Starting a 75G Feeder Shrimp Tank w/ RCS (Crazy?) and Plecos

[ericatdallas]

$1/lb! Geez, at that price it's almost worth having it shipped to me

I think someone in another forum mentioned they paid slight short of $3/lb for it. I think that's about what I paid the last time, but can't remember. The ground turkey is on sale right now for $2.79 for 20 oz on base (or about $2.10/lb). Since I don't have to trim it, it's definitely a good deal, but SF costs have gone up :/

My biggest complaint with BH is cleaning it. I wish I had a Fiesta Mart around here to get BH from. The local asian market here is disgusting, so I avoid it, even though they might have some. I went to their meat section and they had tanks of Tilapia with about 2-3 fish floating upside down partially eaten by other fish. That can't be to regulations can it?? They also have a black molly tank in their SF section with snails in it (I think they're being sold as pets, which is kind of weird to me in a grocery store). The lobster tank was a disgrace as well. If they're that sloppy with 'food' on display, it makes me wonder how poorly they handle food I don't see them work on.

[DerekFF]

A 10g tank will NOT house 5-600 shrimp. 300 is MAX before theres no more places left for them to go. And i would petition to have you banned from our forums for life should you decide to do this with CRS. RCS are fine, cheap, everyone and their mom has them and breed like rabbits. I think youll have an issue trying to get the mulm off the bottom and not suck out hundreds of babies in the process. I know when i do a good poo suction in my 10g tanks i usually spend around 10-15minutes sifting through just a 5g bucket and usually pull out 20-30 babies that i sucked up. So i cant imagine a 75g tank with (yeah could be a few thousand) shrimp. People have been trying to come up with live food breeding ideas and really the easiest is guppies. Fast, cheap, dont live on the bottom like shrimp so cleaning tanks is WAAAAAAYY easier. And some LFS's might buy them back just the same as RCS.

[ericatdallas]

This is a Discus site... I didn't dare ask this question on the Shrimp Forums :P

CRS probably won't make sense as feeders though because I could probably sell them at least cheap enough to buy better food

I might try to buy some from the same guy and put them in a 20G just because I do like the way they look.

I'm not too worried about sucking some out if they do breed that fast. From the shrimp forums, it looks like people have gravel and just ignore it and let it buildup for the plants. I did come up with some ways to increase the area in the tank though. My other issue is the plecos I just stuck in there too...

[DerekFF]

You will be surprised at how many you will suck out (quite a financial and feeder loss) what about the plecos? What's wrong with them being in there?

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[ericatdallas]

Plecos are pooping machines.

[DerekFF]

scoop them out!!!

[ericatdallas]

I might.. I think I have a new idea for my setup I'm going to move the plecos to a dedicated 55G breeding tank, I'm going to treat the shrimp tank as a sump (a second 40-55G tank) with lots of moss and fast growing plants. I'll be able to siphon the poop from the pleco tank, the top tank can serve as a secondary shrimp holding tank if some get pulled up, and the shrimp tank will serve as a filter and nitrate sink. I'll partition the bottom 55G tank and put some bio-media.

To increase surface area and filtration, I'm going to try to get enough java moss to make a wall to cover on three sides. This will provide places for shrimp to hide/live. I'll change out the light to 2-3 T5 lamps I have. I'm currently running one T8 bulb.

This requires me to find a 55G tank on CL now :P <sigh> I now have two 75G, one 55G, one 20G, and I have a 90G on it's way. I'm talking to a guy about buying a 55G and another 75G from him. That's 7 tanks... this hobby is getting out of control. Fortunately the 55 and 75G w/ stand might come in the form of a trade.

I'm actually kind of growing impatient. I'm glad I started out with almost 100 shrimp. I do see some shrimplets swimming around and it looks like my smaller shrimp got bigger too.

I checked nitrates last night. Still at zero even though I haven't done a WC. Java Moss and duckweed are growing like mad. I think the java mass has increased by 33-50% in the last week. The hornwort isn't doing as well, so I might add a little of potassium and magnesium tonight after a small WC tonight.

[LizStreithorst]

I know nothing about CRS but I sure am a fan of live foods. I bet that if the Discus only attacked the shrimp for sport, Angels would decimate them. If nothing else, this sounds like a fun experiment. The shrimp in the sump sounds cool. I want to know how it goes.

[ericatdallas]

Liz, the guy I bought the RCS (versus the $$$ CRS) uses them as food for Discus. He says his fish love it.

Shrimp was my way of getting live food but also having something very nice to look at. I am thinking of doing red wigglers, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it during the winter. I don't want it in the house until I know how to properly keep them (for smell reasons and cleaning reasons).

