shrimp so I think breeding would be a top priority.



knuggs said:


> If the Tom is Tom Barr I would believe it, plus Im sure Nikki would would know as well. But always fun to experiment yourself. You never know. Definitely some useful information.


Yea, I did quote that from Tom Barr . And then Liam and Nikki the shrimp experts too !


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

Heres some new pics of the tank, def not a show tank. I hope its ready for the Auras. I managed to get the ph below 6.2 my test doesnt go any lower than that, so not really sure of the actual ph. I used some superpeat, its suppose to be for the filter but I said f it and threw it in the tank.


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

What's all that brown crap on the top of the tank? And the writing on the glass 

And I'd definitely get a more accurate pH kit. You don't want the pH in there to be like 5 and have the shrimps die in an acid bath


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

The brown stuff is Sera Super Peat I used probably 300g of it. It will eventually sink to the bottom. The writing is me keeping track of the ph in different scenarios. I dont think it would be that acidic. Would definitely be nice to see how low it was though. Gotta get some food tomorrow, I see what the lfs has. Not sure how many test will go under 6.2. Maybe I could try a airstone to bump it up a lil.


----------



## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

diwu13 said:


> Hope you don't end up with all females  Or your tigers might end up breeding with the aura blues, might be interesting to see what comes out of it. Where are you going to house the pumpkins? Or are you going to let them mix with the yellows?


Im going to keep them all seperate.


----------

