Freshwater nano inverts?

[TipStylez]

Other then ghost, ammano, bamboo, and red crystal shrimp?

Im thinking up setting up a lil planted nano soon, but the common shrimps look kinda boring.

 

[cohazard]

Bumble bee shrimp?

Wow, never heard anyone call crystal red shrimp boring... baller! j/k

 

[Mgamer20o0]

there is always snails they have a wide verity of them also. maybe Nerites

 

[TipStylez]

Bumble bee shrimp?

Wow, never heard anyone call crystal red shrimp boring... baller! j/k

Their the same price as ammano shrimps at my store. 4.99. And they dont do much but sit around and look red. The bamboo and ghost shrimp has more personality.

If it was bigger, and more red. I would get it haha

 

[Shocker6966]

Dwarf crayfish top out at about 1.5". Entertaining as hell. Not sure about these guys, but most of their big brothers are plant snippers. Which might not be a bad thing if you plan on planting the tank heavily. They could be your gardeners!

 

[RoseFishWatcher]

Snails are pretty cool imo. I like watching them eat... it reminds me of cows. Gentle bovine.

I also like shrimp, bamboo are fun to have. I like when they perch on things like the thermometer, or the top of the heater.

Never kept crayfish, but that'd be pretty cool. If you're willing to spend the money the blue ones look amazing. Not sure if the blue ones get too big for a nano or not though. Still cool looking.

Too bad there aren't really any fw crabs. Although if you're willing to deal with one, a motile invert only SW tank would always be fun, lots and lots of cool crabs and shrimp there.

 

[toddnbecka]

How little is the tank? Cambarellus species (dwarf crayfish) do stay small, and don't tear up plants like the larger crayfish, but if you want more than one you need a bit of space (particularly if they breed). There is a blue color form of the dwarf cajun crayfish (Cambarellus shufeldtii) being bred, but the color isn't nearly as solid or bright as the large species. My personal favorite are the orange ones, C. patzcuarensis.

 

[TipStylez]

only a 5.5gallon. As of now...if i find a bigger nano then well figure it out.

I was thinking of doing a lil mini reef, but thats WAY out of my price range.

 

[Shocker6966]

Rose: The 2 common blues that you find at the LFS are definately too big. Electric blues(procambarus clarkii) top out around 6" and redclaw crayfish or blue yabbies(cherax quadricarinatus) top out at a foot or better and both are far too destructive for a planted nano.

 

[toddnbecka]

Aside from the cost, a 5.5 gallon reef tank would be a nightmare regarding stability. Many SW critters are very sensitive to slight imbalances in water chemistry, and a single dead critter would pollute the water very quickly.
A small school of neons or one of the tiny rasbora species would fit into a 5.5, and be compatible with a dwarf crayfish if you really don't want shrimp. Alternatively, single dwarf puffer would also work, though it would be a good idea to allow a good number of snails to become established before adding the fish. I recently put a DP into my 10 gallon shrimp/dwarf crayfish tank to control the snail population. The ramshorns have run amok, so there's no danger of the puffer running out of its favorite food. It ignores the shrimp and crayfish.