Bottom Feeder

[sketchy]

hi all, this weekend i am thinking about putting a few new additions into my 15(ish) gallon community tank and was wondering what i could stick in there that would clear up what the rest of the fish dont eat! i was thinking of some ottos, but i have read somewhere that many are caught in the wild and shipped over, and therefore many die within the first few months in the tank, and i dont want that really!

i was also thinking about some shrimp or something, but i'm not too sure how well they would get on with their tankmates.

any advice would be appreciated

cheers
sam

p.s. they will have to get on with guppies, platties and tetras!

 

[dwarfgourami]

Amano shrimps would do fine; they are too large to be eaten by platies and are great fun to watch.

 

[sketchy]

i like the sound of that - i dont want anything eating anything!!! especially after the last fish that died - the missus cried for about an hour!

will they eat my plants though? something i forgot to mention earlier!

cheers for the reply

sam

 

[gpgscott]

I like the shrimp and would have some myself except for my semi aggressive community 'can you say lunch', what about a dojo loach they are quite hardy and very active, fun to watch. Be careful you can overstock your tank easily, remember to allow for growth of your additions. Scott

 

[dwarfgourami]

They shouldn't touch the plants.

 

[fishboy619]

shrimps wont eat plants and wont get eaten by your fish,cories are great bottom dwellers, a few pygmy corys would go well.not sure about the ottos, ive had mine for erm...roughly 7months and they are doing well,apart from good water quality they are easy to keep

 

[loachman]

I like the shrimp and would have some myself except for my semi aggressive community 'can you say lunch', what about a dojo loach they are quite hardy and very active, fun to watch. Be careful you can overstock your tank easily, remember to allow for growth of your additions. Scott

Shrimp are probably better. Dojos can get up to 8-10 inches which is way too large for a 15 gal.

Ottos are nice, they stay small and are very peaceful but are apparently best in small groups. I have 2 in my tank that see to be healthy though. They are good algae eaters but don't do much scavenging. If you go with these, but sure it's really an Otocinclus since Chinese algae eaters commonly get labeled as them and vice versa. Chinese algae eaters are bad (big and aggressive)

 

[Miss Wiggle]

whats your full stocking list at present?

 

[sketchy]

thanks for the replies, and sorry for tking my time getting back!

at present the full stocking list is: 4 platties and 4 head and tail light tetras, and this saturday i'm planning to stick 4 guppies in there.

 

[loachman]

thanks for the replies, and sorry for tking my time getting back!

at present the full stocking list is: 4 platties and 4 head and tail light tetras, and this saturday i'm planning to stick 4 guppies in there.

That will basicaly stock it up fully then. That rules out things like corys, loaches and ottos that like groups. Plecos will get too large as well.

So shrimp still are looking good and shouldn't end up being food for what you have in the tank. They tend to be small and don't need to be in groups which is a bonus for your heavily stocked tank.

 

[Canis-Equus]

Id not bother with the guppies if your head and tail lights are anything like mine and all the others ive seen, guppies will be tailless in a v short space of time. Aggressive nippy little s**s H&T's....

Id stick in a couple more H&T's, dont bother with guppies and a couple of shrimp or three.

 

[sketchy]

Aggressive nippy little s**s H&T's....

cheers for the advice! i may think of replacing them then! as nice as they are, they get a bit boring to watch after a while - they just kinda sit in one place most the day! and i dont want them to eat anything they shouldnt!

 

[Canis-Equus]

Shame you arent near me id have 'em. If you want guppies, take em back and trade them in if you can.

Most tetras are nippy towards long finned fish, the black neons i have are the least nippy, the head and tail lights and the black widows are the worst.

 

[sketchy]

Most tetras are nippy towards long finned fish, the black neons i have are the least nippy, the head and tail lights and the black widows are the worst.

what a surprise...i wasnt told that in the shop when i asked whether they would get on with any future inhabitants! but then again it was from pets at home!

 

[Canis-Equus]

Welllllll...

Pretty much they will, depending on tank size as well though - mine have a 260l tank, thats a lotta space to disperse aggression.

They are generally speaking too small to do damage to other fish as well.

However, they ARE nippy little sods, they ARE aggressive to a greater or lesser degree depending on which type you have, and it is entirely possible for a group of particularly aggro tetras to bully another fish such as a guppy to death.

Because i have four species of tetra in a LARGE tank, i could probably dump in a load of male guppies and get away with it - its a heavily planted tank, theres lots to do other than harrass the neighbours.

In my 12g tank, i couldnt do that.

(Hypothetically speaking, i couldnt do this anyway as i have six uber stroppy angels who whilst happy to leave tetras alone find the fins of a fancy guppy just too tempting).

It is definately worht remembering with a small tank that tetras are generally community fish purely as they are too SMALL to eat anyone. Not because they wouldnt want to - they would!