Who Gives A Fish Forums

I have setup a 29 gallon lightly planted community tank with beginner friendly plants - (crypts, fern, anubias and valisneria)
The tank is up and running for little over 2 months with 10 neon, 6 rummynose tetra, 3 oto and 5 platys. (I added each set over three weeks so as to give the cycle time to catchup) so far everything has been going great.
I plan to add 6 corycatfish and either 1 angelfish or few honey gouramis in the future.
My question is about shrimps though. I’ve never kept shrimps at all but I would love to give it a go.
Would shrimps be a good idea with the fish I have/plan on keeping?
How many shrimps should I get and what kind?
I would love to see them breed (even if not all shrimplets survive) and generally thrive in the tank. Is that possible?

Any other advice would help. Thanks

This picture is from just before I added any fish to it. So basically a newly cycled ready to go tank awaiting the fishy inhabitants

OK, there's the picture I requested in your other thread. Do you know how hard your water is? You have some soft and hard water species mixed, which could cause problems for someone down the road.

I would stay away from angelfish in a tank this size. They are very social animals and won't live their best life alone, but 29g is far too small for a group.

As for shrimp, I'm a big fan of amanos. They won't breed in fresh water, but they're a nice big shrimp, great at cleaning up leftovers and algae, and big enough that most other fish can't hurt them.

The platys might be a problem with shrimp. Amanos are too big for them to eat but they could still take a run at them and harass the shrimps.

SlyAce wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 7:09 pm I have setup a 29 gallon lightly planted community tank with beginner friendly plants - (crypts, fern, anubias and valisneria)
The tank is up and running for little over 2 months with 10 neon, 6 rummynose tetra, 3 oto and 5 platys. (I added each set over three weeks so as to give the cycle time to catchup) so far everything has been going great.
I plan to add 6 corycatfish and either 1 angelfish or few honey gouramis in the future.
My question is about shrimps though. I’ve never kept shrimps at all but I would love to give it a go.
Would shrimps be a good idea with the fish I have/plan on keeping?
How many shrimps should I get and what kind?
I would love to see them breed (even if not all shrimplets survive) and generally thrive in the tank. Is that possible?

Any other advice would help. Thanks

I also have a 29 gallon tank, purchased used already with inhabitants. There is 1 angelfish, 3 kuhli loaches, 1 SAE, and 5 neons. I also wanted to try shrimp and didn’t want to wait for these inhabitants to live out their lives so I picked up a 5 gallon tank just to keep neocaridina, amphipods and micro crabs.

It is easier to maintain the shrimp tank without having fish as the fish produce a lot more waste than the shrimp do and the shrimp are sensitive to their water conditions. Every time you do a water change in a shrimp tank you are inducing a molt and shrimp are vulnerable during molts. Before their new shell hardens they are soft and can easily be injured/killed by your fish.

Your tank already has two dozen fish so I would also recommend against adding any more fish for your tank. I would get a separate aquarium for your shrimp. Use a sponge over the intake of your filter (if not a sponge filter itself) in your shrimp tank to prevent the new baby shrimplets from being sucked into the filter. I would use RO water and buy shrimp salts/minerals to prepare the water properly for your shrimp, ensuring the proper level of total dissolved solids using a TDS meter. I keep my neocaridina around 180ppm and change their water when they get up around 240ppm.

I think I have around 30 shrimp in my 5 gallon aquarium.

BadgersSong wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 8:22 pm OK, there's the picture I requested in your other thread. Do you know how hard your water is? You have some soft and hard water species mixed, which could cause problems for someone down the road.

I would stay away from angelfish in a tank this size. They are very social animals and won't live their best life alone, but 29g is far too small for a group.

As for shrimp, I'm a big fan of amanos. They won't breed in fresh water, but they're a nice big shrimp, great at cleaning up leftovers and algae, and big enough that most other fish can't hurt them.

Oh bummer, I really hoped to keep one angelfish as the centerpiece fish. I love their gait. Oh well.

BadgersSong wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 8:22 pm OK, there's the picture I requested in your other thread. Do you know how hard your water is? You have some soft and hard water species mixed, which could cause problems for someone down the road.

I would stay away from angelfish in a tank this size. They are very social animals and won't live their best life alone, but 29g is far too small for a group.

As for shrimp, I'm a big fan of amanos. They won't breed in fresh water, but they're a nice big shrimp, great at cleaning up leftovers and algae, and big enough that most other fish can't hurt them.

