Compatible fish with freshwater shrimp?

[alexbullen]

So I've set up a heavily planted 3' x 1' x 1.5' tank, it's cycling at the moment with 5 Cherry Red Shrimp, 2 freshwater Mussels and a BN pleco.

I want to keep it as a Shrimp colony, but additionally, I wanted a breeding pair of fish towards the upper parts of the tank.

I was thinking bettas, but heard that they eat shrimp - so won't be doing that!

Which fish have any of you successfully kept with Shrimp?

Thanks,

Alex

[Uni]

Well, I used to own a few Ghost Shrimp which were my beginner shrimp and kept them in a 10 gal. tank with 3 Zebra Danio. There seemed to be nothing wrong between both species. The fish didn't see the shrimp as food at all. But, being a beginner and known for dieing off quickly, my Ghost shrimp eventually perished. Every time i bought new shrimp, the fish would leave them alone.

Later on, I bought myself anew kind of shrimp. 14 wild type Neocaridina heteropoda, known for being smaller than Ghost cuz they're dwarf shrimp, were added to the 10 gal. tank. Even though these new shrimp were smaller, the Danios left them alone as well. I still have these shrimp after a few months and I added 3 Cardinal Tetra and 1 Mystery Snail to the tank and they all seem to be doing just fine.

Shrimp are to fast for the fish, and I learned that if the shrimp don't fit in a fish's mouth, they're compatible or at least that's what I heard.

[PhaidOut]

Shrimp are definitely not "too fast for fish" and they also do not need to fit in a fishes mouth to be killed or eaten. Most shrimp are kind of delicate.

That said you should know what your fish eat. Don't trust the guys at Petsmart or Walmart either because in my experience the chances are about 100:1 they don't know what they are talking about even when they think they do. Do the research like you are doing. I have been in this hobby for 30 years and I will not claim to know it all.

Even though they may leave adults alone, most fish will still go after larval or juveniles shrimp. Most fish are really omnivores where some just happen to like veggies or meat more then others. Bettas would not be a good choice. They are definitely eaters of things like small shrimp - depending on the size of the shrimp of course. Remember even though a fish may be a non-aggressive plant eater does not mean they won't snack on the occasional free protein source. I'm not even sure a BN pleco is really a truly good idea and most other plecos are definitely looking for meaty food. I have had dwarf plecos snack on shrimp. My L129 Hypancistrus debilittera for instance cleaned up a few shrimp I had missed in no time when I moved things around. I have also seen with my own eyes several larger plecos ("common", Sailfin and Chocolate) feeding on healthy live gold fish. As in chase them, catch them and eat them...

If you want companions, very small fish make the best companions. I have some Micro Rasboras in with Cardinia simoni simoni for instance. But for the most part I don't put fish in with Shrimp. I don't really see an issue with Zebra Danios or Danios smaller then that. Remember Danios can be bought quite small and get quite large in a hurry. So know what you are buying. Cardinal, Neon, Gold Tetras and the like might be ok. If you are not looking to have the shrimp reproduce at all. They are nippers and will occasionally snack on juveniles. Remember all these type of fish do best in groups of 6 or more - they are schooling fish. Rice Fish or Lampeye Rainbows might make good companions as well. Gupppies, platies, swordtails, etc are out. They eat their own babies why not Shrimp? One fish I have kept VERY successfully with shrimp is Endlers. I only put them together with common rapid producing shrimp but together I have had them overflow tanks. The worst was I had a heavily planted 30 gallon with 600+ Cherry Shrimp and 300+ Endlers. But I also feed quite well and maintain my water. Also don't go for hybrid Endlers but the real "wild caught" varieties. Hybrids are crossed with guppies and some of them do eat their own young.

Good Luck

[LoriSue]

I keep Peacock Endler's with my RCS. They are a cousin to Guppy. IF you go with these fish I'd get them from an online breeder that guarantees they are True Endlers as the ones you might happen upon in a pet store are probably Guppy Hybrids.

Betta are probably the worst choice unless you plan on using the shrimp as a food source.

[Carlo]

I have kept neon tetras with quite a few ghost shrimp, bamboo shrimp, and amano shrimp in a 20 gallon tank. Of course, I was not trying to breed any of them, or I wouldn't even have kept tetras.

[pstephen2000]

A dude I know at a local pet store was floating 40 cherry shrimp in a bag with some red eyed tetras. When he released them, it was lunch served. From what he told me, he opened the bag after floating, came back in five minutes and it was a massacre. Not a single cherry shrimp left alive. I would never had thought that darn near any tetra (smaller ones anyway) would eat shrimp. These did. And I was going to purchase some of those shrimp. Now I am still shrimpless.

