Stocking With Baby Mystery Snails

[TonyC97]

HI All:

I’ve recently found an egg clutch from my mystery snails in my tank. I didn’t have the heart to throw away the first clutch and want to raise them. I’ve bought a 30 gallon aquarium, added agronite to keep the pH and hardness up and have almost completed cycling. Because this tank is in my home, I’m hoping to make it look decent instead of just a grow out tank setup.

I have plants on order, but wondering what kind of fish I can add in a setup that’s at about a pH of 8 that would work I this setup? Any ideas are appreciated (Also I know the amount of waste that can build up and am fully prepared to do multiple water changes a week)

 

[BottomDweller]

Loads of fish could work well in that setup. Are there any you particularly like?

 

[TonyC97]

Honestly open to anything that’s reasonably easy to obtain! I’ve really only worked with what’s typically soft water/acidic fish and I’m not sure if they can survive/thrive in the harder water that mystery snails need. My parents want an angelfish or two but I’m not sure if it’s a good fit

I’d love to try African cichlids but worried they’ll attack the snails

 

[BottomDweller]

Livebearers do best in hard alkaline water. So do neocardinia shrimp.

You could do something like this
5 female platies
3 female guppies or 4 female endlers
1 female molly or female swordtail
1 dwarf gourami
1 bristlenose pleco
Mystery snails

Or
7 female platies
8 female guppies or endlers
1 bristlenose pleco
Neocaridinia shrimp (add around 20 of these first so they can establish a colony before adding fish)
Mystery snails

The second option would be quite understocked to make up for the heavy bioload of the mystery snails.

 

[TonyC97]

The Gourami won’t be too aggressive? I thought they had the aggression of Bettas

 

[BottomDweller]

Definitely not as aggresssive as bettas. If you are worried about any aggression then go for 2 honey gouramis instead. They are incredibly peaceful. Mine are quite shy though so make sure you have plenty of hiding places.

 

[TonyC97]

Do the two honey gourami need to be sexed a certain way? (I.e two female or a male/female pair)

 

[BottomDweller]

A male and a female or 2 females is ideal but 2 males is still ok.