# Decided to add fish to Shrimp Tank (Need some recommendations)



## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

There are 2 reasons why I'm deciding to add fish to my RCS Tank:

1. I want something to eat my hydra.

I can't use meds because the meds that will kill hydra will kill my MTS and I really love my MTS because they stir up the sand for me and act as an extra cleaning crew.

2. I want my tank to be a bit more lively.

Ever since the hydra, the RCS are a bit less active and I don't really blame them. I occasionally see a poor shrimp swimming peacefully then ZAP* a hydra tentacle comes in contact with the shrimp & retracts to try grasp it but luckily the adult shrimp jerks away. I can only assume the shrimplets have a far worse fate (AKA actually being caught in the tentacle retraction).

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I'm going to gamble that the fish in which I'm planning to buy will eat all of the hydra (or at least a majority of them until there is practically nothing left of them).

I'm aware that the fish that I buy (regardless of how small) will do the same thing as the hydra (aka eat the shrimplets).

HOWEVER, I think that due to my tank's amount of hiding places, the fish will not have as much predatory presence as the hydra. I'm planning on buying 5 small fish (because the small fish or generally always sociable fish and are preferred to be grouped in 5s or more).

Here is my list of what I'm thinking of (comments/feedback/suggestions are welcomed and very much appreciated):

- White Cloud Mountain minnows
- Boraras brigittae (Chili Rasbora/Mosquito Rasbora)

p.s: I'm okay if my RCS won't be as active if the fish are there, because they aren't active of this moment anyways. And please don't tell me to cut back on feeding to stop the hydra, because they just feed off the shrimp-lets (I don't feed my tank regularly at all I feed like every 2 weeks because theirs a lot of bio-film for them) and I'm more interested in fish that can breed easily because if they do end up decimating my shrimp population I can switch to breeding fish  anyways sorry for the long read.


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

Heterandria formosa or some kind of endler small mouth so they adults are pretty safe and as long as there is moss and hiding spots babies will make it too


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## austin.b (Feb 9, 2012)

What about scarlet badis? They would eat quite a bit of RCS baby's though.


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## Bananariot (Feb 28, 2012)

Micro rasboras


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## plecofnz (May 7, 2011)

+1 for micro rasbora I have chilli rasbora


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## GEM 35shrimps (May 1, 2012)

For me, as long as the shrimplets are smaller than the fish mouth, they are no safe.
But the best fish for me for shrimps tank is this dirty guy.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

I would recommend against white cloud minnows. They are fast swimmers which can harass shrimp when entering the mid or lower regions of the tank. You have a small tank so its pretty much guaranteed.

+1 on micro rasboras.


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## robbowal (Mar 27, 2011)

GEM 35shrimps said:


> For me, as long as the shrimplets are smaller than the fish mouth, they are no safe.
> But the best fish for me for shrimps tank is this dirty guy.


What fish is this?


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## Bananariot (Feb 28, 2012)

robbowal said:


> What fish is this?


It's like a pleco with herpes.


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## h4n (Jan 4, 2006)

Ya Gem what kind of Pleco is that?


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## MochaLatte (Nov 19, 2011)

Tinwini danio are really small and did well in my shrimp tank. Don't think they ate the babies, but I pulled them out cause I got over excited when I saw berried females lol. They are very cute and lively but not over aggressive.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

i dont know if boraras will eat hydra, but they left my shrimp alone.


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## GEM 35shrimps (May 1, 2012)

robbowal said:


> What fish is this?


We called them "Para Otto" unlike the otto which usually spotted eating bloodworm,
theses guys didn't. Plus they are half size of the normal otto. 
Good for keeping with normal grade CRS, they clean your tank too.











Ps. Their skin will change after condition of the tank, like chameleon. The two pictures I post is actually the same animal, the first pic took when he was introduce to the tank and the second about a week later, you can see the different in their skin.


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## ohbaby714 (Feb 23, 2011)

Is that mean Para = ปลาร้า?
That what it look like to me 
Cured Fish that we use in papaya salad.


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## GEM 35shrimps (May 1, 2012)

ohbaby714 said:


> Is that mean Para = ปลาร้า?
> That what it look like to me
> Cured Fish that we use in papaya salad.


Hahahaha, no actually it's pronounce "para" like "para"cetamol 
and "oto" like otto in the simpsons.


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## h4n (Jan 4, 2006)

very cool Otto, Gem!

I wonder if we can get them here in USA.


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## ohbaby714 (Feb 23, 2011)

lol, it look like a spoil fish to me.
I though it was something like "Downoi", name that just stick cause it look like it.


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## h4n (Jan 4, 2006)

ohbaby714 said:


> lol, it look like a spoil fish to me.
> I though it was something like "Downoi", name that just stick cause it look like it.


fish with herpies lol!


