ok I have cght the bug

[ditavonteesed]

both dd's have lovely tanks going and I may have gone and bought myself a 64l tank for xmas. I want shrimp but I would also like a couple of fish in there. Its going to be cold water so what fish would be good. I love minnows although I understand it isnt big enough. Are platies tropical? In my local shop they are sold as temperate but I am sure thats not right. Same with Danios. I spend half my life sitting in dd's rooms watching there fish and spend hours fettling them. I really like small fish. Thanks :)

I'd keep minnows in a 64 litre. You'd only be able to manage a small shoal but it would do. Seriously Fish is fairly conservative about tank sizes (and I quite agree!) and they say 64 litres is OK for minnows.

Platys are tropical, they are sometimes sold as temperate fish but they are from a very warm part of the world. I wouldn't keep them in an unheated tank long-term but they can survive lower temperatures. It's one of those personal choice things I think they thrive better at higher temperatures. The ones I've seen in unheated tanks looked a bit subdued, but that could have been because of something else, I suppose.

Danios are temperate but they need (IMO) a bigger tank than minnows because they are very fast, active swimmers.

I love small fish too- they are ace, aren't they? Remind me again what your DDs have.

If the tank is in a heated room then there are quite a few 'tropical' species that will be OK without a heater. In some parts of S America and Asia, especially at higher altitudes, the temperature can be quite cool. This is a good article about temperate tanks and lists a few species.

I have to warn you though; the more tanks you have, the more addicted you get

dd1 has a betta and dd2 has a goldfish which will be rehomed to the pond come spring, we are just growing him up a bit. DD1 wants some shrimp, I am thinking cherry shrimp for her tropical tank and dd2 has a couple of cold water shrimp, cant remember the name but really brightly coloured. The tank is in a heated room, in fact the warmest room in the house as it is where the wood burner is.

I am going to borrow dd1's tank thermometer and see what the tank is actaully running at.

Cherry shrimp are fantastic, I've been keeping them for a few years. They are great fun and really easy to look after. And the babies are soooo cute. Is the one your DD has a crystal red shrimp maybe? Or a bee shrimp? A few of the shrimps available are selectively bred so there are tons of colour variations.

This is a really good website for shrimp information.

according to that site they are fire red shrimp, they are absolutly gorgeous, I am totally smitten with shrimp. My tanks main purpose is for shrimp. I have made lots of hidey holes for them. do the shrimp breed a lot then? I do worry that dd2's goldfish would eat any shrimpy babies.

If they have lots of hiding places then they will be fine. My cherry barbs sometimes pick off a shrimp between them (like a little pack of wolves, they are!) but mostly they don't bother because they will go for the easiest food source (me with a pot of fish flakes).

Some shrimps will breed in the home aquarium, some won't. The ones that breed easily will breed a lot, and quickly but they won't take over if there are fish in the same tank. I used to have a shrimp tank set up and they filled that really quickly. I used to sell the spares on Facebook for a quid each.

If you put a lot of java moss in there that will give them places to hide.

I've got loads of anubias in my 60 litre and the shrimp hide amongst the roots. This isn't really an ideal plant though, it seems to affect the shrimp when it's trimmed. I've read that it kills them but from my observation, it seems to make them a bit dopey and then the fish eat them because the don't swim off. The shrimp that didn't get eaten recovered after a while.

Cryptocrynes are meant to have the same effect on shrimps but I've never had any problems with it.