I did some research on why RCS may not be healthy as a standalone food source though. They're like brine shrimp in nutritional value and are missing HUFA (highly unsaturated fatty acids). This is true of all crustaceans apparently.

To get around that, you just have to 1) feed them healthy food before feeding discus AND 2) not use it as a primary food source.

I bet a combination of fatty worms and lean shrimp would be a good balance of live food for growing fish and a good way to condition them for spawning. The shrimp was also an idea to offer a little supplementary income on the side to subsidize my discus addiction.

It was also fun to watch my daughter jsut stare at the shrimp tank. She likes the fish tank, but something about a hundred tiny shrimp swimming around got her attention. She was as fixated if not more so than when we turn on her favorite TV. I much rather her have an interest in fish than TV.

I have so many projects going on and half-finished right now. The biggest hurdle right now is figuring out how to cut holes in my aquariums (never done it before) and getting the java moss to grow out enough to cover an aquarium. I am planning to pull some out and put them in a highly fertilized solution in clear bottles and stick them on a window sill. I tore my moss ball up and spread it throughout the tank and noticed that helped them grow faster.

[ericatdallas]

btw, my discus don't like my SF mix, but the shrimp seem to love it. So now I don't have to toss it!

Hopefully the highly nutritions SF mix I made will lead to some fat healthy shrimp for my discus to eat.

[LizStreithorst]

Well that's why we feed a varied diet...So the Discus get everything they need.

Do the Red Wigglers. Keep them in your fish house during the winter. If you have fear, PM me and I'll tell you how to do it.

I think that your daughter is cool. How old is she? If she becomes interested have her help you with WC or other tank maintence. If she has fun in the fish house you will have someone to enjoy it with and she will learn.

Talk about projects...I have a fish room that is almost finished and then I ran out of money. So close, but so far...

Liz, the guy I bought the RCS (versus the $$$ CRS) uses them as food for Discus. He says his fish love it.

Shrimp was my way of getting live food but also having something very nice to look at. I am thinking of doing red wigglers, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it during the winter. I don't want it in the house until I know how to properly keep them (for smell reasons and cleaning reasons).

I did some research on why RCS may not be healthy as a standalone food source though. They're like brine shrimp in nutritional value and are missing HUFA (highly unsaturated fatty acids). This is true of all crustaceans apparently.

To get around that, you just have to 1) feed them healthy food before feeding discus AND 2) not use it as a primary food source.

I bet a combination of fatty worms and lean shrimp would be a good balance of live food for growing fish and a good way to condition them for spawning. The shrimp was also an idea to offer a little supplementary income on the side to subsidize my discus addiction.

It was also fun to watch my daughter jsut stare at the shrimp tank. She likes the fish tank, but something about a hundred tiny shrimp swimming around got her attention. She was as fixated if not more so than when we turn on her favorite TV. I much rather her have an interest in fish than TV.

I have so many projects going on and half-finished right now. The biggest hurdle right now is figuring out how to cut holes in my aquariums (never done it before) and getting the java moss to grow out enough to cover an aquarium. I am planning to pull some out and put them in a highly fertilized solution in clear bottles and stick them on a window sill. I tore my moss ball up and spread it throughout the tank and noticed that helped them grow faster.

[ericatdallas]

She's only two. She is however very good at emptying buckets ... on the floor. I'm so proud of her technique at feeding the carpet with flake food too. She does a nice thin even spread :P

I am looking forward to encouraging this hobby though. We're going to buy her a small aquarium for her bedroom, maybe 10-30 gallon aquarium and probably stock it with a couple of fish.

Yeah, money is a major reasn that's slowing me down. I am trying to do everything on the cheap, which is why it takes so much longer. IF I had the funds to buy everything I needed and off-the-shelf, this project would probably cost 5-10 times more than it does now and take 1/3 the time to do it (versus building everything, scrounging parts, and scouring craigslist). Not to say it's not a little fun too

[LizStreithorst]

She's two. Be content with her prefering the shimp tank to the TV. That's a good sign. Don't push it.

I know, the money part of the hobby sucks the big one.

Keep me informed as to how it goes with the shrimp project.

[DerekFF]

So are you going to drill the top tank or sidebox overflow it to use the sump?

[ericatdallas]

I just bought a 90G today on Craigslist that's predrilled. It has a central box overflow... It used to be reef so now I have to find the time to scrub out the sides and water test it. I really would like a wrought iron stand that holds two tanks though....

I'm probably going to drill all my tanks on the top though. I haven't quite figured it out yet how to best do this ... I might get a wrought iron stand, put the 90G on top and the 75G on bottom.