Tank Mate Suggestions

[hsherman1986]

Tank is a 20g tall, white sand substrate, newly cycled. It is going to house all six of my female bettas, currently only holding four. I was going to use ghost shrimp to help keep the sand clean in between water changes, but four out of five died in the past two days (bad batch of shrimp, our all of my tanks are bad because i bought some for my other tanks the same day, and most of them are dead, all my water params are normal between all of my tanks). So I was trying to think of what else I could keep in there with my girls that will help keep the sand clean in between vacs.

Like I said, the sand is white, so anything that sits on top of the sand is easily seen, and I don't want to change my substrate (that sand was very expensive. I did not want the beach sand look for this tank.) I have the look I want and do not really want to change it.

So any suggestions for a cleaup crew that will house well with my girls?

[sir_dudeguy]

lol bummer about the expensive sand...you could have got some from home depot for 3 bucks..and enough to fill 3 20 gallon tanks...

as far as fish, i think you could put pretty much anything with female bettas, but i might be wrong...just make sure you dont overload the tank, and/or put a fish that needs more space

[rich311k]

No fish is going to keep your sand spotless, fish dont eat other fish's wastes. I would think a nice group of cories would work well. They would eat all left over food and they are cute to boot.

[hsherman1986]

well i don't expect them to keep it spotless, just help keep in somewhat clean between vacs. I was thinking cories.

Only reason I did not buy sand at home depot is because i was going after a certain color that home depot did not have. I wanted the white sand, and petsmart was the only place that had it and it was $21 for 20lbs (OUCH!!)

but yea, I know that only constant vacs are going to keep the sand spotless, but I just want something to help out with keeping it managable between vacs. I have been eyeballing the cories at the LFS lately, i'm thinking a school of the smaller panda cories.

[Jaybird]

You could look for a red-hump geophagus. They are a south-american eartheater. They are relatively peaceful and will spend all their time going through the substrate looking for food.

[sith j]

i have some albino cories, and man or they active. they swim around more than my red wag platys. and they do a good job of clean-up. although with the white sand you may want to go with the pandas or emerald green.

[mango]

I agree with what's been stated so far, cories are uber cute and will help keep everything clean.
If you're looking for an invert, MTS are supposed to be really good about sifting through sand and keeping it from getting gas pockets and such. I can't say this from experience as I haven't had them before. I am switching one of my tanks to a sand substrate some time in the next coulpe weeks though, so I asked Weasel F if he'd ship some of his overabundance to me. Thanks, Weasel! You could also go with different shrimp. Cherry red shrimp are pretty cool if you're wanting to stick to shrimp. A bit of a heads up though, your bettas may suddenly get a taste for shrimp and your ghosts may disappear without a trace or you may find shredded shrimp parts everywhere. By no means does it always happen, but the possibility exists.

[Andyvette]

I agree... cories and/or cherry shrimp (Id get both ) But you need a little cover for both... so maybe a little hornwort, java moss, java ferns for low maintenance plants?

[hsherman1986]

yea, i am thinking cories the more I think about it. The tank is planted with dwarf hairgrass, amazon swords, and mondo grass.

hey andyvette, what are the best lfs in our area (i live in irving, tx)?