Ryanlr88
Aquarium Advice Activist
To start off I have a 20 gallon high tank. One larger piece of driftwood in the middle. A bit of water sprite. Sand bottom. 5 panda corys. Roughly 100 cherry shrimp. Unknown number, but definitely over 10, snails of some sort (small).
Basically I started this tank as a casual tank that wasn't going to have any issues or chaos. I wanted corys bc they are awesome and a few other friendly fish. I bought two cherry shrimp to just float around. That was it. Well the cherry shrimp multiplied quickly, which I thought was awesome at first. Now they are literally everywhere. I didn't ever buy a snail, but perhaps one got in one of the bags of fish I purchase and about 4 months later I noticed a 1" snail surface out of the sand. No big, one snail. Well it disappears for weeks at a time and now there are several little snails. Is that typical for snails to stay under the sand for long periods of time?
Corys are still doing fine. Problem is I am going through filters about every 2-3 weeks due to the heavy bio load. I change the water plenty but the filter just fills up with brown algae looking stuff. I want to control the number of shrimp first and foremost.
It was always my intent to get a pair of a slightly larger centerpiece fish but never got around to it. Couple questions. What would be a good centerpiece fish? Is there an option that would help maintain the number of shrimp? Am I best off selling 80 shrimp back to the lfs? Can anything be done about the snails? My first concern is the health and well-being of the corys, so please don't recommend anything that would want to pick on them. If you need anymore information let me know. Thanks!
Basically I started this tank as a casual tank that wasn't going to have any issues or chaos. I wanted corys bc they are awesome and a few other friendly fish. I bought two cherry shrimp to just float around. That was it. Well the cherry shrimp multiplied quickly, which I thought was awesome at first. Now they are literally everywhere. I didn't ever buy a snail, but perhaps one got in one of the bags of fish I purchase and about 4 months later I noticed a 1" snail surface out of the sand. No big, one snail. Well it disappears for weeks at a time and now there are several little snails. Is that typical for snails to stay under the sand for long periods of time?
Corys are still doing fine. Problem is I am going through filters about every 2-3 weeks due to the heavy bio load. I change the water plenty but the filter just fills up with brown algae looking stuff. I want to control the number of shrimp first and foremost.
It was always my intent to get a pair of a slightly larger centerpiece fish but never got around to it. Couple questions. What would be a good centerpiece fish? Is there an option that would help maintain the number of shrimp? Am I best off selling 80 shrimp back to the lfs? Can anything be done about the snails? My first concern is the health and well-being of the corys, so please don't recommend anything that would want to pick on them. If you need anymore information let me know. Thanks!