# Pseudomugil gertrudae aka Spotted Blue-Eye with my shrimp?



## Larry Grenier (Apr 19, 2005)

I have a 60 gallon moderately planted tank (to be heavily) with a bunch of Cherry reds and accidentally several tiger shrimp. (breeder was in a hurry and just gave me a few dozen shrimp). The shrimp population is obviously growing so loosing a few is not a problem. A local breed has offered to sell 5 or so Pseudomugil gertrudae aka Spotted Blue-Eyes to me. This is a very small rainbow. I'm thinking they wouldn't put much of a dent in my shrimp population. It's a big tank for such little creatures but fun to watch. Thoughts?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Given enough hiding places for the shrimp babies, I don't think you will have much of a problem with them. I am not sure if they posses the other qualities as the Rainbowfish Cousin, But if they do, they most likely have very small throats, making what they will attempt to eat very small as well. 

I keep Dwarf Rainbows, Threadfin Rainbows, Neon and Glowlight tetras, Zebra Danios, and a dwarf gourami with cherry's just fine. There is one specific area they tend to drop the eggs for hatching, which is filled with a small piece of drift wood and a very dense covering of java Moss. It must be working lol I am being over run with Cherry shrimp.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I just bought six of these guys a few days ago, and they're awesome little fish! I doubt they would do much of anything to your shrimp, except maybe eat the very smallest of babies.

Give the shrimp plenty of moss or some dense plants to hide in, and you should loose very few.

Highly recommend the fish. They are tiny, but very active, and mine are bold. I love their eyes, they practically glow a very pretty iridescent blue!


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Captivate05 said:


> I just bought six of these guys a few days ago, and they're awesome little fish! I doubt they would do much of anything to your shrimp, except maybe eat the very smallest of babies.
> 
> Give the shrimp plenty of moss or some dense plants to hide in, and you should loose very few.
> 
> Highly recommend the fish. They are tiny, but very active, and mine are bold. I love their eyes, they practically glow a very pretty iridescent blue!


lol don't tempt me lol. I got my threadfins after someone on a board reccomended, and described them. (I got in trouble with my wife. Although it took her a few days to see that they were in the tank lol)


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

LOL, I'm getting Threadfins too. I'm just not telling my fiance how much it's going to cost me :hihi:


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## Do you guys remember Pogs (Apr 14, 2010)

How are the spotted blue eyes priced, compared to the thread fin rainbows. I have a few thread fins in my 20 gal and i wanted to stock my 75 gal. with something similar. Thread fins are great but they are just too expencive.


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## Mikaila31 (Mar 28, 2010)

well adult gertrudaes are $10 around here from a LFS. You can find them online for cheaper, however my store tended to have nice ones. Except not a lot of females. I use to keep a lot of these guys. However they don't like my water or something. Most wouldn't make it past 6 months. I spawned them once, then they all started dieing again. They are my favorite rainbow though. Below is a pic of one of the males I use to have is his display pose. They move their yellow pectoral fins so fast that they remind me of hummingbirds.


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## NJAquaBarren (Sep 16, 2009)

They tend to stay near the surface and just don't forage in the bottom of the tank. With the caveat that most fish will eat anything they can fit in their mouths, these should be safe, at least for all but the newest babies. If there is any cover, they'll be safe in it.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

NJAquaBarren said:


> They tend to stay near the surface and just don't forage in the bottom of the tank.


Heh, tell that to mine. They hang out all over the tank, including the bottom, and this is in a fairly tall tank.

I got my six for $40, sub-adults, at my LFS. Very good quality and healthy fish.


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## Do you guys remember Pogs (Apr 14, 2010)

It sounds like I may be able to get them locally for about the same cost as the threadfins (hopefully). I might start with a few and if they do well, splerge on a descient shole. For my new tank, I'm trying to stick with species that are fairly uncommon.


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