# Baby shrimp and pre-filter?



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

I posted this in the invert' section, but it's not getting any hits, and I need to know this asap because I want to do this tonight if possible. (I hope I don't get into trouble for posting the same question in 2 sections... if it's not allowed then can someone delete one of them? Preferably the one that has no responses, lol).

I have baby cherry shrimp that are about 1cm now, (the smallest may be 3/4cm). Can I take the Fluval pre-filter sponge of the filter intake now? It's really slowing down the flow of the filter, which isn't great for my Bamboo shrimp. They should be strong enough to get out of the filter pull now right? (It's an Aquaclear 20, but I usually run it at full or almost full speed for the Bamboo shrimp).

Thanks so much for any advice!


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

You should be able to. But what about when you get more babies? You might try putting mesh fabric like panty hose around it, you would just have to clean it more often but won't restrict the flow as much.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

How long have you been running the pre-filter? Maybe it's time to give it a good squeezing out.

But to answer your question, as long as you have the shrimp in the tank and they are breeding, you're going to want to keep a pre-filter on.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Yeah I think if you squeeze the prefilter out itll help with flow.I have one in the macs tank and I have to squeeze it out once a week.Its there in hopes of fry though,lol.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

The bigger the foam around your intake, the longer it will take to clog up. Just submerge it or rinse it a lot while you wring it out and it should work like new. I have to wring my prefilter out once or twice a week to keep my filter happy. You could wring it out right into the tank. I bet your bamboo shrimp will say thank you.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Thanks for the advice every one. It's a pretty big sponge. I wrung it out last night, and by the time I came home from work tonight, it was restricting the flow again. Really weird. It was fine being rinsed out every week for 6 weeks, and now all of a sudden it keeps getting clogged. I haven't done anything different. Two nights ago, I rinsed it for a long time, then also squeezed it out in the tank, and stuff still came out. By last night it was clogged again, so we did another rinse and by tonight, it was restricting the flow. I don't know..... my filter is over 20 years old... maybe the impeller isn't strong enough anymore. I've got a replacement filter, but I don't want to change it if I don't have to. I'm guessing I just take the media out of the old and put it into the new, but still - if it's ok to use then I may as well keep using it.

I had it on because I bought a couple berried females and didn't want the new babies to get sucked up the filter. I keep getting females with yellow saddles, but they never get to the berried stage. If I notice that any of them reach that stage, I'll put the pre-sponge back on. They stay berried for close to a month, so I'm sure I'll notice any. (I brought my nitrates down, and everything else is good.... wonder why they never get berried...) Maybe I'll try some nylon next time.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I think it depends on the porosity of your sponge as well. Finer porosity clogs faster.


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