# 12 gallon tank able to hold 10 shrimps and 10 neon tetras?



## lago (Feb 28, 2005)

Yes, I know about the 1 fish per gallon deal, but I've seen people with this sort of setup. Is this wise or am i going to get ammonia spikes all over the tank??? How flexible is this rule also?


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Just because you've seen people with this sort of setup doesn't mean it's healthy for the fish. If you look through the people posting with problems on these forums, most of the time they are overstocked.

The 1" per gallon rule suggests that you can put 8 neons in your 12 gallon tank. I wouldn't go over that. As far as shrimp goes, they seem to have a lower bioload than fish, but I'm not really sure how much lower! You could probably put a few shrimps in along with your neons. 

Of course, you wouldn't want to put all that in at once! And neon tetras aren't good cycle fish anyway, they aren't nearly as tough as some other fish, like danios. Perhaps you could try a fishless cycle to get the tank ready for them, then add 4 neons, wait a few weeks, checking ammonia and nitrate levels, then add the other 4 neons, then wait again, then add your shrimps. Shrimp seem to be more sensetive to ammonia and nitrite than most fish, so you want to wait until the tank is pretty mature before you add them.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

the one inch per gallon rule is BS... if your a newbie, I would say you could keep 5-7 neons in your tank... reason being they need a lot of swimming room and are fairly sensitive fish. I would do a FISHLESS cycle. Neons are a low bioload so you can add all of them at once after the cycle is finished. Also I would wait two weeks to put the shrimp in there. Frequent water changes can help you keep an overstocked tank... but you must be very consistant.


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## turtlehead (Jan 28, 2005)

I have 12 cardinal tetras and over 40 shrimp(breeding with more fry yo come) in a 10 g that's OVER FILTERED with a filter for a 30 g. A canister filter.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

its also a planted tank turtlehead...  I saw the beautiful pics! I think a smaller amount of tetras should be good until he gets the hang of this stuff.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

I have a JBJ 12-gallon nanocube with two White Clouds, 11 Ember tetras, and about 60 snails, and everyone is doing just fine.

Of course, the substrate is the black Eco-Complete planted tank stuff, which is basically freshwater live sand, and the tank is heavily planted.

A simple setup like mine should have no trouble holding a dozen neons, but I wouldn't put in so many shrimp. Maybe six at the most.
Yes, that far exceeds the inch/gallon "rule," but the rule is for danio sized fish in a tank with no plants. An abundance of plants can easily suck up all the nitrogenous waste a dozen neons could ever conceivably produce when not overfed.

A one gallon a week water change would be more than plenty in this case.

Neons deserve to kept properly. A bag of Eco-Complete for instant cycling and a good number of plants added to distilled water will make for a fine neon tank indeed. They might even spawn under such ideal conditions. My White Cloud fry grew at a phenomenal rate in my tank, and the Ember Tetras have colored up very nicely. I haven't tried neons in this tank, but I know that they would thrive if I did.

Do it right the first time. If you have to wait a week to gather up everything you need, then by all means wait. It's worth it in the end. 

New tank syndrome is for suckers.


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## turtlehead (Jan 28, 2005)

neons would easily live in this tank if acclimatised right. What shrimps are you planning to get?


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## lago (Feb 28, 2005)

I think it was a ghost shrimp (?) or something that sounded japanese, i can't remember correctly what they had in stock at the lfs. Anyways, thanks for the clarification and the advice, really appreciate it.


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## fishboy (Feb 26, 2005)

ghost are cool i'm butting them in my 10 gallon as long asa my ADF doesn't eat them


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