# small tank for raising shrimp and zoa?



## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

So my friend was showing me photos of his new salt tank where he is growing Zoa (?) and things. He was very excited about the different types you could get and how they multiply and you can sell them for some ok money depending on the type.

I was sat in my office earlier watching one of the female amano shrimps walk along my tank with a belly full of eggs and it got me thinking about the amano life cycle and how the larvae require salt (well, i was always told "brackish") water and I decided to look up a guide and found:

Breeding Yamato (Amano) shrimp | Mikes Whatever

which said they discovered the best salinity (?) for highest survival rate of their shrimp larvae was between 30 and 35 ppi. Now 35 is what my friend keeps his marine tank and I started day dreaming about having a small tank specifically for growing Zoa and raising amano larvae.. would this work?

I have two tropical tanks but i've never had salt water and dont really know what im doing here, its just an idea that may grow. Im wondering what the most minimal setup would be required for this, baring in mind I do not intend to have any fish etc?

I have a small tank hanging around, but its -small-. Not entirely sure what size but gonna guess between 20 and 30 litres. Can this be purposed for salt water? Your experience and advice is greatly appreciated!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Can't say much about the shrimp,but the zoas want good lighting(marine quality),which is stronger then average fresh water light.They are photosynthetic which means they feed off of light(mostly).
Water quality would be next issue.The smaller the tank the harder to maintain proper levels of even the simplest thing in saltwater,THE SALT!But if you could stay on top of evap then maybe it wouldn't be all that diffacult(daily if not every other day top offs).
Next would be the water itself.Although many say you can keep saltwater with tap I really don't see longer term sucess possible doing so.RO/DI or at least distilled water should be used with any coral or invert.Distilled is easy to get (any walmart $.89 a gallon).
I wouldn't count on the zoas rperoducing fast enough that you would ever get ahead on money,but possibly(just possibly) between the shrimp and the zoas you may a less expensive saltwater tank(ask your friend how much money he has made and what he has spent!).This would be a great "stepping stone" into saltwater though and I have to be honest;once established all my saltwater tanks(120g x2,75g,29g) take basically no waterchanges and way less maintenance then any of my freshwater tanks(50%wc every week!).
Good luck and enjoy!


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## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

Thanks Coral! Its interesting cuz the Amano larvae are also photo sensitive, they flock towards light so if you want to net them all you just shine a torch and they all fly to where you point it!

so if i wanted to give it a go, what is the bare minium set up for a small zoa tank? Like equipment? You mentioned light already, but as i understand it zoa like low flow tanks (and i imagine shrimp larvae would be pushed around easy) so what sort of power heads do i need? Protein skimmer too? *scratches head *


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

If you are going to use a 20-30 litre(5-8 gallon) tank, then the smallest HOB with a sponge prefilter,or even just a sponge filter(air driven) would work.The air driven sponge would probly be very messy(salt creep), so a very small HOB sounds best.Your looking for lighting from 10,000K-20,000K.
Almost all fry are attracted to light,whether FW or Marine.


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