Freshwater fish for a 50 liters tank

[beedobu]

hmmm... would 4 exclusively male endlers work in an 8gal?

 

[Ch4rlie]

hmmm... would 4 exclusively male endlers work in an 8gal?

Hmm, I would not recommend endlers in this sized tank, I used to have some endlers in a 10 gal tank and thought they were happy enough until one day I decided to move them to a 3 foot long tank, wow, talk about a big difference.

They were much happier, far more energetic and swimming zooming around and their colours just blossomed after a few weeks in their new home with new tankmates which were CPDs and Lambchops and of course shrimps and snails!

I decided there and then that I would not stock endlers or similar in a small tank again and nor will I recommend this, they will survive in a 8 gal tank but not thrive

 

[beedobu]

oh dang, I understand.
let's stick to shrimp then!

 

[Ch4rlie]

You can see there are some awesome shrimp only set up tanks, very rewarding having just a shrimp set up with some nice choices of live plants and even a few snails if you like.

I have had a few shrimp only set up in several different nano tanks in the past and have always enjoyed them, there is a pretty good variety of shrimps out there now that you can get from LFS or online depending on budget, some species of hard to get shrimps can command high prices that makes your eyes water

Well worth doing and these little shrimps really do have character and are actually interesting to research and to find out more about them, even setting a biotope type tank can make things more interesting.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Once you own some shrimp, especially once they start breeding, you'll find yourself captivated by them! My shrimp and otocinclus draw my attention a lot more than my guppies do, if I'm quite honest. I love my guppies, don't get me wrong, but when I'm just zoning out enjoying the tank and peering at what's going on, it's the shrimp and otos that I find myself watching the most, and have heard lots of other shrimp keepers say that. I'm looking forward to having a shrimp only tank, to see how they respond when they have their own little shrimp-scaped world. So don't be afraid that it'll feel boring, give it a go and see if shrimp suck you in too

 

[beedobu]

yeah, I've been considering shrimp but there's just so many kinds of fish that I wanted to keep other options in mind
I'll visit a LFS that sells cherry shrimp on monday when ill be setting up my aquarium

 

[beedobu]

oh, otos!
they're so pretty, wish I had enough space to keep them...

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

oh, otos!
they're so pretty, wish I had enough space to keep them...

I wish I had soft enough water to keep them I love them so much. I got them since I was told they were good to keep with guppies and shrimp, and made sure they had enough algae and food supplements and a big enough group, but I didn't know they needed much softer water than mine. Setting up a softer water tank for them now, but the damage is likely already done, and I won't get any more while I live in such a hard water area. Adorable little fish, but not so easy to keep unless you have the right water, tank and have done a lot of research.

A shrimp tank however... much easier! Hope you can have a larger tank and access to more fish varieties at some point, it's so tough when you want to keep different species, but keep hitting barriers. But we have to make the right decisions for the welfare of the fish

 

[beedobu]

I totally understand. turns out my tap has a water softener, so I'll have to get my water from my garden hose to make sure any nerites I get don't grow up with a mineral deficiency, so we have a similar problem my native gh is 12, so they'll be fine, but I'll have to make sure I heat the water up properly

 

[Ch4rlie]

I totally understand. turns out my tap has a water softener, so I'll have to get my water from my garden hose to make sure any nerites I get don't grow up with a mineral deficiency, so we have a similar problem

Glad to see you’re doing your homework

So many folks have fallen foul of home water softeners and wonder why their livestock are dying or have issues, water softener systems are great for the home but not so for fish tanks of any kind.

 

[beedobu]

thank you!
I've had many different kinds of pets in the past, from invertebrates to rodents to birds, so im used to always make sure I get every requirement right and never make decisions out of impulse.
it seems like that's not the norm though especially with how crudely most pet stores treat their animals when they're supposed to set an example. I don't think I can blame less informed and experienced people when they follow some advice that turns out to be false. I'm not a saint, I've done it too.

 

[Essjay]

Don't forget that you'll need to prepare a tank for shrimps either by doing a fishless cycle or by putting plants in the tank. I'd use plants, mine like combing the java moss looking for food and also handing from the frogbit roots to find bits of food clinging to the root hairs.
Shrimps like to stand on things, so wood, rock or plants rooted in the substrate are ideal.

 

[beedobu]

I've already talked about cycling with @/PheonixKingZ I think.
my plan is to use a big piece of diagonally oriented driftwood and plant hornworth on it, fill the mid and background with guppy grass and as you said java moss scattered on the sand, wood and rocks plus frogbit or duckweed on the surface.
marimo moss is a no from me

 

[Essjay]

That sound like a good set up for shrimps