My 15gal shrimp tank

[jewel911]

Just want to Thank everyone in the site for the help i am given, even though i dont post a lot but i do read articles and threads all over the site that have helped me a lot.This tank is 15gal and it houses about 30 rcs,2amanos,3 ghosts,15 spixis,and a couple other snail like ramhorns,mts and pond snails.The tank has a whole lot of other creatures too like cyclops,small worms,hydra,and other things too.The parameter are always good amm 0,nitrite 0 ,and nitrate5-10 Ph 6.8 and temp is 75-78 F and i perform weekly 40% water changes.Do you guys think the tank is overstocked?Also,do you guys think there will be any problems or have any suggestions?Thanks
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[badflash]

Should be good, but watch the snails. They can put a big bioload on the system. Spixies can breed pretty fast in a tank like that.

[marusempai]

Ghost shrimp eat tiny snails like crazy though. I agree that it's worth watching, but you do have a controller in there as it were, so I don't think it's worth worrying about.

[jewel911]

I will watch the population, any batch of eggs I find i move to a 5 1/2gal tank and when the babies grow I move them to other tanks.I never knew they ate small snails but if the help control the population than thats good.Thanks

[AnneRiceBowl]

Try to get the hydra out. They have been known to eat shrimplets.

[geofied]

Ghost shrimp eat tiny snails like crazy though. I agree that it's worth watching, but you do have a controller in there as it were, so I don't think it's worth worrying about.

Can you confirm this? In my Ghost shrimp only tank the snails are breeding apparently unhindered. I've certainly never seen a GS munching on a baby snail. I know my other shrimp don't seem to bother snail eggs, and I see dozens of baby snails in those tanks as well. Lots of folks would happily add GS to their tanks to keep snails in-check if this is legit.

[marusempai]

I have personally watched them fishing small pond shells out of their shells. I have also added them to several tanks that were getting over-run, and the addition of ghost shrimp quite effectively stemmed the tide. It never eliminated them, but there were a lot fewer and the population stopped growing. It is possible that different strains/lines/whatever you call it with shrimp exhibit different levels of snail eating. Also, ghost shrimp prefer fish food to snails any day of the week, so if you are feeding them well they might not eat snails. This is what I have observed in my tanks though.

[Cactus Bastard]

I have also seen my ghost shrimp eat smaller snails.

[geofied]

Hmm, I'll keep watching. Maybe I'll setup a security camera to catch them when I'm not around

I do recall seeing some Ghosts picking at the remains of an adult snail that my Dwarf Puffer had recently assassinated. And on another occasion I've seen a couple of my Cherry's picking at a snail in it's shell (as I've read others have as well). I can't prove, however, that the snail wasn't already dead, I just don't know what else would have killed it. I would think that shrimp would love to eat snail eggs, since they are an easy meal, but I have never seen this happen in my tanks. Maybe the eggs taste really foul?

[marusempai]

I've never seen cherries kill a snail... in fact, my cherry tank has rediculous numbers of pond snails in it, the only thing that seems to control the population in there is food supply. If it's dead they'll eat it though.

I saw a ghost shrimp eating pond snail eggs once. I think they prefer to let the hatch first though. All that goop they're in looks gross, I don't blame them frankly.

[Cactus Bastard]

My cherries are not at all interested in snails; even the freshly hatched ones. I've seen them pick algae off their shells on occasion, but the snails don't seem to mind; they don't retract into their shell or anything.