# dwarf rainbows and shrimp?



## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

So right now i have a school of about 15 or so green tetras and i know for a fact these guys dont mess with my shrimp(tested it many times and find they dont care for them at all(at least for the medium size ones, not sure what they woudl do to babys but i dont care for breeding anyways.) And was wondering how yalls luck has been with dwarf rainbows and shrimp? I would rather see comments from people that have experience with it then those who have not tryed and just think it cant happen. =) not saying it will but if i can get enough poeple that have had success then i will go for it. 
This is a kinda old pic of the tank but only by like 2weeks i would say 








its a 60 gallon. If i am able to i will add 8 of these amazing looking fish. 
If i do end up doing it though ill probably set up a tank and add them to the tank with a good amount of shrimp and see what they do before adding them to the main tank.(easier to ketch them in a small tank than big tank)


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## bacon5 (Jul 25, 2011)

Just curious about what kind of dwarf rainbows are you talking about?


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

bacon5 said:


> Just curious about what kind of dwarf rainbows are you talking about?


neon dwarf rainbows


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## bacon5 (Jul 25, 2011)

Ahh ok. These are very beautiful fish, and I have a school in my tank. I have not personally tried shrimp with these guys in my tank but here is someone from my local club forum who tried and this is what he had said in a post:

"The RCS are being decimated. Every day, I see a couple that are dead or dying. The day before yesterday, I noticed four dead/dying. Yesterday I noticed there were another four dead/dying. Today there were five dead/dying. The M. praecox rainbowfish are doing the damage. One had a large RCS down its throat. If you look in its mouth, you'll see a head sticking out. It goes down tail first. Then there's the bright red poop. Its doesn't do a very good job with breaking down the meat as it comes out nearly intact, but in a clump. Even the large shrimp, too large to fit into the mouth, are being attacked and pecked to death. Their carcasses lay everywhere."

Don't mean to discourage you but these guys are very active fish. And while they may not attack shrimps when they are smaller, once they reach adulthood they will definitely take them out.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

bacon5 said:


> Ahh ok. These are very beautiful fish, and I have a school in my tank. I have not personally tried shrimp with these guys in my tank but here is someone from my local club forum who tried and this is what he had said in a post:
> 
> "The RCS are being decimated. Every day, I see a couple that are dead or dying. The day before yesterday, I noticed four dead/dying. Yesterday I noticed there were another four dead/dying. Today there were five dead/dying. The M. praecox rainbowfish are doing the damage. One had a large RCS down its throat. If you look in its mouth, you'll see a head sticking out. It goes down tail first. Then there's the bright red poop. Its doesn't do a very good job with breaking down the meat as it comes out nearly intact, but in a clump. Even the large shrimp, too large to fit into the mouth, are being attacked and pecked to death. Their carcasses lay everywhere."
> 
> Don't mean to discourage you but these guys are very active fish. And while they may not attack shrimps when they are smaller, once they reach adulthood they will definitely take them out.


yea no your not discouraging me =). I just wanted a solid answer from a person who has tried and. And now that i have one i probably will not try it =) Thanks!!!


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

treyLcham said:


> neon dwarf rainbows


I know you want to hear from actual experiences and I don't have any with dwarf shrimp yet, but have seen some stuff.

I am pretty sure Melonotaenia Praecox (neon dwarf rainbows) will eat mediumish size shrimp and smaller. However if you still like the look of them, there are Daisy's Rice Fish (Oryzias Woworae) that looks fairly similar, but stay smaller, about 1"-1.5" max with small mouths so they shouldn't eat any shrimp that the tetras wouldn't eat (I do have Rice fish, but no shrimp currently). They have the silver/blue sheen to the majority of their body (not as flashy, but still nice) and the male and females also have the different colored fins like M. Praecox do. Not common to find in LFS, but can be ordered online.

Another miniature rainbowfish are Pseudomugil (blue eye, many different speices, if I had to pick one species of them it would be P. Paskai/Iriani) rainbowfish maxing at 1"-1.5". They have nice colors, impressive fins, curious personalities and they are fun to watch them do their fin displaying competing for mates. (I house my rice fish with Pseudomugils and they get along just fine, even hanging out with each other)

Threadfin rainbows get a bit bigger (2") with longer fins, more color and are different looking, but they still have small mouths/throat so they are just as shrimp safe as the others mentioned (maybe only the very tiny shrimplets would be touched, and I speak on this from seeing other people successfully keeping them in shrimp tanks, so there is reported success, just not my personal story)

Plenty of other shrimp safe-ish nano speices, but those are pretty much the rainbowfish side of things.


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## bacon5 (Jul 25, 2011)

Thread fins are really nice and their mouths are EXTREMELY tiny! However they are not really the same look or body style of the praecox. Still a great fish imo.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

bacon5 said:


> Thread fins are really nice and their mouths are EXTREMELY tiny! However they are not really the same look or body style of the praecox. Still a great fish imo.


yea ill see if my local pet store can get some! I think i might just stick with pure green tetras and some smaller fish.


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## bacon5 (Jul 25, 2011)

treyLcham said:


> yea ill see if my local pet store can get some! I think i might just stick with pure green tetras and some smaller fish.


Nice just be sure to let us know what you end up deciding with!


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## harp (Oct 8, 2014)

I've had no issues with my threadfins and shrimp.


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