Tank mates for planted 10g?

Ok, I'm about to have a few dollars in my hand so I'm thinking of getting some tank mates for my planted 10g RCS tank sooner than expected. Below is a pic of the tank. I'm a terrible person and don't actually have a water chemistry testing kit, yet. I have one but it's quite old and I don't 100% trust it, though it says everything is good.

The tank is mineralized soil substrate with coarse sand cap (prefer no critters disturb the substrate too much), moderately planted, 52w 6500k CFL in DIY hood, DIY CO2.
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Sorry, photo isn't great.


The tank has had RCS in it for about 2 months now and though I've lost a few they are largely doing well. They haven't started breeding yet but hopefully that is on the horizon. I had some ghost shrimp for a while as "test shrimp" and they did try to breed.

As far as tank mates go I've primarily been considering Celestial Pearl Danios, Sparkling Gourami, or Rummy Nose Tetras in no particular order. I acknowledge there is a possibility, and in all honestly a likelihood, that some shrimp will be harassed/lost. My plan has been to minimize this with good cover and dense plants, my dwarf hairgrass is coming in well. I've read that all are terrible tank mates, but I've also read/heard that other never had a problem.

So, that being said I was curious to see what opinions people have about those fish in particular pertaining to keeping them with shrimp. Is there one that others feel would be more well suited? I am also open to other recommendations as well, but I'm not a fan of live bearers.

Update: Just after posting the above I noticed my first berried RCS.

anderson_p_r wrote:Update: Just after posting the above I noticed my first berried RCS.

Congrats! And very beautiful tank you have there, thanks for the picture.

loving that tank! i can also see why youd want a splash of color. however i will caution you that the baby shrimp (which look like weird little fleas at first) will get devoured by any tank mates. i tried the same thing your doing but with guppys and they ate every last baby shrimp. just trying to warn ya. gl in your choices, maybe some cardinal tetras? they stay really small and you might be able to keep some shrimp.

I agree, I love the growth in the tank, perhaps a reineckii or some kind of red luwgia would break up the color pattern.

Try nano fish to keep from eating the little shrimps. Gertrudaes, threadfins, small tetras

Celestial Pearl Danios, Sparkling Gourami, or Rummy Nose Tetras


Only the CPD will not eat the baby shrimps and thats not a 100% guarantee. Full size rummy nose and gourami will definitely get a make a nice meal out of the RCS.

My wife favors the CPD, so I'm leaning that direction.  My thoughts had been to let the shrimp population get almost "out of control" and then welcome in some nibbles.  But I used to keep south American cichlids, so yeah.  I'm still hopping that the dwarf hairgrass will continue to fill in and preferably become quite dense.  We'll see.  My DIY CO2 is down again (typical) so I'm working on some upgrades and we'll get that up again soon.

CPD's WILL eat the tiniest of baby shrimplets, but are otherwise safe. Danio erythromicron is a similar species, and can interbreed w/ CPD's.
Dario Dario will also do well, if you have around 5 to 10, and give them plenty of hiding places.
Any Pseudomugil rainbow will be the same. Threadfins may pick off some slightly bigger ones.
I don't have any experience with Rummy nose Tetras.
Pygmy or habrosus cory's, perhaps a small loach species.

Sparkling Gouramis are only a good idea, if you want to get all the shrimp out of that tank. They hunt in packs, rip adults limb from limb, and let them escape to chase and continue eating at a later point. This is normal, natural, native behavior to these fish. Their primary diet in the wild is shrimp. DO NOT PUT SPARKLING GOURAMI'S IN WITH ANY SHRIMP. FYI.

PvtPain66k wrote:CPD's WILL eat the tiniest of baby shrimplets, but are otherwise safe. Danio erythromicron, is a similar species, and can interbreed w/ CPD's.
Dario Dario will also do well, if you have around 5 to 10, and give them plenty of hiding places.
Any Pseudomugil rainbow will be the same. Threadfins may pick off some slightly bigger ones.
I don't have any experience with Rummy nose Tetras.
Pygmy or habrosus cory's, perhaps a small loach species.

Sparkling Gouramis are only a good idea, if you want to get all the shrimp out of that tank. They hunt in packs, rip adults limb from limb, and let them escape to chase and continue eating at a later point. This is normal, natural, native behavior to these fish. Their primary diet in the wild is shrimp. DO NOT PUT SPARKLING GOURAMI'S IN WITH ANY SHRIMP. FYI.

PvtPain is what I would call a smart man, thus my signature.  Thanks for that good advice.  My wife likes the sparkling gouramis too but I had heard such stories.  I'm leaning towards the CPDs then, but I think for now I'll focus available funds on getting my water cleared up and let the shrimp do a bit more breading first.

Thanks for all the input guys/gals.

DO NOT get dwarf puffers...no matter HOW cute your wife says they are...

TFP

I have guppies in with mine, and I don't really expect I will see many babies survive. How about endlers? They are much smaller, I don't know if they stay smaller, and if you keep them happy and well-fed maybe they will let the shrimp alone.

Guppies and Cherry shrimp can definitely breed together.

Another way to pick fish besides the size of their mouth is by how they feed. For instance hatchet fish would be very unlike to pick off any shrimp as they'll only feed from the surface. Most neon tetras, cardinals etc don't like to eat off the bottom much.