Oh bummer, I really hoped to keep one angelfish as the centerpiece fish. I love their gait. Oh well


aquamar said:



I also have a 29 gallon tank, purchased used already with inhabitants. There is 1 angelfish, 3 kuhli loaches, 1 SAE, and 5 neons. I also wanted to try shrimp and didn’t want to wait for these inhabitants to live out their lives so I picked up a 5 gallon tank just to keep neocaridina, amphipods and micro crabs.

It is easier to maintain the shrimp tank without having fish as the fish produce a lot more waste than the shrimp do and the shrimp are sensitive to their water conditions. Every time you do a water change in a shrimp tank you are inducing a molt and shrimp are vulnerable during molts. Before their new shell hardens they are soft and can easily be injured/killed by your fish.

Your tank already has two dozen fish so I would also recommend against adding any more fish for your tank. I would get a separate aquarium for your shrimp. Use a sponge over the intake of your filter (if not a sponge filter itself) in your shrimp tank to prevent the new baby shrimplets from being sucked into the filter. I would use RO water and buy shrimp salts/minerals to prepare the water properly for your shrimp, ensuring the proper level of total dissolved solids using a TDS meter. I keep my neocaridina around 180ppm and change their water when they get up around 240ppm.

I think I have around 30 shrimp in my 5 gallon aquarium.

Thanks! Maybe I can hold off on shrimps and maybe do a nano tank sometime in the future

aquamar wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 10:47 pm

SlyAce wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 7:09 pm I have setup a 29 gallon lightly planted community tank with beginner friendly plants - (crypts, fern, anubias and valisneria)
The tank is up and running for little over 2 months with 10 neon, 6 rummynose tetra, 3 oto and 5 platys. (I added each set over three weeks so as to give the cycle time to catchup) so far everything has been going great.
I plan to add 6 corycatfish and either 1 angelfish or few honey gouramis in the future.
My question is about shrimps though. I’ve never kept shrimps at all but I would love to give it a go.
Would shrimps be a good idea with the fish I have/plan on keeping?
How many shrimps should I get and what kind?
I would love to see them breed (even if not all shrimplets survive) and generally thrive in the tank. Is that possible?

Any other advice would help. Thanks

I also have a 29 gallon tank, purchased used already with inhabitants. There is 1 angelfish, 3 kuhli loaches, 1 SAE, and 5 neons. I also wanted to try shrimp and didn’t want to wait for these inhabitants to live out their lives so I picked up a 5 gallon tank just to keep neocaridina, amphipods and micro crabs.

It is easier to maintain the shrimp tank without having fish as the fish produce a lot more waste than the shrimp do and the shrimp are sensitive to their water conditions. Every time you do a water change in a shrimp tank you are inducing a molt and shrimp are vulnerable during molts. Before their new shell hardens they are soft and can easily be injured/killed by your fish.

Your tank already has two dozen fish so I would also recommend against adding any more fish for your tank. I would get a separate aquarium for your shrimp. Use a sponge over the intake of your filter (if not a sponge filter itself) in your shrimp tank to prevent the new baby shrimplets from being sucked into the filter. I would use RO water and buy shrimp salts/minerals to prepare the water properly for your shrimp, ensuring the proper level of total dissolved solids using a TDS meter. I keep my neocaridina around 180ppm and change their water when they get up around 240ppm.

I think I have around 30 shrimp in my 5 gallon aquarium.

Oh bummer, I really hoped to keep one angelfish as the centerpiece fish. I love their gait. Oh well


aquamar said:



I also have a 29 gallon tank, purchased used already with inhabitants. There is 1 angelfish, 3 kuhli loaches, 1 SAE, and 5 neons. I also wanted to try shrimp and didn’t want to wait for these inhabitants to live out their lives so I picked up a 5 gallon tank just to keep neocaridina, amphipods and micro crabs.

It is easier to maintain the shrimp tank without having fish as the fish produce a lot more waste than the shrimp do and the shrimp are sensitive to their water conditions. Every time you do a water change in a shrimp tank you are inducing a molt and shrimp are vulnerable during molts. Before their new shell hardens they are soft and can easily be injured/killed by your fish.

Your tank already has two dozen fish so I would also recommend against adding any more fish for your tank. I would get a separate aquarium for your shrimp. Use a sponge over the intake of your filter (if not a sponge filter itself) in your shrimp tank to prevent the new baby shrimplets from being sucked into the filter. I would use RO water and buy shrimp salts/minerals to prepare the water properly for your shrimp, ensuring the proper level of total dissolved solids using a TDS meter. I keep my neocaridina around 180ppm and change their water when they get up around 240ppm.

I think I have around 30 shrimp in my 5 gallon aquarium.

Thanks! Maybe I can hold off on shrimps and maybe do a nano tank sometime in the future