Shrimp?

[weary01]

ive got a 34 litre fish tank with 2 male gouramis, 2 guppies and one platy. i wanted something to eat the stuff on the gravel (stuff like any fish food left over and possibly an algae or what ever). ive used snails but they seem to be ineffective an die too soon. and i was thinking about maybe getting a few small shrimps? would they survive ive got plenty of plants an a big rock, and would my fish tend to eat them?

cheers

 

[three-fingers]

Shrimp sound good, amano or cherry shrimp would be fine, but dont expect any babies from there cherries - what kind of gourami is it?

Also, what's been killing your snails, what type of snails ?

 

[weary01]

yeh sweet, cheers for that, there dwarf gourami, ones a pearl an the other is a flame. and im not sure wats been killing the snails, i occasionaly throw in broken up spirulina discs just in case theres not enough food for the snail.

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Snails are usually really resilient, I'd be worried that you have copper in the tank.

Have you ever used a med that has copper in it?

 

[weary01]

hey, no copper used. the only sort of chemical ive ever put in there is 'API Stress Coat with Aloe Vera (water conditioner)'.

Could it be by chance the fish food, ive been using livebearer food, and occasionaly some blood worm with it?

 

[GShorty1981]

you dont put that in the tank do you? you shoudl mix the water conditioner with tap water in a container for 10-15 minutes before putting it in the tank.

 

[three-fingers]

you dont put that in the tank do you? you shoudl mix the water conditioner with tap water in a container for 10-15 minutes before putting it in the tank.

Why? Never heard that being recommend, loads of people put it straight in the tank, never heard anyone have problems with it and on some brands the bottles explicitly say you can .

Only bad thing about stress coat is that it's terrible value for money compared to other water conditioners like seachem prime or various pond dechlorinators, but it doesnt cause problems with fish, shrimp or snails .