Do you think I can add some bottom feeders?

[gale]

I can't seem to keep shrimp in this tank although they are thriving in my 20 gallon which is filled with the exact same water. I have snails for the algae but need something to keep the bottom clean of food-when I feed the rasboras they eat what is flying through the water but once it touches the gravel they don't usually go down there to pick at it. Can I fit 3 small cories in the tank? What type other than albinos stay small?

Or will the snails keep the bottom clean enough?

btw it's the 10 gallon in my signature with just 6 harlequin rasboras and the mystery fry is missing right now so I'm sure he's gone.

 

[The-Wolf]

possibly you could add 4 or 5 otos

 

[gale]

I can't find ottos around here and my lfs says what they have are ottos although they are not-they have the zig zag line and I know they are chinese algae eaters. I was hoping to add something hardier than ottos anyway.

I wish I could find the siamese algae eater-I can call around to the other stores and see if they have any although they ALL seem to think CAE are the thing to have.

eta: I also have very little algae in this tank-just a tiny bit on the glass but barely enough to even see.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi gale

Here's the problem you have, as I see it. Your tank has dirty water due to rotting food and this is why you can't keep the shrimp alive in it. This is also the reason why the smaller corys, such as pandas or the dwarf varieties will not make it either.

Also, when your rasboras are full grown, there will not be enough room for even 3 full sized corys.

The best thing to do is to get in the habit of doing regular, small, vacuumings to keep your tank clean. If you do this, perhaps the shrimp will be able to live there, and since they do not take up much room, this might be your best bet.

 

[gale]

Hi gale

Here's the problem you have, as I see it. Your tank has dirty water due to rotting food and this is why you can't keep the shrimp alive in it. This is also the reason why the smaller corys, such as pandas or the dwarf varieties will not make it either.

Also, when your rasboras are full grown, there will not be enough room for even 3 full sized corys.

The best thing to do is to get in the habit of doing regular, small, vacuumings to keep your tank clean. If you do this, perhaps the shrimp will be able to live there, and since they do not take up much room, this might be your best bet.

I'm not so sure-I do more frequent water changes and gravel vacs on my 10g due to the ease than I do on the 20. (usually every 4-6 days on the 10g where it's more like 9 or 10 in the 20 gallon). Also my 20 has been up for about 5 mos where the 10 g has only been up for a couple of months so I would think if a tank was dirtier, it would be the 20 gallon. I consistently have good readings although nitrates are pretty low in the 10 gallon while they tend to be higher in the 20. I'm still puzzled about that as they both have plants and the same type of substrate.

Also the 20 gallon is much more heavily stocked so I would think that would also contribute to more waste in that tank.

A few weeks ago I did put too much silver in the 10g so I did a few 50% water changes every few days to get the silver concentration down. I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing. lol. Too much silver, but the big water changes would make it a lot cleaner.

The last batch of shrimp that were put in were AFTER the silver fiasco and water changes so the silver concentration was not high then, plus the water would have been pretty clean due to the extra water changes and I also reseeded the filter box with media from my 20g so bacteria wasn't an issue-I kept track of the parameters before I put the rasboras and shrimp in it (it had pristellas in it before this and they are now in my 20 gallon).

I do admit though, that this set of shrimp looked a bit iffy from the start and the lady at the lfs isn't all that gentle when netting fish or any other creatures.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi gale

Please don't feel bad; I don't mean your tank is nasty dirty, but rather that the uneaten food that is falling to the bottom is feeding bacteria and that is what is causing your problem with the shrimps.

The way to resolve this is to manually clean up the uneaten food. Then, perhaps it will be safe for the more delicate bottom feeders which are more likely to fall ill from these bacteria.

If your tank was larger, or had fewer fish in it already, corys might do the trick for you. As it is, unless your water conditions are nearly perfect, pandas will not survive, and they are the small ones that you might have room for.

 

[gale]

Oh I wasn't offended or anything. I'm just puzzled why the shrimp in my 20 gallon are doing so well when it seems that it would be 'dirtier' than the 10 due to smaller less frequent water changes and the fact that it's been set up longer. Plus the fact that the 20g has higher nitrates-usually about 20-30 where the 10 is about 5. However I do have 3 cories in the big tank keeping it clean and the mollies are pretty good at picking junk off the bottom as well so I guess between those it might well be cleaner after all. Just a bit confuzzled.

Now that I think of it I think one problem with a smaller tank is that there isn't enough time to vac all of the gravel-it takes no time at all to siphon 2.5 gallons out of that tank.

 

[pahansen]

Hi Gale. Just so you don't make yourself crazy trying to find one, the Siamese Algae Eater is probably not right for your 10 gallon tank. They're great fish, very peaceful, and in my experience live up to all of the algae eating hype, but they get to be up to 6" long. As they get larger, their bodies tend to get a bit "fuller" (they don't stay long and skinny, much to my surprise) as well. I think that a fish this size would probably put too much stress on your 10 gallon tank, which would defeat your purpose -- although I highly recommend them for larger tanks.

In addition, the SAE would probably be treating the symptoms (eating algae) rather than curing the problem (taking care of the uneaten food that is causing the algae in the first place). While my SAE seems to have become more omnivorous with age, his primary diet is still algae -- they wouldn't necessarily take care of the leftover food. I'm with Inchworm -- the best thing to do for now is probably to try vacuuming your gravel more often.

One question that I can't answer, since I don't have experience with rasboras: will rasboras eat any kind of slow-sinking pellets? It seems to me that, if you can find something that will float longer, you will have far less food waste to deal with. In that case, you may not need to worry about a bottom feeder at all.

Good luck,
Pamela

 

[gale]

Actually this tank has almost no algae. I don't know if that's due to the snails being in there or what but I haven't had an algae problem in it since I had the blue green stuff which is now gone. (I didn't do anything to get rid of it, but I think the silver overdose is what made it go away).

I think what I might do is turn off the filter when I feed them so the food stays on the top more. I like to feed a variety which means frozen/jarred food at least a couple times a week and there's no way to keep that on top. I do try to feed just a tiny bit at a time until they eat it all but sometimes it dumps out of the paper cup faster than I mean to. (I feed about a pea size clump thawed in tank water). The other times I feed tetra crisps and I can't say for sure if they float because my fish usually attack them so quickly that they end up all over the place right away. Plus bio blend which IS a slow sinking pellet.

So I guess *I* will be the bottom feeder for now for this tank.