29 gallon invert tank

Hey guys. I lost my DG yesterday and I was thinking of turning my tank into an invert tank. My family really wants something else in the the tank so here I am.
Parameters
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
5-10 nitrate
9 dgh
5 dkh
7.8-8.0 ph
Right now I have
6 mystery snails
15 nerites
Was wondering what other inverts to put in the tank. I wanted to add some mote mystery snails and shrimp. Anbody that has numbers or other types of inverts are welcome to answer. Thanks!

 

I would not add any more mystery snails - I think you're already fully stocked with snails. The ones you have will grow to fill the tank and will reproduce and produce many babies with each clutch.

What about this?

6x Mystery snails
15x Nerites
20x Ember tetra
10x Red Cherry shrimp (will breed and produce more)
5x Amano shrimp
3x Bamboo shrimp

Make sure you have lots of plants and driftwood to add height and levels to the tanks so they're not all crowded on the substrate.

 

I would not add any more mystery snails - I think you're already fully stocked with snails. The ones you have will grow to fill the tank and will reproduce and produce many babies with each clutch.

What about this?

6x Mystery snails
15x Nerites
20x Ember tetra
10x Red Cherry shrimp (will breed and produce more)
5x Amano shrimp
3x Bamboo shrimp

Make sure you have lots of plants and driftwood to add height and levels to the tanks so they're not all crowded on the substrate.

Well that's sucks about the mystery snails but alright. I don't really want fish at this moment. All the lfs near me either have a limted selection or diseased fish, not to mention my track record with fish isn't good, and online seems a bit costy, so I kinda want to stick to just inverts. Would a vampire shrimp work? Could I also add one rabbit snail?

Oh temp for the summer is 78-80 because of the heat, but in fall, winter, and spring it will be somewhere between 76-78. Don't know if this matters.
Editops. The company that sent me the nerites messed up my order so they sent me 5 more nerites as replacements. So 20 nerites in total. Definetly no more nerites.

Also should I keep the mystery snails eggs or throw them out. None of them have layed eggs yet, but if they do how many does one mystery snail have?

 

Well that's sucks about the mystery snails but alright. I don't really want fish at this moment. All the lfs near me either have a limted selection or diseased fish, not to mention my track record with fish isn't good, and online seems a bit costy, so I kinda want to stick to just inverts. Would a vampire shrimp work? Could I also add one rabbit snail?

Why don't you have a good track record with fish? Inverts are more sensitive to water quality than many fish, so if you're having issues with fish, they won't go away with inverts.

Yes to the rabbit snail and yes to the vampire shrimp.

Also should I keep the mystery snails eggs or throw them out. None of them have layed eggs yet, but if they do how many does one mystery snail have?

Whatever you want to do with them. If you have stores around you that will take them, then you can always breed them and sell them. If you don't, then throw them out.

 

Why don't you have a good track record with fish? Inverts are more sensitive to water quality than many fish, so if you're having issues with fish, they won't go away with inverts.

Yes to the rabbit snail and yes to the vampire shrimp.



Whatever you want to do with them. If you have stores around you that will take them, then you can always breed them and sell them. If you don't, then throw them out.

Its not about water quality. I've cycled all my both of my past tanks. Had them all at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-10 nitrate. They just went up and died. I'm not blaming the fish or anything. Its just where I live they aren't healthy. I'm ok with keeping up with water changes and my paremiters always stay on the safe side and are constant. I just want to try something new with the tank. Thanks for the advice though.

Its really disease that's been killing my fish. Some weird mystery disease the first time. Might have been fish tb or bad genetics or something else. Second time seemed like my gourami got blocked up and just died.

Oh and would you happen to know how many snails a mystery snail has in one clutch?

 

Mine have had around 50 successfully hatch.

 

Mine have had around 50 successfully hatch.

Jesus 50 per batch. And I was thinking it would only be like 5 eggs and I could keep 1. Is there a way to separate one egg and throw out the rest?
Edit:
Oh and are there any diseases that inverts get. I mean other than calcium defiency or bad water paremeters?All I can seem to find on snails are about shell damage.

 

You can't separate one out, no.

And yes, I'm sure there are lots of issues inverts can get. We don't know much about their diseases though.

 

You can't separate one out, no.

And yes, I'm sure there are lots of issues inverts can get. We don't know much about their diseases though.

Well I'll continue to research then. So far my paremeters have stayed stable and I think that if that wasn't good then that would be the biggest problem for my inverts thanks for the advice.
I'm going to do
20 nerites
6 mysterys
1 vampire shrimp ( unless I can do more)
2 bamboo shrimp
10 red cherry shrimp

Oh is there a type of shrimp that's a different color that won't breed with the cherry shrimp? Thanks . Sorry for asking so many questions.

 

There are other shrimp that won't breed with cherries. Look for ones that are different species.

