[eaglesfan3711]

I have a 10g tank with adult swordtails and large mollie and swordtail fry. I need something to eat up the food that they miss. I would get cories, but it would overstock the tank. The only other thing that I think is available for me are ghost shrimp. Would I be able to keep them with the swords or would they be eaten? The swords are between 2.5 and 3 in.

 

[djrichie]

You might want to just cut back on the amount of food you feeding the fish. Unless you have a bottom level fish, you don't want the food to reach the bottom of the tank. Over feeding is a major cause of poor water quailty.

To answer your question about if your fish will eat ghost shrimp. the answer is yes. How fast depends on how big a tank is, how much hidding place you can supply, number of fish in tank. You see shrimp are a natural food for most fish, and no matter how big of a tank you have, it is still a confined space (cage)with no way to escape. so eventuallly the fish will find the shrimp and eat them. There are a group of small cories that only get 1/2" to 3/4" long as adults. you may want to research them and get a school of 3. being they stay to the bottom of the tank you should be fine with overstocking but with a 10 gal tank is so imprtant to do those weekly 20% water changes.

 

[eaglesfan3711]

I have no problem with keeping the tank clean. Are the cories pygmy? Is there any online sites that sell good quality dwarfs? I have only found one and it was mixed in with otos so it wasn't even supposed to be in there.

Thanks for the help!

 

[djrichie]

Corysrus.com has what your looking for.... they are good people... I have good experiences with them.

 

[aconrad]

You may also wanna try oto's as they stay generally smaller than cory cats. In my experience shrimp will either get eaten or just die and be more of a bad thing than good.

 

[eaglesfan3711]

Otos will take care of algae but not the excess food. I'm thinking of getting a type of burrowing loach, kuhli black loach...I think is the name. I was told that they will eat excess food.

 

[sciencebuff93]

I would be careful if you're considering getting a kuhli loach. While they are extremely interesting in an aquarium, they are hard to catch and have a sharp spine. Just be careful when handling them.

 

[eaglesfan3711]

When I put them in, its doubtful that I will need to take them out.

 

[sciencebuff93]

Well all the same; be careful.
Good luck on your tank

 

[eaglesfan3711]

Thanks.

 

[djrichie]

yes they are a booger to catch, that is for sure. the weird thing about Kuli loachs is the are a solitare fish, but they will hundle together if you have more than 7 in a tank. they won't school and the hunt for food at night alone but during the day the will hang out in a worm like nest. they are one of the easily fish to net in the wild, report say they just up root plants and the kuli's are aounfd the root sytem.

 

[Plecostamus]

I was wondering, could Ghost shrimp be kept with Neon Tetras and a Pleco?

 

[Fishboydanny1]

If you want ghost shrimp, get wild caught ones. the ones sold as feeders are just that - feeders. they don't live long. wild caught ones are more attractive and larger too.

 

[susankat]

You could also try apple snails, they will eat any leftover food on the bottom and will eat algae as well.

 

[danieleric]

Ghost Shrimp can get large enough to survive in that aquarium, however, sword tails do get a bit agressive with inverts and there is a good chance smaller ghost shrimp will become a meal!

 

[theleetbeagle]

I have a dozen ghost shrimp in my heavily stocked 55g and they have never been eaten. The right side of my tank is a dense forest of fake plants that they hide in that all day long. The fish never bother them and I have a lot of fish (mainly cat's).