I've been able to keep lots of fish that are not "shrimp safe" as long as the tank is heavily planted they'll out breed a lot of mild predators.

Also make sure the intake of any filters are covered with sponge. Otherwise that'll be the biggest predator in the tank for baby shrimps.

Aquarium Co-Op wrote:
Also make sure the intake of any filters are covered with sponge. Otherwise that'll be the biggest predator in the tank for baby shrimps.

I think pat has that covered.  He did this and im copying him. Filters double time. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Oh man... I just found my next project. I have the same filter, and the guppy fry have been smart enough to stay out of it, but that's just genius!

LuminousAphid wrote:Oh man I just found my next project. I have the same filter, and the guppy fry have been smart enough to stay out of it, but that's just genius!

Id take the credit but I believe it was anderson_p_r

PYGMY CORIES!!!!!!!
and maybe..... a butt load of h formosa? :]

Yeah, here is a pic of mine. Works awesome. All I put in the HOB is ceramic rings. Perfectly clear water ever since. I got it off eBay for like $3-4?

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When I was still into HOBs, as much as I liked the ease of maintenance of the AquaClears, I really liked the no-priming design of the Aqueons. I got so tired of filling up AC HOBs after a power outage or regular maintenance.

Good call on that pre-filter. I believe I have 2 or 3 of those cheapies floating around in my aquarium parts boxes - never hurts to have extra sponge filters on hand.

Kili fishes, dwarf cories, dwarf gobies or Furcata Rainbows will work with dwarf shrimps but will snack on very small shrimplets.

I would argue against killifish. The killifish I've kept (golden wonder killi / panchax) would eat endler fry up to an inch long. They devoured all of the shrimp in that tank.

Corys are ideal shrimp companions; anything that's a mid-water or surface feeder will snack on shrimplets, if not adult shrimp. Even small fish like CPDs, H. Formosa (females), or Endler males will eat the babies.

I want to try CPDs, even though I'm sure some shrimp will be lost. My hope is that my tank is dense enough with vegetation that the shrimp will have more than adequate shelter.

CPDs are gorgeous and super hardy. I bred them for a while a couple of years ago... they breed pretty easy, as long as you have a dedicated breeding tank and something to hide the eggs from the adults. A micro-worm culture for the fry helps too.

I keep RCS with CPDs and H. Formosa and I have no shortage of RCS, that's for sure. Granted, they're rejects from my panda cory breeding tank (they were out-competing the panda cory fry for food!) and the 20 they're in is pretty densely planted, so I couldn't say what the population is doing.

Yeah, my 10g is closing in on 150 RCS so it'd be ok if a a few became snacks. I have a 20g long I still haven't decided what to do with yet. I was considering a cardinal shrimp tank, but I probably don't have the cash to do it the way I'd actually want it. I'll probably end up with a more well thought out planted compared to my 10g of randomness.

I've read about tons of people wanting to try cardinal shrimp and zero that have successfully kept them long term. Granted, this could very well be due to my limited exposure to the forums where the cardinal shrimp gurus reside, but in my opinion they seem to be way more trouble than they're worth. This is especially true if they're still mostly wild caught.

anderson_p_r wrote:Ok, I'm about to have a few dollars in my hand so I'm thinking of getting some tank mates for my planted 10g RCS tank sooner than expected.  Below is a pic of the tank.  I'm a terrible person and don't actually have a water chemistry testing kit, yet.  I have one but it's quite old and I don't 100% trust it, though it says everything is good.  

The tank is mineralized soil substrate with coarse sand cap (prefer no critters disturb the substrate too much), moderately planted, 52w 6500k CFL in DIY hood, DIY CO2.  

Sorry, photo isn't great.


The tank has had RCS in it for about 2 months now and though I've lost a few they are largely doing well.  They haven't started breeding yet but hopefully that is on the horizon.  I had some ghost shrimp for a while as "test shrimp" and they did try to breed.  

As far as tank mates go I've primarily been considering Celestial Pearl Danios, Sparkling Gourami, or Rummy Nose Tetras in no particular order.  I acknowledge there is a possibility, and in all honestly a likelihood, that some shrimp will be harassed/lost.  My plan has been to minimize this with good cover and dense plants, my dwarf hairgrass is coming in well.  I've read that all are terrible tank mates, but I've also read/heard that other never had a problem.  

So, that being said I was curious to see what opinions people have about those fish in particular pertaining to keeping them with shrimp.  Is there one that others feel  would be more well suited? I am also open to other recommendations as well, but I'm not a fan of live bearers.

Any update?  Did you make a decision?  

My CPD never touch any shrimp same with my Dario Dario, killifish, dwarf chain loach, Gold Ring Danios, otocinculus, Chili Rasbora... all housed in a heavily planted 29g.  Even when i drop food for the RCS the fish will swim right up to the shrimp and not bother them and the RCS seem to know it.

I ended up getting neon tetras for $1ea as something of an impulse buy. They are getting along just fine with the RCS. I've even seen the neons pick and food shrimp are nibbling on with a near total disregard for the shrimp, even the juveniles. I can't say they haven't eaten any but I can say that I haven't seen it.