# 5 Gallon desk tank for the office with shrimp.



## robmorin

Hello all my first post here , so please be gentle...

About 6 months ago i bought a 5 gallon aquarium kit at a local pet store. It came with gravel, a filter that hangs over the side and 2 plastic plants and a 9 watt florescent bulb. Now since then a couple fish have come and gone and my water has been cloudy at times... after some trial and error and googling i have learned how to properly fed my inhabitants.  and the water is rarely cloudy anymore, but mind you i do get algae sometimes on the glass....

I have 2 guppies(both same sex i think) and 2 Amano shrimp( i think they are amano) and one Pleco, not sure which type. Water temp is according to thermometer, is always between 75 and 80. Since i got this tank together i have really enjoyed the shrimp more than the fish. I went and bought a couple red cherry shrimp, and 3 days after there were no where to be found, a guy at the store told me that its possible my Pleco ate them?

Anyways to make a long story short i want to "renovate" my tank, i would like to have more shrimp and get rid of my Pleco, put it in my daughter's tank along with her two guppies... so i will have nothing around to scare or eat any new shrimp i might put in.

Now i read that 10 gallon should be a min, but my desk size at work prohibits anything bigger than 5 gallon. So my thoughts we to buy some very fine white or light color gravel or sand, as it looks nicer, get a couple java ferns and put the shrimp and 2 guppies back in and add a few more shrimp.

Now with this in mind can someone maybe help me out on what is the proper way to go about this? I do not have a spare tank, so any substrate conditioning would be done in a pale of sorts...

Plus, if i have Amano shrimp now , what other kind of shrimp will live happily with the Amano?

Thanks to all in advance and i apologize if my post irritates anyone 

Have a great day!

Rob
Montreal, Canada


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## robmorin

Ok, so after some thinking, i decided to buy a 10 gallon tank and build up from there.. So i found a 10 gallon tank for 10 bucks on Kijiji, but with no hood... so my next question is do i need a special hood if i want to use a T5 light so that my plants in the tank can grow better... or can any hood accomodate a T5 bulb?

My thoughts, so far, are to use very fine light colored substrate, and in a couple or 3 places on the bottom attache some Riccia with fish line to a piece of wood or something to create some grassy affects in contrast to the light colored gravel... not sure what kind of other plants to put in yet, maybe java fern as i heard they go good with shrimp, as this will be a shrimp tank, but will have 2 guppies in it too 


Thanks


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## mec102778

You can purchase an all glass top for pretty cheap which can be used with any light fixture.

I don't see why you didn't stay with the 5G, 2 guppies and some shrimp with plants would have been a pretty nice setup.


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## robmorin

I mean i still have, but i read that 5 gallon was not as good as a 10 gallon for shrimp...

I have a Pleco(that i am going to get rid of) 2 guppies and 2 Amano shrimp.... i want to add more shrimp... after a some reading online it would seem people recommended a 10 gallon... 

Unless there is a way i can renovate my current 5 gallon, by buying a florescent hood so i can put a T5 in it for the plants i want to add...??

i wanted to change up the look, what would i do with my current fishies and shrimp if i renovate this tank, put them in a bowl fro a couple days or a day while i fix up this one? is that possible, is so , i can try it for sure...

How many shrimp can i have in a 5 gallon? with 2 guppies in there already?
I guess there is a rule of thumb like 2 shrimp per gallon or something?

What do you think?
Thanks for the quick reply!


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## mec102778

1-2 shrimps per gallon sounds about right. 2 guppies (preferably male so they don't spawn), and plants would perfect. you can find other lighting that works as well if not better than T5 FL, and for a 5G it would most likely be less expensive.

And yes just move the shrimps and guppies to a bowl or bucket which ever while you renovate the 5G.


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## robmorin

Ok, i will try that first.

I will take pic of current tank and renovated and post when i am finished.

Currently i have a 9 watt bulb in there now.. looks like a florescent one. I hope they sell replacement bulbs in a T5 that i can pop in?

Thanks for the suggestions....


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## mec102778

What type bulb does your current fixture use?


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## robmorin

I am not sure what its called , so here is a pic of it 



Thanks...


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## mec102778

Yeah that's a compact FL light, you could look to increase the wats with a different type of compact FL. That's what I would do, you can find a fairly cheap plant grow bulb at homedepot / lowes.


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## robmorin

Great i have a Home Depot across the street where i work as well as a Canadian Tire and Reno Depot

Thanks again my friend, i am sure i will be picking your brain again...

Have a super day!


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## mec102778

Not much to pick here but you are more than welcome anytime. Have a great afternoon.


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## robmorin

Ok while i was writing down a list of stuff to buy, i figure i would get some test kits, but they are so many and i am not sure which are most important to buy for a beginner, so i figured a Ph kit, Nitrate kit and what else... ??

Thanks..


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## mec102778

Best bet is to just purchase a "Master Test Kit" around 30$ at LFS, which should include all the needed tests for starting out. And they will be the more accurate liquid tests, if money isn't there you can buy the API 5-in-1 dip strip test which also covers the 5 most important tests. But it's less accurate cause the colors don't always match up, the best you get from these tests is that it's not bad or harmful.


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## robmorin

ok, sounds like a plan, except I have no clue what LFS is ???

Sorry for being a pain...


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## mec102778

LFS = Local Fish Store


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## robmorin

Hahaha, ok, thanks for clearing that up..

If it's too expensive, as i checked Big Als a Canadian online store its 50 bucks... as a last case choice which 2 or 3 kits should i get, as i see the Nitrate and PH for $5 each kit, so i figure if i but 2 or 3 it will be less expensive for me to start out...

Thanks....


