Reddit mentions: The best aquarium nets

Depends on what shrimp you want to keep, some of them require specific setup, like soft water Caridina (crystal shrimp and bees) and hard water Caridina (Sulawesi shrimp). "Base" will be very different for each of them. The rest of questions can be answered only after you decide on what kind of shrimp to keep.

Here are some of their photos and requirements. More on ShrimpFever website, or of any other supplier.

Next, make sure that you water is suitable for chosen kind of shrimp. Test or do online search for name of your city and water analysis. Or maybe you are already prepared to make optimal for them artificial RO based water.

Minimal tank setup: tank (not kit), filter (sponge is good), heater only if your room is cold in the winter, thermometer, light for plants, plants, a lot of hiding places for molted shrimp and babies (could be clumps of plants, wood, shrimp shelters). Substrate is species specific.

Sponge filter: T-shaped is my preferred kind. It should be connected to air pump by airline tubing, with check valve and double air valve to regulate intensity of air flow. Do amazon search for each of them, you will see how they look like. If power filter (=HOB), intake protector will be necessary for small shrimp and babies, sponge or stainless steel cylinder, pantyhose should work too.

If you will need heater, preset to 78F heater could be used only for neocaridina (cherries) and ghosts, but not for cold water caridina. Adjustable heaters could not keep temperature low enough, then external temperature controller (like Inkbird) could be needed. 50W should be enough.

Plants are up to you, this is very personal. I prefer the easiest way, low light low tech plated tanks mostly moss based (Christmas moss, weeping moss, spiky moss, fontinalis, Marimo moss ball, round pellia (actually liverwort, subwassertag or susswassertang), mini pellia. Do image search for moss tank to see moss trees, walls, hills, logs. Rootless plants do not require substrate at all.

Light is kind of plants specific, there are low light setups, fast and easy, and high light setups with fertilization schedule and CO2 dosing. Planted Tank subreddit can say what light fixture would be good for your tank and plants, if your price range. I'm using Nicrew and for other tanks, desktop lamps with daylight CFL. You will need tank cover (lid) for this kind of lights and to reduce evaporation. $5 timer is good enough, but you can ask for a better solution at Planted Tank.

Reliable online stores for livestock: you should name the country. ShrimpFever should be of no help if you are not in Canada.

Food sources for shrimp: depends on the kind of shrimp.

• Dwarf shrimp (cherry, crystals) will graze on the biofilm on the driftwood, glass, sponge filter, plants, with additional feeding by blanched or weighed raw vegetables (zucchini, cucumber, baby carrots, broccoli and so on, preferably low in sugar and holding shape well), leaf litter (do search for this and shrimp), and commercial food (you can see examples on ShrimpFever and find the same in your country). Mineral supplement helps with molting and color. Using feeding dish (like small Petri dish) helps to control pollution, this is even better. More about feeding them is in Shrimp Tank search.
  
  
• Ghost shrimp: anything you give them, especially live black worms, or frozen worms, will be appreciated. Variety and what doesn't pollute tank much.
  
  
• Amano and fan shrimp, no experience.
  
  Maintenance tools: if you will have substrate, gravel cleaner, sized to your tank, bucket, glass scraper.
  
  Tests: API GH/KH test kit; ammonia, nitrite, nitrate for cycling tank; pH just in case, TDS meter is helpful.
  
  Good to have: a piece of clear acrylic tubing for picking up uneaten food, this shrimp net. Scissors are up to you, I'm pulling apart my mosses by hands.

Sure, happy to help! Here is an example of how my free play/exercise bin looks today. There's a dish with soil/seeds for digging, some tubes, a little wooden castle from Michael's, an egg carton, etc. Really you can put almost anything in there and they love it. Goodwill's has baby toys very cheap that often are good for mice too. I made the lid with this aquarium mesh and I just used Gorilla Tape to stick it onto the lid (which I cut with a box cutter). It is not safe for long term since they can chew the mesh, but I can leave them for a minute so they don't accidentally climb out and I don't worry about my dog sticking his head in there. It would be much better with metal hardware cloth -- search "bin cage DIY" and you'll see lots of examples.

