[shellsie]

I'm going to be getting some shrimps to add to my 5 gallon planted tank. Currently id say it's fairly planted. My parameters are 80*F 0/0/0 ph 7.6. My ph is stable at 7.6 and has been for a month. I dose pps pro daily, excel currently every other day but I'll be dosing that daily from here on out to help combat the algae. I'll also be adding nitrogen to my dosing regimen as I think part of my algae problem is that I'm running very low nitrates.

It currently has one Betta and one very very lazy nerite snail.

I'm going to wait on an order of a Java fern mat, and a mat of Java moss. For added cover.

However. I need to pick a shrimp. From my understanding, Amano shrimp are larger and eat more algae.

RCS are however very attractive and it would be neat to see the baby shrimps if they breed.

Has anyone ever kept either shrimp with a Betta? Is there any reason I should pick one or the other? Right now I can't seem to make up my mind so some advice would be much appreciated


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[Willcooper]

Amanos are better at eating algae and will eat a larger variety of algae. Rcs are beautiful and do a fairly good job eating algae as well but you need to be very careful with tank mates. I have seen people keep betta and dwarf shrimp together but you do run a high risk of bettas and almost every other fish eating dwarf shrimp. You want something really safe? Go with amanos

 

[shellsie]

Amanos are better at eating algae and will eat a larger variety of algae. Rcs are beautiful and do a fairly good job eating algae as well but you need to be very careful with tank mates. I have seen people keep betta and dwarf shrimp together but you do run a high risk of bettas and almost every other fish eating dwarf shrimp. You want something really safe? Go with amanos

Awesome! Thanks for your advice!! Would you say there should be plenty of hiding places in my tank for amanos? With the addition of the Java Fern mat and the Java moss mat? I believe they are both about 3x5 inches.


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[Willcooper]

Yeah you'll want some hiding places for any shrimp. Not really from the betta but in general. Same for the betta. They like some water surface cover. Makes them feel safer. Amanos are badasses and will have no problem holding their ground. At least that is my experience with them.

 

[shellsie]

Yeah you'll want some hiding places for any shrimp. Not really from the betta but in general. Same for the betta. They like some water surface cover. Makes them feel safer. Amanos are badasses and will have no problem holding their ground. At least that is my experience with them.

Oh good! I need some badass in the tank along with my Betta. I'd been hoping the snail would get around the tank a bit but he mostly hides. Feeds for a day or two and then sits in the same spot for forever. First few times I thought he was dead. Then I realized he was just weird lol

I'm hoping the Amano will help with the algae. But also that they will be interesting to observe! And maybe give the Betta something to interact with other than floating around the tank. I'd prefer that interaction to not be of the nom nom sort tho lol



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[Willcooper]

Yeah that's nerites for ya. I have 5 olive nerites in my 20 and they do the same. Keep in mind amanos won't fix an algae problem. They do a good job with helping out but you need to make sure your tank is balanced to really fix algae issues. I don't know what algae problems you are having but just a word of advice.

 

[shellsie]

Yeah that's nerites for ya. I have 5 olive nerites in my 20 and they do the same. Keep in mind amanos won't fix an algae problem. They do a good job with helping out but you need to make sure your tank is balanced to really fix algae issues. I don't know what algae problems you are having but just a word of advice.

Oh I know that definitely! I've got what I think is filamentous algae. It's stringy and bright green. Not much right now but enough lol I'm going to be adjusting my dosing first. Then I'll try lighting adjustments.

Right now I'm doing pps pro. And flourish excel.

I was only doing the excel every other day but I'm gonna do it daily now. 0.5ml.

I'm also going to add seachem nitrogen to my dosing schedule as I think I may have a nitrogen deficiency which is contributing to the algae as my nitrates are 0 (with just the Betta and shrimp And all the plants I'm not overly surprised that I'm at 0 nitrate) and I'm seeing a bit of yellowing on some leaves.

