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Good Morning--- I think I may need a small bottom feeder for my 10g fry tank. Would there be a suggestion for one that would be safe enough around my Mickey Mouse fry? I would hope there would be a good cleaner without thinking of them as the main course. Thank you so much.

Snails would work great. Trumpet snails(MTS) especially since they burrow down in the gravel and eat any leftover food. Some people have issues with snails though despite their usefulness. In such a small tank there aren't many fish I would suggest. Most bottom feeders prefer groups or are rather large in size which means they don't fit will in a 10g. You'd be better off just doing more frequent gravel vacs.

I guess u can have some ottos in your 10 gal tank. They r only fries in the tank. How big r they?

Yes. It is only fry in the tank and they are less than a week old. I am trying to plan ahead. So, snails wouldn't be a problem? What are the issues with having some snails that were recommended? I've not dealt with them before.

Otos eat algae but will not help with leftover food in fry tanks. Unless there is lots of algae and that is the main problem with the tank I wouldn't add them.

Snails eat fish eggs but most don't touch fry so are safe. People tend not to like snails because they multiply so easily and some people are just freaked out by them. Trumpets are livebearing and so efficient at reproducing that they will outcompete any other snail or invert in the tank. However they are also mostly nocturnal. During the day they hide in the gravel and at night they scour your tank for food so you don't really see that many of them. They also have been bred to come in a variety of colors.

2nd I'd suggest fancy ramshorns. They tend to be more appealing since they have been bred to have a bright blue and red variety. Makes a very colorful tank but they also multiply easily. They lay eggs though which are snacked on by fish and some of the snails themselves so don't reproduce as quickly as the trumpets. I've had 1 in my 55g for months and there is still only 1. They don't burrow into the gravel though and so aren't as good at cleaning and will remain visible all day long.

Ghost shrimp and applesnails also work but have been known to occasionally capture fry. There are several reports of applesnails capturing full size guppies although many people use them in fry tanks without trouble. Same with ghost shrimp there are some that have lost fry but overall people use them without issue. Applesnails will not reproduce without a 2nd snail and an area above water to lay their eggs. Ghost shrimp will reproduce but not like snails and most stores happily take back the extras or you can feed the babies to your full grown fish. They are not as good at cleaning the gravel as trumpets.

For all snails and shrimp the more you feed the more you have so if you feed less they multiply less. Most people with completely overrun tanks are also severely overfeeding. I've never had populations get out of control and put trumpet snails in all my tanks since they are so helpful at stirring and cleaning the substrate.

Thanks so much for the advice. I will look at pics and do research on them before I decide which way to go. I just have the 10 g fry tank and a 29g completely settled (!) tank, so I sure don't want to mess with the "eco-system" we worked so hard to get. Thanks again. Prolly will let you all know which way I went and how it is working out. We have a wonderful small individually-owned aquatics store, so we will take all into consideration. Now I know some ways to go.

With livebearer fry, you can use small Corydoras catfishes too as your bottom feeders. A species such as Corydoras habrosus will be too small to trouble your Platy fry even if they had any predatory instincts (which they don't, at least not toward small fishes) and there are other small Corydoras species that will occupy the same niche without too much trouble. In fact, juvenile Corys of many species will prove to be inoffensive and diligent.

As an added tip, you can look out for a plant called Hornwort, scientific name Ceratophyllum demersum (oh look, we have a plant profile on site for this species, I wonder how I knew that ) which serves two purposes in the fry aquarium - providing a nice safe 'jungle' for the fry to hide in, and mopping up nitrates in the fry aquarium too. As this plant floats in the upper layers of the aquarium, your Platy fry will head straight for it, mingle with its finely divided leaves, and your bottom feeders need never know that they're there.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thanks, I have a couple of those in my larger tank. Will make sure I have the right kind. I did go ahead and get 4 ghost shrimp, I am sure they will help. I was watching them eat tonight and one took the express elevator to the black hole. Luckily, he and many others were retrievable in the filter box (?). As I am so new at this and it is so fascinating, things come to mind, like "Wonder why they don't get sucked up in the filter?" I took the top off and found several displaced babies. Hope they didn't think that was fun!! I will get hubby to figure out a way to avoid that. It is an adventure!! Can't believe I am so old and learning more each day. Thanks for the help...

In my 10gl danio fry tank i use a single Gold Inca Snail and it works great. Also you may want to consider a sponge filter for the first couple of weeks

"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

Thank you for your reply--what I have done is put in 3 ghost shrimp, of which I have found 1 lately. I guess they died. I must say, I have been unusually busy and away from my home. I usually KNOW what has happened in my tanks, especially the fry tank. So for the shrimp to disappear is yet another mystery. But, along with that, I got a small cory cat, one golden in color, to help with the bottom. My ammonia level has gone way down, so I know that these steps are helping. But one of those snails may put it in perfect shape. May use one in my big tank, also, but I am having no problems with the ammonia and waste build-up in that tank. I don't know if that would be a good idea to mess with that tank AT ALL. How is this snail about multiplying? Sure don't want that problem to fight!

The snails normally sold as gold inca snails are of a species that can grow close to the size of a baseball. I do not suggest them for small fry tanks. Applesnails which include those sold under the name gold inca, gold mystery, black mystery, florida snail, paludosa, etc.. require 2 snails to reproduce and lay their eggs above the water line so you won't end up with more unless you want them. However they do not stir the gravel and if you aren't careful you can end up with one of the huge species of applesnail that incidentally also eat plants. The black mystery is almost always safe because the large snail species very rarely come in dark colors. Most stores only stock the gold color of the large snails and black mysteries are nearly always brigs which do not eat plants and stay around 2" or less in diameter.

I do not suggest using snails or shrimp in place of gravel vacs. Good for fry tanks where you almost have to over feed and don't want to stress them by too many water changes but a main tank should not have these problems. Snails will add to the bioload especially applesnails and in most tank setups increase your nitrates or chance of having ammonia show up instead of decreasing it. Your better off improving aquarium maintenance and feeding less to improve water quality unless there is a specific reason you can't such as sensitive fry.

Last the ghost shrimp. Shrimp do not handle ammonia well at all and you may go through a few of them before the tank is stable if you already have ammonia in the water. Ghost shrimp are one of the hardiest. With most other shrimp species you will have a 100% massive death if the ammonia is of testable levels. Also make sure you got freshwater ghost shrimp. Saltwater ghost shrimp are often put in freshwater and shipped to stores for use as feeders. They survive a few months like this but die after awhile. Not a problem if your just feeding them to fish. Freshwater ghost shrimp will have various ages and sizes of shrimp in the tank where saltwater are ony adults because they can't multiply in freshwater. True freshwater ones will also be much more active and you usually won't see too many dead ones on the bottom. There's always a few dead shrimp because like I said they are sensitive to ammonia and die from the ammonia in the bags during shipping but in a tank of saltwater shrimp in fresh water there will be almost more dead shrimp than live shrimp.

My snail as not grown at all. I guess my LFS has them labeled incorrectly. I'll have to ask them about it. Thanks for the heads up

"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

You probably have a gold brig then. It happens but most of the time stores only get in the dark or wild colored brigs and only the gold color of the paludosas and canas which are the biggest species of applesnail. I've seen blue and ivory brigs showing up lately though so gold being even more common of a color morph definitely isn't impossible.