Enjoy!

Def consider some mesh or a screen then. Getting used to an uncovered tank (as in no lid) was definitely a learning curve, but I really like it. No lid to clean, I just wipe down the lights every week or so. There's no real smell or anything. THe only negative aspect is the water evaporates faster, but not to the point I have to do more than just a normal weekly water change.

The plants seem to love it. I've got swords sprouting big long arms as runners that grow up and out of the mesh, and sprout flowers. It's awesome.

And the mesh ensures none of the fish/shrimp/snails can get out. The holes in it are large enough for me to drop food through, but small enough that nobody can escape.

This is ultimately what I bought:

https://smile.amazon.com/Clear-Mesh-Netting/dp/B00OABXY9O/

But there are definitely other options ut there.

Some people use window-screen kits to make mesh lids, but I'm definitely not competent enough to do that. I just put some command hooks on the rim of my tank and use that to hold the mesh in place.

Nice tank, I love rimless cubes. I have a 60 gallon that I made a lid for. I used screen door framing, this nettingfor the screen, and black spray paint to match my stand. Works like a charm.

Here is the final product

I've been in the turtle game for about a year now, recently I've upgraded my 55 gallon canister filter to 150 gallon one called Sunsun HW-304B and wow has it been an improvement. Turtles need 3x the filter so if you have 55 gallon tank you're going to need one rated for 150-200 gallons which canister filters are preferred since they can last a long time without cleaning and provide better suction.

If you do go the canister filter route I would get this media kit that has everything you need to started.

As far as chemicals go I would stick with TetraFauna Aquasafe and API Sludge Destroyer, use only a little bit since that will make your water cloudy if you use too much.

To pick up food waste and whatever else get this long pole fishnet instead of those short ones that they sell at pet stores so you can get in there really deep without shoving your arm in.

Turtles also need 2 types of light UVB and heat, I found that this combo lamp works fine.

You could use a dechlorinator like this to remove the chlorine. I use a fine mesh net to pull out chunks of uneaten food or other debris and had one of these filters in my smaller 10 gallon tank. It worked fine, good enough at filtering small bits of food and waste out of the water. I'd just add a little fresh water every few days and completely change the water/clean the tank once every 3 weeks or so.


Having a filter would be the easiest way to reduce the amount of times you have to completely empty the tank.

I would like this net from my Pets wishlist. Thanks for the contest!

You could try rigging something with clear netting like this

I made similar coasters and had a similar problem. What I did with the next coasters I made was get a sheet of a fine, thin, clear plastic netting - like this - and then add the top mod podge and clear coating over the net. The netting is not very visible yet provides small pockets of air which keeps the condensation/glass from sticking to it.

This plus this makes a super professional looking mesh lid. You can use scissors to snip appropriate size holes in the netting.

I wonder if using something like a fish tank cleaner net would work.
https://www.amazon.com/SLSON-Aquarium-Nylon-Quick-Handle/dp/B07DC5KW17

Clear Mesh Netting 6' x 4' https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OABXY9O/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_SLgXCbGHS0B2P

For the frame I used a house window screen frame kit which you can get a hardware store

buy the screen frame at the hardware store and buy the netting on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Far-Edge-Aquatics-Clear-Netting/dp/B00OABXY9O

Long pole nets

(be careful searching that term on google while at work)

Buy This: Screen Frame Kit , this: Clear Net Mesh, this: Lid Clips (Measure the size you need first), and make this: https://imgur.com/8FiHIVB.

Note the link goes to a kit that is 60". You'll need more than that... I didn't purchase the same one in the link. I got mine at a local hardware store for about 1/2 the price.

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Patience and a very small net.

Here is the netting: Clear Mesh Netting

Here is the screen kit: Screen Kit

Myrrah
Add-On Fish Net

I could only find telescoping ones as well, but I haven’t noticed any rusting at all. Honestly I don’t extend it for use so it wouldn’t matter anyway.

I suspect the people who have rusty nets are storing them in a shitty way.

This is the one I have but I also considered this set which includes a basket-style net