[Jess]

I wanted to do a little more with Squishy's tank, cause I got some better lighting so hopefully I will have more plant options now!

I was thinking of getting him a new cave (They have some awesome hand-made ceramic ones at the reptile shop), and adding a second piece of malaysian drift wood to stick more plants on. Right now I have Java moss, Java fern, and a moss ball. I have a Marina brand 24" LED light, so I'm pretty sure that provides good lighting for most plants? Since I have sand, I would need plants that either float or can root to drift wood. Any more ideas?

Once I have my plants done and there are more hiding places for other inhabitants, I wanted to get some more shrimp (I have 3 ghost shrimp that have been living there for months), a snail (If it won't eat the plants?) and maybe some small fish... I was considering some white cloud danios. I like the more natural look of them, and from what I understand they are fairly hardy and Squishy wouldn't be able to eat the bigger ones very easily. Would 4 of them be OK? Thoughts on adding these little guys?

 

[Sasami]

Another plant that can attach to things is anubias. There are a bunch of varieties and all should work. I have a tank with four different types .

There are other mosses you could try, I'm a fan of flame moss.

As for floating plants, try water sprite. It can live when planted in substrate but does just as well floating. It'll appreciate the new lighting and grow quickly. Duckweed is another good floating plant but it can be a nuisance to some people since it grows so fast and is annoying to remove.

For other shrimp, check out cherry shrimp and amano shrimp. Those are my favorites. Cherry shrimp are pretty and breed like crazy. Amano shrimp are larger and unlikely to breed but they're neat...mine always ate out of my hand.

For a snail, it sounds like you'd want a freshwater nerite snail. They're hardy, eat algae, won't bother plants, and won't breed in freshwater. What temperature is your tank?

The ACFs I've known would have eaten White Cloud Minnows. If you don't think your frog will, go for it. Even "large" ones are pretty tiny, though! I love them...they're hardy, pretty, and active. They're fast enough to swim away from a hungry frog but it would be stressful if they were constantly chased. If Squishy is a lazy hunter it should be OK. I'd get at least six, they're schooling fish .

 

[Jess]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll see if I can order those plants!


Are nerite a special species? I think the snails I usually see for sale are the mystery snails with yellow or black shells. Sorry if this sounds dumb, but I don't know anything about snails!


And my tank is 69-72*F right now, but I could bump up the temp a little if needed.


And Squishy is an awful hunter. He used to have a feeder guppy friend, and it took 6 months before he was able to catch it. He isn't very big either, so I think he would have a difficult time holding on to a fish that wouldn't totally fit in his mouth.


So would 6 white clouds, a snail, and some more shrimp be OK in my 15 gal? I don't want to overcrowd it, so I was trying to choose creatures that wouldn't be too messy!

 

[Sasami]

For some reason I thought you had a bigger tank. I still think it'd be possible to do the stock list you want with all the plants but maybe bump the minnows down to a group of five. Stock slowly, adding the shrimp and snail on a different day than the fish.

Those "mystery" snails are apple snails and will get too large and messy for your set-up. They also need more care than nerites and have a tendency to die young when not allowed to "hibernate" out of water.

Nerite snails are sold at PetCo and other commercial stores, sometimes as "zebra snails" or "tiger snails" because of the colors and striping they come in . So they're not particularly rare (probably rarer than the apple snails you're used to seeing, though).

 

[Jess]

OK, I was planning on doing this over the course of a month or more. I might start with a smaller group of the white clouds just to see how it goes, and add the others later if that would work.


And do I have to quarentine them or anything first? Squishy has been doing so well the whole time I've had him that I'm always a teeny bit paranoid about adding anything to his tank!

 

[Sasami]

If you have the space to quarantine it's always a good idea but there also aren't many things transmittable between fish and a frog . So you'd probably be OK not quarantining if you don't have the space to.

 

[Toirtis]

If you have the space to quarantine it's always a good idea but there also aren't many things transmittable between fish and a frog .

Zero things, actually....no quarantine is just fine.

 

[Jess]

OK, great! I don't have an extra tank right now, so I was hoping it would be fine. The ones I was looking at seemed pretty healthy anyways. I'll post pics once I start remodeling!

 

[Sasami]

Zero things, actually....no quarantine is just fine.

Not zero...just not many.

Aeromonas hydrophila is one that could definitely travel on fish to end up in a frog tank (causing the infamous "red leg"). It's not something I'd be worried about because Jess stays on top of water changes and keeping the tank clean. But it's not a bacteria to be ignored, either.

Never say zero IMO...that's when a new one is discovered .

 

[Toirtis]

Not zero...just not many.

Aeromonas hydrophila is one that could definitely travel on fish to end up in a frog tank (causing the infamous "red leg"). It's not something I'd be worried about because Jess stays on top of water changes and keeping the tank clean. But it's not a bacteria to be ignored, either.

Never say zero IMO...that's when a new one is discovered .

Still zero....Aeromonas is in the water, and although it can cling to a fish (or a plant, or gravel, etc), it cannot be counted in this case.

 

[Sasami]

Still zero....Aeromonas is in the water, and although it can cling to a fish (or a plant, or gravel, etc), it cannot be counted in this case.

Why not count it? Again, I don't think it's a huge issue but it's not fair to say that there isn't anything transmittable, especially with the current red leg issues people are having with frogs. An issue that seems to have exploded in the past couple of years.

 

[Jess]

Sasami, what about "whisker" shrimp? I saw one, and they are pretty big shrimpies... And cute!


Otherwise I think I'll get an army of cherry shrimp.

 

[Elliriyanna]

ACF should be in a species specific tank no " friends" but other ACF. unless they are feeders for him I only skimmed it. as for plants you will want something hardy. Anubias java moss marimo moss balls etc.

 

[Jess]

Well I know he could possibly eat them. That's why I'm sticking with cheap and hardy species. I wanted to make his life a little more intersting though, and I thought the new additions would be pretty.


I already have marimo moss and java moss too.

 

[Elliriyanna]

oh ok what about ghost shrimp? They are really cool and like 3 for $1 and you could upgrade him and get him a froggy friend

 

[Jess]

I already have ghosties too. The ones I have now have been living with him for months and he hasn't eaten them. I wanted to try a different species that would breed, so I'm pretty sure I'm going with the cherry shrimp.


And I don't have room for a bigger tank, so no froggie friends unfortunately. He has his own 15 gal though, so it's an OK size for one ACF, but not quite big enough for 2.

 

[Elliriyanna]

yeah cherry shrimp are the best about breeding. So I've heard.

and yeah 15 gal is great for one.

 

[Sasami]

I haven't personally kept Whisker Shrimp but from what I've heard they can be pretty aggressive. I know that they're rather predatory and will eat smaller shrimp. You might want to avoid them.

That is, if we're thinking of the same shrimp :lol:.

 

[Jess]

Yeah, I googled them and I think I'll stick with the smaller shrimp! I now understand why it was in its own tank LOL.