Hello, I've been into fishkeeping for about a year now. I'm still learning, and would like to create a better habitat for these guys for the long term. I have my business license and aquatic license, and have multiple tanks set up where i breed and sell various fish to pet stores, but my community tank is my prize. So far I have >7 Guppies (with 17 fry)>2 Platys>1 Bushynose Pleco>4 Mystery Snails>34 Fire Red Neocardinia Shrimp>6 Kuhli Loaches>3 Assassin snailsPlanted I have>Assorted stem carpet >Dwarf Grass>1 Anubia>Large Amazon Leaf>2, i think they're called Bacopa?>30 stems of Mayaca>2 sheets of Java MossIdeally i'd like to only do water changes once a month, so what can i do plant-wise to make sure this is suitable? Also, my shrimp and guppy population are exploding despite reduced feeding, are there any creatures i can add that will control the population without decimating them?
>>4879632Can't really comment on population control as I've never kept guppies and wanted my shrimp population to grow. As for plants, you probably have enough to work with for your water maintenance goals. Could you provide details on what you do for your plants currently? Any fertilizers, root tabs, enriched substrate, etc.?
>>4879632>so what can i do plant-wise to make sure this is suitable?Nothing, just don't let them dry out.
>>4879632For pop control, I find that a siamese algae eater will eat fry and shrimp larvae if they don't find somewhere to hide. That said I have galaxy rasboras, not mollies, so I'm not sure if the fry size will make a difference.
>>4879632What you already have should already be munching on your fry at night. The shrimp tend to self-stabilize on their own though.If you want, you can run a “water polisher” for a few hours occasionally if you want to improve water clarity fast (but only temporarily if it isn’t caused by fine sediment in the tap water). Is basically a normal pump with diatomaceous earth/pool filter sand in a very fine filter sock (to keep the sand from escaping). Depending on how you screen your inlet, it can cull tiny critters too. It was a godsend when I cleaned tanks for businesses.Plantwise, what you have should be sufficient once it fills out more. If you’re impatient, you can add something weedy, floating (for ease of removal), and rapidly growing like elodea. Post light specs and what >>4879682 mentioned for someone to chime in with actual advice.
>>4879682I use the regular plant/shrimp fluval substrate, root tabs, and a flourish treatment during water changes. My light specs, not the greatest. Opted for a $85 blue/white led from PetSmart in an emergency after my old lights died. >>4879720Ive found that my shrimp population has actually reduced these past few nights, and i cant find a single carcass anywhere. I'm guessing the loaches have went to hunting the adult shrimp out of hunger, but i'm not starving them. Weird. After removing my driftwood i only counted 14, and i heavily combed the plants to be sure i wasn't missing any. Added some Acu-Clear exactly as the bottle shows, 3ml for my 30 gallons, and found that one of my platys and guppies had died this morning. Did a water test, and everything is in proper ranges.
