Red Cherry Shrimp with Platies?

[IndianaSam]

Hi all you Shrimp dudes and dudettes.

The subject pretty much says it all. Do you think that platies and red cherry shrimp would cohabitate okay? Or should I go with a larger shrimp like this one?

I currently have a very heavily planted tank and I'd like to go with an algae eater other than otos and plecos.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Bradimus]

What kind of plecos do you have? Most of them are omnivorous and will eat shrimp if given the chance.

[Mustafa]

There is always a chance that your platies will harass the shrimp to death, even if they cannot eat the adults directly. As for the young, you can forget about them. No young shrimp will make it in that tank unless you have a jungle growing in there.

Besides, that Indian Shrimp to which you posted a link is actually a tad bit smaller than a red cherry shrimp as an adult.

Mustafa

[Mustafa]

What kind of plecos do you have? Most of them are omnivorous and will eat shrimp if given the chance.

Hi Brad,

I don't know about other plecos, but the ancistrus sp. that I have in my 55 gallon never even looks at the algae eating shrimp in there. My shrimp even try to eat pellets from *underneach* the mouth of the pleco.

I also could not detect any predatory behavior towards shrimp hatchlings so far.

However, I have no experiences with other plecos and cannot comment on those. And even with Ancistrus plecos there are different personalities within the species

Mustafa

[IndianaSam]

Oh well.

Would a larger shrimp like Amano's be any good?

[Bradimus]

I don't know about other plecos, but the ancistrus sp. that I have in my 55 gallon never even looks at the algae eating shrimp in there. My shrimp even try to eat pellets from *underneach* the mouth of the pleco.

Much like shrimp, it is hard to generalize Loricariidae cats. Some of these fish that are sould as 'algae-eaters' lack the digestive adaptations to extract enough nutrients from algae alone. They will slowly starve if left to algae alone.

Ancistrus (bushy nose) are definitely safe. This is one of my favorite cats. Easy to keep. Doesn't get to big. I have kept them with a breeding population of rainbows. The cats didn't bother the eggs or the fry. Do you know what species you have?

The more common (at least around here) Hypostomus and Pterygoplichthys tends to be omnivorous, especially as they age. Chaetostoma (bulldog/rubber pleco) too. Peckoltia (candy/clown plecos) actually prefer meaty food. Panaques should be okay.

[cro117]

Oh well.

Would a larger shrimp like Amano's be any good?

i do not have much experiance with freshwater shrimp( other than ghost that is) but i do have some experiance with platies. unfortunatly, platies like to graze. this means that, though generaly a peaceful fish, platies will nible on algae plants and antenna. the shrimp will of course dart off and the platies will leave it at that for the time, but this can leed to a slow stressful death for your shrimp.

i have a wood shrimp with my platies though. it's big enoygh so that they don't mistake it as a food source. a vampire shrimp might be cool.

[Mustafa]

Ancistrus (bushy nose) are definitely safe. This is one of my favorite cats.

--Mine too. I've had Ancistrus catfish ever since I can remember. I bred them for a while, too. My current one is about 5 years old now.

Do you know what species you have?

I believe I have either this species:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/lo ... /883_f.php

or this one:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/lo ... 1451_f.php

I only have a male and I have not seen these guys around for a while. My prior Ancistrus was definitely a different species.

Mustafa

[IndianaSam]

Well, I've been convinced.

I have an extra 10 gallon tank sitting around so I'll use that for a shrimp only tank.

Thanks for the advise everyone.