Something unusual for a 6 gallon?

[kashif314]

I have a very small 6 gallon planted tank. It has a shrimp colony and a snail colony. I of course won't keep all shrimps. I saw its maybe 50+ red cherry shrimp frys behind back plant wall in soil.

I want to keep some fancy not everyday fish. I searched and its either neons or cardinals or guppies, danios, platys etc.

Is it possible to have something fancy or exotic fish for such a small tank which are compatible with shrimps? Bumblebee gobies do good in freshwater too and I thought to put one but it will definitely go after shrimps. So can you please suggest some good looking fancy fish or some unusual fish?

Please reply. Thanks.

 

[NRB]

You are going to have a hard time finding something exotic for a 6 gallon tank. Neons are probably the fish that will fit the best with the coolest coloring. I used to have a 5 gallon in my office with neons and cherry shrimp and they did very well together.

 

[Mebbid]

This small of a tank is very difficult. My suggestion is to get a fancy Betta. There are some absolute gorgeous Bettas that can be found on aquabid. Check this one for example: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettashmp&1508350804

 

[ebjornsgard]

I don't know much about them, or if they even live in planted tanks, but I have heard about shell dwellers that are pretty small and can live in small tanks. Like I said, I don't know much about them, and I've definitely never kept them, but they are much less common than some other fish that might live in a small tank.
If you didn't have snails in it, I would recommend a pea puffer. I have one and it is awesome! But they love to eat snails, and sometimes shrimp.

 

[kashif314]

This small of a tank is very difficult. My suggestion is to get a fancy Betta. There are some absolute gorgeous Bettas that can be found on aquabid. Check this one for example: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettashmp&1508350804

Thanks a lot. Actually I am not a betta fan. I bought in past but never seem very interested. But I have seen some very very beautiful bettas in LFS. But isn't betta will try to go after shrimp frys?

I don't know much about them, or if they even live in planted tanks, but I have heard about shell dwellers that are pretty small and can live in small tanks. Like I said, I don't know much about them, and I've definitely never kept them, but they are much less common than some other fish that might live in a small tank.
If you didn't have snails in it, I would recommend a pea puffer. I have one and it is awesome! But they love to eat snails, and sometimes shrimp.

Problem is that I want to keep shrimps untouched. I see very often frys come out and hang around. Pea puffer yes very very beautiful and cute looking fish and curious fish. Love how it moves but it will hurt shrimps.

 

[Mebbid]

Any fish will eat shrimp, but they breed so fast it's not a huge deal.

 

[kashif314]

Any fish will eat shrimp, but they breed so fast it's not a huge deal.

Yes its just a sentimental thing. Don't want them to be eaten. Looks like I will need to make it a shrimp tank and add some cardinals only. They are shrimp safe.

 

[Mebbid]

Any fish you add will eat shrimp, cardinal tetras included.

 

[Angellove78]

If you want to add some color. I'd go with chilli rasbora Nano's. They should bother your shrimp. Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/192311239814

 

[kashif314]

If you want to add some color. I'd go with chilli rasbora Nano's. They should bother your shrimp. Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/192311239814

Yes this I saw here in LFS. Indeed very colorful. Did you mean to say "They should NOT bother your shrimp"?

 

[Autumnsky]

Angellove is correct.

For years I have kept all sorts of fish and shrimp together. The only one which I have found that did not change the shrimp population was the smallest of the fish the Boraras Brigittae aka Chili Rasbora.

The one specific thing, very important about them is they do indeed have tiny mouths. I usually feed the Hikari Micro Pellets.

The food is very small but their mouths especially as young juvenile fish, often the size when purchased, need to have slightly ground up, smaller food. I just rub them together with my fingers to break them up.

Flakes are usually fine as they can eat bites of it.

They eat from the upper / mid area of the tank. Really haven't seen them pick at the substrate like some fish will.

I have had 6.6G tanks as a standard for over 5 years and they are a little more challenging, obviously the smaller the more possibilities of usual small problem being a big problem.


I do not use flake foods because my personal experience is having ammonia spikes, why I prefer the Hikari as a staple. I feed numerous foods at different times throughout the week so not only that one food, for optimum nutrition possibilities.

Boraras Brigittae can starve without the right sized food.

 

[Angellove78]

Yes, sorry! They should not bother them. Because they like the top area of the water.

 

[kashif314]

Angellove is correct.

For years I have kept all sorts of fish and shrimp together. The only one which I have found that did not change the shrimp population was the smallest of the fish the Boraras Brigittae aka Chili Rasbora.

The one specific thing, very important about them is they do indeed have tiny mouths. I usually feed the Hikari Micro Pellets.

The food is very small but their mouths especially as young juvenile fish, often the size when purchased, need to have slightly ground up, smaller food. I just rub them together with my fingers to break them up.

Flakes are usually fine as they can eat bites of it.

They eat from the upper / mid area of the tank. Really haven't seen them pick at the substrate like some fish will.

I have had 6.6G tanks as a standard for over 5 years and they are a little more challenging, obviously the smaller the more possibilities of usual small problem being a big problem.


I do not use flake foods because my personal experience is having ammonia spikes, why I prefer the Hikari as a staple. I feed numerous foods at different times throughout the week so not only that one food, for optimum nutrition possibilities.

Boraras Brigittae can starve without the right sized food.

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply. Yes I have all kinds of food ready. Hikari micro pellets and Siera flakes and bloodworms and krill and many other foods. For small I love to feed pellets like you prefer. Same for me that flakes caused problems and I also noticed that no matter what the package says flakes always make water little cloudy. I don't overfeed but I don't underfeed like most people do that a little pinch of food. So if properly cared does there color stays dark red? Also if they are compatible with cardinals or neons?

Yes, sorry! They should not bother them. Because they like the top area of the water.

Thanks a lot. Very nice recommendation indeed.

 

[scrippin]

If you're able to add a small piece of lace rock in there, I would suggest a Sumo Loach. Interesting little guys that act similar to Gobys. I believe they max out at 1.5" or so. In my experience he'll most likely end up claiming the lace rock and burrowing or sitting on top of it. They do get super territorial over said rock though.