Starting Up My Tank QUESTIONS

[Coatbee]

So I've been wanting to start up a 30 - 40 (probably 30) gallon freshwater tank for a while. But of course, not without doing proper research.


Because I love Invertebrates SO much (mainly shirmp), I was hoping to make an invertebrate based tank with a few fish. Here was what I was thinking:


6 neon tetra
6 cardinal tetra (?)
0 - 4 Otocinclus Catfish (?)


20 RCS (red cherry shrimp)
10 ghost shrimp
10 Amano Shrimp
2 Bamboo/Flower Shrimp


5 Horned Nerite Snails


I put (?)'s where I was unsure/had a question. Would cardinal tetras be a good choice to go along with this? Should I stick to only Neons or get a different species (Ruby, Bloodfin, Glowlight). Also would these species school with Neons and what would you recommend?


I have heard that Otocinclus are great algae eaters, but considering the great number of algae eaters that I named below it, I am not sure wether its a good idea. Would the other inverts eat all the algae before the otos can? Or vice versa? ( I wouldnt be adding the otos until my tank was well established with algae


What equipment and filters and whatnot would you recommend for me in this tank. I was thinking a sponge filter, but that might not be powerful enough. Would a hang on back be too powerful for my shrimp and suck them in or what?


What plants would you recommend for me. I am definitely getting some sort of moss for the shrimp (java moss mainly). What other plats should I get that would benefit my animals and shrimp?


How much should I be feeding the fish/inverts named above and will I have trouble with overfeeding or underfeeding? Are the animals named above maximizing my bio load or could I add even more to the list?


Finally (PLEASE) any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Anything that could help me please answer. If there are any flaws in my tank plan please tell me so I can fix it and do it right.


Thanks!


PS: I'm posting this on multiple forums to maximize answers

 

[Mebbid]

I would skip the neons and go with a big school or cardinals. 20 would probably be sufficient. After the tank matures you can go with a small school of otos. Probably around 6 would be good. I would skip the ghost shrimp as they will sometimes kill rcs.

I would go with low light plants such as crypts, java fern, java moss, bolbitis, and any ias. The crypts will need root tabs.

For food you should feed your shrimp some sinking food. I personally find the sinking granules to be the best for my shrimp.

I would go with 2 small sponge filters. I cleaned out my canister once and got a record 36 shrimp that were stuck in there despite having a pre filter.

 

[henningc]

I'm thinking 14-18 Neons would work better than Cardinals as they won't be as likely to eat baby shrimp. Otos are OK, but they tend to like a little current and will need to be fed as the tank will not produce that much algae. I concur about skipping the Ghost Shrimp.

I would use 2 large sponge filters and hide them with some anchored Hornwart plants. I use two 80gal rated sponge filters in all of my 20L - 40gal tanks. If you want to run a small HOB for a few hours once every week or two for water clarity that would be smart. I would also highly recommend obtaining some garden stones from a local nursery and form stone strutures for the shrimp to graze on and hide when molting. These structures can help hide the sponges as well. If you want to provide a self-sustaining food source for the tetras place 24 scuds in the tank and don't introduce fish for at least a month. Scuds will live with the shrimp and the baby scuds tend to swim about and get picked off by fish. I have scuds in my shrimp tank - 20L - and they provide a nice snack for my breeder bettas when I harvest them about once every two weeks.

I would suggest a granulor type food for the shrimp and highly recommend you add some Antaxanthin Powder diluted in water once weekly. I mix about 1 / 20th of a ts with two small glass eye droppers of water and feed the tank one entire eye dropper full a drop at a time in various areas in the tank. The shrimp, scuds and snails if any will really eat this stuff up. Antaxanthin Powder will also make your shrimp and scuds, if any, explode with color. I would also highly recommend you put some dried Almond or Oak leaves in the tank. They are great food for shrimp and scuds and help keep the biofilm plentiful. A few snails would not hurt either. You can get antaxanthin on-line at Ken's Aquatics.