Stocking?

[SandBkeeper]

Hi guys!

I need some help for stocking ideas for several of my tanks. Here's the rundown. 

20 g long - planted shrimp tank 

I want to put some nano fish in here, but since I'm trying to breed these shrimp, I'm worried about the fish eating shrimplets. These are my most expensive shrimp and the colony's super small. Right now, I'm thinking a school of pygmy or small cories. Any other idea?

I also have an empty 10 gallon that I'm cycling right now. Ideas for a good breeding project? One idea I had was some dwarf cichlid, either GBR or an apisto pair. 

Thoughts?

[Theplatymaster]

Id recommend Otocinclus cats for the shrimp tank, they will not eat the baby shrimp but might be competition to the shrimp for the algae food source

[Flumpweesel]

In the live stream from Germany on Facebook I think Chris Lukhaup talked about some tiny blue rasboras that he favours with his shrimp

[SandBkeeper]

On 6/14/2022 at 10:40 AM, Theplatymaster said:

Id recommend Otocinclus cats for the shrimp tank, they will not eat the baby shrimp but might be competition to the shrimp for the algae food source

I've thought about otos, but I'm worried I don't have enough algae for them. Do you think it would be okay even though I have very little algae?

[JettsPapa]

Corydoras pygmaeus should work well.  I have guppies with my shrimp and the colonies always increase, so as heavily planted as your tank is I think they would probably be okay also, though they may pick off the occasional small shrimp.  Oddly enough, if I move cull shrimp into one of my guppy tanks, if the shrimp swims out into the open it will often be quickly gobbled up, but the fish seem to ignore shrimp that are stationary, or just crawling around on the substrate, glass, or plants.  They only seem to eat the ones that are swimming in open water.

[Guppysnail]

My shrimp overpopulate in my Pygmy cory tank even when I was trying to remove all the shrimp each week to upgrade the tank.  If you throw in a sponge filter the baby shrimp will be released in it until they get a bit bigger. I removed my sponges in the larger tank and I still have ample reproduction.  I started my shrimp colony with Celestial pearl danios and had no issues there either. 

[SandBkeeper]

Thanks for the suggestions @JettsPapa! My original idea was a school of smaller cories, either pygmaeus, habrosus, or hastatsus. Does anyone have any experience with these species?

[JettsPapa]

On 6/15/2022 at 9:26 AM, SandBkeeper said:

Thanks for the suggestions @JettsPapa! My original idea was a school of smaller cories, either pygmaeus, habrosus, or hastatsus. Does anyone have any experience with these species?

I have, and like, pygmaeus.  I don't have experience with the other two species you mentioned.  One thing I like about the pygmys is that they spend more time foraging higher in the water column that most other Corydoras species.

Edited June 15, 2022 by JettsPapa

[anewbie]

GBR will require temp around 82 and will certainly go after any shrimps they can find. Apisto is a genus which is quite large; borelli are the ones I recommend they are a bit smaller and less aggressive than other commonly available species. They will likely go after the shrimps if they can find them; but adults are likely safe from them due to size. Borelli are adaptable to a wide range of temps and water conditions though extremes can still be an issue. They mix will will pygmy cory. For dither fishes - i'd recommend kobtai rasbora. These are smallish fast movie fishes that tend to remain near the top. A more quiet species would be ember tetra. I doubt the kubota will go after the shrimps; not sure about hte ember but they are fairly small and would certainly not have to worry about adult fishes. Another fish i like a lot are cherry barbs but these i can't comment with regards to shrimps. 

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If you go with GBR you will have to rethink all stocking due to temp requirements; the fishes i mentioned above should be mostly ok between 73 and 78.

[ChargerstoLA]

Have you done any breeding with dwarf cichlid yet? If not I would recommend starting with Apistos. I started with GBR and could never get the fry to survive. Then I went to apistos and I was actually successful. Now I am back at Rams and giving it s go. 
 

GBR have some of the best coloration I have ever seen in freshwater fish. Apistos are beautiful and a lot hardier then GBR. 
 

Unless you have a breeder that can give you some quality GBR, store bought ones tend to be very sensitive, I would start with some Apostos. 

[anewbie]

On 6/15/2022 at 2:59 PM, ChargerstoLA said:

Have you done any breeding with dwarf cichlid yet? If not I would recommend starting with Apistos. I started with GBR and could never get the fry to survive. Then I went to apistos and I was actually successful. Now I am back at Rams and giving it s go. 
 

GBR have some of the best coloration I have ever seen in freshwater fish. Apistos are beautiful and a lot hardier then GBR. 
 

Unless you have a breeder that can give you some quality GBR, store bought ones tend to be very sensitive, I would start with some Apostos. 

Apisto is a genus; some species are very easy to breed others are more difficult. You should mention a specific species when talking about ease or difficulty of breeding. GBR is a species.

[SandBkeeper]

Thanks for all your advice!

I wasn't planning on combining a dwarf cichlid with shrimp, the cichlid pair would be in a seperate 10 gallon. I likely would only have the pair and maybe some pencilfish dithers in that tank. Right now, I'm leaning towards a school of pygmy cories for the 20g long and a pair of GBRs for the 10 gallon. I love the way GBR look, so even if they don't breed that would be okay. If the pair get too aggressive, I could put them in my dad's 60 gallon community tank. Now I just have to figure out a way to convince household members to get more fish lol😆

[anewbie]

Probably the only species of apisto i would suggest that might work in a 10 are Borelli and Pucallpaensis; the others are too large and too aggressive. Also for dither the only thing i would recommend would be 5 or 6 ember tetra; nothing else as the tank would be pretty crowded.