Need some new tankmates

[DemonCat]

Hi all, 

I successfully moved my 3 ft across melbourne with zero deaths. Its a planted tank ( Needle Leaf and normal Java Ferns, Java Moss, Bolbitis heudelotii, Stauogyne Repens, Hemianthus Micranthemoides, Blyxa japonica, sunset hygr) with medium level lighting, an internal filter, no heater and no CO2 injection. 

I have seven white clouds, and about 17 Red Cherry Shrimp, and I think its about time I get a third and final type of tank mate. 

Visually, my tank is black (kaito soil), green (plants) with the grey slately/granite looking rocks. You see the odd red flash of the shrimp, and of course the white clouds. Does anyone have suggestions regarding a fish or shrimp that will compliment the tank? I'd love neon tetras but they wont go well in a non-heated tank, and there are not many other small fish I would trust to not make a habit of eating the shrimp... so I reckon I will get another type of shrimp in there. I guess maybe another type of cherry?

Also, I am quite new to the hobby and also seek to have the tank as low maintenance as possible. I will no doubt make mistakes as I go, so looking for something more hardy which will cope in the current conditions - I do not at this stage wish to add C)2 or a heater or need to overhaul my parameters. 

Is there a suckerfish type that will do well in a non-heated tank? I wanted some ottos to keep the algae low, but was told by the good folk at Subscape in RIchmond they are warm only!

[revolutionhope]

hi demon,

how big is your tank and how well planted is it? are you able to post some pix?

regarding coldwater fish that can accompany cherry shrimps without a big risk of the colony being decimated i don't know of many! pretty much anything that fits a shrimp in its mouth will have a try for them. there are some exceptions though.

i know from my personal experience i had some neon tetras, leopard danios, corys, bristlenose but most surprisingly i had buttloasd of guppies as well as 5 or 6 cochus blue tetras and they seemed to barely impact the rcs at all infact i never saw them hunt them down. the key thing is that my tank was a 250 litre tank and was heavily planted, even after a trim you still could hardly see any of the fish let alone shrimp!

when i tore down the tank i found there were literally thousands of rcs and i was only expecting to find a few hundred at most!

i know of 2 suckerfish that do well in cold water the siamese algae eater and chinese algae eater and im sure both would gobble any babies and go for any freshly moulted shrimp at the very least.again i think the tankmate options depend on how heavily planted your tank is and how big it is as well as whether or not your colony may be large enough to sustain some predation and still grow.

btw how cold is cold? if its above 18 then i think you can keep corys from memory but they will probably be most happy and breed well if it is 20+.

Melbourne water is quite decent and you may be able to keep crystal shrimp with your cherries but the cherries will more than likely proliferate  much more than the crystal shrimp! do you know your pH, TDS or GH/KH? this would help to decide if you could keep bee shrimp (or some tiger shrimp) with your RCS living happily. there may be some (very cool and different) native options available as well but you'd be better off asking @Grubs@fishmosy@kizshrimp@NoGi or others with native experience who know about their water parameters and compatibility with neos :-)

You certainly could keep other coloured cherries with your RCS but if you do then when they interbreed there will a majority of drab looking offspring (you may be lucky and get some interesting combinations or a high percentage of nicely coloured ones but from what i've heard this is uncommon and it depends how far apart the colour gene for said cherry shrimp is)

hope i've been helpful! i'm sure some experienced shrimpers could add a lot more and maybe correct some of what i've said :-)

love n peace

will

-edit- forgot to mention i'm sure there are some groovy snails that would be suitable too :-)

 

Edited November 13, 2015 by revolutionhope

[DemonCat]

Its room temp... unsure exactly. I should keep track! PH is 6.8. Unsure of other parameters thus I would not go out and buy anything. If I were to gi natives, it would be a second native only tank.

I have thought of the SAE but a bit worried as the tank is not mature (planted wise) and I dont want the shrimp to be hiding all the time.I love seeing them zoom around!

Tank is 3 ft (100litre) with photos below. Thank you for all the input!

 

 

[NoGi]

I've been able to keep most natives with Neos of varying water parameters. The only native I couldn't keep with the Neo was the zebra. I've had endlers with my choc cherries in the past and they left them alone but tank was heavily planted.

[Grubs]

The cool water might be the limiting factor.   You could certainly add native Paratya shrimp (glass shrimp) but they are not the most exciting addition if you're looking for a third "feature" animal given you already have cherries.  Riffle shimp might provide a cool contrast - I'm just not sure how low they can go temperature wise - I'd think OK given their range is most of the east coast of Australia.  Other native shrimp (red noses, DAS, chameleons) might find it a bit chilly - they tend to be found further north.

For fish - I cant think of any cool water fish that wouldn't eat the shrimp but you have lots of cover there so maybe it doesn't matter if a few get eaten provided the fish don't switch into hunting mode and clean out the tank.  I kept a lot of paratya shrimp with River Murray Rainbow fish and the shrimp population multiplied.

[DemonCat]

On 11/15/2015, 12:33:31, Grubs said:

The cool water might be the limiting factor.   You could certainly add native Paratya shrimp (glass shrimp) but they are not the most exciting addition if you're looking for a third "feature" animal given you already have cherries.  Riffle shimp might provide a cool contrast - I'm just not sure how low they can go temperature wise - I'd think OK given their range is most of the east coast of Australia.  Other native shrimp (red noses, DAS, chameleons) might find it a bit chilly - they tend to be found further north.

For fish - I cant think of any cool water fish that wouldn't eat the shrimp but you have lots of cover there so maybe it doesn't matter if a few get eaten provided the fish don't switch into hunting mode and clean out the tank.  I kept a lot of paratya shrimp with River Murray Rainbow fish and the shrimp population multiplied.

Hi Grubs, The Riffle Shrimp look interesting. I will do some research on them first and may go from there!