# betta, RCS, and ethics. opinions please!



## TankPlanter (May 31, 2015)

I set up a 20g community tank to house our very unhappy, bored betta. Then I f'd up (they were free, I thought oh well we'll try it he might eat them nice snack, please forgive me as I'd never had any before) and added a few red cherry shrimp after the CPD but before the betta...and my kids and I love them. They're so fun. Then I added the betta and he went full (beautifully appropriate for his species) hunting mode, on his belly underneath plants, ambushing from behind the filter, etc. He didn't actually catch any of our now-beloved shrimp- they darted away. Shrimp froze, definite stressed. I ended the experiment after an hour.

The problem is that I don't have room to move his current 5.5g tank (really, trust me) and he's stuck in my older daughter's room where people rarely go (filled with things dangerous to my 3 y.o., so it's not easy for me to hang out there) bored and fin biting and generally miserable. Plus I don't want to keep up two tanks (kids, dog, job, etc.) as I do believe weekly water changes, etc.

So I'm wondering: can I let him hunt in the 20g? Put in some shrimp tubes? Float some java moss? And maybe he'll give up eventually when he never catches any? It's so fun to see the shrimp happy and out in the open. But I feel so guilty every morning when I feed him...

Thanks for your input!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Sounds like your betta will go after the shrimp until its eat or scared them all into jumping out to their deaths. If you want to keep the rcs I'd not put your betta in the tank with them....If cdp are the only other stock consider dividing the tank and give the betta a roughly 5g section on one side. There is a bettafish specific forum, several people there use craft mesh and binder ends to make dividers. Some silicone the divider into the tank so its permanent. Once done the betta gets to share filtered heated water with the other tanks mates but can only hunt shrimp stupid enough to go to its side of the divider. Just try to make sure all adults are on the cdp side before the betta goes in, only shrimplets/juvies should fit through the mesh.


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## NotCousteau (Sep 25, 2014)

I would say there's nothing ethically wrong with letting a predator hunt prey in your fish tank like that. But maybe I'm a hypocrite, because those YouTube videos of people feeding large fish to larger predatory fish make me cringe. I don't confess to knowing anything or being balanced in my viewpoints; at some point, it's just a knee-jerk emotional response.

What I will say is that whatever hiding places you install, the shrimp will likely all become dinner at some point. I tried it in my 10 gallon with seemingly peaceful fish -- rice fish and sparkling gouramis -- and the shrimp didn't survive.


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## noseprint (Jun 29, 2015)

shrimp are naturally food. no big deal. he might get bored eventually if he doesn't catch them - a lot of hiding places are helpful, plants, etc. 
I have an older betta in a 20g long with green neon tetras and shrimp culls. When he was younger he'd eat shrimp, but he leaves these ones alone now. He's much happier now in the big tank where he gets lots of attention, rather than the 5.5g.


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## BigXor (Dec 15, 2014)

I put RCS in with my Betta. He stalked them until he bite one in half. After that he has never bothered with them. Occasionally, if he's bored, he'll lay on the bottom and watch the shrimp graze.


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## Thenoob (Jan 15, 2014)

I keep shrimp rcs with my betta in my 46 gal tank. He eats some but plenty survive


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## inthepacific (Oct 21, 2012)

I house a betta in a breeder box in my CRS tank. He's very healthy and happy. Its one of those breeder boxes that float in the tank but I suction cupped it to the side of the tank so its not blowing around, but it works. Its like having a separate tank just for him but inside my current tank. I added some floaters in there too so its not just bare. He enjoys swimming around the plant roots


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## roostertech (Oct 27, 2015)

I put puffers into my planted 10g rcs tank. The puffers refuse all food I offer them but go after the snails (quite successfully) and shrimp (not so successfully... so far). And the puffers are so tiny so they can go right into the thick moss bundles that bigger fish wouldn't be able to. They go after the big shrimps that are bigger than themselves. I cheer for the shrimp each time one jumped away from the jaw of death but I know one day there will be shrimp bits on the floor. Hopefully the shrimps can out breed the puffers' stomach.


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## Oceangirl (Feb 5, 2013)

Be careful, there was a keeper that did an experiment with shrimp in the betta tank. The betta hunted down and ate all the shrimp, then died of bloat. Keep the shrimp in the smaller tank and let the betta have the larger tank. Watch the cpds though, i had a 29 gallon and the betta i put in there after 3 months of peace started killing fish, ripped the eyes off a cpd and then the jaw off another cpd. When i caught him attacking another cpd, he got his own 5 gallon. Lots of plants and hides and he was fine


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## TankPlanter (May 31, 2015)

Ouch, thanks for the input and stories. 

It sounds like it _might_ work- he might get bored, he wouldn't catch too many, etc., especially if I put in lots of hiding places. Or he might kill himself eating too much, or decide to kill the other fish. Wish there were a way to tell! After three months of peace- that would be just awful, my kiddos-wise, so I'd rather avoid it. Was there any warning before the end of the peace?

Sounds like it's in the best interests of the health of CPD's and betta for me to think about a divider- great suggestion, Aqua, I hadn't thought of that. Or maybe a breeder box, another good idea. If I dedicated 1/4 of the tank (5g) to the betta, he'd get more interaction in a nicely maintained planted tank, and I'd have only one tank to clean. Will mess with my dream of a community tank + aquascaping, etc. but sounds like a reasonable compromise. Will start looking for how to make removable dividers...


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## Gavin Citrus (Aug 2, 2014)

I keep a 60 gallon. Had a booming population of Neocardina shrimp. Loved them. Each time I introduce a new fish species the shrimp go into hiding. After a while the shrimp brave back up and have minimal fears.

I have two GBRs who loved originally to do some shrimp hunting, but now find it more work than the floating foods that come their way.

GBRs, Neon Tetras, Glowlight, and Bloodfin Tetras, Sterbai cories make up my population and the shrimp hang out all over the place now. Occasionally a fish will go after a shrimp but for the most part they working for their food leaves their system after a while.

The caveat is my shrimp population was well over 100 before I started introducing non-Oto fish.


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## garrettthecow (Apr 18, 2016)

I had three shrimp with my betta he ate all of them...


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## thedood (May 30, 2015)

I breed shrimp to feed to my altolamps. Heck thats one of the reasons I originally got into planted tanks.


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