inverts for planted 20g
- Thread starter Moe36
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
medge00
Aquarium Advice FINatic
nearly any FW shrimp should be ok... you never know when a gourami or angel will decide to make them a snack. Start with a few ghost/glass shrimp. They're cheap and you'll find out if your other fish will eat em or not... most likely they'll be fine. There are some cooler other shrimp (amano- eats algae, cherry- pretty red color, leaf- grass-green shrimp) but they can be pricier (I mean, com'on, $7 for a shrimp?! eek). As far as snails... I personally stay away from buying snails. I just keep the ones that come with my plants. Not terribly exciting, but interesting enough for me.
powderbluetang
Aquarium Advice Regular
i actually whould recomend like 2 dozen ghost shrim good clean up as are clown loaches both are friendly. snails will clog up filter later and loaches will eat snails but plecos and loaches are the best thing you can use to keep a planted clean
powderbluetang
Aquarium Advice Regular
they are light schoolers but they dont get too big you could fit like four adults in your tank
AquariumFreak
Aquarium Advice Freak
What type of algae do clown loaches eat?
Endgame319
Aquarium Advice FINatic
8O powderblue, dont go offering advice when you dont know what you're talking about. Clown loach adult size is 10-12", much to big for a 20g. I dont think ghost shrimp eat much algae, but I've found amano shrimp to be great algae eaters. You could do 6-10 shrimp and they should be able to keep the algae to a minimum. And some plecos dont do so well in planted tanks, they can be clumsy and uproot plants and knock over stuff. :?
*Edit - Aquariumfreak, clown loaches dont eat algae, but they'll eat peices of food that others miss.
*Edit - Aquariumfreak, clown loaches dont eat algae, but they'll eat peices of food that others miss.
FYI, clown loach can reach 30cm and they dont each algea.
Try shrimp (amano,ghost,banana). CEA, oto n Flying fox will do too.
Certain snail eat plant so choose careful n its quite difficult to correctly to determine snail species that's why ppl avoid snail (better careful then finding the snail totally wipe out the plants!!!).
HTH
Try shrimp (amano,ghost,banana). CEA, oto n Flying fox will do too.
Certain snail eat plant so choose careful n its quite difficult to correctly to determine snail species that's why ppl avoid snail (better careful then finding the snail totally wipe out the plants!!!).
HTH
Fruitbat
Aquarium Advice Addict
moe36....
Let me try to summarize here. Firstly...I don't recall you wanting the shrimp to necessarily be algae eaters...therefore you could use ghost shrimp as an integral part of your clean-up crew as medge00 suggested. You mention that you're planning on having some sort of dwarf pleco so much of your algae problem is already taken care of.
Clown Loaches, on the other hand, are NOT a good recommendation for a 20 gallon tank (as Endgame319 and vega have already mentioned) due to their size. They can indeed reach, and even exceed, 12 inches in length. As much of a loach lover as I am...I won't keep Clown Loaches because I simply don't have a tank capable of housing them.
Let me try to summarize here. Firstly...I don't recall you wanting the shrimp to necessarily be algae eaters...therefore you could use ghost shrimp as an integral part of your clean-up crew as medge00 suggested. You mention that you're planning on having some sort of dwarf pleco so much of your algae problem is already taken care of.
Clown Loaches, on the other hand, are NOT a good recommendation for a 20 gallon tank (as Endgame319 and vega have already mentioned) due to their size. They can indeed reach, and even exceed, 12 inches in length. As much of a loach lover as I am...I won't keep Clown Loaches because I simply don't have a tank capable of housing them.
Bioworldmaker
Aquarium Advice Freak
DO NOT get the clown-loaches. They become huge monsters, like 14in long and 6 in diameter - I saw one of those at my lfs. They also can live a really long time, the oldest clown loach in the store was 20 years old!! Can you commit to such a long time? It is more than a dog or a cat can live. Many people get them not knowing that they get big, and try to give them back to the fishstore, but the fishstore not always take them (why would they have to?) and they end up in the river, where it either starves to death or cause damage to local wildlife.
