New and wanted to know a few things

[opaeula]

Just wanted to say hi and would like to ask a few questions.

I currently have freshwater and brackish water tanks and im pretty much a shrimp only keeper. I keep and breed Opae ula shrimp and have recently gotten some Metabetaeus lohena shrimp, these guys live in brackish water like opae ula shrimp but their larvae require a full marine water and zooplankton and phytoplankton to eat for around 2 weeks before they can be transferred back into my brackish tanks. I would like ideally to setup a small tank with the bare essentials in it to get the larvae to survive. The shrimp don't require water changes, heaters, filters etc just standing water.

Will the water become fouled if i don't have any live rock and add purchased zooplankton as a food source? I was thinking of using Biodigest while feeding the larvae the zooplankton so if i get any ammonia it will be dealt with, i could also use purigen?

Would there be any advantage to having a lump of live rock in the tank and would if stay healthy without a filter and pump etc?

Any info on minimal marine set-ups would be invaluable to me :p

[gone fishin]

I have zero experience with the shrimp. But it sounds like maybe a quarantine tank (QT) style setup may be what your looking for. When I QT I do not cycle a tank. I rely on water changes and seachem prime to take care of any ammonia. I also like to use a seachem ammonia alert badge as well.

My QT setup consists of a 29g tank, heater, powerhead and some pvc pieces for fish to hide in. I don't think you would need the pvc. The tank is also barebottom with no live rock. Good luck.

[MondoBongo]

the water will eventually become fouled without some kind of intervention, be that using filtration like live rock or as you suggested something to bind the ammonia like purigen/amquel/etc...

water changes can also be helpful to keep ammonia and other nasties in check. if you're going short term for it that will probably be manageable. for long term setups it's not really manageable for obvious reasons.

advantages to having live rock would likely be that it will help provide some filtration. it will also give a place for your zooplankton and phytoplankton to live and reproduce.

without having tried this myself it is difficult to say what would work best, but if it were me i would probably start simple (i.e. using an ammonia locker, purigen, biodigest, etc...) then if that doesn't produce the results you're after then try using some live rock, or something different entirely.

when i did my zoo/phytoplankton cultures, they were very low tech. just jugs that i sat in the window. i imagine that shrimp larvae will require something a little hostile than a jug on a window sill, but i'm not sure how much.

one helpful (at least i hope it's helpful) tip that i can offer, mark off the water level on the side of the container with a marker. that way when the water evaporates you will know how much fresh water to add back to make sure your salinity stays steady.

freshwater tanks have always fascinated me, but i've never been any good at keeping them. i had a bunch of red cherry shrimp a while back though, they were always fun to watch.

good luck!

[Tisbe]

If you put food in then you eventually need to pull those nutrients back out or they will build up and foul the water. Simple water changes will help. Short term tanks such as or quarantine tanks are typically run without rock, water changes handle the filtration but these are only used for a couple months and then cleaned and reset up.
The rock will stay alive for a long time, some reports of up to a year if kept wet, even without feeding the bacteria in the rock. I however would not use rock in the situation due to all the unwanted pests that could get in there. You will almost certainly get pods that may eat the baby shrimp you are trying to grow.

[opaeula]

Thanks for the replys, the shrimps in question dont require anything but their prefered water, they can go months without additional food, zero water changes, no heater etc you can have them live in a glass pot and they will be happy aslong as algae grows for some food.

Sounds like a quarantine style tank will work best, the larvae stage lasts around 14 days there after they become shrimps and should be able to be put into my brackish tank with the adults. They need zooplankton to feed on and im not sure if the zooplankton will survive in brackish conditions hence the new marine setup for them. The brackish tanks sit at around 1.012 usually.

I will put a fine layer of substrate in a small tank and get the water to full marine and let it sit for a while. I'm hoping that if i feed zooplankton in the tank and they die then the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate binders will work enough to last over the fortnight. I would buy the man made live rock that comes without any of the 'nasties' in it if i was to get any, i was just thinking it would help with keeping the zooplankton healthy but if that isnt going to work then i wont bother going down that route.