# Shrimp-proof Fluval Spec V 5 gallon



## Bretherman (Sep 23, 2015)

Why:
Because I've heard small shrimp crawl and get sucked into either the small slit on the lower half of the tank, or through the large grate at the top.

I had some fine mesh laying around, so I cut it to the width of the filter area (4 2/8”).



The mesh is a grid anyways, so you can just cut along the lines, and end up with a neat cut.





Then I just pulled out the stock filter media unit and slid the mesh down with it.



It slid down together with no hassle, then I trimmed the top.



And pulled it out just a bit and trimmed it again so it would lay in neater when I pushed it back in.



It sits pretty darn flush and covers both the small bottom opening, and the top.





I'm planning to keep cherry shrimp in here. Is there anything else I can do to help them out?


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

Nah, as long as that mesh is fine enough and there aren't gaps they will probably not get by it. RCS breed so fast that it doesn't matter anyways lol


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## leemacnyc (Dec 28, 2005)

Nice job, welcome aboard breatherman!


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## The Big Buddha (Jul 30, 2012)

You can also just raise the the sponge enough to block the grates.


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

Good luck with it. I have a Spec 3 with RCS. 

I covered the bottom intake with electrical tape (found that tip on "any Spec mod" thread). Then superglued fine netting behind the top grate. My mesh may have larger openings than yours. Hard to really say. 

I still found babies in both back compartments. The good thing is that there's plenty babies, and once the babies get big enough, maybe 3/8 inch long, I can net it out and by then they're too big to get back in. I think it's the newest babies that can make it through my mesh. They enjoy grazing on the sponge and the biofilm.


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## Bretherman (Sep 23, 2015)

The Big Buddha said:


> You can also just raise the the sponge enough to block the grates.


I was thinking of that, or putting extra filter sponge on top, but this only took like five.minutes.


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## randym (Sep 20, 2015)

Neat mod! 

But I think I'm just going to let mine swim in and out of the filter compartment. And do what Daisy does, and net them out when I clean the filter.


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