what friendly inverts do you have?

[Tostada]

I thought I'd make this its own thread, seeing as it's been established that crayfish aren't the best thing to have with other fish. But what are?

I still don't have any fish in my new 30 gal. hex yet, but I was thinking of eventually having 2 Cherry Fire Shrimp. Would they get along with a pleco? Would they get along with MTS? Will they eat my plants?

What about clams? Will a freshwater clam just burrow in the sand and you'll never see him again?

 

[tbonem91]

I have cherry, ghost and a bamboo shrimp - all are perfectly fine in a community setup. I don't personally know much about the clams, but arent they a colder water species? might be fine in a goldie tank - they also stay buried in the substrate from what I understand and you never really see em. The giant apple snails are really cool IMO but breed like rabbits.

 

[Zezmo]

Cherry Fire Shrimp? what is that? Do you mean Cherry shrimp?

In general, shrimp (almost all of them) will get along with a pleco, not bother MTS, and not eat plants.

Have you considered a freshwater Nerite snail, or a Nerite limpet? Both very cool plant friendly inverts.

 

[Cinder]

Amano shrimp are also great in any tank (as long as the fish won't eat them!). They are constantly busy cleaning up through all levels of the tank.
Also - Apple snails are really cool and they won't breed unless you have two of them (male and female) or the female comes already bred from the fish store. They are the only snail that you have to have both sexes to have babies. I have one female (very easy to tell apart) who is one of our favorite inhabitants. She is so interesting to watch and my kids love it when she goes to the top of the tank and then parachutes back down to the bottom.

 

[joannde]

I have 12 1" mystery (apple) snails and I LOVE them - they really are pretty interesting. They lay pink eggs above the water line, so even if they DO lay eggs they are easy to see and control.
Mystery snails come in a great variety of colors - I have black, blue, magenta and gold. The funniest thing is when they decide to "go for a float". The crawl to the water line, fill themselves with air, and then float around in the tank - its especially funny when they stick their antennea out as they do this.
Ok, that's my plug for snails LOL. I've never had shrimp so I can't tell you anything about them.

 

[plecoperson]

Ok, that's my plug for snails

And here's mine:

When all the fish are boring and doing nothing of interest, the snails are really a riot to watch cruise around the tank. I have brig (aka mystery) snails, and I love them. They add color to the tank and if you don't want a million of them you can just remove the eggs they lay above the water line. They're cool!

 

[hc8719]

when the fish are boring, snails are fun to watch, you also enjoy grass growing plecoperson? --kidding

 

[Tostada]

The Mystery/Apple/Brig/whatever snails sound pretty cool. How often do you have to watch for the eggs? If I just get one of each color I can find do I still have to worry about them cross-breeding? Any good way to tell them apart so maybe I could get all male or all female?

Sounds like snails and shrimp are pretty much the way to go.

 

[Musket]

Brig snails ARE a joy to watch. All sizes all colors. THey do all kinds of amazing things. My cherry shrimp and my ghost shrimp (not in the same tank) ride on the backs of the snails. Too funny. I also have some bamboo *wood* shrimp, one is tan and the other is orange-ish. Very kewl -safe for fish and plants. Bamboo shrimp have no pinchers, they have "fans" so they can't really hurt anything. You have to crush their food and they gather it with the fans from the water stream. Very interesting.
They have mini crawfish that get only 1-3 inches, but I would imagine if they can catch a fish, they may try. Personally I have a 5" blue lobster and yes, a fish comes up missing from time to time, but it is rare and really she looks to me for food. Runs out in the morning at feeding time and wags her claws. Honest, it's too cute. I do not have any of the little ones (but am thinking about it).

 

[joannde]

The color morphs of the mystery snails can interbreed. There is a way to sex them but I've never really been able to do it - you keep the snail out of water on its back until it opens it's "door" and then you look for the penis.

The eggs are easy to find - they're pink and above water level. I just check every time I feed but since it takes 2 weeks (or more) for them to hatch you could just check every week when you do your water change.

This website http://www.applesnail.net is the best resource I've seen - you can check out the "care" page to see what the eggs look like

 

[Zezmo]

male and female snails have different shapes to thier shells opening.

BTW - snails are more interesting than you might expect.