Snail and Shrimp Questions

[morpheus]

With the new plant tank up and running, i am thinking if there is an order i should introduce things.

I know i will be adding cherry shrimp as a starter. Is it best to add the shrimp first and let the colony establish? Or is it ok to add shrimp and nerites at same time (meaning would nerites eat the shrimp eggs)? This tank gets a lot of indirect light from a window even when the light is not on, so the shrimp will handle the algae on plants and get algae wafers, but in terms of the glass.

i also want to add nano fish to the tank, so again i am assuming wait until the shrimp are established first?

Another question is for a different tank i will probably buy a few assassins and see how they do cleaning. will they still do fine if there are no other snails to prey on? or is it a good idea to introduce some MTS or something to give them a meat source (instead of only algae and flakes they find)?

[aquabee]

You're fine to add them all at once. Those RCS will breed like crazy in a planted tank, especially if there are some nice moss thickets. My assassins and nerites don't bother my shrimp. The assassins try to eat the nerites and fail, so they eat the algae wafers I put in (they LOVE those) or they eat each other!


Sent from my iPhone by one of my fish

[aquabee]

My assassins took care of the MTS within a month and then took over the tank! They keep the glass fairly clean. And the nerites snack on whatever green spot algae there is.


Sent from my iPhone by one of my fish

[morpheus]

if the RCS breed that quickly, then i guess the snails can chomp on some eggs. i have a little flame moss now and i am sure that will expand

a lot of sites seem to prefer nerites to assassins for cleaning purposes. there was one assassin that came in on plants and has been happily zipping along for a few weeks now, so i figured stick with that species if they will do a descent job. i knew the assassins wouldnt bother the shrimp or fish really (unless dead then they would clean it up)...but wasnt sure about even mixing the two species of snails.

[mistahoo]

Mixing the two snails is fine. Also, I would let your RCS colony become established first before adding fish. A lot of fish prey on crustaceans. If you add them now, they may just wipe them all out, but of course, that all depends on the what fish you're getting.

Nothing can get the shrimp eggs unless it eats the shrimp. Female shrimp hold the eggs under their tail and use their legs to fan the eggs until they hatch.

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

[morpheus]

i will hold off on fish a few months. i assumed it was safer to let the shrimp colony get going first with many fish eating shrimp as snacks. its not a big deal to wait. i didnt know the shrimp breeding behavior (female holding the eggs), so thats a nice fact for me.

[morpheus]

how many shrimp is a good starting point for a 10gal? and the male/female ratio?

[mistahoo]

10 is a solid number. Guarantees you'll have at least one female. Most people don't separate them or specifically pick them out for you. Most likely you'll get a random pick. What fish were you thinking about getting? Not all of them will prey on shrimp

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

[mistahoo]

Also shrimp tend up do better in well established tanks with plenty of bio film on the glass

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

[mnemenoi]

I'd suggest about 10-15 and they can be tricky to sex when young. With that quantity you'll be assured some pairs and you'll have berried females in no time. The fish issue is mainly one of them eating shrimplets. Imagine the young are about the size of brine shrimp and you can imagine what fish would be 'shrimp safe'. Otos and some bristlenose and that's about it. The trick is to provide enough dense vegetation that even with some predation by nano fish that the colony still grows and multiplies. Bororas, blue eyes, and some teeny tetras (Ember & Ruby) can work out well. Other nonbreeding shrimp can be added as well. Amanos and eventually fan shrimp (when it gets very established) do very well with them. Just avoid adding anything from their same family (Neocaradina) so Baubaltis would be another option (being that they are Caradina)

[morpheus]

the tank was initially set up maybe 4-5 months ago (had one JD in it)...and on sunday i converted it and put in all the plants that were donated from well established plant tanks. used an algae brush on the glass when plants were placed. there should be plenty of stuff on the plants themselves. i have extra algae wafers too.

as for type of fish, havent really thought about it yet. will probably ask for suggestions once the colony is going. feel free to chime in now for good tankmates.