[aidenofthetower]

Okay...I will be the first to admit that I am very new to keeping shrimp and not extremely versed in a wide range of fish keeping. I had a few things that I wanted to say hoping to be helpful.

You mentioned wanting to breed a fish in with the shrimp. From what I can tell this is likely to lead to the fish babies or eggs getting eaten by shrimp as well as the potential for shrimp babies getting eaten by fish.

You mention having a breeding pair of bettas above the shrimp...Not only are your bettas going to love you for providing such a great live food store, bettas can't be kept together. Their breeding process is amazingly cool with the male taking care of the eggs and babies while they need care. However, the female and male are only put together for a short while. The female has to be removed or he will kill her. Additionally the shrimp would definitely love the eggs and the babies that float downward. All around a bad idea.

We currently have ghost shrimp in with mollies (who have had a few offspring survive in our heavily planted tank with lots of driftwood, shells, and hiding places). They definitely leave the shrimp alone however there isn't the same breeding issue because we aren't trying to breed them. We have cherry shrimp coming in the mail and I plan on putting them in there. I am not expecting very many shrimp babies to survive, but I am hoping that the shrimp do! If not...I will be moving them quickly!

[Kunsthure]

I have a thriving RCS population in my 20g that is home to corys, platys, a honey sunset gourami, and black harlequin rasboras. Mollies and guppies used to live in the tank too. It's been about six months and my original 12 have turned into too many to count. I'm sure some shrimplettes get eaten, but definitely not enough to keep the population in check. I added a betta recently and I've watched him just check out the shrimp, swim a bit close to them to see what they are and then he just swims away. They are definitely small enough to become a snack but he is just not interested.
I briefly had seven three-lined corys in my old 5g tank during an emergency in their tank and I actually watched them rummage right over newborn, like born that day, yellow shrimp like they weren't even there. It was amazing to say the least.

I kept endlers and otos in my old 5g and had booming shrimp populations. I upgraded that tank to a 13g that is home to sparkling gouramis, dwarf honey gouramis (a small honey hybrid), pygmy corys and otos, and the Malawa and yellow shrimp are prolific. The dark greens are making a comeback too.

I'm sure if I were looking to actually sell shrimp, I'd keep them in their own tank. But for my purposes, which are to clean up the tank and look cool, keeping them with fish hasn't been a problem at all.

-Lisa

[7Enigma]

-bettas can't be kept together. However, the female and male are only put together for a short while. The female has to be removed or he will kill her.

We currently have ghost shrimp in with mollies (who have had a few offspring survive in our heavily planted tank with lots of driftwood, shells, and hiding places).

I give you credit for trying but unfortunately most of what you posted is bad information. The two biggest misinformation are quoted above. Male cannot be kept together. But a male and several females are routinuely fine. Just like people, you can have a crazy fish that will attack everything, but many people have several betta living together peacefully (again 1 male, multiple females).

The problem with the second quote is that you have 2 incompatible species. Ghost shrimp and cherries are strictly freshwater fish, while molly's are brackish water fish (ie need quite a bit of salt in their water). Having no salt in the tank for the molly's will result in shortened lifespans and susceptibility to disease, and if you put salt in the tank for the molly's everything else would likely die.

The answer to the OP's question is the best shrimp tank has no fish. Molting, sheer curiosity, mistaken identity, etc. can have even the most peaceful fish end up wounding/killing a shrimp. About the only fish that is commonly seen as not an issue are otocinclus catfish (oto's). Platy, gourami, guppy, betta, etc. all have the tendency to want to eat shrimp-flavored things! Keep them away.


HTH

[pstephen2000]

I had a tank with a male betta and some guppies. Everything was going great. The male betta after a year or so died. I bought a new male betta and added him to the tank. He was a cold blooded killer. He would bite the heads off my guppies. Would not eat them just killed them. Took him about a day to devastate my tank. I was gone when this happened. he ended up killing anything smaller or slower. he lived by himself for a long time. He was gorgeous but very anti-social in a Dexter sort of way.

[saumyarc]

Hi, is a L007 pleco ie.Leporacanthicus cf. galaxias (size 2 inch), compatible with Yamato shrimps and Neocaridina Heteropoda (Orange Fire) ?
I am including a pic of the pleco.

IMG%2072.jpg (230.57 KiB) Viewed 34728 times

[Mustafa]

It should be fine with the shrimp. Even if some plecos have a more carnivorous diet in nature (like worms, dead fish etc.), their mouthparts usually don't allow them to go hunting for quick animals like shrimp...just not made for it.

[Gsneufeld]

Actually, mollies and cherry shrimp might co-exist nicely. I've read that Mr. Neale Monks of wetwebmedia keeps one of his tanks of cherries in brackish water, and they're not only surviving, but also reproducing and thriving.