When to add ghost shrimp and tank buddy ideas.

[Missladybug77]

O so I finally finished all prep for the tank and water and we have been adding fish the past 2 weeks so we don't overload. We want to get ghost shrimp or another type of cleaner for the tank. The tank is 15 gallons long and has a separate divided "condo" for Cujo the betta. His name fits his personality so we had to separate him but I still wanted him to benefit from heated water and filtration. The bigger part of the tank contains

4 Mickey mouse platies
5 neon tetras

Any suggestions on tank mates and shrimp possibilities? Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

[mfdrookie516]

Bettas make keeping shrimp difficult IMO. If you get some prolific breeders like RCS and provide plenty of cover for them (ie lots of bushy plants) I think you'll be able to sustain a nice colony. If the tank is divided so that they would not be able to get in with the betta, I don't think you'd have much of an issue with it.

Now, when you say 'finished all prep'... does this means you did a fishless cycle? I just wanted to make sure before suggesting anything.

 

[Missladybug77]

Yes to the cycling! The aqaurium has been up now for a month and a half and only has had fish for 2 weeks. All test before adding fish were in the normal range and we started out with Cujo on his side and 2 platies on the big side. They did really well and my betta is now more beautiful than ever! I'm doing about a 20% water change once weekly. I went ahead and got 2 more platies and the neons on the same day since they were tank buddies at Petsmart. This site was really useful for cycling and such and now I'm happy I did it the right way The fish seem happy as well! My son is really wanting some shrimp and now I am convinced I want some to..... I'm a sucker He also has mentioned zebra snails as they don't reproduce like crazy. Any thoughts on them?

 

[mfdrookie516]

zebra nerites? they're a decent algae eater. definitely not going to hurt anything, and won't populate like crazy. sounds like you did everything ok. just keep an eye on your parameters. I'd go with about 15 RCS over ghost shrimp.

 

[siva]

Betta's are usually fine with platties and neons. Have you considered letting them all have the entire tank together?

 

[Missladybug77]

Yes we tried that but he went straight for the platies fins. He was aggressive when we got him... He was the first fish I ever had that would probably bite my finger off if he had teeth! He's so pretty though and I don't like returning fish to the store. Just couldn't do it. So he sits and pesters the fish through the plastic mesh divider. I swear the platies swim by there just to make him mad it's all in good fun as they don't seem stressed.
The RCS sound really neat. I'm doing some research on them and it sounds like they will fit in nicely. We have a lot of fake plants but I will consider getting some real ones if we get some shrimp. I will add another hiding spot as well. Thanks for the info!