I am thinking about setting up a spawning/grow-out tank for mountain minnows (not very ambitious I know, but will be my first attempt at breeding) basically just with a carpet of dwarf hairgrass. (kind of like an iwagumi)

Even though it is going to be a fry tank, I want it to look nice and it will be 'on display' so.... to my question!

I was thinking about putting some shrimp in as a bit of a cleanup crew. Will they be ok with the fry/eggs? or are they likely to eat them?

maybe they would be ok once they are at the free-swimming stage?

To "breed" WCMM's you basically need some and a tank. Not very ambitious at all. I think they like heavily planted setups however, and the fry will fare better when they can hide.

To "breed" WCMM's you basically need some and a tank. Not very ambitious at all. I think they like heavily planted setups however, and the fry will fare better when they can hide.

haha, so I hear, but first time so trying to help my chances. Was going to condition males and females separately then take them out once they had spawned. Hoping this will get me a decent schoal quickly (only have 5 currently), rather than the fry getting picked off in a community setup

I haven't seen my shrimp attack the guppy fry (not had any luck with the WCMM in the same tank) so would think that they would be ok. Our native shrimp don't do much damage to green algae but do love detritus, diatoms and bacteria films (but not blue green algae).

(not had any luck with the WCMM in the same tank)

so not as easy as all that then aye? :gigl:

good to know!

Scattered eggs that make it to hatching become little half alive fish that languish on the floor of the tank or in the moss and are unable to move for a few days. After that they can usually dart about but even then they are easy pickins'

shrimp shrimp. i know its been posted before.. but can someone give me exact locations i can get my hands on some freshwater shrimps? thanks

slow moving creeks with lots of plant cover, preferably coastal, just run a scoop net through the weeds. some roadside drains have good populations as well

slow moving creeks with lots of plant cover, preferably coastal, just run a scoop net through the weeds. some roadside drains have good populations as well

:iag:

IMO its best to leave WCMM in a species only tank with lots of moss and other plants that promote micro organisms and are easy grow or low light, hair grass is also notoriously hard to grow, feed them plenty of microworms as a staple <- this is a key, and whatever else you like (e.g flake) the microworm milk will also suffice as a food source for any hatchlings old enough to feed that you cant see. WCMM fry are very small and the parents are not often carnivorous but shrimp will certainly enjoy them. I leave mine alone except for water changes and they seem to spawn heavily when its been cold for a while and then suddenly gets very warm on a good day.