Dano01
Aquarium Advice Regular
Am curious...............What is the wattage and K value of your tank lighting?
Yay! The cycle is progressing. Tested tonight, ammonia has dropped quite a bit, and starting to get some nitrIte readings. Not sure on the nitrAte yet, since I am dosing it for the plants, I can't really tell if I am any nitrosomas developed yet.
Any suggestions on a small, colorful pair of fish to add to the tank? I am talking tiny... just to get some movement in toward the top of the tank since the shrimp will be sticking to the bottom.
Fort, the plants will use the ammonia and nitrites so you don't have to dose nitrates. The preferred food for plants (other than CO2) is ammonium (which the plants can make from ammonia). Plants convert Nitrates back to Nitrites and then back to the Ammonium which is the source of nitrogen that they use for growth.
In my experience, shrimp stay mainly on the bottom or on plant leaves and stems. They do occasionally swim around - but not much. So I agree that it would be nice to have some fish. Endler's livebearers do not eat shrimp (not even the tiny fry) and are a little smaller than guppies, but they will breed like... well, guppies. They will do nicely in a 5 gal. tank.
You could easily keep 6 neon tetras in a 5 gal. They'd prefer to swim in a larger tank but will do just fine in a 5 gal. and they will not eat the shrimp either... nor will they over-populate the tank by breeding, as do the Endler's.
Gertrude's Rainbow fish are another shrimp safe fish and I am looking to acquire some of those egg layers, but have had no luck in finding a source. If you do, please let me know.
I beg to differ. IF ammonia is still present - which Fort reports that it is - and nitrites are elevated - which Fort reports that they are - than there are enough nutrients. They are preferred sources of nitrogen over nitrates, and the plants are not removing ammonia and using nitrites as fast as they are produced. Once the ammonia and nitrites drop to near zero, then he will need to dose nitrates. The other two sources of nitrogen are used by the plants before they use nitrates. See: Aqua Botanic - Plants and biological filtrationThere aren't enough nutrients in that tank
I beg to differ. IF ammonia is still present - which Fort reports that it is - and nitrites are elevated - which Fort reports that they are - than there are enough nutrients. They are preferred sources of nitrogen over nitrates, and the plants are not removing ammonia and using nitrites as fast as they are produced. Once the ammonia and nitrites drop to near zero, then he will need to dose nitrates. The other two sources of nitrogen are used by the plants before they use nitrates. See: Aqua Botanic - Plants and biological filtration
You raise an interesting point about the Endler's. Just because I've never seen my Endler's eat the little shrimp does not mean that they do not. I might remove them though, especially since you say that others have also seen the female Endler's snack on the hatchlings.