Younger brothers 5 gal (stocking)

[BLUElobster99]

So last year my older brother went out an bought a betta for my younger brother. He brought it home, put it in a 5 gal, and basically just told my younger brother to take care of it. That obviously never happend. He pretty much forgot about the fish in a week. So over time I've added a filter and a heater to the tank and done some water changes. I've probably only seen my younger brother feed "fishy" a handful of times so whenever I walk by I throw in a couple of flakes. So I'm gonna try and get my brother interested in the hobby in hopes that he will become interested and finally start taking care of this poor betta. I brought him along to the lfs for some SW supplies and he saw a Mexican dwarf crayfish which he really wanted. I've had them in the past and loved them but I think that's a little too advanced for the kid who can't remember to feed his betta. So I said no and he was pretty disaponted. I've been thinking and I think red cherry shrimp might catch his interest. Small, pretty, and they constantly poop out little adorable babies. So how low maintenance are RCS? would they do well in a small tank? Obviously this time I would take some time to instruct him on how to care for the animals before buying them. I'm open to any other ideas on low maintenence fish and inverts for a 5gal betta tank.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[brennae]

My bettas were killers when it came to shrimp and that was with ghost shrimp which are bigger than rcs. How old is the young one? Maybe he would think mystery snails are cool.

 

[micaelaarnold]

I have a six year old brother and he is in love with my two mystery snails. They are low maintenance too, requiring a source of calcium and vegetable as well as a cave to hide in. I just put a small-medium piece of kale in along with a fourth of a cuttle bone and both usually have to be replaced weekly for one snail, if not a little sooner now that I have two. They also keep the tank relatively clean