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## mec102778

to start out I would say spend 5$ or whatever it is on the 5-in-1 Dip Strip tests. this will give you a basic understading of where your water parameters are to start. As you get more involved you can work on the liquid tests.


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## robmorin

ok, will do, i promise i won't bother you anymore today...

Have a good one, again!


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## Alaizabelle

I got my API master test kit for $25 on Amazon  I'm not sure if it's different because you are in canada, though!

Right now I'm setting up a shrimp tank, too! Good luck!


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## robmorin

Ya for some reason its $39.99 for Canadians & $25 for Americans?? Since our Canadian dollar has been higher than the American dollar for the last 8 months you figure ti would be equal?? Unless there are some other odd reasons for the price diff... so i guess i shall buy from my LFS

Thanks for that info, i will keep you advised of my tank renovation...

Have a good one!


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## robmorin

Ok, i am happy now i just saw the same kit for $39.99 on Big Al's online store... and its a Canadian store too.. so no border crossing issues...


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## robmorin

Dam, i am wrong.. they have 2 sites one American and one Canadian... i sent them an email to ask why its almost double the price.... i will post here what the reply with...


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## Totem44

Most Shrimp work together, the amano shrimp are awesome I've had 3 for 4 months and they re about 1 3/4". All my cherry shrimp got eaten


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## robmorin

Cherry got eaten by what, the Amano?


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## robmorin

So the reply from Big Al's is as follows regarding the price difference between US & Canadian pricing... with the API Master test kit at $23.99 US and the Canadian price of $39.99

---------------------------------

There is more to it than just the exchange rate. Whenever our suppliers in
the states send product up to us in Canada for resale in our stores, we pay
Duties and Taxes on the products when they come across the border, as well
as extra shipping fees. These are factored into the pricing. On top of that,
we have franchise agreements with our many Canadian stores that prohibit us
from undercutting our stores by a certain percentage; this too limits our
ability to price as competitively as we'd like to.

We have our PRICE MATCH policy for just this reason. We are aware that there
are other Canadian retailers online with pricing that trumps our own on some
products. We are willing to match them, and beat them by an additional 5%
just to be as competitive as possible. This is our only way to get around
the franchise agreement.

It is also worth mentioning that FREE SHIPPING starts at only $35 on the
Canadian website, while on the American website you must be over $75.

-------------------

SO i guess i am screwed all around, hehehehe... i will see what i can find in my local fish store....


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## Totem44

The Cherry s got eaten by multiple fish, not the shrimp


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## robmorin

Ah, ok i see, i only have 2 guppies in my current with the Amano, I did have 2 Cherry and after 3 days i did not see them anymore, i assumed my Pleco ate them, as i did not know it could, so i gave the Pleco to my daughter she has 2 guppies also...


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## robmorin

So i am going to buy some Fluorite substrate for my 5 Gallon so i can have some plants and my shrimp(plus 2 guppies) So i have a couple questions....

1) How deep should the Fluorite be in a 5 g tank? Or in pounds...

2) Can i use some ocean beach sand i brought back with me from Cuba a few years ago as a decoration. Like a couple patches of this sand in the tank? Assuming i wash it?


Thanks...


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## robmorin

Ok, so as promised i said i would post my first attempt of a planted aquarium with shrimp... 

It was actually a bit harder than i thought it would be... but i learned allot in the process....

Here is a pic of it, was taken with my iPhone 
Aquarium Gallery - My First Planted Aquarium with shrimp.

Forgot to Mention i have 1 onion snail in three too..

i have 3 questions

1) do you really thing that 9watts of CFL is good enough?
2) Should i buy plant fertilizer , like Laguana or something?
3) Do i really need any CO2?

Thanks..


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## robmorin

I also bought a intake sponge filter thingy , as i lost one orange shrimp to the pump and the next day i found one stuck in the intake... so now i feel relieved!


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## robmorin

Wow, i just noticed something, last week i bought one Onion Snail... along with some plants as mentioned in my previous post... but i just noticed something crawling on the front of my aquarium, it looks like a baby snail with no shell?? can this be?? where did ti come from, do i have to be concerned?

See pic here...

Aquarium Gallery - What is this????


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## robmorin

Ok, update, i now see 4 more very tiny things crawling on the glass...

oh boy...


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## Alaizabelle

Looks like a pond or a bladder snail  They come quite often on plants, and breed like crazy!

I pull tons out of my guppy tank every week. Just put a bit of lettuce in the tank overnight, and by morning it should be covered in those little snails! 

They don't really hurt anything, though. They will eat algae and clean up after your fish


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## grebloh

And to answer your question as to where the others are coming from... The majority of (if not all?) snails are hermaphroditic, meaning they reproduce on their own and there
's no separate male or female sex.

Your tank looks great! I just got a desk job, and I'm going to talk to my sup. about being able to get a small betta tank!


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## robmorin

So i finally go my API master test kit.... as my onion snail died last week and this week an orange shrimp... I am not sure why???

Here are my results of my tests...

The colors never seem to match 100% so the closest matches are...

PH level 8.2
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5 to 10 ppm
Ammonia 0 ppm

With respect to the onion snail, i came in one day and found it on its back, i read that i can just flip it over, so i did and then it was fine... as few days later i saw same thing it was on its back, but one of my Ammanos, seemed to be feeding off it, i flipped it over, but it did not move fro 2 days, so i removed it from the tank....

Then Tuesday i notice one of my orange shrimp was dead on the bottom of the tank... that's when i went to go get the test kit finally...

Also i cannot seem to control these dam brown algae spots on my glass, not sure why they keep appearing... i simply clean the glass with a paper towel when they appear, that works good for about a week then they come back...

Thought/Suggestions??

Thanks and have a great day!

Rob..


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