Shrimp safe fish

[feh]

I've decided to do inverts in this tank. I have 5 amanos in the tank now. They don't have a lot of cover so I'm wondering what fish I might be able to get away with. The gourami in the pic was moved so right now the only thing in the tank are the 5 shrimp. I'm also considering some freshwater clams considering I have a nice sand bed if I can get my hands on them. I've heard ottos are fairly safe with shrimp. I know most people say to either keep shrimp or fish in a tank. Just thought I'd ask see what people's experiences have been. I don't know that I'll be adding any of the nano shrimp such as CRS or anything, but its a possibility. Considering the size of the tank I don't think those would be such a great choice though.

I do plan to add a few more plants so it doesn't look quite so bare. Mostly a few more crypts, cyperus helferi, and possibly a little more Xmas moss which should give more hiding places.

 

[JJ..Bequiet]

I would skip the fresh water clams.
Its trouble waiting to happen

 

[feh]

Yeah, I read up on clams again and saw how they can be quite invasive. Spose I'll stick to shrimp and snails for the most part, but I'm wonder how some marbled hatchets would do. I think they would be a nice addition provided they won't bother the shrimp. I'm going to do some more research on them and think on it.

 

[1077]

With a lot more plant's, I should think cherry shrimps would look very nice against the white substrate, perhaps amano's too .The amanos are a bit larger, and smaller tetra like species would maybe not pose much of a threat through predation.
If cherry shrimps were placed in the tank ,then placing a sponge over the filter intake would be something I would consider.
The freshwater clams are filter feeder's and would I think prefer a tank with green water (algae) and if the clam died,, it might be difficult to detect (find).

 

[feh]

Yeah, I haven't put anything else in the tank yet. So far I have 8 amanos in there. I'm considering adding more. I do plan to add more plants, just way too hot to ship them unless overnight. I don't intend to add a lot more though. I want to keep it fairly open on the sides and plant around the rocks and wood. I did make a few changes to the plants yesterday though. Moved the Hydrocotyle V. to the right side in front of the wood and added another crypt in the center. I'd like to add 2 more crypts and some more cyperus on the left. I'm still not sure I want to keep the java fern or replace it with something else that would fill it in the same way. I'm wondering how a narrow leaf fern would look. The clams I decided wouldn't be a good choice. Maybe I got the wrong idea when I read up on them but it sounded like would be the same as having pond snails - take over the tank. That is a good point with if a clam died though. I'm holding off on any smaller sized shrimp for a while though and I do plan to cover the intake. I'm seriously considering some marble or blackwinged hatchets as the next addition though.

 

[1077]

Hatchet fish have always been kind of fussy fishes for me and I might get the plant's, scape,set the way I wanted and then place the fish in the tank so as not to create too much disturbance,stress, while fishes are settling but that's just me.
I'm sure your tank will be very nice and if you don't mind trumpet snails,, they might be someting I would consider to help sift the sand if deeper than a couple inches. (again,, just my two cent's.)

 

[Tom Barr]

Even the rams and checkerboards I have might go after the smaller RCS's, but they generally do not get them all.

Most any pleco, tetras etc, even some loaches like the dwarfs and zebras,

SAE's will eat them, Clown loaches etc,

 

[feh]

I'm not really looking to load it up with too many fish... just thought a few would add some diversity. The sand isn't too deep over all. There's only about 50 pounds in there, but yeah MTS are good for sifting the sand to avoid anaerobic issues. I'm considering wrapping some hydrocotyle leucocephala around some of the wood when I have enough of it grown out in another tank, but not sure it will look the way I think it will.