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

After reading them all I'm leaning more torwards 'micro rasboras' now.

They won't fall victim to the hydra right? Because I don't want the hydra to be harassing the fish now too. And what are the chances of 'micro rasboras' eating hydra? - same question applies to Danios & small mouth Endlers & other dward fish.

and sadly I'm going to have to say no to the otto because they don't really appeal to me because they don't really swim around like the other fish do, and they most definitely won't eat hydra, and the ones that get sold in pet stores are usually don't have much chance of surviving a transition.

@acitydweller

I'll take note of your post and won't get the WCM


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

Okay so I called my LFS and apparently they don't have 'micro rasboras' so I'm thinking that maybe I'll get a dwarf gourami (a really small one if I can find one hopefully).

and after some googling... it looks like 'sparkling gouramis' is the best route for me ATM.

But if my LFS also doesn't have that... I guess I'll have to settle for any gourami that is small (because according to google and the many sources it gave me, these fish will eat hydra  ).

If anyone has anymore suggestions or feedback or experience on gouramis that would be nice.


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## Rhaethe (Jan 20, 2010)

From several generations experience of sparkling and dwarf gourami ... 

All my sparklers except one hunted down my shrimp with a vengeance. Shrimplets and adults alike. And hidey spots in moss didn't do much as the sparklers were so small themselves. Ninja feesh  And they don't necessarily provide "activity" and swimming out and about. They like dark shady spots and are highly territorial.

Dwarf gourami are more active, and its going to be hit or miss on how much they harass your shrimp.

I have read where mollies and pond snails are fond of hydra.

Have also read if you do a large water change and then decrease how much you feed the tank the hydra get starved off.

For microrasbora, I'd recommend purchasing from Msjinkzd here on the forums.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

He's in Canada, so I'm not sure if Rachael can ship to him. Does Getochkn have any mosquito rasboras?


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

diwu13 said:


> He's in Canada, so I'm not sure if Rachael can ship to him. Does Getochkn have any mosquito rasboras?


I have a bit of dewormer I got from a friend in the states, but I don't have a lot and not trying to be greedy but not enough to share as I like to have it on hand for tank and I am about an hour from them, so shipping a small envelope of a *********** in the mail doesn't seem beneficial to anymore involved.

If SHE wanted to come down my way, I could probably give her enough to treat the tank a few times but i'm down to a pack and a bit. I think there others that have had it shipped from Liam even and it came no problem.


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## Fdsh5 (Jan 3, 2012)

I have celestial pearl danios in my shrimp tank. I'm sure they dine on the occasional shrimplet but it doesn't seem to be that many. They actually push the shrimp out of the way to nibble at the vegetable sticks I feed the shrimp


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## MsNemoShrimp (Apr 25, 2011)

GEM 35shrimps said:


> For me, as long as the shrimplets are smaller than the fish mouth, they are no safe.
> But the best fish for me for shrimps tank is this dirty guy.


I'm sorry but this fish gives me the chills just from the look. I actually got goosebumps looking @ it 



ohbaby714 said:


> Is that mean Para = ปลาร้า?
> That what it look like to me
> Cured Fish that we use in papaya salad.


I LOVE papaya salad! The thai/hmong style is the best. Super spicey!  I thought they use those small crabs with red claws?


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

I keep CPD's with my shrimp, they don't harass at all, although I am sure sometimes they eat the really really small shrimp, but I have moss and HM and oak leaves all throughout the tank and the shrimp have pleeeenty of cover, was able to bring my PFR population up from 7 to about 50-60 in two months.

edit: I think any gourami is going to eat shrimp, even Juvies as opposed to just babies.
I wouldn't trust it.


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## triscene (Apr 7, 2012)

after my experiences, i am a bit doubtfull to chilli rasboras... plus having maculatus....my crs sudenly stopped breeding eventhough i have seen berried females. Now i always put berries to external breeding box and i finaly can see shrimplets, moving them into bigger tank when having about 0.5 - 0.8 cm so rasboras will not be thrilled to try them


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## In2wishin (Aug 10, 2011)

Fdsh5 said:


> I have celestial pearl danios in my shrimp tank. I'm sure they dine on the occasional shrimplet but it doesn't seem to be that many. They actually push the shrimp out of the way to nibble at the vegetable sticks I feed the shrimp


I am another with CPD's in with my Cherry Shrimp (along with 2 cory nanus) and have no problem with enough shrimplets making it. I am really happy with my tank right now. I didn't plan to add the cories but the sumo loach in my other tank kept attacking them. They don't harm the shrimp either.


