3 gal tank- shrimp and snails

[lyquidphyre]

I have a 3gal tank with a filter and a heater and I don't think I want to go the fish route with it. It used to house a betta and two rasboras but all died regardless how clean the water was.

I think I want to go the shrimp and snails route. How many can I put in a 3gal?

 

[WaterPond]

depends on what type. Most people like cherry red shrimp. You could put 10 or more in there because they have such a light bioload. All algea eating shrimp it is pretty much the same.

 

[plecoperson]

One apple snail (Pomacea bridgesii) would be the max for that size tank.

 

[lyquidphyre]

One apple snail (Pomacea bridgesii) would be the max for that size tank.

One apple snail and NO shrimp is max? Or just one snail is as many SNAILS as I could get?

Because if I can get one snail, I'd prolly get 3-5 shrimp. Does that sound suitable?

 

[joannde]

Apple snails get fairly large, which is why you could only do 1. If you go to Petmart you could ask them to give you a few of the "pest" ramshorns that generally invade their tanks. They'll be happy to give you a few for next to nothing (they have to charge something because of the bag - I got 6 for the price of 1 cricket (10 cents). Although they're regarded as "pests" these snails are actually pretty cool - they can be either brown or a really pretty red. They won't destroy plants either (but will eat dead plant matter), so you could do the 1 mystery snail, 4 of these guys (but watch the population - if you overfeed they'll multiply fairly rapidly) and then a few shrimp (you could do a mix of red cherry and ghost shrimp - I like the ghost shrimp because you can see inside of them - pretty interesting when they are carrying eggs or eating). You might even want to skip the mystery snail and just do the small ramshorns and the two types of shrimp - I think that would be pretty cool

 

[lyquidphyre]

Joannde- I have about 500+ of those ramshorn snails in my 75gal and I don't want to get that started in my 3gal because Ive seen how quickly they multiple! but thanks for the suggestion!

I might do a mix of ghost and red shrimp... or maybe get three different species in there.. that might be fun too

 

[Corey]

Won't ghost/cherry shrimp eat snail egg sacks?

 

[joannde]

Corey - good point - I think the shrimp might eat the snail eggs. I'll see if I can find out.

 

[lyquidphyre]

If I only have one snail, then snail eggs might not even be an issue. If I do have eggs, then I only have one female, so I wouldn't have a male to fertilize them.