# Fish that won't eat shrimplets



## amcoffeegirl (May 26, 2009)

I have read on here several times that otos are the only shrimp safe fish. I think you just have to make a very dense area in one part of the tank. Maybe add cholla logs covered in moss. Or a pile of driftwood covered in moss and ferns. They can hide in that area.
I have kept guppies with a growing shrimp population for a few years.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

From what others have told me:

absolutely nothing but otos. Maybe some of the Parotocinclus that Msjinkzd carries.


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## BrynnaCC (Jan 5, 2014)

I've had a lot of success raising shrimplets with pygmy hatchets. While they are insectivores, they're almost completely unaware of what goes on beneath them, but the tank needs to be covered for them.


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## garfieldnfish (Sep 25, 2010)

Small sized herbivorous and omnivorous plecos like clown plecos, L187s etc. Clown plecos are wood eaters and will not touch shrimp, L187s omnivores (mostly algae eaters) and I have not seen them go after shrimp. But the tank needs to have plenty of water changes due to the poop factor of the plecos. I have kept some TTs with L340s and L211s (both omnivores with a tendency toward meaty foods) and the shrimp were doing really good. Plecos are too slow to catch a healthy shrimp. Shrimp are out during the day and sleep higher up in the vegetation while the plecos are awake at night. Plenty of plants and driftwood are necessary so the shrimp can occupy the higher part of the tank during nighttime.


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## fishcrazy2 (Apr 29, 2014)

Otos for sure are shrimp safe. Some say endlers because they usually stay at the top of the tank;however, I don't know about that option.


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

Try hatchetfish. They're not absolutely shrimp-safe, but they stay right at the top and won't eat anything that doesn't come within three inches of the surface.


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## garfieldnfish (Sep 25, 2010)

Don't you feed hatchet fish food that floats at the top? If so I could imagine shrimp will go there to get some of that and then get eaten by the hatchets. Sounds a lot like a bird feeder if you have your cat roam in the yard.


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## sushant (Mar 3, 2007)

Otos and threadfin rainbows


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## BrynnaCC (Jan 5, 2014)

I don't know about everyone else's hatchets, but mine hug the surface pretty tightly when it's feeding time and only seem to see what's directly above them. I suppose it's possible a tiny shrimplet could get into their feeding zone, but I've never seen it happen, and I'm definitely not short on shrimplets. More often than not, if a shrimp bumps into a hatchet, they'll both leap away in abject horror.


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## Gavin Citrus (Aug 2, 2014)

Also if you establish the shrimp first, give lots of hiding spaces (Mosses) you can have much bigger fish in there and still have a progressive shrimp colony.

Small tetras work well with my shrimp, yes they will occasionally get a shrimplet, but mostly the shrimplets stay hidden and the adults and tetras comingle.


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## Mikolas (Apr 5, 2012)

Awesome feedback guys.

For the record, I'm not looking for a hobby tank where it has both shrimp and fish. Oddly, I'm trying to breed a particular shrimp (without any shrimplet loss) which I've been unsuccessful at, and I'm attempting to see the following:

Adding fish = increased waste products = more nutrients for dying plants = plants do better = plants make the water quality better = shrimp aren't dying randomly = successful breeding of shrimp.

Sorry for the crappy analogy, but I'm at wits end regarding my shrimp issue so I'm trying this vague hypothesis.

Thus, fish can't be anything that may eat shrimplets as the point is that I'm trying to breed them and sell them off to make up what I spent -_-.

Thoughts on Dwarf Corys? Any other suggestions? Small plecos seems like a good choice.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Umm....that doesn't make sense...are the plants in your tank dying? Just go with otos if your main purpose is to breed the shrimp. Do more partial water changes to keep water quality up. Use root tabs to help the plants live and prevent as much disruption to the shrimp via liquid ferts as possible. 

Dwarves might eat shrimplets. Again, it depends on cover for the shrimplets.


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## SueD (Nov 20, 2010)

I have a 20 long, well planted, with Kerri tetras, cories and otos. My RCS population is booming. I won't say for sure that no shrimp are eaten, but all of the fish were in there long before the shrimp were added. I recently sold about 70 shrimp and it looks like I didn't make a dent in the hoard.


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## Mikolas (Apr 5, 2012)

ichthyogeek said:


> Umm....that doesn't make sense...are the plants in your tank dying? Just go with otos if your main purpose is to breed the shrimp. Do more partial water changes to keep water quality up. Use root tabs to help the plants live and prevent as much disruption to the shrimp via liquid ferts as possible.
> 
> Dwarves might eat shrimplets. Again, it depends on cover for the shrimplets.


You're RIGHTTTTTT, I just ran out of hypothesis so this is where I've been lead to.




SueD said:


> I have a 20 long, well planted, with Kerri tetras, cories and otos. My RCS population is booming. I won't say for sure that no shrimp are eaten, but all of the fish were in there long before the shrimp were added. I recently sold about 70 shrimp and it looks like I didn't make a dent in the hoard.


What kind of cories?


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