VERY first fish, snails, and shrimp.

[Gestaltgal]

Hey all.

I have 1 20 gallon tall tank that has been cycled with plants and has excellent new growth and water parameters. Now it just needs some livestock!

The plan is to add 8-10 guppies (males), 2 nerite snails, and 3-6 neocaridina shrimps. 

Because they are all going into 1 tank that doesn't have anything but plants and hardscape at the moment, I wanted to know what kind of quarantining to do. Should I put the guppies in the main tank, and quarantine the snails and shrimps separately? Can I put the shrimps and guppies in the tank and quarantine the snails? Should I hold off on ANYTHING in the main tank until all have been properly quarantined? Help!

Sincerely, 

New to the hobby and doesn't want to kill too much!

[Fish Folk]

14 minutes ago, Gestaltgal said:

New to the hobby and doesn't want to kill too much!

Welcome to the hobby! Sounds like a beautiful tank. First off, it is a noble aim to kill less fish... quarantine well... be careful.... however: fish will die under your care, and more is (sadly) learned through mistakes than through successes. Just embrace the reality that things will sometimes fail. 
 

That said, if your LFS is the source for guppies, take time to learn if the guppies fare well there. Ask whether _they_ quarantine their stock before selling. Or, if ordering online, ask the seller. 
 

I think I’d just treat the tank as a QT tank itself. Put them in. Carefully watch. I know of very little that crosses from Nerite snails to Shrimp to Guppies. So you’re basically just watching the guppies to see how they do. Make sure there’s enough air and filtration. 
 

Shrimp love Java moss. It serves a lot of purposes. They also nibble off of sponge filters. 
 

Staring here at a 10-gal tank set up last spring with a couple guppy pairs and a few cherry shrimp, and a single young bristlenose Pleco. It’s booming with life. No QT. All good...

[Will Billy]

A little tip from my experience, i would add shrimp and snails first. Mostly for the shrimp’s sake. This will give them time to explore their new environment, and most importantly stake out good hiding spots should any of the guppies become aggressive towards them. This will give your shrimp an upper hand in escaping predation, should that arise. My guppies have different personalities. Some are cool, calm, and collect, while others are a bit of a bully. 

[JaredL]

I agree with @Will Billy. Put the shrimp and snails in the main tank, guppies in QT. For 2 reasons:

You can start by giving the guppies the "med trio" recommended by Aquarium-coop as prevention to any possible illnesses. Also if anything more serious shows up, your options for treatment aren't reduced by having to consider the effects on your plants or invertebrates in your main tank.

Also, as mentioned before, you give the shrimp time to settle in so you reduce the chance that your guppies will not see them as "easy snacks".

[Levi_Aquatics]

I would suggest that you add the shrimp and snails first as @Will Billy said. After a few weeks I would add the guppies and then just treat the entire aquarium with the med trio as @Fish Folk suggested.

[Kirsten]

Yeah I recommend guppies in the QT mainly because if one DOES start looking sick, it would be a huge pain to try to net it in a heavily planted tank to get it quarantined and treated. And while the trio is plant and invert-safe, know that Ich-X is pretty boldly colored and can stain some decor, so, best to give it in a QT tank if you can.

I like @Irene's method of using a large plastic storage tote as a QT tank. Super cheap, won't break, easy to find, mark gallon amounts on the side, and easy to store (or use AS storage) when you're done. Just get a second nano sponge filter ahead of time and run it in you main, cycled tank for a couple weeks before setting up your QT so it'll get nice and good-bacteria-laden.

[Socqua]

Great advice all around, just want to add two things:

1) Especially because your tank is brand new, make sure you're feeding the shrimp and snails. They're often overlooked because they're a "cleanup crew," but they require feeding on their own. Algae will help especially for the snails, but shrimp will want some variety of food and powder, in my experience.

2) I would go closer to 6 neos, not 3. If you want baby shrimp, and who doesn't, then you have to make sure you have at least 1 female and 1 male. If you only get 3 then you have a 25% chance of getting all males or all females (and likely no babies). And even if you get a mix, if one passes that could be your only female.

Enjoy!