too much for a 10 gallon?

[MyraVan]

The white cloud mountain minnows in my 5 gallon tank have had babies. The biggest ones are now about 6mm long and are beginning to get some color on them (red tailfins). I'd like to set up a 10 gallon tank for the minnows + babies so the babies can grow to giving-away size without overcrowding the tank.

I really like apple snails. I have one apple snail in my 5 gallon tank that I will put in the 10 gallon; they help provide food for the babies (apple snails are also known as infusorial snails). I'm sure I could add another apple snail to the 10 gallon tank without problem, but would two additional snails be too much? That is, would

3 apple snails (P. bridgesii)
3 white cloud mountain minnows
lots of baby minnows

be too much for a 10 gallon tank?(Of course, I wouldn't put all this in at once!)

[atltk]

I have a few apple/mystery snails and while 2 or 3 would not be a problem with sufficient water changes, you will probably not have 2 or 3 for very long, they are very prolific. Personally, I'd stick with the one you have.

[osteoporoosi]

In my opinion it would be fine with 50%- 60% weekly water changes.

[Celeste]

apple snails are prolific? are you kidding me? every year i buy apple snails, both black and gold mystery snails to put in my pond, usually i buy 4-6, every year they DON'T make babies like i want them to and they all die in the winter,,,,,,i'm not getting any more this year.....maybe i'll go look for something hardier.

[TheOldSalt]

I never had much luck in breeding apple snails either, but then I rarely ever kept them. Whenever I want some I usually just get an egg mass off of a plant at a pond's edge and let them hatch. I have to admit that the babies are very cute.

Myra, your planned setup sounds fine. As the fish grow you'll need to increase the water changes, of course.

Oh, by the way, if possible, take some pics of your fry. For some strange reason, pictures of white cloud fry are practically nonexistent. Everyone has heard how they look kinda like neons when young, but there are no pictures demonstrating this. Isn't that odd?

[Celeste]

i couldn't hatch baby apple snails anyway, my pond fish would eat them. they'd probably eat the eggs too.....maybe that's why i've never had any babies.....o.O

[atltk]

lol...yep, having fish that eat snails is a definite way to control the population. BTW..if anyone wants pea-sized apple/mystery snails just let me know. Mine apparently like to "have a good time" and I always have babies and egg-clutches in my tank. I offer them on freecycle occassionally, but more often then not throw them into the tank w/ loaches as a treat. Whoever's willing to throw $5 (appx) for shipping or lives in Atlanta can have as many of my babies as they want (parents are 1 albino/ivory, one dark purple, and one light purple-striped...most of the first gens come out dark purple, but the 2nd gens have all colors of parents).

[MyraVan]

OldSalt - I can see why people think they look like neons when young. They didn't last week, but today I noticed that the biggest ones have a strong irridescent stripe down the side, and it looks like they have red bellies and tailfins. I have some pretty good photos of them from last week, but I will have to try again this week to try to capture the "baby neon" look.

Mine are the "long-finned" minnows. They don't have particularly long fins, but they do have quite a bit more red on the body than the regular white cloud mountain minnows.

I've had a bit more thought, and I thik I will keep the setup to just 2 snails in the new tank. As much as I like them, I don't want to be caring for a bunch of baby minnows and baby apple snails all in the same tank!

[TheOldSalt]

Hey, atltk, I could use some of those. The snails around here are all the plain orangey-brown ones, so some purples and purple-striped would be a nice change. Eggs would be better, since the risk of flukes is eliminated.