invert for bottom feeder?

[SidtheMonkey]

Is there a snail or other invert that I could use in what's essentially a fry tank? I have a planted tank with Heterandira formosa and RCS and would like something to take care of food that falls to the bottom.

I dont want pond snails. I've had rams horns before, and they may not reproduce too badly....do they eat detritus?

And there is a zebra nerite in there, I plan to get more but they only eat algae, right?

Thanks

 

[Kuhlifan]

snails and shrimp will eat any food that falls. I don't know what you mean by detritus, but if it's, well, poop...then no, nothing eats that except bacteria.

You could try different sorts of snails, maybe MTS would be good for you. Pond snails/bladder snails are a bit of a pain. I like ramshorns and MTS, although both will breed a lot if you give them lots to eat. Both will eat algae and dead vegetation. Shrimp will eat leftover food and algae and dead vegetation to a degree. You could go with nerites, which I've always wanted to try but never had. The only problem is they WILL NOT breed, so you'll have to buy more when they eventually die. You could try larger snails too, like mystery snails.

What type of tank is it? There are also some smallish fish that would work, even in a fry tank.

 

[SidtheMonkey]

snails and shrimp will eat any food that falls. I don't know what you mean by detritus, but if it's, well, poop...then no, nothing eats that except bacteria.

You could try different sorts of snails, maybe MTS would be good for you. Pond snails/bladder snails are a bit of a pain. I like ramshorns and MTS, although both will breed a lot if you give them lots to eat. Both will eat algae and dead vegetation. Shrimp will eat leftover food and algae and dead vegetation to a degree. You could go with nerites, which I've always wanted to try but never had. The only problem is they WILL NOT breed, so you'll have to buy more when they eventually die. You could try larger snails too, like mystery snails.

What type of tank is it? There are also some smallish fish that would work, even in a fry tank.

Detritus is fallen food, plant leaves, etc.

I'm mostly looking for excess food clean up. It is a planted, soft water tank with tiny fish and their fry.

I have RCS shrimp and 1 zebra nerite in there...those eat algae...do they also eat food from the bottom? Because I'd like to get more nerites and the shrimp should breed.

What smaller fish would work? I have pygmy cories in another tank and they would.

 

[jeninok]

A mystery snail would work and is totally safe for the fish and fry.
They do a good job of cleaning up uneaten food in my tanks.

 

[Kuhlifan]

depending on your tank size and set up, you could look into kuhli loaches, which are great little bottom feeders that get along peacefully with other fish and inverts. otocinclus eat algae and some leftover food (I had one who loved shrimp pellets). cories would be a great choice too. They're peaceful and clean up well. Overall though, the shrimp and snails should clean up anything edible that falls.

 

[SidtheMonkey]

Thanks Jeni & Kuhli.

I will look into a mystery snail.

I love kuhli loaches but think that a 10 g is a bit small for them and they are too active for this nanofish tank.

 

[Kuhlifan]

A 10 is borderline for kuhlis, depending on what decorations you have. I kept a trio of them in my 5 hex for a couple of years and they seemed to do well, but really needed more numbers so I moved them to a 20 extra tall. Now I have nine of them in there, but the footprint is very small, smaller than a 10 gallon tank actually. However, they do have lots of vertical plants and driftwood to play on, which does the trick.

Between your snails and shrimp, you should have enough of a cleanup crew. A couple of larger snails, like mystery or nerites, would probably be fine.