Hi I'm confused as heck

[thekinetic]

Now my dad (a long time aquarium ethusiast) said snails will quickly overrun your tank, so I'm a little wary of them. But the zebra nerite looked pretty cool.

[Crowntailed]

nerite snails cant breed in freshwater, they need brackish/saltwater to breed so they will work great for your tank.

[Pearl2011]

Live plants are great idea if you have enough light. How much wattage do you have?

[Pearl2011]

I think ghost shrimp would be the best, since the betta will have a hard time finding the shrimp. If your betta doesn't find you could get red cherry.

[thekinetic]

Not sure on the wattage, it's the incandescent bulb that came with the hood.

I know nerites can't breed in fresh water but the females can still lay eggs which can be a problem. So I would have to find out which are males.

I didn't care for the ghost shrim but the cherries look beautiful.

[Crowntailed]

Originally Posted by thekinetic

Not sure on the wattage, it's the incandescent bulb that came with the hood.

I know nerites can't breed in fresh water but the females can still lay eggs which can be a problem. So I would have to find out which are males.

I didn't care for the ghost shrim but the cherries look beautiful.

Why would the eggs be a big deal??

[thekinetic]

I would just imagine the would rot and pollute the water if I didn't see them and clean them. I don't know I'm just being paranoid about setting up my new tank, which is my first in a very long time.

[MachinaSoul]

A suggestion:

1 pleco
1 loach
planted

keep in mind that bettas do not need aerators, but the tank mates you get will. You need a filter if you have tank mates. You do not if you have just the betta (most opt for it to break surface tension; keeps scum down; reduces the rate of required water changes.


If you have a tank that is wider than tall, you could potentially have a group of 4 Neon/Glowlight Tetra, or similarly small schooling fish. But that will be it. They will want the plants to hide in, and your betta will be less stressed to not see these tankmaes clear as day (that is what stresses fish out, is how many fish they can clearly see that alarm them).

[thekinetic]

A loach in 5.5 gallon tank? Loaches get pretty big, most places I've checked suggested a 75+ as they also prefer groups of 3 like cats.

I think I'll be going with shrimp (either cherry, yellow, or blue pearl) and one snail. I'm going to add the snail last after I add the plants so to make sure they don't have pests like pond snails, my reason being if they do (as pond snails can overrun your tank) I would buy a assassin snail which lives in the substrate and eats other snails while leaving fish and shrimp alone.

[Crowntailed]

Originally Posted by MachinaSoul

A suggestion:

1 pleco
1 loach
planted

keep in mind that bettas do not need aerators, but the tank mates you get will. You need a filter if you have tank mates. You do not if you have just the betta (most opt for it to break surface tension; keeps scum down; reduces the rate of required water changes.


If you have a tank that is wider than tall, you could potentially have a group of 4 Neon/Glowlight Tetra, or similarly small schooling fish. But that will be it. They will want the plants to hide in, and your betta will be less stressed to not see these tankmaes clear as day (that is what stresses fish out, is how many fish they can clearly see that alarm them).

Worst idea yet. a loach and pleco should never be in a 5g tank