I was thinking that once my snails are put into other tanks and adopted out to new homes, I will have an empty 7 gallon. I was wondering if I heavily plant it, if I could keep a small school of neon tetras and perhaps a couple ghost shrimp in it? Its a nice little tank and I want to put it to use with something other than a betta.

I think as long as you have a filter with a good biological section and lots of hiding places, it would be okay. A 7 gallon is a little small, but I personally think 5-6 neons would be alright in it. Ghost shrimp don't really need much space and don't produce much waste, but they are highly sensitive to ammonia, nitrite, or high nitrate. If the tank runs smoothly with the neons, a few ghost shrimp won't hurt. Be sure to cycle fishlessly first because neons are sensitive to water params too. You could easilly run the filter on a healthy goldfish tank for 2-3 weeks for an instant cycle if you haven't thought of that. The neons will love plants! Their flashy colors look astounding against the bright greens

Thanks, Kissy! Actually the tank is already cycled. Ive had it running for several months with different fishies in it.

What do you recommend for plants in such a smallish tank? Also whats the best substrate? Its barebottom at the moment.

(Sorry for all the questions! )

The best planting substrate is usually Flourite or something similar, but its expensive and I've only seen it sold in large bags. I hope in the future they sell smaller bags for smaller tanks. Some species will do fine with regular pea gravel with root tabs for nutrients. Low light plants are usually also low maintenence, like anubias, java fern, java moss, anacharis, vallesnaria, and crypts. The first three like to be tied to driftwood or rockwork, or in the moss's case, floated too. They will benefit from liquid aquarium fertilizer. Be careful with real driftwood because it can mess with your pH or sometimes decay and rot in the tank. That second downfall is what happened in my tank and I'm still battling the aftermath of blue green algae. If I hadn't removed it when I did I could have had a pH crash within the next few days because right after that the pH and kH in my tap went down a whole number I don't recomend the real stuff unless you need it. I bought some really nice looking topfin fake driftwood from petsmart and I love it. Okay.....babbling sorry.

If you can find lacy-tipped java fern, it stays smaller than the other varieties (that is what I have). Anubias nana stays small too. You can divide the rhizome of both to make more plants or keep yours smaller. As anacharis grows, you can cut it into portions to keep them short, and have more plants. An anacharis forest makes a nice background.

I hope that helped somewhat!

Thanks for much for your in depth answer. I knew I could count on you!!! Now to start planning...