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Cherry shrimp tank mates?


jesp
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Ok people, I have a hope that large cherry shrimp can live in my 90 gallon planted tank in peace with tiger barbs. Please tell me this can happen.

This is my plan: I will have a breeding/grow out tank for the shrimp. When they are too big to be a meal, they get moved to the 90 gallon. I know that any little ones that are born in the big tank will be potential food, but I figure I will keep the breeding ones in the 20 gallon.

If this works, I will be very very happy because I would love to have shrimp, and there is something about a school of tiger barbs that I can't do without in my life.

Any nice pictures of shrimp tanks? Any suggestions on tank mates?

Cheers!

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If the tiger barbs were small (1 - 1.2 inches) it would be okay. But but eventually they will all get eaten when they reach 2 - 3 inches. This would only apply to the tiger barbs as I have other fish (Tetras, Betta, Corys, SAE, Danios) who are much larger and they are fine.

I think even if you had larger shrimp like Ghost/Amano shrimp, they will eventually get eaten or be hidden all the time.

Where can I see more info on your 90 gallon planted tank? I have the same size and am interested in seeing how yours is doing.

Edited by Kronosdelsol
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I guess we'll see how it goes as the tiger barbs get larger......

I am in the midst of setting up my 90 gallon.

Rena xp3 for filteration.

180 watts of corallife lighting.

I still need to reenforce the stand that it will be on, pick up the black gravel, find just the right driftwood, and get down to the aquascaping.

The shrimp, I plan to grow out and breed in a separate 20 gallon starting in just over a week, and wait on the rest of the inhabitants till things are more set up.

20-30 Rummy nose tetra

20 tiger barbs?

trumpet snails

5-10 fresh water mussels

Then we will see what else I can put in there.

This will be the coolest tank I have ever set up. I am pretty excited.

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I would agree. I have four year old gold barbs who snack on even the largest cherry shrimp.

As for tank mate suggestions - that is a toughie. My P. Furcatus ( blue eyed forktail rainbows) can eat cherries half their size. The only thing I have in my 'main' shrimp tank is kuhli loaches. Truth be known - I never see the loaches. They may prefer to eat in private :shock:

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An alternative would be a larger type of shrimp instead of the dwarf shrimps. Cherries are Neocaridina heteropoda var. red. You could look at the larger Caridina cf babaulti (http://www.planetinverts.com/Babaulti%20Complex.html)or even one of the Macrobrachium sp. I'll post a picture. I had Macrobrachium in my 90 gal planted tank with Angels and they were OK.

post-3205-128060848577_thumb.jpg

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I can assure you that the shrimp will NOT exist with tiger barbs. The barbs will clean house on the cherry shrimp and and fish they can fit into their mouths. My tiger barbs(1&1/4 inches) cleaned up 10 guppies (1 inch) the instant I put them in the tank consuming either head or tail first and slowly digesting the part that was sticking out. They also enjoyed the cherry shrimp I put in the tank until I caught on. Tiger barbs are nasty so watch what you put in with them.

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In my experience pretty much any fish will eat cherry shrimp. If it fits in their mouth they will eat it. If it doesn't fit in their mouths they will still try.

I breed cherries and i've tried them with many different fish(tetras,rainbowfish, livebearers, catfish, dwarf cichlids, bigger cichlids etc) and they all ate the cherries.

Some of the really small fish are ok with them since their mouths are too small and just chase them. I kept them with Endlers before and they did ok. Or like mentioned before, some of the small rainbowfish species should work.

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I have a thriving colony of CS with a thriving colony of Endler's Livebearers. The Endler's may get some of the baby shrimp, but my son's 10gal tank is teaming with young from both the shrimp and fish!

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  • 1 month later...

They try to eat the baby shrimp, but if you have lots of plant cover, you'll soon be overrun by both shrimp and guppies. :)

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  • 1 year later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I still need to reenforce the stand that it will be on, pick up the black gravel, find just the right driftwood, and get down to the aquascaping.

The shrimp, I plan to grow out and breed in a separate 20 gallon starting in just over a week, and wait on the rest of the inhabitants till things are more set up.

20-30 Rummy nose tetra

20 tiger barbs?

trumpet snails

5-10 fresh water mussels

Then we will see what else I can put in there.

This will be the coolest tank I have ever set up. I am pretty excited.

Hope I don't put you off, but... I've never heard of anyone keeping mussels successfully in community tanks. Apparently, they quickly starve to death and pollute water. It'd be super neat if you manage to keep them alive, though. Are you considering the asian gold clam?

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

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