# Other Shrimp Safe Fish



## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

We as a community have seen this question a million and one times. And we always give the same answer "Otto is the only shrimp safe fish." somewhere down the thread a person will chime in something like (i've done it a few times).

"i keep _____ fish with shrimp and he never eats shrimp, you could try ______fish."

So to clarify the "Ottos are the only Shrimp safe fish" statement, Ottos are the only Genius that AS A WHOLE are not known to eat shrimp. Other fish such as Rams, Killis, Apistos, Tetras, Cichlids and so on are known to eat shrimp. Sometimes you can get a fish that has personality that does not eat shrimp, but as a whole these other fish are considered shrimp eaters.

so

Otto= Shrimp safe as a whole
Other Fish= Not shrimp safe as a whole.


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## Stump26 (Jul 4, 2012)

I agree 100 percent


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## Snowflake311 (Apr 20, 2011)

I say corydoras habrosus and Pygmy Cory cats. I watched as a few day old tiny shrimp baby walked right up to one of my cory habrosus and I mean this little shrimp almost touched the Cory. The Cory did NOTHING! 

I have seen my cory get close and make the baby shrimp jump but I have yet to see them eat any. The larger Cory cats might not be as safe. But the dwarfs are only going to eat a baby shrimp if it's a slow, sickly, tiny shrimp or dead. 

A pit bull pleco might be save since they are basically just big otos.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

Snowflake311 said:


> I say corydoras habrosus and Pygmy Cory cats. I watched as a few day old tiny shrimp baby walked right up to one of my cory habrosus and I mean this little shrimp almost touched the Cory. The Cory did NOTHING!
> 
> I have seen my cory get close and make the baby shrimp jump but I have yet to see them eat any. The larger Cory cats might not be as safe. But the dwarfs are only going to eat a baby shrimp if it's a slow, sickly, tiny shrimp or dead.
> 
> A pit bull pleco might be save since they are basically just big otos.





Aquatic Delight said:


> Ottos are the only Genius that AS A WHOLE are not known to eat shrimp. ..
> 
> Otto= Shrimp safe as a whole
> Other Fish= Not shrimp safe as a whole.



As a Whole ottos are the only shrimp safe. yes some small corys are safe, but as a whole corys will eat shrimp


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

+1. Good post. Very right though, that some people have a few fish that seem to work in there tank but that doesn't work for those fish as a whole. Plus, it's hard to know if they are eating babies or not. You can say you don't see it. Do you count every baby born and then keep track of any dead ones and know for sure that 1 didn't get eaten? Sure, with cheap cherries, it might not be a problem but I wouldn't have a tank of CRS or Taiwan Bee's with any fish. 1 eaten baby is potentially 20-50$ down the drain.


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## AquaPipes (Jun 4, 2012)

There's plenty of fish that are perfectly adult shrimp safe. Baby shrimp on the other hand are another matter.

If your tank is heavily planted, especially if you've got lots of out of control moss growth, cherries will find a way to reproduce even with lots of baby shrimp eating fish in the tank.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

I would say almost any fish will eat a shrimp if it fits in their mouth and Oto's are the only fish I've ever kept that are not interested. Even tiny fish can be very aggressive and will team up and pick shrimp apart, example Chili Rasbora is tiny but loves live foods like mosquito larvae etc. in the wild and one a shrimp is torn apart and eaten but several tank mates it's very hard to go back to flake, we all like some lobster once in a while.


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## Hmoobthor (Aug 15, 2011)

what about bristlenose pleco?

i heard alot of people keep 2 or more in teh tank without any problem, they only have sucker like otto


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

As in everything else, your experience will vary.

In one tank I have a RCS colony mixed up with a bunch of dwarf cories and some black mollies - and the shrimp population keeps on growing.

In another, I have dwarf puffers with molly fry and shrimp - DPs are not interested.

In another, I added Pearl Guramies and a male beta to control molly fry and RCS population. No such luck, I am still having an ever increasing molly population and the shrimps are out in the open.

In another tank I have a school of ottos that eat nothing but the Amazon Swords.

The other day I saw an albino BN eating dead Von Rio tetra.

In short, every 'rule' can and will be broken. Use common sense and plant heavily.


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish (Apr 29, 2012)

Nano fish won't eat adults, but I'm sure they'd go for babies.


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## Fdsh5 (Jan 3, 2012)

150EH said:


> I would say almost any fish will eat a shrimp if it fits in their mouth and Oto's are the only fish I've ever kept that are not interested. Even tiny fish can be very aggressive and will team up and pick shrimp apart, example Chili Rasbora is tiny but loves live foods like mosquito larvae etc. in the wild and one a shrimp is torn apart and eaten but several tank mates it's very hard to go back to flake, we all like some lobster once in a while.


The other day three of the smaller endlers I have teamed up and destroyed a cherry shrimp. I caught it as I was walking by. Population control in my book.


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## pejerrey (Dec 5, 2011)

Can you guys believe that some people have argued with me about dwarf puffer been shrimp safe? C'mon, dwarf puffers... They would eat me if needed.
Lol!


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

I love, love, love puffers. Dwarf and big. So cute. But yeah, shrimp safe? o_o No way. Plus, a lot of puffers need some salt in the water.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

thechibi said:


> I love, love, love puffers. Dwarf and big. So cute. But yeah, shrimp safe? o_o No way. Plus, a lot of puffers need some salt in the water.


Dwarf puffers are 100% fresh water fish.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

OVT said:


> Dwarf puffers are 100% fresh water fish.



lol man i hope thats sarcastic.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

Aquatic Delight said:


> lol man i hope thats sarcastic.


http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/ and a ton of other articles + 4 in my tank


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## Zenzu (Mar 23, 2012)

To my knowledge Otos are the only 99% shrimp safe fish. There are other fish that can be kept with shrimp, especially if your colony gets large enough, you have a big enough tank and/or there are enough hiding places.

Now of course you probably wouldn't wanna keep any high grades with fish period... but as far as most neos and malawa go. They breed readily enough and are hardy enough as well as cost effective enough to keep with fish in a well planted tank.


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

OVT said:


> http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/ and a ton of other articles + 4 in my tank



i watched three die in fresh water. ime they don't survive


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## pejerrey (Dec 5, 2011)

Aquatic Delight said:


> i watched three die in fresh water. ime they don't survive


I've had dwarf puffers too. They are freshwater, I had 6 for a long time.

Maybe you are confusing them with figure 8 or spotted?

Perhaps the water quality wasn't good, they have no scales.


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Well, I meant puffers in general. A few species like some salt. I suspect as with many things, it depends on who you get your puffas from, too.


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## Borikuan (Jun 4, 2012)

there is no such thing has shrimp safe fish...


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## amcoffeegirl (May 26, 2009)

No its true the common pea puffer is a freshwater species. there are several species of puffers that do require marine or brackish water though.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Borikuan said:


> there is no such thing has shrimp safe fish...


I'd kinda agree, shrimp and even nano fish like the Chili Rasbora are at risk with other fish in the tank with the only exception being some catfish but not all because some cats are very aggressive.


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Otocinclus are generally pretty much 99.999 percent shrimp safe. >_> Cories are pretty chill, especially the dwarf ones. But yeah.


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