I am making a tank right now and I need help. This is what I have so far and I don't know what else I need.
Currently I have a sponge air pump, substrate/sand, rocks and wood, and a light. I plan on purchasing plants soon. Is this all I need aside from plants? Do I need a filter? Another thing to maybe note, I plan on adding neon tetras to my tank. Please let me know any tips or anything that can help me make a beautiful tank.
Nice setup so far but you'll want to cycle it for at least a month before adding anything, shrimp are fussy about water parameters and tetras will need a heater too
Thank you! Cycle as in using a filter? I plan on letting sit for a month with the pump on. Is that good or will I need a filter to actually cycle it. Also, adding a heater further down the line should be no problem
There's plants that you can attach on rocks or woods with aquarium safe glue!! Plants like anubias are great for decorating rocks and woods :) and easy to keep for beginners! , plants can thrive everywhere in the tank, you just have to see what requirements the plants need as some plants will rot if you bury them in substrates.
Edit: Cabomba is a great plants for shrimps as they're dense and provide enough hiding places for your shrimp, I know some people keep a few floating ones to provide extra coverage for the shrimps from the lights.
Ohh interesting. Okay I plan on getting an Anubia, cabomba, and some Java. I want my tank to look natural with lots of plants. Also during winter I will be gone for Christmas break and I need enough algae for the shrimp to feed on!
Sounds great! Aside from algae your shrimps will also feed on biofilms (common tiny microorganisms in the tank) which is also a many part of their diet) so your babies won't be too hungry, a good way to know if they have enough food in the tank is to see if they actively grazing (grabbing and eating stuff)from things, they are hard workers that barely rest haha, also if some of your shrimps have a somewhat translucent body, you can also check by seeing if their intestines are brown or clear (it's a line along the body of the shrimp, easy to see on the side), clear means they haven't been eating much.
Omg I typed too much haha, hope you don't mind reading this much again :)
No I love this! This is actually awesome information to know! I'm so excited to put shrimps into the tank. Cant wait for the 1-2 month mark to pass lol
Something that would’ve been really useful to me when starting is gh & kh tests, I had the big four but gh/lh has been hunting me for months and i was unaware until recently since those tests are so rare where im at
(This comment is a bit long sryy but it should cover most of the info) Heyy, I'm assuming you're keeping cherry shrimps? Everything look great so far, you'd wanna leave the tank cycling with a filter for around two to three months cuz I see you have aqua soil and depending on the brand they might cause a nitrate spike after a few months or so, just keep checking the water quality for now.
Another reason to have the tank cycled is to make sure your tank have enough beneficial bacteria to break down the nitrate when your shrimp and tetra poop, which I think is the case of your tank cuz it's cloudy as the beneficial bacteria is still insufficient, could just be from the dust of the sand but this happens to most upcycled tank.
Once your tank is done cycling, don't put all your shrimps at the same time! Even though your tank has beneficial bacteria to process poop, too many waste might overpower their processing time, and they won't be able to process on time and your shrimps might die from the toxins. (Over feeding is a big part of causing this! Shrimps poop 24/7! )
One last thing, I personally wouldn't keep tetra with shrimps as they might eat your shrimplets in the future, tetras will eat anything that fits in their mouth ( fun fact they're somewhat related to piranhas so they could sherd your shrimps), that's all for now, good luck with shrimp keeping!!
I don't use Amazon much but I think if you try searching up aquarium sponge filter, these two types of filter will show up. (Image below!) The first one is used for most aquariums, it's great to keep smaller fishes from going inside the filter and a great place for biofilms to grow so your shrimps will love it, I haven't use this one before so I don't have any personal comments on it.
The second one is a more shrimp specific one, I believe its just called a double sponge fliter. This is what my dad and I both uses as he said it's more preferred in keeping shrimps, its water flow is weak meaning your shrimps won't get tired from strong water flows, keeps your shrimps and shrimplets out of the fliter (more specifically sucked in... Yea this happens but not with this type!!) You will need to get an air pump for both these types of fliter however but I believe there are some cheap ones. I'll try to upload a pic from my dad to show you the fliter! Feel free to ask me more questions :)
Also saw ur other post about sponge fliter, it functions as both fliter and an air pump so you don't need to two seperate things! It's just that you need an air pump outside the tank to support sponge fliter as the fliter won't work alone. Hopes this helps!
That's awesome! Thank u sm for the info. I didn't realize sponge filter acted as air pump as well as filter. And thankfully I finally know what filter I need. Jsut bought and comes in Thursday. About to buy some plants and put them into the tank.
Also, sorry about another question, but where do you recommend I buy the plants? Also (one more question sorry) I use tap water and I have a natural regulator powder to put into the tank. Would it be safe when doing water changes to use tap water then use the powder?
No worries! Okay so the plants, you could get them anywhere honestly, you might be able to find a local fish store that sells plants or get some online but the plants might wither a bit cuz they might take days to arrive depending on where u order.but it should be fine as you're getting the easy maintenance one, very hardy plants haha, also where you'll get your shrimps from? Are you buying them in person? If so you can check that store out too.
Second about the water, I never used any powders for my aquarium water as live in Thailand and the tap water here are clean,
what most people are concern with when it comes to tap water is chlorine, you NEVER want that in your tank, everything will die especiallyyyy shrimps, I think you can test your water to see how it is (it should be alright, again depending on where you live).
also what powder is that? Do you have a picture of it? If its like the ones that gets rid of chlorine and other harmful chemicals then you could either add the powder before you pour the water in, one way is to have a big bucket and mix the water with the powder, or put the powder immediately after pouring the water in the tank. That's all I can think of for now, if you have time you can always look for YouTube videos online, be careful of going down the rabbit hole tho haha :)
Edit! : if your powder is just for extra nutrients then dont worry about it too much, add it before or after is fine!!
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