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

GeToChKn said:


> I have a bit of dewormer I got from a friend in the states, but I don't have a lot and not trying to be greedy but not enough to share as I like to have it on hand for tank and I am about an hour from them, so shipping a small envelope of a *********** in the mail doesn't seem beneficial to anymore involved.
> 
> If SHE wanted to come down my way, I could probably give her enough to treat the tank a few times but i'm down to a pack and a bit. I think there others that have had it shipped from Liam even and it came no problem.


I'm a dude lol and I think I'll try contact Liam. IF all goes well and I get Panacur and hopefully it doesn't kill my MTS. I might consider alternative fish other than gouramis such as CPD.


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## shrimpster (Jan 31, 2012)

-1 on the boraras brigitta (chili raspbora). I just saw one gobble up a new crystal baby from my sss cbs mommy

If you're in oregon look for my 4sale add.

They are no longer welcome in my shrimp tanks:thumbsdow


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## ItsDubC (Feb 5, 2008)

Cory hastatus or habrosus?


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

shrimpster said:


> -1 on the boraras brigitta (chili raspbora). I just saw one gobble up a new crystal baby from my sss cbs mommy
> 
> If you're in oregon look for my 4sale add.
> 
> They are no longer welcome in my shrimp tanks:thumbsdow


Hm... fish are certainly different then. My mosquito rasboras don't bother my shrimplets at all. Heck, they barely know it's feeding time when I do feed them :X


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## shrimpster (Jan 31, 2012)

diwu13 said:


> Hm... fish are certainly different then. My mosquito rasboras don't bother my shrimplets at all. Heck, they barely know it's feeding time when I do feed them :X


You're telling me...I got them after reading they were 100% safe lol.

I do feed them cyclop-eeze tho, so maybe I set myself up. I dip it in teh tank right after lights on in the same spot and they all gather waiting for it.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

shrimpster said:


> You're telling me...I got them after reading they were 100% safe lol.
> 
> I do feed them cyclop-eeze tho, so maybe I set myself up. I dip it in teh tank right after lights on in the same spot and they all gather waiting for it.


I wouldnt' say they are 100% safe but something like 95% haha. I think as long as the baby shrimps don't swim RIGHT in front of the mosquito rasboras there really isn't an issue of the fish diving into the moss for the shrimplets.

Yea live food-ish might be what is making your fish HUNGRY for shrimplets haha. I feed mine flake food :X. It's funny because the full grown RCS and amanos actually boss around the fishies.


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## shrimpster (Jan 31, 2012)

This guy was hunting them out. I saw him looking carefully at the "wall'o'wood", eyeball the baby, zero in and then strike it and gulp:icon_eek: gone.

I've watched them wait patiently in the feeding dish for bits of food to be flung up by the shrimps and act like perfect gentlemen/ladies around any of the juvies and larger shrimps.

This was my first batch of khangshiangs PBL CBS so I'm kinda bent. If it was cherries I would probably find it amusing:icon_roll.


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## Kunsthure (Aug 2, 2010)

I've currently got green-eyed rasboras and pygmy cories in with my shrimpies; I'm sure some babies get eaten but not enough to matter. I actually kept RCS with peppered cories, pork chop rasboras and two dwarf honey gouramis without a problem. The scarlet badis is a bad idea. I had one in at one point and he was eating the shrimp, same with the sparkling gouramis. 

Will your LFS order fish for you? If you're a regular customer and nice, a lot of stores will.

-Lisa


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

They don't really do anything tbh, even if you ask them.

They have a "hard" time getting their hands on anything I want.

So I rather just take what little variety they have in terms of fish that can work in shrimp tanks lol, instead of asking for an order.

I think I might head out today to get some CPD.

I ordered some Panacur from Liam so I don't know whether I should wait to get fish so I can dose the tank to get rid of hydra to get the RCS population higher so they'll stand a higher chance against the fish I get OR I should get the fish then dose and not bother waiting lol. Doubt it'll make any difference so I think I'll head out to the LFS.


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## Rhaethe (Jan 20, 2010)

+1 vote on the CPD 

I am considering getting some for my rcs tank.


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

It depends on the tank too, my oebt and pfr are in this jungle, the dark side of the tank is leaves stacked 4 inches high with a moss border, the left side, HM that is easily 6 inches thick in the back.

It's rare that a baby shrimp would even be anywhere that a CPD could eat it.
The story would be quite different I'm sure if I were keeping the fish and shrimp in a tank with just substrate and one Indian almond leaf.


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

Just got 7 CPD today and I love how shy they are being atm it's very cute lol.

The RCS aren't even scared being in the open with them so it's perfect.

Looking forward to the Panacur I'll be getting in the mail. Hopefully nothing will go wrong when I dose it (AKA fish/shrimp/MTS).