And I don't see why you couldn't do more vampire and bamboo shrimp. Maybe 3 of each? Again though, lots of levels so everything isn't crowded on the bottom.

 

There are other shrimp that won't breed with cherries. Look for ones that are different species.

And I don't see why you couldn't do more vampire and bamboo shrimp. Maybe 3 of each? Again though, lots of levels so everything isn't crowded on the bottom.

I'll look into those other shrimp.
I'm going to find some rock formations or tall driftwood to help make more levels as well as some taller plants.

 

So I know zero about snails but for the bamboo shrimp make sure you have decent flow and a place they can perch in the flow, (usually near the filter) They are filter feeders. If you ever see them picking off the bottom they aren't getting enough food from the water. ***edit: the same goes for the vampire shrimp
And cherry shrimp are neocaridina so maybe look at caridina shrimp but keep in mind that they tend to be more sensitive to water than the others (based on research as I haven't kept dwarf shrimp yet only bamboo shrimp

 

You could get other colored neocardina as long as they are all the same color and get the red from a red Cardina species. If you're planning on breeding some of you other species might eat fry. With the mystery snails you could always wait til they get a quarter inch and keep what you like and dump the rest off at the lfs.

Don't be surprised if the shrimp coloration isn't great when you get them. My breeder was kind of mad at herself for accidentally putting a good female in her for sale tank, but sold it anyway. That one and another one are both getting brighter and less translucent every day. And they're both saddled. Yay me!

Oh, and it's not a bad idea to get a tiny species of fish as a canary in a coal mine. My guppy acts a little different if something is off. Just slight behavioral changes and I know something in my water is not as good as it should be.

 

Do shrimp do well in a ph of 7.8-8.2, gh 9, and kh 5? Like breed?

 

Rcs will. They're kinda like cockroaches. My ph is usually around 8 depending on how long I leave the peat pellets in the filter. Can't remember what my gh and kh were but they were mid range.

 

Hey guys I was checking my invert supplier and saw that they had 3 different color variation of rabbit snails. Do you think I'd be able to have all 3 in my tank?

 

Ooh, I can't wait to see this tank when it's finished. It's going to be awesome.

As to shrimp, as long as they aren't neocardinia, you should be good with them not cross-breeding.

Going to toss this out as a question since I've never kept rabbit snails, does anyone think there would be a concern with temp compatibility between them and the rest of the tank? From what I'm finding online, it seems like they prefer a warmer temp (78-84 or so) than most everyone else would want. Again, no experience with them, so wanted to see if that might be any issue.

I would suggest just pulling down the mystery clutches when they happen and disposing of them. Doesn't sound like you have the best fish stores around, and even fish stores that are good, often times aren't the best with snail care. They will be obvious and are easy to remove.

RCS should be fine for colonizing in the listed parameters. Mine are at 7.8-8 ph, GH 13, and KH 4 and I have gone from 8 to probably about 50-70 (I have no idea anymore how many are in the tank). They seem to be most prolific ime around 76 degrees.

Having two invert only tanks, I'd say skip the fish The shrimp should certainly be active enough for you not to see many gaps in activity in the tank.

 

Ooh, I can't wait to see this tank when it's finished. It's going to be awesome.

As to shrimp, as long as they aren't neocardinia, you should be good with them not cross-breeding.

Going to toss this out as a question since I've never kept rabbit snails, does anyone think there would be a concern with temp compatibility between them and the rest of the tank? From what I'm finding online, it seems like they prefer a warmer temp (78-84 or so) than most everyone else would want. Again, no experience with them, so wanted to see if that might be any issue.

I would suggest just pulling down the mystery clutches when they happen and disposing of them. Doesn't sound like you have the best fish stores around, and even fish stores that are good, often times aren't the best with snail care. They will be obvious and are easy to remove.

RCS should be fine for colonizing in the listed parameters. Mine are at 7.8-8 ph, GH 13, and KH 4 and I have gone from 8 to probably about 50-70 (I have no idea anymore how many are in the tank). They seem to be most prolific ime around 76 degrees.

Having two invert only tanks, I'd say skip the fish The shrimp should certainly be active enough for you not to see many gaps in activity in the tank.

Temperature for the rabbit snails are bit worrying for me too. These guys like it hot. I know the mysterys would be fine in 80 degree water but for the nerites I'm going to try to keep it at 78, but my heater might have it at 79. I've heard of rabbits being kept at 78 fine so hopefully it will be ok, but if anybody with first hand experience can confirm.
Yeah fish stores near me aren't good. Petsmart and petco are the only ones that are in my town ( really a village). There's a lfs near me that's better than petco/petsmart, but they sold me a dead snail so no.
I'm already having a blast watching the mysterys. Nerites are cool too, but the mysterys are phenomenal!!!

 

I was also thinking of getting a power head to create a current near the substrate. Do you think the vampire shrimp and bamboo shrimp would like this?