Small frogs/shrimps/crabs

pufferfanaticuk

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Hi there i am looking for some small crabs/frogs/shrimp to go into a 30 litre tank that i have. The tank at the moment houses 8 Endlers Guppies and a lot of snails..I use the tank as a snail breeding tank to feed my Figure 8 Puffer in a seperate tank.

I have been looking at African Dwarf frogs and these look interesting although i quite like the idea of shrimps or crabs. Does anyone have any suggestions. Obviously i dont want whatever it is that goes in there to eat the Endlers and definately not eat the snails.

Someone in another forum suggested a different type of shrimp (not a ghost), maybe something with a bit of colour would be nice.

Anyway, i am open to suggestion and look forward to hearing what can be introduced.
 
I would definitely go with the ADFs. Shrimp will often attempt to snag small fish (such as endlers). I have had this problem before with my ghost shrimp. I have never had this problem with my African Dwarves, however, and IMO they are just the cutest little guys ever! They are also very hardy and pretty easy to take care of. Here is the profile I wrote for them in my fish book:

African Dwarf Frog (Hymenochirus boettgeri)—The African Dwarf Frog is a small, hardy, fully aquatic frog that can be an excellent choice for beginners. It is a very peaceful species toward fish as well as its own kind, and is good for the community aquarium. When kept in groups, they sometimes enjoy playing “follow the leader” and will often sleep all piled on top of each other. Be sure that any fish you may keep them with them are peaceful, and are not large enough to eat them. You should also be certain that the fish will not eat all the food before the slower-moving frogs can get their share, otherwise you may have to feed them by hand with a tweezers or eyedropper. Always be very careful not to get Dwarf Frogs and Clawed Frogs mixed up. They can appear very similar when young, but when they grow up, they are almost opposite. Dwarf frogs are tiny, peaceful little guys that might get eaten by a bigger fish. Clawed frogs are very large and often aggressive, and will eat any fish it thinks is small enough. The easiest way to tell these species apart (they are often mislabeled in the petshops) is by their front feet. Dwarf Frogs have webbed feet while Clawed Frogs do not. In the home aquarium, Dwarf Frogs can often be quite active, especially at night, but it is not uncommon for them to float in strange positions at the bottom, or, if they’re feeling especially lazy, at the top of the tank (that way they don’t have to swim very far to get air), sometimes for hours on end. Don’t worry, they’re not dead; they’re just “spacing out.” Another thing to remember about Dwarf Frogs is that are excellent at escaping, so be very careful that there are no gaps whatsoever in the cover, or else they may end up flying out of the tank and onto the floor, where they will not last long. Despite any drawbacks, though, these frogs make wonderful, highly entertaining and easy to care for pets that I would recommend for anyone with the right setup!
Unlike most frogs, which hunt by watching for anything that moves, Dwarf Frogs are scavengers and do not require live foods. They appreciate pretty much any food that sinks, especially frozen/freeze-dried bloodworms, brine shrimp, tubifex, small pieces of krill, etc as well as some live foods, such as any worms small enough to swallow, brine shrimp, daphnia, and aquatic insects. Prepared foods such as sinking pellets/wafers work well, too. Due to their poor eyesight, it may take a while for your frog to find its food. If necessary, you can use a long tweezers or eyedropper to dangle food in front of your frog so that it gets enough to eat and the water isn’t fouled up by excess food.
African Dwarf Frogs get up to 1 ½ inches in length, and require only 2 ½ gallons (9.5 liters) for 1 or 2 frogs, although 5 gallon (19 liter) tanks or larger may be easier to maintain. Don’t forget that even though these frogs are aquatic, they do breathe air, so make sure that they can easily reach the surface. Although water chemistry is not particularly important, they prefer a pH just above 7—around 7.2 to 7.6 while water temperature should be kept at 70 to 82 degrees F. Filters are recommended for these frogs, but be careful that the filter isn’t so large that the frogs will get stuck to the filter intake. If necessary, you can cover the intake with cheesecloth or pantyhose to prevent their limbs from getting caught and broken. Make sure that your frogs have plenty of hiding places; if there are not enough places to hide, they may become restless and stressed out, especially in brightly lit tanks. Though they do fine with gravel, they do prefer a sandy substrate, which is gentler on their skin and allows them to dig for food or scratch a hole to sit in.
*NOTE: These frogs do shed their skin, sometimes as often as once a week, so don’t be alarmed if your frog’s skin appears to be falling off.
**NOTE: If well taken care of, these frogs can live for as long as 30 years!
 
Shrimp will often attempt to snag small fish (such as endlers).

Are you joking?! :huh: I've kept ghost shrimp with fry about 1cm long and they have never even so much as grabbed for them. Of course, I feed them every other day with algae tablets. Yes, you do have to feed them... :rolleyes:
 
i agree i always keep small shrimp with my fry since over feeding fry can be easily done ,never seen or heard of shrimp attacking fish, dont go with crabs they might ataack them. cherry shrimp will be good and add a bit of colour. frogs should be fine aswell
 
you can get numerous shrimps that filter feed and are harmless to tank inhabitants, armoured shrimp just to name one, but there are plenty more.
 
Geez, didn't matter how much I fed my shrimp, they still went after my fish fry.
 
weird, since ADF's are known to lash out at other fish and grab their fins (because they are apparently pretty blind).... if it was shrimp or ADF's based on "agression" if you can even call it that, i would def. have to go for the shrimp
 
not crabs, crabs will love eating your snails. personally i have a tank that i keep my sanils in with african dwarf feogs and shrimp. they all get together fine. if you do get shrimp or frogs make sure you have sufficient hiding places as frogs are nocturnal and shrimp get stressed when they have no place to hide.

stress leads to death :eek:
 

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