# Shrimp tankmates? Please help!



## sugarbyte (Apr 3, 2011)

Hello!

So I went to my LFS today to purchase my shrimps and some additional fish. I currently own the Fluval Edge and have been cycling the tank for over 1.5 months now (and have had a male guppy in there to help the cycling process a couple of weeks in)

Anyway, today I purchased 3 clown killifish (babies), 1 honey gourami, 1 male guppy (to keep the other one company... although they only seem to want to fight now :/) + 2 CRS, 4 RCS and one amano.

The main focus on my tank are my shrimp.. I was told by the guy at my lfs (they are specialized in fishkeeping) that these species would be compatible with shrimp but after some of the articles Ive been reading it seems like my shrimp are doomed :icon_frow... The gourami seems to peck a bit at the shrimp more out of curiosity than anything else.. and the guppies don't seem to care. I've read that clown killifish are peaceful but are known to eat full grown CRS! 

And I obviously want to make sure that my shrimp will be able to reproduce..
(I also have a bunch of plants for added protection of the shrimp but I don't want them to be constantly hiding..)

Anyway... should I think about returning the fish? I'm wondering if it's possible to get the best of both worlds (beautiful fish+shrimps)

I was wondering if anyone had any similar experience and could give me some advice..


Thank you :help:


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## soc200 (Feb 26, 2011)

My bet is your gourami will take them out one by one. Regardless, I think your shrimp will spend ALOT of time hiding. I have a school of Rasboras that would swim right up to the shrimp and nudge them. The shrimp ended up hiding 95% of the time. I've ultimately moved all my shrimp to their own tank.

Full grown, the shrimp might do ok...but I "mysteriously" lost at least 5-10 of my crs without ever seeing a body.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

I think also the gourami needs an air space in the tank since they are labyrinth fish. Not sure if you plan on keeping air in your edge, but that's something to consider as well.

As far as the killies are concerned... As soon as they get big enough, they can eat very large things. Despite being a diminutive fish, they have enormous mouths! I'd start with 20 RCS (you can buy here on the swap n shop for very cheap), that way you have a chance they start breeding up a storm before the killies have a chance to dwindle their numbers.


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## astrosag (Sep 3, 2010)

I think you may need to remove those fish. I'm trying to put cherry shrimp in my 20G and I essentially closing off a tiny section of my tank for the shrimp to frolic. I'm also hoping that what mordalphus said will work too...in that breeding shrimp will sustain the population. 

Having said that, my research also said that gourami's and kilifish are a no no with shrimp. Probably even worse than GBRs!


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## sugarbyte (Apr 3, 2011)

Thank you everyone for taking the time to write back. I'm not sure if I wasn't specific enough but the Honey Gourami is a dwarf Gourami... would it still be a threat? 

Despite that..I'm wondering which fish I should keep and bring back to the lfs :/

@mordalphus: My Gourami hasn't seemed interested with the surface area yet  He seems to be having a lot of fun exploring the planted jungle. I will keep a close eye however, if he has trouble detecting the open-air spot on the fluval edge. Thank you for mentioning that


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## astrosag (Sep 3, 2010)

The only problem I see is that you have a shrinking window with returning the fish. 

In actuality, most fish is not every fish. You very well could have disinterested fish when it comes to your shrimp and your tank may thrive. The other thing is if you maintain your shrimp well and they spawn, then you may be able to sustain the population better.

My experience with Amano shrimp (1" approx.) and bubble rams after observing them makes me feel confident in placing cherry shrimp of equal size in the tank. 

You could give it a try or simply go with tetras and rasboras and the like which won't touch anything but the smallest of shrimp (fry & adolescents).


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## sugarbyte (Apr 3, 2011)

Definitely not a bad idea... I may return the killifish (which I really really like :C)
And maybe get some lampeyes.. It wouldn't be the end of the world if the fish ate a RCS but the CRS are a bit more expensive.. so that's why im nervous! lol

maybe then I can keep a close eye on the gourami and see how he's behaving.. because right now he seems to be more curious than anything, poking around and nibbling on plants here and there.. he's very cute!


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## studentclimber (Apr 11, 2011)

Just FYI, my RCS colony is in a tank with 5 glass catfish (around 4 inches long) and a school of threadfin rainbows. Still breed like crazy. The tank is heavily planted and I don't put a sponge on the filter. The filter picks up and acts as a nursery to some of the young, the others hide in the plants and driftwood. The rate of growth of the colony slowed substantially when the fish were moved in, but they are still my guppies with exoskeletons (or aquatic rabbits if you like that better).


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## tikiman (Apr 19, 2011)

Why not other invertebrates. Like African Filter Shrimp or Aegla Sp.


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## reybie (Jun 7, 2007)

If you want the shrimp population to grow, keep it a shrimp only tank. If they get too overcrowded, then that's when you introduce fish, which eventually become a fat fish


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

reybie said:


> If you want the shrimp population to grow, keep it a shrimp only tank. If they get too overcrowded, then that's when you introduce fish, which eventually become a fat fish


+1 
If your focus is to keep the shrimp and have them breed, then I would make it a Shrimp only tank. If you must have fish, then maybe a couple a habrosus or pygmy cories at most since they're kinda mid swimmers and won't touch the shrimp, that is if you really want to see your shrimp out and about and know the numbers aren't slowly dwindling..

Ultimately up to you though


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## asukawashere (Mar 19, 2010)

There are only a handful of fish I'd recommend as safe for a shrimp tank - two of which I breed alongside my cherry shrimp. Endlers livebearers and least killifish (which are really a poecilid livebearer, not a panchax with a huge mouth like your clown killies). Neither one gets large enough to do much harm and, being topminnows, they spend most of their time up around the top/middle of the water column, where shrimplets tend not to be. Add plants to shelter the shrimp and they should get along fine. 

That said, I do keep my more expensive/harder-to-find Caridina species in tanks of their own. If breeding is your ultimate goal, that would be my recommendation. Neocaridina tend to breed like some kind of adorable shrimpy plague, so I trust the fish not to pick them all off... Caridina aren't as prolific. Their babies also seem to be smaller, for the most part, and therefore easier targets.


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## sugarbyte (Apr 3, 2011)

@tikiman: Unfortunately I think my tank would be way too small for those species (the fluval edge is a 6.6 gal)

@ studentclimber: Great to hear your positive experience of mixing fish and shrimps  How heavily planted are we talking about though?

@holyangel: Those fish suggestions are great, and I'm a big fan of them..However, the substrate I have is the fluval stratum and it tends to cloud up like it's no one's business lol (from my understanding those fish tend to be bottom feeders?)

@reybie: great advice.. I don't know why I didn't think about that!

I am looking into starting another aquarium... (planning phase for now ) so I might move my killis into that one once it's cycled..or follow Reybie's and asukawashere's advice and have shrimps only in my Fluval Edge, once it gets too crowded (maybe) put some fish back in! I'm trying not to panic too much and take it day by day (i'm so nervous about losing my shrimpies).. so far though, my shrimps seem to be happy and all my fish don't seem to notice them..it does help that they're hiding all the time 

Maybe once I start my new tank I will put in some more shrimp-friendly fish (and move the meanies to the new tank).. I'll see 

Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice!


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