If that doesn't work I'll adjust my lighting schedule. I've got a finnex planted + with a little timer I got off amazon. Runs 10 hours a day right now with a dark period during the day when I'm at work. I'll try cutting it down to 9. Then 8.


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[Willcooper]

If your doing pps-pro just add more nitrogen to the solution so you can register around 5ppm nitrate. Even high is fine but I would keep it low like that because of your plant mass. Otherwise I think you have a good grasp on what to do. You have all the dry ferts to make the solution right?

 

[shellsie]

If your doing pps-pro just add more nitrogen to the solution so you can register around 5ppm nitrate. Even high is fine but I would keep it low like that because of your plant mass. Otherwise I think you have a good grasp on what to do. You have all the dry ferts to make the solution right?

Yep!! I got the green leaf aquarium package. Should last me for the next forever I think lol I didn't even think to just add more. How much more would you add? I've already got some mixed so I'd hate to fudge it and get a nitrate spike.

Edit: I just looked at the green leaf website. I've been dosing too little I think. They suggest 1ml per 10 gallons for medium light, but 2ml per 10 gallons for high light. Id imagine at 10 hours a day with a finnex planted plus I'd be running high light wouldn't I?

Edit #2: I'm doing wcs weekly. Usually winds up being around half lol by the time I get the siphon going and then Vaccum up some yuckies it always seems to have pulled so much water lol

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[Willcooper]

Follow the recommended dosing for pps-pro of 2ml per 10 gallons. My tap has about 10-15 ppm of nitrate so I'm lucky in that sense. You'll be in the med to low-med light with the light you have but you still need to register something on the nitrate test for the plants. With that light the longer the unit is the stronger the light. Did you use a gram scale when measuring the solution?

Oh and make sure you don't vacuum the substrate too much. Just enough to remove surface debree. You want the substrate to get nice and saturated with junk so it matures

 

[shellsie]

Follow the recommended dosing for pps-pro of 2ml per 10 gallons. My tap has about 10-15 ppm of nitrate so I'm lucky in that sense. You'll be in the med to low-med light with the light you have but you still need to register something on the nitrate test for the plants. With that light the longer the unit is the stronger the light. Did you use a gram scale when measuring the solution?

Oh and make sure you don't vacuum the substrate too much. Just enough to remove surface debree. You want the substrate to get nice and saturated with junk so it matures

I did. Sort of. It measures the the whole gram. Not to the 0.1 gram. Does that make sense??

I'll see what upping the dosage each day does. Along with the excel every day. Hopefully by next Sunday I register some nitrate!! If not. Then I'll add nitrogen to my mixture.

Wait. I just looked. I've got csmb+trace (micros). Then macros I've got kno3, kh2po4, k2so4, and mgso4.

...will kno3 be what I add for nitrogen or would I need something else?

Not getting all the yucky makes my ocd a bit twitchy but I'll try lol

Also. I can not thank you enough for answering all my dumb noob questions!!!!


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[Willcooper]

Follow the recommended dosing for pps-pro of 2ml per 10 gallons. My tap has about 10-15 ppm of nitrate so I'm lucky in that sense. You'll be in the med to low-med light with the light you have but you still need to register something on the nitrate test for the plants. With that light the longer the unit is the stronger the light. Did you use a gram scale when measuring the solution?

Oh and make sure you don't vacuum the substrate too much. Just enough to remove surface debree. You want the substrate to get nice and saturated with junk so it matures

I did. Sort of. It measures the the whole gram. Not to the 0.1 gram. Does that make sense??

I'll see what upping the dosage each day does. Along with the excel every day. Hopefully by next Sunday I register some nitrate!! If not. Then I'll add nitrogen to my mixture.

Wait. I just looked. I've got csmb+trace (micros). Then macros I've got kno3, kh2po4, k2so4, and mgso4.

...will kno3 be what I add for nitrogen or would I need something else?

Not getting all the yucky makes my ocd a bit twitchy but I'll try lol

Also. I can not thank you enough for answering all my dumb noob questions!!!!