As far as shrimp goes, you will hardly see the ghost shrimps because they are so darn translucent.
They are cool things though. Maybe you should try one some otos, they are dwarf algae eaters that get up to 2in large. They are better than windex, plus won't eat your plants and will clean their leaves.
Snails can get a little out of hand, since they can reproduce 'by themselves' so even if you only have one you may end up with a bunch. I like snails but I like to be able to see my fish too!
As far as shrimp goes, you will hardly see the ghost shrimps because they are so darn translucent.
They are cool things though. Maybe you should try one some otos, they are dwarf algae eaters that get up to 2in large. They are better than windex, plus won't eat your plants and will clean their leaves.Snails can get a little out of hand, since they can reproduce 'by themselves' so even if you only have one you may end up with a bunch. I like snails but I like to be able to see my fish too!
medge00
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I wasn't suggesting you avoid snails altogether, I just rely on the random little snails that come with plants.... I've never bought a snail, I don't have experience with that. HTH !
Piscesgirl
Aquarium Advice Activist
I'm told nerite snails will eat algae as well and only reproduce in brackish water. So, if you don't add salt,they should be controllable. However, I haven't had any experience with them personally.
betowess
Aquarium Advice Freak
O.K. Clown loaches do get big, but they do so slowly. It takes years to get to six inches I believe and they are great fun to watch and most decent LFS would gladly take back a trio of big ones, IMO. They are not algae eaters, but rather omnivores which happen to love munching on pond snails which come with many plants.
Now I have a question too.
I remember reading one should feed Amano shrimp a supplement with calcium, like a Hikari crab food. Could anyone who knows such share their experience. TIA, Bob
Now I have a question too.
I remember reading one should feed Amano shrimp a supplement with calcium, like a Hikari crab food. Could anyone who knows such share their experience. TIA, Bob
krap101
Aquarium Advice Addict
why stay away from snails?(bought ones) their soo cool. if you take em off the wall and get em to come out on your hand it also feels cool. i have 5.
2 big apple snails 2 babies and 1 ramshorn snail i got from the lfs (free) because they thought it was a pest snail (feeding my puffers)
ive heard reports that ghost shrimp eat mat algae when amanos wouldnt. but im sure amanos eat more kinds of algae.
yeah i dont think clown loaches should be.
i know they might get more aggressive when they get bigger but right now their fine. but skunk loaches. their nice fish. mine. they like tickle my cories with their barbels and just go sniffing around.
bamboo shrimp are nice. (but mine died) ;'(. 5.35 at petco with ur card right now but i dont know how long its going on.
if your having a planted tank stay away frmo the ramshorns. theyll eat all your plants up.
(ramshorns the spiral stays in the shell and apples they jut out. (try to find a pic.
http://www.swfwc.org/ANS/Fish/apple-snail2.jpg
thats an apple snail
http://www.swfwc.org/ANS/Fish/apple-snail2.jpg
thats a ramshorn. see how the ramshown is like straight up but the apple has one side straight (kinda) and the other side the spiral sticks out
2 big apple snails 2 babies and 1 ramshorn snail i got from the lfs (free) because they thought it was a pest snail (feeding my puffers)
ive heard reports that ghost shrimp eat mat algae when amanos wouldnt. but im sure amanos eat more kinds of algae.
yeah i dont think clown loaches should be.
i know they might get more aggressive when they get bigger but right now their fine. but skunk loaches. their nice fish. mine. they like tickle my cories with their barbels and just go sniffing around.
bamboo shrimp are nice. (but mine died) ;'(. 5.35 at petco with ur card right now but i dont know how long its going on.
if your having a planted tank stay away frmo the ramshorns. theyll eat all your plants up.
(ramshorns the spiral stays in the shell and apples they jut out. (try to find a pic.
http://www.swfwc.org/ANS/Fish/apple-snail2.jpg
thats an apple snail
http://www.swfwc.org/ANS/Fish/apple-snail2.jpg
thats a ramshorn. see how the ramshown is like straight up but the apple has one side straight (kinda) and the other side the spiral sticks out
