30 gallon stocking ideas

[xzyss2002]

I’ve recently purchased a standard 29 gallon aquarium on Black Friday. I have hair grass carpet and it’s medium planted.

This is my stocking idea, are these fish compatible:
- 1 pair of German blue rams
- 2-6 boesemani rainbowfish
- 6 neon tetras
- 5-10 caridina shrimp

 

[libertybelle]

Those rainbows get to nearly five inches are quite active and are schoolers so are recommended in groups 6+. Doubt you have room for that in a 29. I’m not an expert on rainbows but I think there are other species of rainbow that stay smaller that might be better for a 29. Might want to look into that?

And a German blue ram would very happily eat those shrimp for lunch. I don’t know what type of caridina you had in mind but most aren’t gunna do well against a ram. Perhaps full grown amanos might be okay but it will likely come down to the personality of the fish.

 

[SaraB]

I've heard if you let the shrimp colony grow before adding fish you won't notice the casualties as much.
I agree that you should go with smaller rainbows. Pacific blue eyes are my favorite looking (I've never kept them).

 

[libertybelle]

Well that depends on the species. Caridina is a varied group including some that don’t breed in Freshwater (amanos) and many that need buffered substrate to breed well (many of the others).

The problem is plenty of people fail to keep shrimp thriving and breeding even in predator free tanks (including me in my first attempt at shrimp keeping) so unless you start out with shrimp and give them 6 months to a year to get settled and breeding well in the tank before adding fish its doubtful they’ll put breed predation (unless you get lucky with fish that aren’t that interested.). And even then you may get a fish who enjoys hunting down each and every one

 

[xzyss2002]

Will the neon/cardinal tetras eat the shrimp? What if I add the shrimp first and get them breeding, and add the rams last?

 

[xzyss2002]

And will small rainbow species mess with the shrimp?

 

[libertybelle]

The problem is that shrimp need a very stable tank so if you do add shrimp first you have to be sure the tank is very well cycled. But if you add shrimp first the bacteria in your tank will die back to just the level of handling the shrimp bioload which is very small. Then when you add fish, ammonia goes up and you may lose the shrimp. It can be done but for this reason it is tricky. And then after all that work... your fish may still just snack on them.

Basically any fish that gets big enough to do so will try to eat your shrimp. They will definitely eat the babies. If your tank is stuffed full of plants and hiding places a few might survive ... maybe.. but it’s unlikely if any fish is actively hunting them. I haven’t had them but from what I’ve read rams in particular have a reputation for hunting down shrimp so even the adults might not be safe though that comes down to the temperament of a particular fish.

If you’re going to place your hopes on shrimp outbreeding your fishes appetite I would probably go with cherries or another neocaridina shrimp. They’re hardier over a wider range of parameters and cheaper so if they become dinner it’s at least less of a financial loss.

You could always get the tank going with fish and then add a few small ghost shrimp to see if your fish hunt them down.

 

[Diana Drusia]

I used to stock 2 blue rams and a few caridina shrimp and my shrimp quickly became a delicious lunch for blue rams. If you want shrimp you might consider something larger like a singapore or amano shrimp.
But the idea about rainbowfish and neon tetras would be oke I think.