Stocking With Shrimp?

[Gidde]

Now that my tank is at least close to cycled (/crossfingers), I'm trying to decide on stocking options.

I have my heart sort of set on some Blue Velvet Shrimp, they are crazy gorgeous. So I'm planning to get a couple of those. Unfortunately they become food really easily, so stocking the rest of the tank is turning out to be really challenging.

The only thing I've been able to find so far are some skirt tetras (I'll probably look for the glofish, but I like the black ones too). says with 2 shrimp and 6-8 tetras I have plenty of room in the plan, but I'm struggling to find anything peaceful enough that still gives a bit of variety.

My KH is 4.5 and rock steady, so livebearers are pretty much out. Anything else I could put in that's super peaceful, to round out the tank?

 

[Aqua 59]

Maybe some guppies or pygmy corydoras would work. I think they are shrimp-safe.

 

[emmysjj]

What size tank?

 

[emmysjj]

Never mind, I saw the title. How about:
15 CPDs or ChilI rasboras
15 Pygmy cories
Shrimp

 

[jlscientist]

Yep, cories are real active and most likely shrimp safe. However, I don't think your tank is cycled yet according to your info. 1 ppm of ammonia and 4 ppm nitrites is way too much. They should both be at 0. You can try water changes.
Sorry

 

[Gidde]

Oops! I forgot to update the parameters in my profile. Today 0 and 0. YAY! And I'm planning on waiting and testing for a few more days at least, just to be sure.

You don't think cories would be overkill on the bottom? I like em, but I was worried I'd have way too much on the bottom of the tank, with those and the shrimp.

 

[Viriam Karo]

Are you planning to have plants? In my experience, shrimp don't stay on the bottom---mine always hung out in whatever plants I had and only congregated on the bottom if I gave them food.

Also, I think pygmy cories are somewhat midrange swimmers as well, if I remember correctly.

 

[Gidde]

I have a few plants now, with plans to add some more.

That's good info on the shrimp & cories moving around more; I really thought they'd both just hang out on the bottom. Thanks!
Would they need to be pygmies, or could I go with a smaller school (6 or so) of peppers?

 

[BottomDweller]

Otos are good with shrimp. You could do 6-8 of them.

 

[jlscientist]

Oops! I forgot to update the parameters in my profile. Today 0 and 0. YAY! And I'm planning on waiting and testing for a few more days at least, just to be sure.

You don't think cories would be overkill on the bottom? I like em, but I was worried I'd have way too much on the bottom of the tank, with those and the shrimp.

Alright, good idea about waiting. Just add fish food and wait a day, no ammonia next day then your good to go. But remmebrr to add fish slowly to avoid a minI cycle

 

[Gidde]

I certainly will! But that brings to mind a question. How does "add fish slowly" square with "you need at least six of these fish"?

More and more it looks like I'm going to end up with a couple different schools of tetras and some cories, and all of those are "at least 6" type fish. I'm nervous about 6 fish at once right after the cycle, even if they are teeny guys.

Also the one local store I at least somewhat trust has a pretty small selection. Is it ok for the fish if I build up to a decent school over time, or do I need to find a way to get 6 at once?

 

[jlscientist]

I certainly will! But that brings to mind a question. How does "add fish slowly" square with "you need at least six of these fish"?

More and more it looks like I'm going to end up with a couple different schools of tetras and some cories, and all of those are "at least 6" type fish. I'm nervous about 6 fish at once right after the cycle, even if they are teeny guys.

Also the one local store I at least somewhat trust has a pretty small selection. Is it ok for the fish if I build up to a decent school over time, or do I need to find a way to get 6 at once?

Yep, I wondered exactly that. before I got my oscar, I wanted a community in my 55 gallon. So I was like, schooling fish, "I gotta add them all together or they will stress out and die." So I added 12 of this fish, 6 of that, 2 of that, etc all on the same day, and boom, all my fish died in 1 week due to ammonia spike. So after that I gaveup on commuinity tank and got my oscar who is doing great

Anyways, since I have not done it, I am not sure. But what I think is that it will be fine to add them slowly, add one fish of this species, and another one, and another slowly. But don't start another species until u have introduced all 6 fish of one of the species u want to add. I reccomend 1 small fish per week <- this is just what I did with my guppy tank.

 

[Gidde]

Sounds like a plan. First order of business is something that will eat all of the brown diatoms that are all over everything.

So either cory or shrimp; any advice on which to add first? (Once I have guaranteed the cycle is done, just making a plan.)

 

[jlscientist]

Sounds like a plan. First order of business is something that will eat all of the brown diatoms that are all over everything.

So either cory or shrimp; any advice on which to add first? (Once I have guaranteed the cycle is done, just making a plan.)

I recommend the fish first since the shrimp can be more sensitive.

 

[BottomDweller]

Add just 4 or so at a time. Wait 2 weeks between adding groups of fish. They will be fine in a group of 4 for 2 weeks.

 

[jlscientist]

You can do 1 fish per week imo. This will also get you to max in just 6 days.

 

[Gidde]

Ok, the tank is now (I think) cycled - it's zeroing both ammonia and nitrite in 24 hours. This is my stocking plan; I decided to go with otos instead of cories because apparently cories won't eat all this algae I acquired during the cycle.

(# tbd) Blue velvet shrimp (later)
4 otos - now
8-12 glofish/black skirts (later)
15-20 embers (later)

According to aqadvisor, that still leaves me some wiggle room (I put in 10, 4, 12, 20 and was at 88% stocked) - I know that site isn't the be-all end-all, but it does give one a place to start. Thoughts? Does this sound ok?

 

[BottomDweller]

Not sure if the skirt tetras would be good with the shrimp.
I'd add a couple more otos. They do best in larger groups.

 

[Gidde]

Thanks BottomDweller; I also saw your reply in my cycling thread and I take your point on starting with oto's right off the bat.

Honestly though, I'm at a bit of a loss now. What can I get to eat all this algae up? I'm not a huge fan of snails (also I don't want them to breed and the local store has no nerites), I've been trying to avoid driftwood (so no BN), and both shrimp and oto's are super sensitive and shouldn't go in first. Am I just stuck with the algae for the time being?

 

[BottomDweller]

I think for now you'll just have to wipe it off yourself. If it's just diatoms it should improve as your tank becomes more established.

 

[Gidde]

Well alrighty, that is what I'll do. I'll start with some of the tetras. Thanks again for the quick response!