Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Hi,

I'm new and was a bit misled at my fish store today and walked out with 2 "whisker shrimp" I was told they would be peaceful and do well with my betta fish.

I have my betta housed in a moderately planted 5 gallon tank. When I put the shrimp in they seemed fine and started munching on debris on the ground.. all was great until I saw one of them nip at my betta's fins...

I took them out and have them in a ziplock bag (with water treated with prime) and they are floating in my 29G community tank. It's a shame and I feel badly that I brought them home.. but is there any way they could live in my 29 heavily planted community tank? The residents of that tank include mystery snails, a bristle nose pleco, pristella tetras, a blue gourami and cory cats...

temp is 78 F
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-10ppm
pH- 6.8

Here is a video of one of the shrimp.. if they aren't going to be compatible I am going to return them first thing in the morning.. thank you!
http://s1235.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... 9.mp4.html

It's a Macrobrachium lanchesteri. It's usually a pretty peaceful shrimp, but still an opportunist. It won't bother most fish, but the long, flowing fins of a betta (or a longtail guppy) may look too much like food...and the way these long finned shrimp swim may look like a weak, sick "normal finned" fish to them (they are scavengers). They are really interesting actually if you give them a chance. You may want to give them a chance again in the betta tank under close observation. After some trying the shrimp may actually ignore the betta after a while. They are not strong enough to hold on and chomp on a healthy betta.