Senroc Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) I've got a 30 gal (roughly) tank that I'm going to set up in our basement that I'd like to turn into a little community tank. I was thinking of going with a Betta and a group of females for him, with potentially a little school of neon tetras, or something along those lines. What I'd like to focus on more is having shrimp of various kinds. I've been noticing them more and more and I think they'd make a great addition, but I'm not very familiar with they're needs or compatibility with fish species, or if various species of shrimp are compatible with each other. Don't particularly want to buy fish snacks or create gang wars Any help would be appreciated. Edited January 23, 2014 by Senroc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 I've seen Bettas try to snack on Cherry Shrimp. The shrimp are usually too fast for the Betta, but if it can catch them, the Betta won't hesitate to eat all of your shrimp! So far, the only fish I've successfully kept with a thriving shrimp population are Endlers livebearers (adult guppies will eat shrimp, but Endlers seem too small), Corys and Plecos. Some people have said that Hypancistrus spp. plecos will eat shrimp, but I've never experienced that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senroc Posted January 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hmmm...may be a trickier proposition than I originally thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hmmm...may be a trickier proposition than I originally thought. Like Jvision said Betas will happily eat shrimp, but I've also heard of Betas that leave them alone. It seems to depend on the personality of the Beta, I'd establish the shrimp in the tank first and try to give them good plant cover THEN introduce a Beta. If you go with a less expensive shrimp species like RCS you can try it out without too much concern over losing 1 or 2 and the RCS' breeding will outpace the Betas appetite anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senroc Posted January 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Makes sense. I tend to lean towards a tank with more coverage anyway, so maybe with some slower swimmers it won't be much of an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blink Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Most any fish that can catch and jam a shrimp in it's mouth (with a very few exceptions) will eat Em but if you have a thriving shrimp population and lots of hiding places you may not notice a decline in population (you probably will notice how little you spend on fish food) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senroc Posted January 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 LOL....well if I have a strong enough population maybe I can trim back on food for the cichlids in my big tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJIsaac Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Yep, the old Fish rule of thumb, If its small enough to fit in the fishes mouth, it will end up in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigs Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 aye, 100% agree with the above post. I can certify that guppies LOOOOVE to eat shrimp. I found out the hard way, after my 7 10Gallon tanks full of wonderful looking shrimp, seem to only have guppies now and 0.00001% shrimp:( ah well, live & learn:) cheers, Antonio (Tigs) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattsBettas Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Some bettas can be kept with shrimp, especially the slow ones with long, heavy fins. I wouldn't get your hopes up for starting a good colony though, if they can catch them and they fit an their mouth they'll eat them. Housing a group of female bettas with a male is really not really a great idea, to be honest... Bettas are very aggressive to their own kind, and the chances are fairly high that injuries, stress, disease, and death will result (on both sides-females can be just as aggressive as males, especially in a group setting where they can "team up"). The only time I've ever seen males be kept with females successfully is what all were bought as babies, and even then there are still people who have had females just turn on the male out of the blue and kill him. If you want to keep bettas you're better off keeping a group of females (aka betta sorority), which should have at least five or six fish to spread aggression, or a single male. Anyways, yea, most of the above posters have covered that if big fish eat smaller fish (and shrimp). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senroc Posted January 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Maybe I'll have a rethink I'm a ways off putting it together anyway so plenty of time to come up with a cool plan. Perhaps I'll use my 10gal as a shrimp tank for my little boy when he's a bit older and make a small community tank with the 30gal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 If you want something easy easy for a child grab some ghost shrimp from riverfront. 5/$2.00 or something like that. Pick out some females that are already berried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShrimpChick Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 If you would like to do fish and shrimp with concentration on the shrimp I would recommend the following: Otocinclus catfish - Great little algae eaters to Dwarf Corydoras do well - may eat some of the babies so i would recommend letting the shrimp population boom a little first prior to adding these. Along with some of the ones mentioned previously. Provide some low light plants, moss, wood and hiding places and the shrimp will thrive. The Cherry Shrimp are pretty and cost effective as well. If you do not go with betas you could bump up to CRS with the above fish. Key thing I would recommend with shrimp is go for a couple of sponge filters so the babies survive. Riverfront sells some nice stackable sponge filters for cheep which can give you great filtration with lower flow as well which will make the shrimp happier and are super easy to maintain. The shrimp will eat off of the filters as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Little_One Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 Key thing I would recommend with shrimp is go for a couple of sponge filters so the babies survive. Riverfront sells some nice stackable sponge filters for cheep which can give you great filtration with lower flow as well which will make the shrimp happier and are super easy to maintain. The shrimp will eat off of the filters as well. What are these stackable sponge filters of which ye speaketh!? I must know. Please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirtis Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 (edited) Key thing I would recommend with shrimp is go for a couple of sponge filters so the babies survive. Riverfront sells some nice stackable sponge filters for cheep which can give you great filtration with lower flow as well which will make the shrimp happier and are super easy to maintain. The shrimp will eat off of the filters as well. What are these stackable sponge filters of which ye speaketh!? I must know. Please. Riverfront has them. You pull the top off one, and the base off another, and they click together, so you can create a double or triple-tall sponge filter of a particular diameter. The Sponge filters that Riverfront carries are very good quality, and about 1/2 to 1/3 the price of their counterparts carried by other local shops. Edited February 17, 2014 by Toirtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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