[Kgleek27]

I have a 3 gallon aquarium with an under-gravel filter that I would like to use in the future but I'm very new to aquatic pets. I am just trying to look at some options, I probably wouldn't actually get anything for quite a few months. Anyways, I do not want fish, since 3 gallons doesn't seem like enough for one. I was wondering if there are other aquatic pets that would be good for a beginner? Would a dwarf frog, or some type of shrimp be something I could look into more?

 

[Purple-Hops]

Underwater filters, from my experience, are not built to deal with messy pets. So other than small fish I don't know. Frogs are messy as far as I know. Shrimp and crawfish are probably somewhat clean. You definitely do not want a turtle!! lol They are probably the messiest things to keep. Make sure you do plenty of research since you should never get a pet to suit a tank you have, always equip yourself for the pet rather than suiting the pet to your current needs. I guess that doesn't really make too much sense Good luck!

 

[Kgleek27]

No that makes perfect sense. Haha I guess my initial post sounded kind of bad: I got the tank about 4 months ago. It was actually a gift. I had an interest in betta fish, but after I read more about them I felt bad about keeping one in such a small space. But I still have an interest in keeping an aquatic pet, I just don't know which one. I would never get a pet without doing research first.
And I agree turtles would not be a good idea lol =p

 

[Sasami]

Smaller shrimp species would work but they do best with live plants (even if your tank came with crappy lighting you should be able to get away with low-light species like java ferns and java moss).

Cherry shrimp, amano shrimp, and bumblebee shrimp are some species to check out . Let me know which one appeals to you (I haven't personally kept bumblebee shrimp, though, but I know they're fairly hardy).

 

[Purple-Hops]

OH!! I missed the part about how small the tank was!! lol 3 gallons? That IS small!! lol

 

[Kgleek27]

Sasami- how hard is it to maintain a tank with live plants? Have you kept the other shrimp you mentioned? Which one do you recommend?
Purple-hops- lol I know! And 3 gallons seems so random! I understand a 5 gallon, and ten gallon but 3?!

 

[Sasami]

Sasami- how hard is it to maintain a tank with live plants? Have you kept the other shrimp you mentioned? Which one do you recommend?
Purple-hops- lol I know! And 3 gallons seems so random! I understand a 5 gallon, and ten gallon but 3?!

There are a handful of plants that require little to no maintenance (besides possible trimming if they start growing out of the tank or something, haha). The two I mentioned, java ferns and java moss, are examples of such plants (small anubias species, flame moss, and water sprite are others). Both can also be attached to a rock or piece of driftwood (as opposed to being planted directly into the substrate) which is a necessity with the undergravel filter (you can't keep a plant with long roots since they'll get tangled up). The other option is to use pots or ditch the filter in favor of a small hang-on-back model (which I'd probably recommend either way).

Yes, I've kept the other species. If I had to pick, I'd go with cherry shrimp. They're a bit hardier and breed readily (this means that not only will the ones you purchase be captive bred but you'll also have a steady population). Plus, they're very colorful and look especially amazing when contrasted with live plants and a dark aquarium background . The only maintenance needed for them would be to drop in pellets as food a few times a week. Partial water changes will keep water quality consistent but you won't need to change the water as often as you would for fish.

Many people also choose to supplement Iodine. It seems to help shrimp molt. You just need a very small amount. Aquarium Iodine supplements are generally made for marine reef aquariums so you'd use half (or even less) of the dose recommended on the bottle.

The cool thing about the live plants is you won't have to deal with the ammonia and nitrite spikes common in new fish tanks. The shrimp won't even produce much waste and the plants will soak it up.

 

[Kgleek27]

How would I attach those plants to rock or driftwood? I never even thought about the roots getting tangled, I'm glad you mentioned that! Now I assume I'd need to cycle the tank still, would I add plants before or after the tank cycles?
I'm very interested in the cherry shrimp. How many shrimp can be housed per gallon? Are they hard to find to purchase? I've never seen a live shrimp up close before. Are they and the food generally inexpensive?
Thanks a lot for the good info!

 

[Jess]

I tied mine onto my wook with a piece of thread. They haven't died on me yet, and the java moss is actually growing. If I can keep these things alive, anyone can, so don't worry LOL.

 

[Sasami]

You can attach them with string or just wedge them into crevices (that's what I do). If you used string, you can remove it once the plant has attached itself.

This is probably the one time I'll say that you don't necessarily need to cycle the tank traditionally. Shrimp add very little to an aquarium's bio-load and the live plants will probably use up any ammonia before it even gets a chance to get converted into nitrite. When I kept amano shrimp, I just seeded the new tank with some gravel (from a mature aquarium) to get bacteria in there, let the plants establish for a week or two, and then added the shrimp. And I probably didn't even need to seed the tank, it just made me feel better.

Now, granted, this is all because of the live plants. If you use fake plants (or just one small live plant), I'd cycle. But the shrimp seem to do best in a "natural" planted aquarium .

 

[Silent Knight]

I've had 1.5 g tank before for a betta, I've seen smaller to.

 

[Cynster]

I've kept Peppermint shrimp in a 1.5 gallon - what I did was I added ammonia to 4 or 5ppm and waited for it to lower to 0.5 and then added the shrimp in. And they're doing absolutely fine. I added them in probably 2 or 3 days to give you an idea.

What might be neat is adding some liverock and watching what grows in it.

Sexy shrimp are awesome looking I haven't kept any so I don't know if the 3 gallon would be too small, but I would think it would be ok to have 2.