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

shrimpzhu said:


> Just got 7 CPD today and I love how shy they are being atm it's very cute lol.
> 
> The RCS aren't even scared being in the open with them so it's perfect.
> 
> Looking forward to the Panacur I'll be getting in the mail. Hopefully nothing will go wrong when I dose it (AKA fish/shrimp/MTS).


Yea that's a really good way to see if shrimp are comfortable with shrimp (at least the juvi/adults). If they continue to swim around the tank even when the fish area awake 

I think your MTS will probably die :X


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## viplecoman7-7 (May 11, 2012)

*Mixed up*

I keep Endlers livebearers in my shrimp tank. The entire bottom is covered with about 6 " of Java Moss. It is going on 4 months now and all are well. both breed well. I just remove adult Endlers once in a while. {:


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

diwu13 said:


> Yea that's a really good way to see if shrimp are comfortable with shrimp (at least the juvi/adults). If they continue to swim around the tank even when the fish area awake
> 
> I think your MTS will probably die :X


We'll have to see then lol XD I don't think I care about my MTS anymore so I'm willing to take the risk as long as it get rids of hydra.

If they do end up dying to Panacur do you think it'll cause a big problem? Like ammonia spike or something bad?


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

If you want your MTS gone, just take like 5 or 10 of them out and put them in some container while you dose your meds. 
They WILL repopulate just fine when you are done.


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

I was thinking I'd take one big MTS out and put him in his own container and see if he can handle panacur. If not I'll grab the rest of the MTS and sit them out while I dose the meds.

Prob after some water changes here and there I'll reintroduce them 

and how long does it generally take for these CPD to stop being shy? They've been hanging at the back of the tank awhile now lol.

When is a good time to try get them to eat?


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

shrimpzhu said:


> and how long does it generally take for these CPD to stop being shy? They've been hanging at the back of the tank awhile now lol.
> 
> When is a good time to try get them to eat?


You just got them right? I generally don't feed anything new until 3 days after they've been in my tank. Let them get used to the surroundings and what not.


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

lol 3 days seems like a lot... I hope they aren't too hungry...

maybe I'll try feed em tomorrow lol.

How much would I need to feed and how often would I need to feed 7 little fishies? I got them some flake food. I'm thinking 1 pinch as the amount and twice a day (1 in the morning 1 at night).

I'm hoping they'll try eating beta food pellets I had from a few years ago lol.


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## Studman0143 (Mar 20, 2011)

Total noob question. What is hydra? And why does it have tentacles that can kill shrimp? I've never heard of this until this thread. Sorry for going off track here.


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

Heres a short answer for your question:

"Hydra is a small multicellular organism" so consider it a pest because it isn't too easy to get rid of. (for your first question)

"a hydra extends its tube shaped body and traps prey in its tentacles. The animals predate on a range of other small invertebrates" - source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-hydra.htm 

"If disturbed, they will retract their tentacles and body to small buds. They catch small creatures (copepods, Daphnia etc.) with their tentacles which can sting, making it easier for them to haul the pray in to their mouth opening." - source: http://www.planetinverts.com/what_is_that_bug_in_my_aquarium.html

(for your second question)

Think of it as a jellyfish that shocks shrimps.

Neat fact is that they don't age. So you can consider them "immortal" too.

Heres more links if you want to read up on Hydra (more indepth and stuff)

http://www.planetinverts.com/what_is_that_bug_in_my_aquarium.html
^ go to the hydra section

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-hydra.htm
http://www.planetinverts.com/are_hydra_harmful.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_(genus)


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

shrimpzhu said:


> How much would I need to feed and how often would I need to feed 7 little fishies? I got them some flake food. I'm thinking 1 pinch as the amount and twice a day (1 in the morning 1 at night).
> 
> I'm hoping they'll try eating beta food pellets I had from a few years ago lol.


If they are anything like the mosquito rasboras I feed them like once every two to three days. They aren't starving at least haha.

They should eat the betta pellets. Just crush them to make it sink so they know there's food!


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

I hope they will notice floating food... they usually hang out at the bottom of the tank lol. They hung out at the bottom at the LFS too... maybe if they are more comfortable in my tank they'll swim around.

I worry about them... they spazz out sometimes in my tank... it's worrying lol. They keep bashing into stuff in jerkish moments... I hope they don't hurt themselves too much...

I saw one do a backflip and hit itself headfirst into a rock... I hope he didn't break any fishy teeth ;<


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## Studman0143 (Mar 20, 2011)

shrimpzhu said:


> Heres a short answer for your question:
> 
> "Hydra is a small multicellular organism" so consider it a pest because it isn't too easy to get rid of. (for your first question)
> 
> ...


That's crazy. Thanks for all the info


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