cherry shrimp and platies

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DASHRIMPMONSTER

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 18, 2020
Messages
71
I have a lot of Malaysian trumpet snails, 5 black skirt tetras, 6 harlequin rasboras, and 3 platies. For protection for the shrimp, I have a lot of hornwort, bacopa, and a teeny tiny bit of java moss that probably won’t help the shrimp hide. Will the shrimp be fine?(including the babies)(it’s a 20 gallon high)
 
Difficult to say. If the plants are dense, then they should be fine. But you can always buy special hides for shrimp, there's a vast selection online - some of them are in the form of narrow tubes that the fish won't be able to get into.The more hides the shrimp have, the happier and more active they'll be. Make sure the filter can't suck them in, as that's also a potential issue, especially with babies.
 
With those fish in the tank your shrimp are DEFINITELY going to spend the majority of their time hiding and most likely eventually become snacks
 
I have a prefilter sponge...
A tiny bit of java moss that my small harlequins might be able to get into.
Also a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot of hornwort floating at the top... will that be fine, since cherry shrimp are expensive and I don't want my fish to have 10 dollar high grade cherry shrimp snacks constantly.:)

And what if I keep the fish well fed, or maybe a bit overfed so they're never hungry...
 
And what if I keep the fish well fed, or maybe a bit overfed so they're never hungry...
Won't work. Fish are always hungry and will go after food even when they are well fed. They're not very good at portion control, lol :D Pretty much the only time they don't eat is if they're sick. Besides, even if they didn't eat the shrimp, they might still chase and kill them (you know, hunting instinct and all that...).

As for the ghost shrimp, you can get a small group (maybe around 10-20), but it all depends on your stocking level - here's a useful little calculator that might help you figure out how to stock your tank, it takes into account things like filtration capacity etc.: AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor


And I'd strongly recommend getting as many shrimp hides as possible, may increase their chance of survival.
 
The aquarium calc dont work for me... it brings me to a trash website... if it works for you, can you put it in... 5 black skirt tetras, 3 platies 6 harlequin rasboras filter aqueon quietflow 10
 
The aquarium calc dont work for me... it brings me to a trash website... if it works for you, can you put it in... 5 black skirt tetras, 3 platies 6 harlequin rasboras filter aqueon quietflow 10
Assuming the tank is a standard 20gal high (24x12x16 inches), this is what the website says:

Suggestion: If you want to keep more than 1 Platy, minimum recommend male to female ratio is 1:2 (M:F). You will be less likely to experience problem if you get even more females.

Recommended temperature range: 22 - 25 C.
Recommended pH range: 6 - 7.5.
Recommended hardness range: 5 - 15 dH.


Warning: You should add more aquarium filtration capacity.

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 83%.
Recommended water change schedule: 23% per week.
Your aquarium stocking level is 83%.



And that's excluding the shrimp (they don't produce a lot of waste, but they do add to the bioload, especially if there's a lot of them).

When I add 20 more ghost shrimp to the calculator it says you have to add more filtration capacity, as the tank's stocking level would be almost 100% (the optimum level to avoid problems is closer to 60%). So tbh I wouldn't add any more animals to that tank at the moment, but if you absolutely have to have shrimp I would only get a small group (~10).
 
Were you planning on adding Ghost shimp AND Cherries or Ghost shrimp onsteaf of Cherries?
There are several problems with Ghost Shrimp esp in a community tank.
1) They are considered a *feeder* shrimp so are usually not in good health
2) There are a couple of species that can be labelled *ghost* shrimpand unless.you are able to positively ID them you cohld end up with Whisker Shrimp which will DEFINITELY hunt and eat anything ghat attractsvtheir attention, other shrimp, fish, they're not picky.
 
no the tank size is 24 long 13 wide and 17 tall

And ghosts instead of cherries

And i mean the palaemontes sp.... I'll check the label in the store
 
It's not the store that is usually to blame for the mix up, it's the importer or person who originally caught them in the wild
 
Maybe I could just get 5 ghost shrimp, and check if they're whisker shrimp, since whiskers are bigger, and more white than ghost shrimp, also with the long claws
 
no the tank size is 24 long 13 wide and 17 tall

And ghosts instead of cherries


OK, so I played with the calculator a bit more ;) With these dimensions it's similar - filtration capacity 83%, stocking level 76%, weekly water changes 20%, recommendation to add more filtration capacity. You could still add a group of 10 ghost shrimp (bringing the total stocking level to 82%), but any more than that and you'd definitely need to up the filtration somehow. BUT - I experimented a bit & if you upgraded the filter to, say, an Aqueon Quietflow 20, you'd have plenty of filtration capacity and could add 20 ghost shrimp without worrying about overstocking. At least according to this website.

It would seem as if your current filter simply isn't efficient enough for the stock you want to keep and your best bet would be to upgrade it, or consider changing the fish to something with a smaller bioload. You can still add the shrimp if you want, but keep in mind that it will just put more pressure on your already overloaded filter, and if you skimp on water changes it could have pretty nasty consequences. Keeping a tank understocked is always better.
 
If I upgraded, would I have to take out the fish and cycle again?
Not necessarily, no. If the tank is cycled, mature and stable it shouldn't cause any major problems. At worst, the tank might go through a mini-cycle that should be controllable with regular water changes, Prime and perhaps a bacterial booster, but it's perfectly possible to change the filter without causing the tank to completely crash. Lots of people do it after all, for various reasons. If possible, you could either place the old media in the new filter, or run both filters at the same time for a few weeks and then just take out the old one ( the idea being that by that time the new filter will have developed its own bacterial colony). It's also a good idea to keep a close eye on water parametres after you put in the new filter, so that you can react as soon as you notice something's off. One thing you shouldn't do is exchange the entire biofilter at once, it's better to change half first so as not to shock the system. No sudden changes is probably the best rule of thumb in everything aquarium - related.
[please correct me if I'm wrong]

Disclaimer though: I've never used this type of filter myself so I'm not sure exactly how it would work, maybe someone with more experience will come along with better advice. I'd also recommend doing some research online, there are several sources that offer a more in-depth explanation and instructions.
 
Could I just add a 60 gallon sponge filter in addition to my 20 gallon HOB... would that be good enough, or too much filtering:)
 
If you wanted to add the Sponge that would be fine, it's *almost* impossible to over filter a tank.
I would consider buying a spare/replacement sponge at the same time so if you ever need it you have it
 
Could I just add a 60 gallon sponge filter in addition to my 20 gallon HOB... would that be good enough, or too much filtering:)
I think that should be fine, just make sure that with 2 filters there's not too much circulation blowing the fish about - that' one of the main concerns. It is theoretically possible to over-filter a tank and actually starve the biofilter if the mechanical filters are too effective, but I think in your case it's not very likely. And anyway, if that's something you're concerned about you can just get a small internal filter, it shouldn't upset the balance in any way, especially since your tank - with the current filter - is already teetering on the edge of being overstocked.
 
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