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Yes kno3 is the nitrate. Your fine with that scale. You don't need to measure lower according to what they say. No worries. Glad to help. I'm still a noob in a lot of senses too. Do you have hardness tests? You may not need to magnesium. My water is pretty hard here in AZ so I skipped that. But prob no harm if you are using it. When I was doing pps pro I didn't do each daily. I did 2x dose every other day alternating micros and macros. If I remember right the iron in plantex will bond with one of the macros making it unavailable to the plants. I would also try that. That's why in ei dosing you do dose them on separate days as well.

 

[shellsie]

Yes kno3 is the nitrate. Your fine with that scale. You don't need to measure lower according to what they say. No worries. Glad to help. I'm still a noob in a lot of senses too. Do you have hardness tests? You may not need to magnesium. My water is pretty hard here in AZ so I skipped that. But prob no harm if you are using it. When I was doing pps pro I didn't do each daily. I did 2x dose every other day alternating micros and macros. If I remember right the iron in plantex will bond with one of the macros making it unavailable to the plants. I would also try that. That's why in ei dosing you do dose them on separate days as well.

I might try that! I'm not doing hardness tests but my ph is 7.6. It's been stable at that. It's also the ph of my tap water.


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[Willcooper]

Yes kno3 is the nitrate. Your fine with that scale. You don't need to measure lower according to what they say. No worries. Glad to help. I'm still a noob in a lot of senses too. Do you have hardness tests? You may not need to magnesium. My water is pretty hard here in AZ so I skipped that. But prob no harm if you are using it. When I was doing pps pro I didn't do each daily. I did 2x dose every other day alternating micros and macros. If I remember right the iron in plantex will bond with one of the macros making it unavailable to the plants. I would also try that. That's why in ei dosing you do dose them on separate days as well.

I might try that! I'm not doing hardness tests but my ph is 7.6. It's been stable at that. It's also the ph of my tap water.


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Post back any updates when you have them. Best of luck!

 

[shellsie]

Post back any updates when you have them. Best of luck!

I will!! Thanks so much for your help!!! I appreciate it very much. I've been amazed with how much others on this forum are willing to help out and educate. It's an amazing community


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[Willcooper]

It really is. People on here on very willing to help and there are so many on here who have tons of experience. Make sure to always update threads with experiences so others can search out the info so there aren't so many redundant threads. So many threads left hanging lol

 

[Zoidburg]

Amanos can't breed in that tank (need at least brackish water to breed in?) but I agree, your best bet.

Cherries would only do good *if* you had a healthy reproducing population and didn't worry about the betta eating shrimp here and there.

Although, I would recommend at least a 10 gallon tank. Cherries are often likened to rabbits in how quickly they reproduce.

 

[Willcooper]

Amanos can't breed in that tank (need at least brackish water to breed in?) but I agree, your best bet.

Cherries would only do good *if* you had a healthy reproducing population and didn't worry about the betta eating shrimp here and there.

Although, I would recommend at least a 10 gallon tank. Cherries are often likened to rabbits in how quickly they reproduce.

They'll technically breed and have babies but the babies won't last unless they have brackish to full salt water. Amanos breed where rivers meet full salt water conditions. You're right I was just adding on.

 

[Zoidburg]

They'll technically breed and have babies but the babies won't last unless they have brackish to full salt water. Amanos breed where rivers meet full salt water conditions. You're right I was just adding on.

Someone is having success raising young amano in green water. I don't know if there is any salt in that water or not, but watching to see if they can raise the babies to adult-hood.

 

[Willcooper]

They'll technically breed and have babies but the babies won't last unless they have brackish to full salt water. Amanos breed where rivers meet full salt water conditions. You're right I was just adding on.

Someone is having success raising young amano in green water. I don't know if there is any salt in that water or not, but watching to see if they can raise the babies to adult-hood.

Wow that's cool if that works. Is the idea of green water just so they can munch on the organisms making it up or is it altering water chemistry somehow? I know amanos babies can last a little while without salt but not long from what I understand