# Do cherry shrimp need a filtered tank?



## Morainy

Aside from water quality issues, do cherry shrimp need a filtered tank? I'm thinking of putting a 3 gallon tank on my desk in my bedroom with about 5 cherry shrimp in it (and no fish). I'd like to go without filtration because I don't want the noise of a filter in my bedroom. I'd just do frequent water changes.

Do cherry shrimp need to feel water moving? Or can they be happy in still water if it's kept clean?

I have several tanks with filters, but I also have a 5 gallon tank with a betta in it that doesn't need a filter. Helpful bacteria seem to have grown all over the plants, the lava rock and the gravel. That tank's water parameters are very stable. I do water changes, but not because there's any ammonia. I was thinking that a tank like that, for shrimp, would be great on my desk (which I sit at all day). But not if shrimp need moving water. 

What do you think?

Thanks!


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## Ursus sapien

Small, unfiltered 'window sill' jars are popular in Europe, they work just fine. Include some live plants (filters and shelter) and you're good.


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## Morainy

Really? Thanks for telling me! That's very exciting to know! Thanks!



Ursus sapien said:


> Small, unfiltered 'window sill' jars are popular in Europe, they work just fine. Include some live plants (filters and shelter) and you're good.


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## waynet

Morainy said:


> Really? Thanks for telling me! That's very exciting to know! Thanks!


How big is the jar? 1 litre? No way. I put my cherries in a 1 litre jar with some moss and annubia. It was a torture to the shrimps and they died. You need filter to remove the toxic wastes.

I will never do it again.


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## wsl

One litre is probably just a bit small. I've done a similar setup where I kept half a dozen shrimp for months inside a one gallon pickle jar that had fast growing plants (such as jungle vals), and the shrimp survived for months before I eventually moved them into my main tank. One of the keys to such a setup would probably be to include fast growing plants to provide oxygen and absorb the waste (need a good light source of course. I used my desk lamp with my pickle jar setup). However, you should be careful not to over plant, because then the shrimp might run out of oxygen during the night when the plants switch over from photosynthesis to respiration. For more details about my experience, take a look at the thread under the shrimp social group.


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## Fishkeeper

I kept some cherry shrimp for 6 months or so with no filter, they even had babies once, but the babies were eaten, I did weekly water changes, had plants in to help.....so it can be done....good luck....

If you want a larger tank in your bedroom, I have 4 tanks all with great filters on them....if you go with the inside filter....fluval 3's and 4's you can have great filteration, and no noise....2 of my tanks are right beside the head board and I can't sleep with even a hum, these have no noise at all....got them at King Ed's....just ask them there....again...good luck...


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## plantedinvertz

They don't create much waste so....and please do not change too much of the water, and not very often or they will go into shock. Even though they are hardy they still are shrimp. Add a plant in there and they should be fine.


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## Fishkeeper

So Brian, good to know...is a weekly water change too much for shrimp in a small tank, should I have done every other week or once a month....just curious....I have some small containers with guppies in them and thought I could maybe add shrimp again...


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## plantedinvertz

Fishkeeper said:


> So Brian, good to know...is a weekly water change too much for shrimp in a small tank, should I have done every other week or once a month....just curious....I have some small containers with guppies in them and thought I could maybe add shrimp again...


Weekly should be fine just dont change over 50% of the water.


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## Morainy

Waynet, I was thinking about 5 cherry shrimp in a 2 or 3 gallon planted nano, without filtration. I don't think I'd enjoy keeping anything in only a litre of water... I tend to worry a lot about the feelings of fish and shrimp.

I'm not worried about bioload, just wondering if shrimp need a current to be happy. But Ursus_Sapien gave me some helpful info.

The Fluval 3 and 4 sound interesting, though. I haven't seen those. I wonder if one of them is like the Fluval in my Fluval Ebi tank. It is silent -- really! That is a great tank, though at 7.9 gallons too big for my desk. I'll look into them, thanks for the suggestion, Fishkeeper.

Thanks for your help, all of you shrimp experts!

-Maureen



waynet said:


> How big is the jar? 1 litre? No way. I put my cherries in a 1 litre jar with some moss and annubia. It was a torture to the shrimps and they died. You need filter to remove the toxic wastes.
> 
> I will never do it again.


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## big_bubba_B

i used just a big sponge filter i got from april and it was in a 30g bowfront tank they bred like rabbits and only things i seen was empty exoskeletons as they grew , i used sand bottom put gravel on top planted some plants had duck weed cactus wood and all was awsome i had so many egg holding shrimp some were packed so full they waddled when thy walked


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## waynet

wsl said:


> One litre is probably just a bit small. I've done a similar setup where I kept half a dozen shrimp for months inside a one gallon pickle jar that had fast growing plants (such as jungle vals), and the shrimp survived for months before I eventually moved them into my main tank. One of the keys to such a setup would probably be to include fast growing plants to provide oxygen and absorb the waste (need a good light source of course. I used my desk lamp with my pickle jar setup). However, you should be careful not to over plant, because then the shrimp might run out of oxygen during the night when the plants switch over from photosynthesis to respiration. For more details about my experience, take a look at the thread under the shrimp social group.


Actually, I was using 1 gallon fish bowl. Footed Round Aquarium - 1 Gallon Glass Fish Bowl - recommendation by ndestries - ThisNext

I only had two cherry shrimps in the bowl without a filter and the shrimps did not survive long.


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## Morainy

That's really too bad, Waynet. I'm sorry that your shrimp died.

I have some shrimp in my 36 gallon bowfront. I got them from Scholz and I thought that they were cherries but they're really big. I worried that the Bolivian rams would eat them, but they've been thriving and growing for months now.They spend all their time hanging out in the plants at the top of the tank, which I leave long and floaty for their sake.

I'm becoming very fond of shrimp.



waynet said:


> Actually, I was using 1 gallon fish bowl. Footed Round Aquarium - 1 Gallon Glass Fish Bowl - recommendation by ndestries - ThisNext
> 
> I only had two cherry shrimps in the bowl without a filter and the shrimps did not survive long.


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