Bristlenose Breeding Tank

Hello everyone, its been a while since my last post but i'm after some information. I want to setup a 4 ft tank (250ish litres) with a couple of pairs or trios of bristlenoses to try and breed. I am planning on keeping things relatively simple, external filter, sand, a breeding caves and coconut shells dotted arround, some mopani wood and a few plants. I will also run a couple of airstones to keep up the aireation. Does anyone have any good ideas for some tankmates? I was thinking of a shoal or neons etc maybe up to 30? to help cycle the tank and add a little colour. Is that a good idea or not? I was also considering a few corys as they are great at keeping the sand turned over. I dont want any species that will interfere with the breeding process but think having some other fish in the tank will keep the bacteria alive? Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatfully received.

Sounds like you have it all covered

In terms of tank mates, you don't need any. but you can have them. Corys are not my personal cup of tea and im not sure i would have them in there. The reason being that they are both bottom dwellers and might get in each others way.

Something mid-water or top water would be good and something small. A school of neons would be fine, or some other small colourful fish. Just dont get any thing too big or they may have a snack on the little fry.

Thanks Doug I thought I most of things covered. I was just thinking that if i had a few corys they would lessen the frequency of me turning the sand over myself which may interrupt the BN's. I'm still planning on what to do and havent got all the cash together yet. I've got some other ideas of maybe freshwater shrimps to add a little more interest to the tank but havent researched that at all yet. Had any shrimp experience?

Have i had any shrimp experence...

I'm doing my PhD on shrimp, keep 4 different kinds in my shrimp tank.

Bristlenose and shrimp are great tank mates! I keep them in several of my breeding tanks.

Do it!!

Wow Doug, looks like i've found the right man for the shrimp advice. Can you suggest any books, or good quality resource material regarding shrimps etc. I like to do the research upfront, for me researching on the fly ends in either dissaster or additional expense at best. I have a million questions i could direct at you but have no problem doing my own research. Anything you can let me know would be much appreciated.

even though i live in Aus, most of the aquarium trade shrimp have been exported across the world by shrimp lovers. so most of the shrimp you can get, i can get too. The normal shrimp that people always have in mind whenever someone mentions shrimp is the glass shrimp. These shrimp are hardy little fellas and can tollerate a wide range of temps and water conditions. From here out its a bit different as different shrimp have different life histories. The Australian shrimp species are, lucky for me, some of the most colourful and interesting. The genus Caridina, which contains the cherry shrimp, zebra shrimp, chameleon etc is common in tanks and these are easy to keep, just as long as you keep the water tropical. some of them are easy to breed, like the cherry shrimp, while others are a pain to breed. THere is also the issue of quality. shrimp are graded for colour, a AA grade Crystal Red Shrimp can fetch some serious $$$ while a D grade one can be worth very little.

from here there shrimp become a little more complex, needing salt water to breed in etc. so these shrimp are not generally bred at home but bought like any other fish.

A link you might like to check out is this

http://www.ukshrimp.co.uk/

they have a list of the shrimp that you can get. like i said, most are the same as here. except we have a few more algae eating species

best bet if you want to do your planning and learning is to get some of th cheep ones first. Here, in Aus the Cerry shrimp are sold for about $0.80-$1 each if you buy small number. Generally though, a breeder will give you several scoops with a net meaning you get many more...Last lot i bought i got over 100 for $50

from here you can bracnh out into the more complicated species. But if they are not going into a tank with predatory fish then you generally are ok. keep the water at 26 degrres ish and they will survive, and the eat the same stuff too so no need for more food

Showing these photos to you, as seeing is believing,
Albino lf bn and it's jokey is a low grade Cherry Shrimp

In this tank I have 3 types of shrimp(Cherrys, Crystal Reds & Kungfu (Darwin Algae Shrimp) along with 2 L397 Panaques and the albino lf bn.
As you can see they all get along fine..